Cuéntame Wages Battle Against SB1070
To make a statement against SB1070, Cuéntame, an online Facebook group with over 38k Likes, unveiled an incendiary billboard that draws attention to the racial profiling facets of the bill. The billboard doesn’t mention SB1070 specifically, but I imagine most people will know what it’s talking about with its message of “Have your papers ready-Racial [...]
Wherein I make the Prop 8 ruling about me.
Kudos to Judge Vaughn Walker for his outstanding decision declaring Prop 8 (and presumably every other state law banning gay marriage) un-Constitutional. You can read the decision here and see how he thoroughly dismantles and demolishes the defendants’ argument. But like I said, while I’m very happy for my LGBT brothers and sisters today, this [...]
How to make that regressive cigarette tax even more regressive?
Pass Prop 302, that’s how. It’s the Legislature’s referendum to redirect the revenue collected from the First Things First cigarette tax to the general fund. The money will go directly to the coffers of the Chamber of Commerce in the form of more tax cuts to fat cats as God and John Kavanaugh intended. First [...]
The federal suit against SB1070
Political calculations and objections from Arizona’s Democratic politicians aside, it seems to me that the Obama administration has no choice but to sue Arizona. (Full text of the lawsuit here.) The federal government occupies the field where immigration law is concerned and cannot allow states to go around preempting federal law and violating the Supremacy [...]
CYA, AZCoC
Wow The front page of the Republic featured a story about 19 business groups, led by the AZ Chamber, taking a brave stance on immigration reform. In the case of the AZ Chamber of Commerce in particular, by “brave” I mean, “realizing their craven silence and capitulation weren’t going unnoticed”. But that wasn’t enough. Nor [...]
Nothing to see here. Move along.
Isn’t this cozy? A little over a week after Pearce introduced S.B. 1070 on the floor of the Arizona Senate, CCA enlisted Highground Consulting, one of the most influential lobbying firms in Phoenix, to represent its interests in the state. Lobby disclosure forms filed with the Arizona Secretary of State indicate that Maricopa County also [...]
Do SB1070 backers have a different kind of guest worker program in mind?
Yesterday’s Republic Valley section reported that “cash-strapped” cities are using 50 cent an hour prison labor as a cost savings measure. Douglas sits on the Mexican border, about 50 miles west of New Mexico. Its economy struggled after the smelter closed in the late 1980s. City leaders had less revenue to work with. Michael Ortega [...]