Feeling grateful for all those Democrats in the AZ Senate today

So budget bills got through the Arizona Senate Thursday, which were surprisingly decent, and the Medicaid expansion won a decisive majority vote. Political strategist and former legislator John Loredo said it best on his Facebook page: Tonight Senate Democrats along with a handful of courageous Republicans passed a reasonable, responsible budget. Dems learned that when [...]

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Possible budget deal illustrates how “bipartisanship” can be dangerous

AZ Eagletarian has a concise run-down of a rumored deal by AZ Senate President Andy Biggs (which I hinted at on my Sunday Square Off appearance) to ram a budget through the Senate by tacking a Medicaid expansion amendment on it and dangling some district pork in front of a few Dem Senators to get [...]

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The crazy is strong in some Medicaid expansion opponents

Christine Bauserman, whose Facebook page proudly boasts all her conservative and Republican affiliations, believes that poor people getting health care in Arizona is a Marxist plot. She wrote a hilarious LTTE to the AZ Capitol Times about it. Just how desperate are Gov. Jan Brewer and political wizard Chuck Coughlin to force Obamacare on an [...]

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Consequences for “sin” vary widely by one’s position in society

Today is Special Election Day in South Carolina, where Republican Mark Sanford faces off against Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch to fill a vacant Congressional seat. Sanford, of course, is the former Governor who, while he was a Governor, famously hiked the Appalachian Trail in South America with his mistress without telling anyone where he had [...]

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North Carolina provides a cautionary tale about “centrist” mayors

(Sorry for the lack of posts all last week. Just needed a break.) I came across this interesting press release from the North Carolina Democratic Party about their current Republican Governor Pat McCrory. McCrory: Moderate No More RALEIGH, NC—NYT Poll Analyst and data guru, Nate Silver, is out with some damning figures that erase the [...]

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But he seemed so nice at that interview!

Count EJ Montini as disappointed at Senator Jeff Flake’s votes against background checks and tighter restrictions on straw purchasers of firearms yesterday. Victims lost. Lobbyists won. And one of our senators helped. Sen. Jeff Flake has proven himself to be a skilled teacher in the art of compromise when it comes to immigration reform. It’s [...]

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End Clean Elections and increase campaign finance limits, get better funded wingnuts

The preferred narrative of the pundit/consultant/business establishment types in Arizona about the root of our current political woes, as I’ve described here numerous times, goes like this: Arizona was long a bastion of bipartisan collegiality and cooperation until just a few years ago, when Clean Elections and hyper-partisan primaries ushered into office a bunch of [...]

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