Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

Here are some amusing statistics in the latest dust-up here in the blogosphere between the Republican party’s neanderthal and cro-magnon wings:

Sonoran Alliance’s overlong attack on Republican activist Ferrell Quinlan: 1,264 words
Quinlan’s loggorheic response on his own blog, Willet Creek Dam: 1,103 words

We’ll see how long it is before Godwin’s Law kicks in, but I wager that it won’t be long given that Quinlan compares the writer of the Sonoran Alliance post (STS) to Fidel Castro and Kim Jong Il.

The guys over at Sonoran Alliance have a long (over 1200 words!) defense of Randy Pullen from an attack by lobbyist and blogger Farrell Quinlan. They start the post with a declaration of the purpose of blogs:

But blogs also play a similarly vital role: Correcting other blogs. Every blog makes errors and the more authors and posts, the more likely that errors will be made. Certainly Sonoran Alliance has made its share.

Yep, they make their share. In fact, they made one only two paragraphs later:

Quinlan praises Sen. Jim Waring for trying to crack down on elected public officials who use taxpayer dollars to fund communications to the public that do more to promote themselves than anything else. Think Janet Napolitano on Arizona Department of Tourism signs or Attorney General Terry Goddard talking about our television sets going digital.

Set aside for a minute the tiresome handwringing from Republicans about the Governor appearing on those signs. I can’t think of a Governor in Arizona or anywhere else that hasn’t done something similar. Let’s talk about the silly attack on Goddard’s appearances in the “digital transition” PSAs. Those were, in fact, paid for by Cox Cable. There were no taxpayer dollars spent on those ads.

This is particularly goofy because the fact-free and offhand attack on Goddard didn’t have to be made at all to make their broader point. Now, I get to make fun of their whole darned post.

I’m sure some of you checked out the article in yesterday’s Republic where State Treasurer Dean Martin (insert Rat Pack joke here) basically declared that the State of Arizona will be flat broke by Feburary.

Here’s a bit I found interesting towards the end of the article:

The situation might not be so dire if lawmakers had held a special session last month to start chipping away at the deficit, Martin said. Any cuts would have reduced the strain on the cash flow.

So, in other words, if legislative leaders had gone into special session like the Governor wanted back in November or December, we’d be better off. By the way, this is a Republican saying this.

But instead, these guys didn’t want to have to make a deal if it involved Janet Napolitano. Now, they will wait around until Jan Brewer comes into office, by which time, the state will be flat broke. Of course, this is exactly what some of them wanted: a dire circumstance where they can cut state programs that benefit folks they never had much use for in the first place.

So, they have delayed the cuts making the situation more difficult to deal with. But, here is the political problem for them. A deal made in November would have included Napolitano, who would have to have claimed some ownership of the mess that they come up with. Now, it will be their governor, Brewer, who will have to take responsibility for it. It will be entirely a Republican budget. When the thing sours with the public, they will have no one to blame except themselves.

NB - With Martin positioning himself as a Cassandra and against the legislature (and maybe even Brewer), you think he’s thinking about another office in 2010?

Vince Rabago released a statement today announcing that he will not be running for Pima County Democratic Party Chair. Instead, he will he seeking one of the vice chair positions with the Arizona Democratic Party. I asked him about speculation that he would be a candidate for the Ward 5 council seat being vacated by Steve Leal. He said no, which given the budget situation for our city, is totally understandable.

Anabelle Nuñez has let it be known to several people that she is interested in running in Ward 5. She’s an active member of her neighborhood association (National Cities) and has also been doing some outstanding work on health issues unique to our local Hispanic community.

One other possible candidate, Richard Fimbres, has garnered the support of ambos Eckstrom Brothers and also is the candidate prefered by Leal’s circle. I still wonder, though, if Fimbres would be someone that Janet Napolitano might want with her in Washington, given how much he had to work on with safety and security issues with Mexican trucks in his time with the Office of Highway Safety.

A knock I have heard against various “mentioneds” is how they would perform in a city wide election. Because of the, erm, unique nature of our election system, a Democrat that is strong in their own ward could be defeated by a Republican in the general election (Gayle Hartman, Paula Aboud…the list goes on). This, of course, assumes that the our local Republican party is in any sort of state right now to recruit and support a decent candidate.

I’m thinking of starting a rumor that Bill Richardson stepped aside to make room for Raúl Grijalva in the cabinet. Who’s with me?

I recieved a missive from a highly placed Arizona Democrat:

This fact seems relevant - Paul [Cunningham] is right. [Bruce] Babbitt was born while his Dad was on an extended trip to LA, and spent his first year there but was raised in Flag.

Okay, I stayed out too late on Wednesday (but Los Lobos, as expected, effin’ rawked), spent yesterday doing nothing…but at my advancing age and with lingering “flu-like symptoms,” I am unable to gin up the creativity necessary to reach the heights that y’all have come to expect from this here blog.

So, instead I comment on a couple of things I read in the Weekly.

First off, there was a bit from last week that I missed. Former Nogales City Attorney Hugh Holub is once again flying the flag of an independent Baja Arizona. Holub has been touting this idea for decades. Look at old cars from long time bajaarizonenses and you’ll see his “Free Baja Arizona” stickers that he printed up during Evan Mecham’s administration (when, more than ever, it didn’t seem like a bad idea). The story includes a link to the Frumious Bandersnatch, which he is touting as “Baja Arizona’s Satirical Newspaper.” The paper has been published, not so regularly, since Holub was a student at the University of Arizona, when issues would mysteriously appear on campus printed on yellow paper.

I’ll leave it to U of A alums from that period to comment on Holub’s other activities on campus during his time there.

By the way, I was selling my own “Free Baja Arizona” stickers at my online store. They had to be moved aside to make room for the suprisingly popular “Jesus Was a Community Organizer…” sticker. It soon be time for me to retire those, so order those while you can. I’ll bring back the “Free Baja…” stickers when the others are retired.

Jim Nintzel has his annual list of predictions this week. His last list turned out to be about as accurate as William Kristol’s predictions, so maybe he is on to something.

Anyway, here is the one that got me:

Three dozen Democrats get into special election to replace Grijalva, including Richard Elías, Ramón Valadez, Sharon Bronson, Steve Leal, Nina Trasoff, Karin Uhlich, José Ibarra, Tom Volgy, Elaine Richardson, Rodney Glassman, Alex Rodriguez, Daniel Patterson, both of the Prezelski brothers and John Kromko. Joe Sweeney is the sole Republican in the race.

“Both of the Prezelski brothers”? Come on Jim, I’d never run against Ramón Valadez.

I’ve already heard of one pundit declaring that Rod Blagojevich’s surprise appointment of Roland Burris is political genius.

Yeah, we can call it that because the guy has had such a pattern of brilliant moves. Let me play chess against this guy, ’cause Garry Kasparov he ain’t.

Back in civics class, we were told that the reason why the two party system has basically stayed intact for the last hundred and forty years is because they are self correcting. Because of the way our system works here, they can absorb third party movements and adapt to changes in the electorate. This is why a major party doesn’t stay in the wilderness for more than a few cycles.

Of course, then there are counter examples. Check out this story in Politico. Or, you don’t have to actually look at the story, the headline says it all:

‘Magic Negro’ flap might help Saltsman

Do these guys have any idea what the nation they are hoping to lead looks like these days?

Some folks decided to bash Jonathan Paton in one of my posts about Steve Leal. Hey, bash his silly, somewhat punitive and nakedly partisan proposal, but, the guy does live in city limits.

Republicans in Tucson have been trying to get rid of partisan elections for city council for years. The arguments have ranged from whiny claims that the system is unfair to Republicans to goo-goo arguments that “garbage has no party affiliation” and that non-partisan elections will mean that goverment will only serve the public interest, and all other more petty concerns would fall away.

(I wonder what it says about our local Republican party that the only way that they think they can get their people elected is by hiding their party affiliation.)

First the fairness argument: despite the current make up of the council, the Republicans have been able to elect a mayor (one that had no Democratic opposition in the last election), and had a working majority on the council until 2005. It is obvious that when they find decent candidates, they can win. Because they, for the most part, haven’t been able to mount decent campaigns in recent years, they are demanding that the rules be changed? Like that’s our fault?

Oh, yeah, before you guys go an say, “What about Jim Pederson funding that ‘fair districts’ thing? I mean, isn’t that like you guys trying to change the rules?” The big difference is that was put up in front of the voters, this is an attempt by legislators to force Tucson to make a change that the voters have rejected in the past.

The other weak argument that is made is that somehow partisan, and thus political, concerns will then be removed from the policy making process. This is the sort of argument that appeals to good government liberals, so expect these guys to throw this one out there. I’ve watched elections other cities like Nogales and Bisbee, I’d like to challenge anyone to show me how non-partisan elections have made the election and policy process in those places less contentious and some how cleaner. And making an election non-partisan doesn’t mean that the parties don’t chose up sides, take a look at the last few elections in Phoenix, where the state parties have gotten very involved in the elections despite their “non-partisan” nature. The big difference here is that we are at least up front about it.

And taking the political parties out of it doesn’t guarantee that there will be competition where the voters can make choices out of a bigger variety of candidates. Take a look at this year’s school board races here in Pima County, where there was no competition in either Tucson Unified or Sunnyside, two of our largest districts.

To me, the most revealing thing is the timing here. Somehow, it is only when Democrats rule the council that partisanship is a problem. My evidence: I didn’t see any big push for this when Fred Ronstadt was on the council. If non-partisan elections are such a great idea for city elections, maybe Paton and company would welcome non-partisan elections for legislature?

I didn’t think so.

Being upset because a candidate for chairman of the Republican National Committee is distributing a song called “Barack the Magic Negro” is “hypersensitivity.” Going into annual rages about a War on Christmas because a greeter at Target says “Happy holidays” is perfectly reasonable.