What’s the proper way to respond if you’re a government official who’s asked to read to elementary school students, then told you’ve been un-invited because you’re too controversial? If you have even a shred of class, you say “I’m sorry you feel that way,” and move on. If you’re Maricopa…
State Senate President Russell Pearce wants the public to believe there’s not a list of folks who’re persona non grata at the Arizona state Senate building. And in a bit of a contradiction, he also wants you to believe that part of him “banning” people from the state Senate has…
The Arizona police state rolls on. Today, outside the Arizona state Capitol, human rights activists Salvador Reza and Anayanse Garza of the group Puente held a press conference with their lawyers. This, following their arrests the day before in the state Senate building by plainclothes officers with the Arizona Department…
Welcome to Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya. Details are sketchy, but civil rights activists Salvador Reza and Anayanse Garza of the group Puente were arrested inside the Arizona state Senate building today, apparently for the bogus charge of trespassing.I say “apparently” because neither the Capitol Police, nor Arizona DPS Security Attache J…
It’s apropos that state Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Andy Biggs, the man primarily responsible for a bill that will drive a Ryder Truck full of nitro through the state’s Medicaid program, is himself a very wealthy man.He’s not rich through any sweat of his brow. He’s not self-made. Hell, he didn’t…
In the end, they all passed out of the state Senate Appropriations Committee, all of state Senate President Russell Pearce’s anti-immigrant bills, other hate-filled measures offered by his stooges, and cataclysmic proposed laws that can only be described as outright attacks on whatever civilization is left in Sand Land.I wish…
I have praised Channel 5/KPHO’s reporters and producers in the past. I consider them colleagues. Not necessarily drinking-buddies. (Yet.) But I have fun chatting with them when I see them in the midst of the media scrum.Still, I wonder about the station’s pro-PLEA spin, PLEA being the powerful Phoenix Law Enforcement Association,…
To twist a line from the Bible’s Book of Amos, “Let the hatred roll down like water, and stupidity like a mighty stream.” This, because “justice” and “righteousness” are sorely absent in Sand Land.So shall it be in the state Senate Appropriations Committee tomorrow, Tuesday, February 22, when a slew…
The Cronkite News Service’s Rebekah Zemansky recently reported on efforts by several legislators to add more specialized license plates to Arizona’s already vast selection.Currently, you can pick a plate to show your support for the Arizona Cardinals or declare your membership in a Masonic Fraternity. You can purchase a plate memorializing fallen…
While chatting with Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu today about border issues, we asked about his months-long investigation into allegations by Maricopa County deputy chief Frank Munnell. As Valley Fever reported on February 3, the report had been completed and was expected to be released no later than today. The situation…
So where are the Russell Pearce pinatas? Arizona’s state Senate President is the most powerful politico in Sand Land, and arguably an even greater foe of Latinos than Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who’s been “honored” in pinata form by his opponents on many occasions. But Pearce has yet to receive the pinata…
What is it about certain former and current Maricopa County law enforcement officials that makes them think they’re a privileged class, entitled to make bank from county coffers whenever their feelings get hurt?We all know about the bloodsucking ways of ex-Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, his erstwhile henchwoman Lisa Aubuchon,…
There’s a pissing match underway between the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office and three mayors of cities along the U.S./Mexico border — and it just got pissier.In one corner: Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu. In the other: mayors Arturo Garino of Nogales, Michael Gomez, of Douglas, and Juan Escamilla, of San…
State Senate President Russell Pearce’s son Joshua Trent Pearce was arrested February 9 by the Mesa Police Department on outstanding warrants issued by the Maricopa County Superior Court. Currently he’s cooling his heels in Durango Jail.The thirty year-old unemployed roofer had a revocation hearing scheduled for today, but it’s been…
Governor Jan Brewer seems to have scored a “win,” if you can call it that, in her effort to cut hundreds of thousands of childless adults from the state’s Medicaid program, otherwise known as the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS.Brewer recently signed legislation authorizing her to seek a…
Since our earlier post about a letter sent by several mayors of cities along the U.S./Mexico border to Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, the sheriff’s responded with a letter of his own.The letter from the border mayors to Babeu asked that he tone down some of the rhetoric he’s been…
The bigoted bills state Senate president Russell Pearce has been pushing to undermine the birthright citizenship provision of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — SB 1308 and 1309 — have been pulled from the agenda for the Senate Appropriations Committee, for now.As you’ll recall, these bills were before…
UPDATE: Click here to see Babeu’s response to the border mayors’ letter.Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu’s making a pretty nice career out of being the face of the immigration debate in Arizona, but several mayors of border cities are asking that he tone down some of the rhetoric. Turns out,…
Videographer Dennis Gilman covered Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s recent worksite raid at the Phoenix company Great Western Erectors, and challenged Joe on separating mothers and fathers from their children during these immigration-enforcement stunts of his.Arpaio tries to slough it off, claiming he’s just enforcing the law and that you could say…
Sinema describes the love that dare not speak its nameNow that Congressman Jeff Flake has announced his intention to run for the seat of retiring Arizona U.S. Senator Jon Kyl, it’s safe to assume that state Senate president Russell Pearce will go after Flake’s sixth district seat in 2012.Actually, you…
As a follow-up to my colleague James King’s recent blog item on Daniel Rodriguez’s autopsy report and the fact that meth was found in his system, I’m posting the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s findings, here.One thing to keep in mind, a fact some seem to be conveniently forgetting: the cause…
Add one part delusion to three parts grandstanding, mixed with a healthy glob of nativism, and what do you get?Governor Jan Brewer’s SB 1070 “counterclaim” against the federal government for not protecting Arizona from “invasion.”You’d think that at least state Attorney General Tom Horne would have sense enough to know…
