Former governor J. Fife Symington III, who once lambasted the courts for protecting “all manner of antisocial behavior,” now awaits his own ruling from a trio of federal judges. Last week, the panel heard his appeal to overturn his September 1997 conviction on six counts of bank fraud. As Symington…
Nearly 300 rank-and-file Department of Public Safety officers have won a major court victory in a bitter, three-year struggle with DPS managers over overtime pay. In a decision that likely will cost the state millions of dollars, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey S. Cates ruled last month that DPS…
Jerry Solomon went to court last Friday hoping to get out of prison in a year or two. He went back to his cell with a good possibility of dying behind bars. That’s because the 58-year-old Scottsdale man, already in jail for conspiring to kill his girlfriend’s husband, tried last…
The Crime of Punishment Two years ago, while a visiting third-year law student at Arizona State University, I had the pleasure of meeting, and briefly working with, Dale Baich. Barry Graham’s column “Near-Death Experience” (October 29) did an excellent job of portraying Baich. How Baich can do the work he…
Spur Cross Ranch must’ve looked as good to John McCain as prickly-pear fruit does to a hungry javelina. Last year about this time, Arizona’s senior senator toured the 2,250 acres of pristine Sonoran desert on the northern end of Cave Creek abutting the Tonto National Forest, home to endangered wildlife…
Martin Shultz’s associates say that he has never been shy around power. A member of the Phoenix Comm- unity Alliance (PCA), a private group of downtown corporate and business leaders, and for the past 20 years the director of governmental relations at Arizona Public Service Company, he cut his political…
Early and Often The Flash was button-poppin’ proud to do patriotic duty in the polling booth on Tuesday. Actually, it wasn’t a polling booth; it was more like a polling kiosk. This Burst of Light developed writers’ cramp while once again voting to turn out all the judges–and also found…
There are millions of Mexican nationals living in the United States–legally or illegally–a fact that has not escaped some Mexican politicians who will begin debating later this month whether to let that sizable expatriate community vote in Mexican national elections. Mexican politicos on the stump in Arizona? Mexican voting booths…
How does a mile-deep hole in the desert become a cultural icon, a mystic symbol and the world’s biggest tourist attraction? That’s what Arizona State University professor Stephen J. Pyne set out to explain in his new book, How the Canyon Became Grand. “The simple view is that here’s this…
The long cookie bake-off is finally over for Granny Hull. Here is what she’s been camera-mugging, sweet-talking and publicly patting small school children on the head for throughout the past year. In this, her moment of truth and reconciliation with the people of Arizona, Governor Jane Dee Hull finally can…
This week, let’s talk about adultery. About illicit blowjobs. And about perjury. Better yet, let’s talk about a guy who does all of those things. Let’s pick a guy who not only cheated on his wife by getting multiple blowjobs (so he could say he hadn’t “had sex” with the…
Squat’s Up I totally disagree with Tempe’s proposed ordinance to prevent homeless kids from sitting on sidewalks (“Crusty Crackdown,” David Holthouse, October 22). I think it is wrong and should not be accepted. I am an upper-class white male, and feel sorry for the bums on the street. They have…
Proposition 200, the Citizens Clean Elections Act, would give candidates for statewide and legislative offices the opportunity to opt for nearly complete public financing. They’d be allowed to raise a small amount of private cash for exploratory committees. The rules would not apply to candidates for federal or local elections,…
Giving Moods While Arizonans debate the idea of getting big money out of state political campaigns, four Arizonans have been giving big money to federal campaigns. The quartet made the new list of political fat cats put out by Mother Jones magazine–the MoJo 400. Altogether, the foursome accounted for $172,109…
Two years ago, television sportscaster-turned-congressman J.D. Hayworth was just one more name on Arizona’s list of political embarrassments. The Gingrich-ite made headlines for overnighting in his office and picking fights with seasoned House members like Maryland’s Steny Hoyer and Wisconsin’s Dave Obey. The Progressive called him one of the 10…
Like a bowl of granola laced with prune bits, I know I am supposed to like Janet Napolitano. But, damn, it’s a dry chew. Here in Arizona, amongst a certain crowd that came of age during the civil rights and Vietnam protests, it is gospel that Napolitano must be our…
I’ve known Tony West for years, and privately, West can be a very charming and nice guy. But if West is elected to the Arizona Corporation Commission, the agency that regulates securities and utilities could suffer an ethical meltdown. Here’s why: Tony West, Arizona’s current state treasurer, is impressed by…
Midnight. A blues song plays, scratching the air with the romance of desolation. A few people are still here. My feet rest on the table. I’m drinking Jack Daniel’s from a glass. On the other side of the table, Dale Baich has a glass of his own. Baich is a…
None of this happens in Arizona. An unassuming health-food salesman from Scottsdale does not craft a law designed to separate elected officials from the campaign contributions they glean from the lobbyists who wield influence at the state Capitol. A grandmother from Sun City West certainly does not organize and nurture…
The morning’s newspapers have nuked him, and Paul Johnson is dealing with the fallout. On a warm morning in early October, Johnson’s tall, lanky body is folded into the passenger seat of a speeding red Honda Passport. He juggles two different cellular phones and a pager with his driver, who…
Janet Napolitano plays it straight. While her opponent, Republican Tom McGovern, is chasing down the soccer moms and dads with boomer-ready buzz words, the Democratic candidate for attorney general stumps on her legal and managerial experience as a U.S. attorney and a private lawyer, and on her vision for the…
Each day, a squadron of earthmoving machines tears through rolling Sonoran desert 30 miles north of downtown Phoenix, ripping out native plants, destroying wildlife habitat and preparing open space for development. The planned residential community dubbed the Villages at Desert Hills is bisected by Interstate 17 and is being reshaped…
