With ALEC on his mind

Senate Republicans shuttered their caucus yesterday — 15 minutes into a meeting originally called to discuss the state budget. The tempers of a couple of senators rose to match the outdoor temperatures as they vainly attempted to find consensus.

When the dust cleared, Senate President Bob Burns (R-Dist 9) was nowhere to be seen.  He had skedaddled, most likely in preparation for his excursion to the Summer ALEC convention (American Legislative Exchange Council). Burns is Arizona’s state chairman to the national legislative group.

With this lineup of speakers, who could blame him? It’s got to beat listening to his colleagues try to solve the economic woes of the state of Arizona.

Facts behind Sen. Gorman’s removal from Rules Committee

 What was originally perceived as a punishment for State Sen. Pamela Gorman (R-Dist.6), has now been clarified as a clever ruse to protect her position as Majority Whip. 

 The word swirling around the Capitol is that over the past week, Sen. Steve Pierce (R-Dist.1) led a campaign with Republican caucus members to replace Gorman as Whip.

This action was unacceptable to both Senate President Bob Burns (R-Dist.9) and Gorman, since she provided the key votes to ensure Burns’ election to the top leadership position.

Removing Gorman from Rules — an assignment she disliked — gave Burns the cover to remove Sen. Thayer Verschoor (R-Dist.22) as President Pro Tempore of the Senate.  With the promise of being appointed to that position, Pierce agreed to stop his campaign calling for Gorman’s ouster as Whip.

Sacrificing Sen. Verschoor, a proven conservative leader, to this unholy alliance is a disservice to the voters who have every right to expect much more.

Recreation over responsibility?

We’ve just been advised that Senate President Bob Burns (R-Dist 9) and dozens of other legislators are going on a junket to attend a convention in Atlanta instead of working on the worst fiscal crisis in the history of our state.

Burns actually told the rarely-at-a-loss-for-words reporters that he would return from the Summer ALEC convention (American Legislative Exchange Council) on July 20^th. Most appeared surprised by the news.

It’s easy to see why a convention junket might be more appealing  than burning the midnight oil, but longing for a break doesn’t mean one should actually become a higher priority during this time of budgetary upheaval.  All of our legislators should be down on Washington Street working until this current crisis is resolved.  It’s not quite the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta, but it’s where they are obliged to be. There’s always the Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. in early December to look forward to.  By then, perhaps the budget issues will be settled.

Previous legislative leaders have had DPS officers bring members in to do their job, the parking lots padlocked by the Sergeant-at-Arms, and required round-the-clock sessions for problems less serious than the state is currently facing.

Burns on fire — again

Sacks Sen. President Pro Tempore Verschoor, Majority Whip Sen. Gorman

In recent negotiations with Gov. Jan Brewer, Senate President Bob Burns (R-Dist.9) was reportedly angry enough to raise his voice, issue a few well chosen words and storm out of the meeting. At the time, Brewer cooly responded by calling Burns’ comments “regrettable and terribly unproductive. I choose not to take President Burns’ comments personally, because I recognize he is very angry right now,” she said.

Today, his now-famous temper made a reappearance. For the defiant act of protecting the taxpayers, high ranking legislators have been removed from their leadership positions.

A case in point is Sen. Thayer Verschoor (R-Dist.22). This afternoon, Verschoor was summarily removed from his position as President Pro Tempore and member of the Rules Committee. And Majority Whip Sen. Pamela Gorman (R-Dist.6) was also removed from Rules. Burns would likely have removed her as Majority Whip if it was within his purview to do so.  She was elected to that post by her colleagues.

Freshman Sen. Steve Pierce (R-Dist.1), who has served only 6 months in the senate, is reputed to have been named Verschoor’s replacement.

President Burns is building a not-so-impressive track record of bellowing, walking out of negotiations, and now removing other Republican senators from their posts — as punishment for straying from the fine line they are allowed to walk. In the case of Sen. Verschoor, President Burns has removed one of the most consistent and level-headed conservative leaders in the senate.  And in one rash moment has removed 2 of the 4 Republican members of the Rules Committee — because they dared to oppose a sales tax increase.

It appears to be past time for the members of the Senate to reevaluate their decision to select Bob Burns as President.

In these most trying times, the legislature needs thoughtful leaders who are able to build a consensus to protect the future of the state.

Barto lays down her hand — and gets trumped

In the back and forth emails making the rounds after six defectors left the Capitol building to avoid going on record as opposing HB 2280 –  a bill which would have ended sanctuary city policies –  Rep. Nancy Barto (R-Dist.7) attempts to defend her actions.  

She writes: “Rank and file officers are not calling for this bill — they want and need true discretion to perform their duties.”

How, then, does she explain this?

The bill authored by Sen. Russell Pearce (R-Dist.18) was endorsed by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, AZ Fraternal Order of Police, Phoenix Law Enforcement Association (PLEA), Maricopa County Deputies Association, Border Patrol Officers Association, Arizona State Republican Party, Maricopa County Republican Party, Arizona Highway Patrol Association. It also gained the support of  the Arizona African American Republican Committee, Arizona Republican Assembly, The Pachyderm Coalition, NumbersUSA, and F.A.I.R.

Seeing Red AZ covered the spineless misadventures of these legislators in this post: Keep these folks in mind when elections roll around.  Maricopa County Republican Chairman Rob Haney voiced his concerns in this letter sent to GOP political activists.

Haney wrote: Last week nine of our Republican state representatives opposed a SOVEREIGNTY bill which would have attempted to end sanctuary city policies. Six of the nine did not even have the courage to vote their convictions. They chose to attempt to protect their political future by not voting. This lack of courage, as well as the failure to understand that the well-being, if not survival, of our citizens and our country is so intricately tied to this invasion is unconscionable. The billed failed by five votes. It was within the power of these nine Republican representatives to protect you and enforce Constitutional mandates. They failed you.

Point well taken, Chairman Haney.

PAChyderm Coalition releases end-of-session legislative ratings

The PAChyderm Coalition, a Reagan Republican organization, has just released its session ending cumulative evaluations of legislators.  This list reflects legislative actions as of 7/1/09.  It was last updated 7/7/09.

Along with the rankings is a narrative for this session by Howard Levine:

This was a very unusual session because all bills were held up in the Senate until a budget was passed. This created a dearth of activity – particularly in the Senate – until the final weeks of the session. The final days of the session were extraordinarily hectic as usual – giving proof to the saying “That if it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.”

We analyzed the budget bills that came out in the final days of the session and were not generally pleased. We did give some plus 2 weights, but we also didn’t weight the K-12 education bill because it did not make sufficient cuts, and we gave minus 2 weights to the Higher Education and Prison budgets because we did not think they were fiscally responsible. The special session that will resolve the budget looks like it is taking weak to bad budget bills and making them even worse, but that will be a subject for another day.

Check out the individual legislator ratings here.

Alert! $1.3 billion problem looming at Capitol

State Rep. Sam Crump’s (R-Dist.6) blog describes a potentially dangerous development at the Capitol. He writes it is rumored that the Commerce Department is about to issue a $25 million check to Science Foundation Arizona.

Gov. Brewer’s veto of over $1.3 billion in budget reconciliation bills (BRBs) could technically restore funding for those items, making those funds available to be spent now rather than pending further negotiation.

Crump is looking into the matter. Read his comments here.

Seeing Red AZ previously covered the not-so-veiled threats from the chair of the Science Foundation against conscientious lawmakers who stood firm for Arizona’s taxpayers during a time of necessary budget cuts.

Budget agreement reached by skeleton crew legislature

The special session got under way this afternoon with only 23 members of the 30 Senators present. The House of Representatives was in even more fragile condition with only 38 members out of 60 bothering to show up to vote on the divisive budget that is fraying nerves and causing Gov. Jan Brewer to lose much of her Republican support.

A quick fix was necessitated by the governor’s decision last week to reject the bulk of a legislative budget proposal for fiscal 2010. Hoping to force lawmakers to return to the Capitol and quickly negotiate a tax increase, Brewer vetoed the portion of the budget that included state funding for K-12 education. Schools need the funding to be restored before July 15, when the next state payment is due, according to a report in the daily. State officials say that the K-12 cut imperils $1 billion in federal stimulus funding.

“I can only come to two conclusions,” House Speaker Kirk Adams was quoted as saying of the governor’s vetoes, which have unleashed stinging rebukes from Republicans. “Either you didn’t know or you were acting recklessly.”

Adams called the vetoes “budget vandalism,” and said lawmakers need to move as quickly as possible to fix the situation.

We are still awaiting word on the Governor’s tax increase which she has been poised to place on the ballot although meeting with strong resistance from party regulars.

Keep these folks in mind when elections roll around

This is a special message for NumbersUSA members in Arizona

Dear Arizona friends,

Before adjourning for the year on July 1, the Arizona House defeated a bill (HB 2280) authored by Sen. Russell Pearce that would have cracked down on pro-illegal alien “sanctuary” laws and aided in immigration enforcement by expanding the state’s trespassing law. The House voted 26-15 for the bill, five votes short of the 31 needed for passage. The Senate had approved the bill 16-11 earlier that day.

Although most Democrats were expected to oppose the bill, they were joined by three Republicans – Reps. McComish, Tobin and Jones.  An incredible 19 members of the House did not vote on the bill at all.

On the Republican side, these included six members – Reps. Driggs, Barto, Konopnicki, Crandall, Mason, and Quelland — who all left the Capitol building so they didn’t have to go on record as opposing HB 2280.

This legislation, in its original form as passed by the Senate a few days prior, was SB 1175. Rep. Driggs, a long-time opponent of immigration enforcement, derailed that bill’s chances by refusing to hear it in his committee. In order to keep the measure alive, Sen. Pearce placed the bill’s language on HB 2280, which had already passed the House and only needed a “concurrence” vote to clear the measure. The Senate passed HB 2280 on July 1, but when the House voted on the bill a few hours later, Republican opponents left rather than vote.

For years now, certain Republicans have fought responsible enforcement legislation, while at the same time denying their anti-enforcement positions. In fact, some even purported to be concerned about enforcement as they carried water for open-border and cheap-labor groups. The time has come to hold those Republicans accountable for their actions.

Seeing Red AZ wrote about these defectors in this July I, 2009 post Your legislators hard at work, taking a dive — we name names.

 Rob Haney, Maricopa County Republican Committee Chairman has boldly written this article in which he holds accountable those who are responsible for this malfeasance.

Duck and Cover

Reading Senate President Bob Burns’ statement* on Gov. Brewer’s budget veto and her call for a special session, left no question that a full fledge war is a-brewin’.

Regarding Brewer, Burns writes in exasperation, “These past few months I have witnessed behavior that is incomprehensible to me. It appears the governor is having problems managing the level of responsibility to which she has been elevated. I hope she takes the opportunity during the weekend celebrating our nation’s independence to reassess her priorities and get back in touch with the qualities that embodied the reliable and reasonable person I used to know.”

With this level of frustration as the groundwork, it should be a fascinating study in human behavior when Monday’s 1:00 PM special session gets underway.

As we said, “Duck and Cover.”

*H/T to the official website of the Republican Caucus.