Steve Gallardo Drops Repeal SB 1070 Bill, Nativists Counter-Rally

Down at the state Capitol today, it was like a little bit of 2010, all over again.Grizzled nativists toting “I love SB 1070 signs,” with pistols on their hips. Pro-immigration activists in droves denouncing the two-year old breathing-while-brown statute. And Arizona Department of Public Safety officers standing between them, keeping…

Joe Arpaio Raises Millions Less Than Suggested

Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his campaign guru Chad Willems have done their best to suggest Arpaio has $6 million in the bank, ready to go for the sheriff’s 2012 re-election campaign.In September, Arizona Republic columnist E.J. Montini reported that, “Arpaio says that he has collected $6 million for his own…

Russell Pearce-Worship, and Corrupt Proxy Voting at the County GOP

Why are non-loony Republicans always on the outs in the county and state GOP, with the insaniac Mexican-haters firmly in control?In her blog on Sunday, moderate Republican Paula Pennypacker described one of the main tactics of GOP county chairman Rob Haney’s nativist cult: The gaming of the proxy system, which…

Can Kyrsten Sinema Win in Congressional District 9?

Former state Senator Kyrsten Sinema longs to be the Democratic nominee from newly formed Congressional District 9. However, she suffers from a terrible affliction that threatens to undermine her ambition: a predilection for lodging a Prada pump in her esophagus. Sinema’s knack for the self-inflicted wound and the political tin…

Kyrsten Sinema’s David Lujan Weasels In To Open LD 15 Seat

This morning, over the complaints of some Democrats and Latinos, former House Democratic Minority Leader David Lujan was appointed unanimously to fill the open state Senate seat in Legislative District 15 by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.The LD 15 spot opened up when Kyrsten Sinema stepped down to run…

Joe Arpaio’s Victim Marty Atencio: Phoenix PD Arrest Report Released

Tuesday afternoon, the Phoenix Police Department released its arrest report on Ernest “Marty” Atencio, the Army vet brutalized and Tased till brain-dead in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s jails.The report details two police encounters with Atencio on the evening of December 15. The second, which resulted in Atencio’s arrest, involved the 44 year-old…

Kyrsten Sinema’s David Lujan, Can Ken Clark Stop Him?

The effort to block former state House Minority Leader David Lujan from sliding into ex-state Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s still-warm legislative seat is firing up, with former state House Representative Ken Clark adding his name to the list of wannabes.Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox says she’s received calls of interest…

John Huppenthal’s Edict: 10 Percent of TUSD Cut Till MAS Is Killed

Today, state Schools Superintendent John Huppenthal ordered that 10 percent of the budget for the Tucson Unified School District be withheld until TUSD eradicates its Mexican American Studies program.The cut is punitive and retroactive to August 15, 2011.No great drama there. Huppenthal announced the school out of compliance with an…

Russell Pearce, Wanna-Be First Vice Chair of the State GOP?

File this one under, “Something wicked this way comes.” The non-crazy GOP blog Politico Mafioso is reporting that disgraced nativist standard bearer, recalled ex-state Senate President Russell Pearce is seeking the position of First Vice Chair of the Arizona Republican Party, where he’d be carrying water for AZ GOP chair…

David Lujan, George Diaz, and the Stop-Lujan Movement

Is the fix in for former state House Minority Leader David Lujan’s becoming the replacement for ex-state Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who recently announced her bid for U.S. Congress?Or will his infamous no-show for the Senate Bill 1070 vote in 2010 deny him a return to the state Legislature, and can…

Joe Arpaio’s Victim Ernest “Marty” Atencio Laid To Rest

Family, friends and those touched by the tragedy of Ernest “Marty” Atencio, the Army vet Tased and brutalized till brain dead in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s jails, gathered at Peoria’s Heritage Funeral Chapel for his funeral service today.Atencio, who was 44 at the time he was removed from life support on…

Tom Horne’s Office Farmed Ethnic Studies Legal Work to Contributors

Horne’s office threw a pricey bone to law firm Burch & Cracchiolo in the MAS affairAs reported in a previous blog, Administrative Law Judge Lewis Kowal recently upheld Arizona Schools’ Superintendent John Huppenthal’s finding that Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican American Studies program violates the state’s anti-ethnic studies statute, one…