Goldwater report card is now out
If you believe that the Goldwater Institute understands what upholding the U.S. and Arizona Constitutions require, you'll be interested in the lobbying group's sixth annual Legislative Report Card, now out.

I couldn't care less. After all, how much credibility is earned by a process that produces Ron Gould (R-3), Jack Harper (R-4), and the retiring Karen Johnson (R-18) as the "highest-scoring" senators. The Report Card "scores Arizona legislators on 237 votes across four categories: education, constitutional government, regulation, and tax and budget." The Goldwater people say they're looking at "whether legislators, individually and collectively, fulfill their duty once in office."

Frankly, a better model for 2009 would be how often other legislators' votes differed from Gould and Harper, two of the Senate's most reliable disgraces.

Infrastructure sags as the future looms
It's hard talking about the need for increased spending when the economy is fragile and all levels of government face budget crises. But the future looms, as a recent study fro ASU's W.P. Carey School of Business ("Preparing for An Arizona of 10 Million People") reminds us:

"State and local government policymakers, and indeed all Arizonans, will be deciding the future of Arizona in the next few years. Arizona has the opportunity to expand its significance as an economic center and to promote economic growth and prosperity. But it must be willing to invest in the state to reach these goals."

A recent editorial in Tucson's Arizona Daily Star sums up the situation well. You can read it at this link. Here are a couple of points from it to keep in mind as we face our state's future:

Arizona's infrastructure is deficient and will not improve without decisive leaders willing to make tough, often unpopular decisions. ...

Economic slow times are an opportune time for developing infrastructure: When the economy rallies, the foundation will be set.

Mac Is Back on Immigration
Sen. John McCain's press conference Tuesday indicating he'd seek reelection in 2010 contained an interesting immigration-related tidbit. Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services reported:

"The senator said that while any plan he pushes will have to secure the border, it also would include both a guest-worker program as well as a path to citizenship for many of the 12 million people already in this country illegally."

Immigration may be a less volatile issue over the next couple of years because of the economic situation. However, if McCain resumes his moderate immigration policies aggressively, he's apt to run into serious opposition from within his own party. He continues to be a lightning rod for many Republicans in this state.

Complainer Arpaio may have a point
It's no surprise Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is looking for special treatment. That's his style, after all. But, when it comes to budget cuts, he may have a point. Arpaio is balking at a county requirement that department heads identify "20 percent of their budgets that could be cut," according to The Arizona Republic. Reports are due Dec. 8.

Across-the-board budget cuts are inappropriate for public safety agencies. That's not to say they should have a free hand, but they fall into a category which requires protection from meat-cleaver type budget adjustments.

That said, Arpaio needs to get on board with the need for additional reductions. For the past two years, he's had deputies running around interfering with other jurisdictions. It has been an expensive, publicity-building effort to support his re-election. Now the election's over, but the budget crisis is much with us and will grow worse before it gets better.

Perhaps it's time to consider scaling back the Sheriff's Department so that it runs the jails and provides coverage only to areas not otherwise served by a police department. This is not an era where fiscal and jurisdictional overlap should go unchallenged as the county looks for ways to save money with the least impact on services.

Short Takes ...
Announced cuts in Mesa's police department can't help but have an impact on public safety. More cuts seem likely in 2008, according to the East Valley Tribune. $7.6 million in cuts this year, $15 million next if the economy doesn't get better.

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"Southern Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva is being mentioned by bloggers as a leading candidate for secretary of the Interior Department," according to Tucson's Arizona Daily Star.

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Random Musings blog is already looking ahead to the 2010 Arizona political landscape, with some interesting conclusions and speculations.

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The Arizona Republic leads its Sunday edition with a warm, flattering piece on Republican Jan Brewer, who may be the next Governor if Janet Napolitano heads to Washington. A sidebar deals with Brewer's current job, Arizona Secretary of State.

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The Arizona License Plate Commission must approve an anti-abortion group's "Choose Life" specialty license plate, a Federal Court has ruled. The specialty plate battle has gone on since 2002.

Organizational mess in GOP's LD 4
Chaos ruled at the recent organizational meeting of the Republican Party in Legislative District 4. Read this article in the Sonoran Alliance blog, and don't miss the comments as well. Try to look past writer Lyle Tuttle's habit of using "Fact" before most sentences, including several which were conclusions on his part. It's an interesting read.

Drowning Government, Arizona Style
Blog for Arizona sees dangerous times for the state if Napolitano steps down and allows Republican Jan Brewer to become governor:

An ill wind is BREWERing in Arizona. Things are going to get ugly over the next two years. This is a crowd that believes in Grover Norquist's dream of shrinking the size of government down to the size "where we can drown it in the bathtub." As the national economy falters under the weight of the failure of the supply-side, trickle-down tax cuts for the rich, no government regulations, anything goes because "greed is good" voo-doo Reaganomics, this crowd believes the answer is to double down and give us more of the same failure.

Anne Denogean, in the Tucson Citizen also sees problems for Arizona Democats:

It's a prospect that has Republicans in the Legislature - and they control both the House and the Senate - salivating. Not surprisingly, it has their Democratic counterparts nauseated with fear.

It has many progressive advocates in the state wondering what a premature departure would mean for the causes Napolitano has championed, including education, health care and the preservation of reproductive rights.

Looking Ahead to 2010 Arizona

Two stories today in the middle of the Republic's A Section have implications for Arizona's 2010 politics. They are:

McCain sets up re-election bid (no link available)
Napolitano may get other post

Conventional thinking is term-limited Gov. Napolitano wants to challenge Sen. McCain, who would be 74, in 2010. McCain showed some weakness in this year's Arizona presidential vote, which may or may not translate to weakness in a Senate race.

But the real question involves Napolitano. She's apparently been passed over for Attorney General but, according to the Republic's Matthew Benson, is still under consideration for the top jobs at Homeland Security or Energy.

If the Senate is her goal, she'd be crazy to take either job. First, it involves giving up the Arizona spotlight and turning over the governorship to Republican Jan Brewer.

Second, it involves taking on one of two of the potentially biggest no-win Cabinet positions. Done right, Energy in the Obama administration must involve pushing for less dependence on fossil fuels. It's the right course but, short-term, it has major political traps, such as advocating for a gas tax, opposing more drilling and the like. Advocating for more solar and wind power is translatable to Arizona politics but could easily be lost measured against bringing pain to energy consumers.

Homeland Security is even worse for Napolitano's prospects. Benson quotes an anonymous "prominent Arizona Democrat close to Napolitano": "It's terrorism, it's illegal immigration, it's intelligence," all areas which, the the source's mind, supposedly play to her strengths.

Arizona voters are mighty hard-nosed on immigration. Look how they beat McCain down, forcing him to modify a reasonable, progressive approach into the language of confrontation and deportation. The governor's prospect of doing better don't seem bright, especially in a secondary position.

So too with terrorism. If there is another attack within the U.S., Republicans will subject the Obama team to a steady drumbeat of "seven years without an attack only to be undone by lax Obama policies." That's a no-win position for the Secretary of Homeland Security. Even if the department performs spectacularly, with or without an attack, the credit will go to Obama.

Janet Napolitano's best route to the Senate is staying in place and dealing aggressively with the state budget crisis. Successfully working through that will only increase the popularity of the very popular governor. Besides -- politics aside -- it's the right thing to do. Jumping ship in a crisis never plays well.

Legislature vs. ADEQ
So it turns out enough legislators with pull want the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) kept on a short leash once again. And they see themselves as the leash-tuggers. Republicans like Rep. Michele Reagan of Scottsdale seem bent out of shape because Arizona has signed on to the Western Climate Initiative which has the support of seven Western states and four Canadian provinces.

They also object to another multi-state effort, the Clean Cars program, an effort to reduce car and truck emissions. See The Republic's story.

After two days of hearings, House and Senate environmental oversight panel "recommended that no actions proceed with either the climate initiative or clean cars without legislative approval."