The Governor's other big initiative also looks to be in trouble. According to the Arizona Capitol Times, the initiative is suffering the same low validity rate that plagued the transit initiative.
Not surprisingly, if you look at the finance reports for both groups, State Trust and TIME, you'll see that they used the same company to gather their signatures. One has to assume that this is not going to be a good business development move for Petition Partners.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Napolitano believes that transit plan will make it
Governor Napolitano believes that voters will have a chance to weigh in on the $42 billion dollar transportation plan in November. The plan supporters are busily trying to do their own signature checks and push through their lawsuit.
Meanwhile, the Tucson Citizen is gearing up to help shift the blame in case the plan doesn't make it. They claim that the failure in transportation is not by the Governor, the consultants or the petition gatherers. Rather, all of the transportation woes should be blamed on the legislature.
Meanwhile, the Tucson Citizen is gearing up to help shift the blame in case the plan doesn't make it. They claim that the failure in transportation is not by the Governor, the consultants or the petition gatherers. Rather, all of the transportation woes should be blamed on the legislature.
Governor defends Pearce?
Check out the window. Are pigs flying? First, the Arizona Republic defends Russell Pearce against personal attacks, and now Governor Napolitano is following suit.
According to the Political Insider, Napolitano said:
"I am concerned about tone. Do I support Russell Pearce? No. But I think there are ways to talk to voters about that without the personal attacks."
Now bear in mind, they are not saying that they support Russell Pearce or his policies. What they are really saying is that the people who are using personal attacks to go after him have crossed the line.
Apparently, there is a line that can be crossed.
Now, the question is, when campaign finance come due in the next week or two, are any of Napolitano's supporters going to be on the donation list to the committees doing the personal attacks?
According to the Political Insider, Napolitano said:
"I am concerned about tone. Do I support Russell Pearce? No. But I think there are ways to talk to voters about that without the personal attacks."
Now bear in mind, they are not saying that they support Russell Pearce or his policies. What they are really saying is that the people who are using personal attacks to go after him have crossed the line.
Apparently, there is a line that can be crossed.
Now, the question is, when campaign finance come due in the next week or two, are any of Napolitano's supporters going to be on the donation list to the committees doing the personal attacks?
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
TIME not giving up
The folks behind the Governor's transportation plan are not giving up. They have a plan on how they will get their initiative on the ballot, which Espresso Pundit has so graciously shared the talking points for the meeting. We are personally racking our brains to think about the email that starts with G who was supposed to get the email.
You can see these talking points in action in a memo from PolitickerAZ's 6th most influential person:
Memorandum: Regarding the TIME Initiative
From: Tom Ziemba
TIME Initiative Campaign Manager
Re: Ballot Qualification
I wanted to update you on where the TIME Initiative stands in the ballot qualification process. But before I give you the background on this issue, let me first simply tell you that we are very confident that the TIME Initiative WILL be on the ballot this year.
As you may have heard, the Secretary of State issued a statement yesterday saying that, based on the preliminary information about our signature validity rates, the TIME Initiative would not qualify for the ballot. While we strongly dispute her finding, the statement was not a surprise. We have been preparing for this stage in the process for some time and we are ready to move forward to qualify TIME for the ballot.
The fact is, signature counts from the Secretary of State and Maricopa County are troubling and unusual this year. For TIME as well as other initiatives, there appears to be a large number of Arizona citizens who were arbitrarily disqualified from having their voices heard in the initiative process.
Based on our independent review of the signatures deemed “invalid’ by the Secretary of State and Maricopa County, it appears that thousands of petitions signed by registered Arizona voters were wrongly discarded. Once we complete this analysis, our campaign plans to file legal action to reinstate thousands of valid signatures that should have rightly been counted by the Secretary of State and Maricopa County.
The stakes could not be higher for Arizona. Arizonans’ quality of life is suffering because of traffic and lack of choices in our transportation system. The TIME Initiative is designed to ease those transportation pressures, giving people more options and more time to do the things they love, instead of sitting in traffic. The Initiative contains a balanced plan that includes more resources for highways, local roads, rail and other public transportation options – as well as significant resources to ensure that our state’s natural beauty doesn’t suffer as we improve our transportation system.
We will keep you posted in the coming days as we move forward to qualify for the ballot. Please also know that this is not distracting our team from preparing to launch a dynamic, aggressive campaign to talk to Arizonans about our transportation challenges and how TIME can help make life a little better in our state.
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me or any member of our team if we can be of assistance.
Best,
Tom Ziemba
P.S. Stay tuned in the coming days for the launch of the TIME campaign website!
You can see these talking points in action in a memo from PolitickerAZ's 6th most influential person:
Memorandum: Regarding the TIME Initiative
From: Tom Ziemba
TIME Initiative Campaign Manager
Re: Ballot Qualification
I wanted to update you on where the TIME Initiative stands in the ballot qualification process. But before I give you the background on this issue, let me first simply tell you that we are very confident that the TIME Initiative WILL be on the ballot this year.
As you may have heard, the Secretary of State issued a statement yesterday saying that, based on the preliminary information about our signature validity rates, the TIME Initiative would not qualify for the ballot. While we strongly dispute her finding, the statement was not a surprise. We have been preparing for this stage in the process for some time and we are ready to move forward to qualify TIME for the ballot.
The fact is, signature counts from the Secretary of State and Maricopa County are troubling and unusual this year. For TIME as well as other initiatives, there appears to be a large number of Arizona citizens who were arbitrarily disqualified from having their voices heard in the initiative process.
Based on our independent review of the signatures deemed “invalid’ by the Secretary of State and Maricopa County, it appears that thousands of petitions signed by registered Arizona voters were wrongly discarded. Once we complete this analysis, our campaign plans to file legal action to reinstate thousands of valid signatures that should have rightly been counted by the Secretary of State and Maricopa County.
The stakes could not be higher for Arizona. Arizonans’ quality of life is suffering because of traffic and lack of choices in our transportation system. The TIME Initiative is designed to ease those transportation pressures, giving people more options and more time to do the things they love, instead of sitting in traffic. The Initiative contains a balanced plan that includes more resources for highways, local roads, rail and other public transportation options – as well as significant resources to ensure that our state’s natural beauty doesn’t suffer as we improve our transportation system.
We will keep you posted in the coming days as we move forward to qualify for the ballot. Please also know that this is not distracting our team from preparing to launch a dynamic, aggressive campaign to talk to Arizonans about our transportation challenges and how TIME can help make life a little better in our state.
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me or any member of our team if we can be of assistance.
Best,
Tom Ziemba
P.S. Stay tuned in the coming days for the launch of the TIME campaign website!
A Sinking Ship?
Now, these probably weren't coordinated to go out the day after the failure of the TIME initiative, but several of the Governor's key staff members are leaving the office on September 15th. Here is the release:
Governor's staff to turn over next month
PHOENIX - Governor Janet Napolitano has announced changes to her senior staff and has announced a new state agency leader.
Dennis Burke, Napolitano's Chief of Staff, will leave his job in mid-September to work on a variety of political campaigns in Arizona. Burke has worked with the Governor since her days as United States Attorney, and has been Chief of Staff since she took office as Governor in 2003.
Over the course of his career, Burke has worked for the U.S. Department of Justice and in the White House as a Senior Policy Analyst, coordinating crime and drug policies and acting as a liaison to federal law enforcement. Burke worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, prosecuting narcotics cases, and as the Chief Deputy Attorney General for the State of Arizona.
Replacing Burke is Jan Lesher, currently the Director of the Arizona Department of Commerce. Prior to her work at Commerce, Lesher was the Director of the Governor's Southern Arizona Office, working to forge solid relationships between state government and rural Arizona.
A Tucson native, Lesher has also served as Vice-President of Communications and Marketing for the Tucson Economic Development Corporation; Executive Director of the Tucson Community Cable Corporation; and Vice President of Warner-Amex Cable. She has an extensive and impressive history of community involvement, including service with the Arizona Town Hall; the Greater Tucson Economic Council; the Tucson Airport Authority; La Frontera; and she was named Metropolitan Tucson Chamber of Commerce Woman of the Year in 2005.
The Governor has also announced that George Cunningham, Deputy Chief of Staff for Finance and Budget, will retire. Cunningham has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in state government. He served eight years in the Arizona Legislature, from 1993 to 2000; during his time in the Senate, he was the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee and served as Minority Whip in his second term.
Prior to his legislative service, Cunningham worked as Vice President for Administrative Services at the University of Arizona, as well as in other administrative and financial capacities at the University. He served as Chief of Staff for Governor Rose Mofford; Chief Policy Advisor to the Arizona State Senate President; Executive Director of the Pima Association of Governments; and Assistant City Manager of South Tucson, Arizona.
James Apperson will take over as Deputy Chief of Staff for Finance and Budget. Since October 2006, Apperson has served in the Governor's Office as Director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting. Prior to joining the Governor, Apperson was President and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, overseeing all aspects of the operation including policy analysis and legislative advocacy.
Apperson has also worked for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Maricopa Community Colleges; Southwest Gas; the Arizona House of Representatives, as a research analyst; and the Arizona Corporation Commission. Apperson has served twice before in the Governor's Office, during the Mofford and Babbitt administrations.
The Governor's Legislative Liaison and Deputy Chief of Staff, Mike Haener, will also move on. Haener has also served with the Governor since the beginning of her term, as Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative Affairs. His work has been critically important to advancing the Governor's agenda, including the creation of voluntary, statewide full-day kindergarten, establishing a medical center in downtown Phoenix, and creation of Science Foundation Arizona.
Before joining the Governor's Office, Haener was the Director of Legislative Affairs and Communications, working with Napolitano at the Office of the Attorney General; had his own consulting business, working on campaign strategy, public policy and by guiding candidates during the formative days of Arizona's vote-by-mail program; and was an Assistant to the Mayor of the City of Phoenix.
The Governor has appointed Suzie Barr to take over duties as Director of Legislative Affairs. Barr currently serves as the Governor's Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs and Policy Advisor for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. Prior to working for the Governor, Barr was a prosecutor for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, and worked in Washington, D.C. for Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona and has a Juris Doctorate from the Arizona State University College of Law.
Finally, Marco Lopez, Jr., will take over as Director of the Arizona Department of Commerce, continuing an early and successful career of service to the state. In 2000, Lopez was elected Mayor of the city of Nogales, Arizona - at the age of 22 years old, he was one of the youngest mayors in the United States. He was re-elected to that job by an overwhelming margin in 2002.
Lopez then joined state government as Executive Director of the Arizona-Mexico Commission, an organization essential to developing international policy, and in enhancing the economic power of the Arizona-Sonora region. In recent years, the AMC has been responsible for improvements to Arizona's Ports of Entry, as well as a dramatic increase in cooperation between law enforcement agencies on both sides of the international border.
Most recently, Lopez has continued and expanded that work as the Governor's Senior Policy Advisor for International Affairs.
Dennis, Mike and George have been with me for a very long time, and together, we've accomplished much for Arizona. I will miss them," said Governor Napolitano. "At the same time, I'm thrilled to have talented members of my team take on new jobs. I have absolute confidence that each of them will excel in their new areas."
Although transitions have begun, most of the personnel changes are effective September 15th.
###
Its natural for a staff to go seek their fortunes in the final few years of a lame duck term. Usually, staff tries to leave when things are looking as bright as possible so they can get jobs elsewhere or feed off the credibility that they have earned by working for a popular elected official. With the initiative fumbling and Napolitano back from the policy setting session for the DNC, do these folks see some writing on the wall?
Did you notice the interesting omission? Read this line again:
"The Governor's Legislative Liaison and Deputy Chief of Staff, Mike Haener, will also move on."
The release was fairly explicit about the other two, but not Haener. Is there a separate announcement on the horizon?
Governor's staff to turn over next month
PHOENIX - Governor Janet Napolitano has announced changes to her senior staff and has announced a new state agency leader.
Dennis Burke, Napolitano's Chief of Staff, will leave his job in mid-September to work on a variety of political campaigns in Arizona. Burke has worked with the Governor since her days as United States Attorney, and has been Chief of Staff since she took office as Governor in 2003.
Over the course of his career, Burke has worked for the U.S. Department of Justice and in the White House as a Senior Policy Analyst, coordinating crime and drug policies and acting as a liaison to federal law enforcement. Burke worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, prosecuting narcotics cases, and as the Chief Deputy Attorney General for the State of Arizona.
Replacing Burke is Jan Lesher, currently the Director of the Arizona Department of Commerce. Prior to her work at Commerce, Lesher was the Director of the Governor's Southern Arizona Office, working to forge solid relationships between state government and rural Arizona.
A Tucson native, Lesher has also served as Vice-President of Communications and Marketing for the Tucson Economic Development Corporation; Executive Director of the Tucson Community Cable Corporation; and Vice President of Warner-Amex Cable. She has an extensive and impressive history of community involvement, including service with the Arizona Town Hall; the Greater Tucson Economic Council; the Tucson Airport Authority; La Frontera; and she was named Metropolitan Tucson Chamber of Commerce Woman of the Year in 2005.
The Governor has also announced that George Cunningham, Deputy Chief of Staff for Finance and Budget, will retire. Cunningham has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in state government. He served eight years in the Arizona Legislature, from 1993 to 2000; during his time in the Senate, he was the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee and served as Minority Whip in his second term.
Prior to his legislative service, Cunningham worked as Vice President for Administrative Services at the University of Arizona, as well as in other administrative and financial capacities at the University. He served as Chief of Staff for Governor Rose Mofford; Chief Policy Advisor to the Arizona State Senate President; Executive Director of the Pima Association of Governments; and Assistant City Manager of South Tucson, Arizona.
James Apperson will take over as Deputy Chief of Staff for Finance and Budget. Since October 2006, Apperson has served in the Governor's Office as Director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting. Prior to joining the Governor, Apperson was President and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, overseeing all aspects of the operation including policy analysis and legislative advocacy.
Apperson has also worked for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Maricopa Community Colleges; Southwest Gas; the Arizona House of Representatives, as a research analyst; and the Arizona Corporation Commission. Apperson has served twice before in the Governor's Office, during the Mofford and Babbitt administrations.
The Governor's Legislative Liaison and Deputy Chief of Staff, Mike Haener, will also move on. Haener has also served with the Governor since the beginning of her term, as Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative Affairs. His work has been critically important to advancing the Governor's agenda, including the creation of voluntary, statewide full-day kindergarten, establishing a medical center in downtown Phoenix, and creation of Science Foundation Arizona.
Before joining the Governor's Office, Haener was the Director of Legislative Affairs and Communications, working with Napolitano at the Office of the Attorney General; had his own consulting business, working on campaign strategy, public policy and by guiding candidates during the formative days of Arizona's vote-by-mail program; and was an Assistant to the Mayor of the City of Phoenix.
The Governor has appointed Suzie Barr to take over duties as Director of Legislative Affairs. Barr currently serves as the Governor's Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs and Policy Advisor for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. Prior to working for the Governor, Barr was a prosecutor for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, and worked in Washington, D.C. for Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona and has a Juris Doctorate from the Arizona State University College of Law.
Finally, Marco Lopez, Jr., will take over as Director of the Arizona Department of Commerce, continuing an early and successful career of service to the state. In 2000, Lopez was elected Mayor of the city of Nogales, Arizona - at the age of 22 years old, he was one of the youngest mayors in the United States. He was re-elected to that job by an overwhelming margin in 2002.
Lopez then joined state government as Executive Director of the Arizona-Mexico Commission, an organization essential to developing international policy, and in enhancing the economic power of the Arizona-Sonora region. In recent years, the AMC has been responsible for improvements to Arizona's Ports of Entry, as well as a dramatic increase in cooperation between law enforcement agencies on both sides of the international border.
Most recently, Lopez has continued and expanded that work as the Governor's Senior Policy Advisor for International Affairs.
Dennis, Mike and George have been with me for a very long time, and together, we've accomplished much for Arizona. I will miss them," said Governor Napolitano. "At the same time, I'm thrilled to have talented members of my team take on new jobs. I have absolute confidence that each of them will excel in their new areas."
Although transitions have begun, most of the personnel changes are effective September 15th.
###
Its natural for a staff to go seek their fortunes in the final few years of a lame duck term. Usually, staff tries to leave when things are looking as bright as possible so they can get jobs elsewhere or feed off the credibility that they have earned by working for a popular elected official. With the initiative fumbling and Napolitano back from the policy setting session for the DNC, do these folks see some writing on the wall?
Did you notice the interesting omission? Read this line again:
"The Governor's Legislative Liaison and Deputy Chief of Staff, Mike Haener, will also move on."
The release was fairly explicit about the other two, but not Haener. Is there a separate announcement on the horizon?
Monday, August 11, 2008
TIME Up
The Governor's Transportation initiative has been disqualified from the ballot. As we reported last week, the plan was in trouble following a miserable validation rate. The Secretary of State reports that the initiative falls 15,000 short of the signatures they needed. Bet the folks from the transportation initiative now feel silly about rejecting the Homebuilders and their 16,000 signatures.
Also mentioned in the article rejecting the signatures is Tom Ziemba, who happens to be one of the Governor's friends that scored very high on Politicker's influence list. Wonder what this type of crushing defeat will do to his influence scale next year.
One would bet that the transportation people will look to sue to try to get their issue on the ballot. Even then, this whole thing does not direct well on the Governor. It smacks of another reason she would consider leaving if Obama wins.
Looks like the State Trust initiative might be the Governor's only hope to salvage this cycle.
Also mentioned in the article rejecting the signatures is Tom Ziemba, who happens to be one of the Governor's friends that scored very high on Politicker's influence list. Wonder what this type of crushing defeat will do to his influence scale next year.
One would bet that the transportation people will look to sue to try to get their issue on the ballot. Even then, this whole thing does not direct well on the Governor. It smacks of another reason she would consider leaving if Obama wins.
Looks like the State Trust initiative might be the Governor's only hope to salvage this cycle.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Friends of Janet in Trouble
There is a group that has been launched to support several of the Republicans who helped the Governor get her budget passed last time around. The group is paying for commercials and signs to help their candidates. They are even using the Republican symbol to help their cause.
The problem is, the RNC and the Arizona Republican Party have asked them to stop. In fact, they have filed a cease and desist. The Friends of Janet Napolitano's budget that have been mentioned so far are Pete Hershberger and Tom O'Halleran. The same group has also set their sights on Russell Pearce, promoting his opponent Kevin Gibbons.
The Sonoran Alliance have asked for photoshop's of Pete Hershberger's sign that are more accurate to his positions. Here is our favorite so far:
The problem is, the RNC and the Arizona Republican Party have asked them to stop. In fact, they have filed a cease and desist. The Friends of Janet Napolitano's budget that have been mentioned so far are Pete Hershberger and Tom O'Halleran. The same group has also set their sights on Russell Pearce, promoting his opponent Kevin Gibbons.
The Sonoran Alliance have asked for photoshop's of Pete Hershberger's sign that are more accurate to his positions. Here is our favorite so far:
Russell Pearce supporters have followed suit with their own contest. Here is one of the funny ones so far:
Climate Initiative Spending
The Sonoran Alliance has excellent coverage on Governor Napolitano's latest efforts to support the Western Climate Initiative. Yet another publicity campaign ignored by the mainstream media. We believe that its best for all office holders to paste their face on issues with their own money instead of that of the taxpayers.
In the face of a $2 billion dollar financial short fall, this seems like a budget cut that could have been made to save the taxpayers a few more dollars in her budget. Perhaps, if she is so concerned about global warming, she should use her $1.1 million in surplus to fund the campaign instead of putting it on the back of the taxpayers.
In the face of a $2 billion dollar financial short fall, this seems like a budget cut that could have been made to save the taxpayers a few more dollars in her budget. Perhaps, if she is so concerned about global warming, she should use her $1.1 million in surplus to fund the campaign instead of putting it on the back of the taxpayers.
TIME Out
Looks like there is even more trouble for Napolitano's TIME initiative. It just clocked in with over a 49% failure rating. This will probably get a little bit better as they go through the list a second time, but its certainly not the gangbusters approval one would hope for an initiative that is supposed to be garnering wide range support. One would assume that is why they will likely sue to make sure that their initiative stays on the ballot. Its going to be a hard case to make when they fall short of the signature count and their support from the community is luke warm at best.
Case in point, the Page City Council was only able to muster up begruding support of the TIME initiative at their last meeting. Rumor is that the initiative is not very friendly to the rural communities and there is a lot of fear about how high their sales taxes can rise. Places like Page are never really going to see the benefit of a billion dollar train thats starts at the border and ends somewhere around Prescott. Its probably hard for them to get motivated to support.
Case in point, the Page City Council was only able to muster up begruding support of the TIME initiative at their last meeting. Rumor is that the initiative is not very friendly to the rural communities and there is a lot of fear about how high their sales taxes can rise. Places like Page are never really going to see the benefit of a billion dollar train thats starts at the border and ends somewhere around Prescott. Its probably hard for them to get motivated to support.
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