An early view of 2010?

Phoenix Mayor is taking on Sheriff Joe Arpaio again. Both have been rumored to be running for Governor in 2010. Sheriff Joe goes as far as to claim that Mayor Gordon's latest criticisms are an attempt to get press for his future run.

Of course, when anyone else but the sheriff talks to the media, they have some sort of agenda. With Mayor Gordon as a Democrat and Sheriff Joe as a Republican, are we seeing an early view of a 2010 General Election showdown?

Some believe that Gordon would not be able to survive a primary against Terry Goddard. There are also questions on if the immigration platform (see Goldwater, Don) can translate to a statewide victory in a Republican primary. However, this conflict does seem to have a greater connotation beyond the Sheriff going town to town picking on local officials on their immigration policy.

Hands down, it would be the most heated General contest.

TIME is not on her side

Looks like there may be even more trouble for the TIME initiative. The initiative based on the idea of helping businesses was NOT endorsed by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. According to the Chamber, they couldn't get the 60% of the board approval that they needed to support the tax increase. If the pro-business people are only luke warm, how do they plan to convince the people on a fixed income who are having trouble putting gas in their car?

According to Espresso Pundit, the initiative also may have even more trouble qualifying for the ballot. The Secretary of State threw out over 20,000 signatures based on flawed petitions. That is probably between $60,000 and $100,000 that some business donated that was just thrown out the window. In addition, the other story we have heard is that validity tests are showing a higher rate of failure than in years past. This one could be close.

Opposition lining up for "Janet Cams"

Set your cruise control. As Capitol Ideas so keenly points out, the latest on the "Janet Cams" is that they are going to nab any speeder that travels 10 miles over the limit. The current cameras go off an 11 mph standard, but its being moved down in hopes to catch more speeders. Let's hope that the photo radar tickets will come with Hallmark cards thanking them for boosting the general fund by $210 million.

It also looks like several groups are lining up in opposition to the speed cameras. AAA and the insurance people are already coming out against and the trucking association has their concerns as well. Naturally, the people who deal with drivers and cars are going to be on the forefront of this issue. It will be interesting to see if other people take up arms against the cameras. Our bet is that it won't be until people actually start getting tickets in the mail that they will start paying attention.

Majority Rules and Irony

Governor Napolitano has come out against Prop 105, the "Majority Rules" initiative. She says that it puts the people who choose not to vote in power and effectively halts all tax increases. That was probably the idea after seeing so many different incremental tax increases over the past few years.

The Ironic part (irony in this case defined as "intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly stated") is that the Governor claims that she doesn't know of anyone who has proposed a big tax increase. As Espresso Pundit points out, the Governor has her own $42 billion dollar sales tax increase on the ballot this time around.

Looks like she may have gotten it in just under the wire. If the new law passes, she would have actually had to work with the legislature to get increased funding for transportation.

More Friends of Janet looking to oust Pearce

As we reported awhile back, Napolitano's money man, Jim Pederson, is helping fund Kevin Gibbons' campaign to oust Russell Pearce. It turns out that there is more to the story. More friends of Janet and several supporters of her transportation initiative have also kicked in money to Gibbons. However, Gibbons invoked the name of Obama to slam Pearce last week.

Here is the release from Representative Andy Biggs:

Contact: For Immediate Release:
Rep. Andy Biggs July 21, 2008

Kevin Gibbons Trapped Between Barack and a Tax Increase
House Transportation Chairman Andy Biggs to Gibbons: Give Back Money from Democrats and Governor’s Transportation Plan Backers

MESA – In the latest salvo from special interest-funded newcomer District 18 Senate Candidate Kevin Gibbons, he compared Representative Russell Pearce to Democratic Presidential Nominee Senator Barack Obama. To that notion, House Transportation Chairman Andy Biggs replied, “Barack Obama and Russell Pearce have about as much in common as Kevin Gibbons and a real Republican.”

Governor Janet Napolitano is a top supporter of Barack Obama. Her top fundraiser Jim Pederson and his family gave over $1,500 to Kevin Gibbons and over $10,000 to Barack Obama. Under intense scrutiny, Gibbons gave away Jim Pederson’s money. However, Gibbons has not given back the other $6,660 that he has raised from Democrats and backers of the Governor Napolitano’s transportation tax increase plan.

"At least 13% of Gibbons' donors are Democrats or supporters of Governor Napolitano’s TIME initiative,” said Biggs, “It’s tough to question someone else’s fiscal credentials when you have so many backers of expanded government and wasteful spending in your own camp.”

Kevin Gibbons has claimed to be a proponent of smaller government and cutting back on wasteful spending. However, he is supported by Democrats and those who are backing the Governor’s TIME Initiative, which raises sales tax rates nearly 18% for 30 years to pay for a litany of wasteful projects. Her plan includes $1.7 billion in giveaways to environmental groups and billions more to light rail and inter-city trains.

“Why hasn’t Kevin Gibbons come out against the Governor’s TIME Initiative?” questioned Biggs, “We know the Governor is willing to cut deals to get support for her pet project. Has Kevin Gibbons been convinced that investing in a statewide train service is a ‘critical’ transportation need?”

From the budget borrowing to the transportation tax increase, the Governor and Senate and House Democrats have placed a lot of future burden on Arizona’s taxpayers. Jim Pederson and others on Gibbons’ donor list have been helping push these initiatives.

Biggs concluded, “If Kevin Gibbons wants to run as a Republican, it’s time for him to start acting like it. Support from people who advocate for this kind of wasteful spending is unacceptable for a Republican legislative candidate. He should give that money back.”

# # #

Napolitano and Military funding

Governor Napolitano took $7.8 million from a special fund to preserve military bases to help balance her budget. The fund was created to reduce encroachment and buy up development rights to make sure that bases are able to maintain their mission. Her spokesperson thinks that its not that big of a deal.

However, as the Republic reports today, Arizona military bases pump over $3 billion into the local economy. That is a big deal if the state doesn't continue to do what it takes to preserve them.

Military bases are an important part of Arizona's economy, especially in the West Valley and in Napolitano stronghold, Tucson. Perhaps it would have made a but more sense to listen to a few more cuts offered up by the House to keep this military fund whole.

Not only did she take the $4.8 million that was due to the fund for this year, but she swept an additional $3 million that was in the fund from previous allocations. Meanwhile, she still has the millions in her non-lapsing budget.

Fighting a recall effort or running for Governor?

Mayor Phil Gordon is Looking Ahead


To the untrained eye, it would look like Phil Gordon is still running for Mayor several months after he won his re-election. One would assume that these commercials which appear to be running countywide (with confirmed airings outside Phoenix City Limits) are intended to battle the latest recall effort. However, is there more to the story? Are these the first commercials for the 2010 Governor's race?

Luke warm support for Gov's Transportation Initiative

Small business support is luke warm for the Gov's Transportation initiative, according to the epically named Silver State Bank/ASBA/O'Neil Associates Arizona Economic Indicators monitor. If you recall, these are the same people who said that Terry Goddard topped the polls for future candidates for Governor.

If the transportation people are able to make it on the ballot, they are going to have to put together a fairly intensive campaign selling the program's benefits. Like the survey mentions, the opponents are going to have some fairly simple arguments to put forth. The local economic climate is not doing the proponents any favors either. Hopefully, they have finally put the secret deal with the Homebuilders behind them and actually start educating the voters.

"Janet Cam" providers have had a little trouble

Looks like DPS has chosen the Scottsdale-branch of Australian firm Redflex Traffic Systems to get the contract for the statewide traffic camera deployment. What most people may not know is that Redflex has had a few problems in the past with falsified documents and cutting corners. In fact, Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer was the one who busted them.

It looks like these guys have been taking a dramatic financial hit as of late which interestingly, starts around the time their falsified documents came to light. Its a wonder if they will still be around to finish off the contract. Perhaps the $20 million contract from Arizona will give them a boost.