Archive for May, 2010

Charles Dharapak / AP Photo

Another sign that John McCain’s tough primary battle caught him off guard: His Senate campaign manager Shiree Verdone and deputy campaign manager Mike Hellon (who ran for Congress against Giffords in 2006) have left his campaign to work for a Republican fundraising operation. The campaign insists they were not fired and that their departures are “part of the campaign’s plan for this election year.”

Read it at The Arizona Republic

Posted at 12:26 PM, May 17, 2010

Why You’re Paying Higher Taxes

Published on May 14, 2010 by James Sherk

Wondering why you paid so much in taxes on April 15? The answer lies in Oregon.

In January, labor unions in that state campaigned for two ballot initiatives hiking income and business taxes. They argued that businesses needed to pay their “fair share.” Businesses fought the measures, but unions outspent them 3-to-2, and the measures passed easily.

This seems odd. Like most Americans, union members don’t especially like paying taxes. Indeed, the labor movement went to bat to exempt its members from the tax increases in President Obama’s health plan. So why would unions press for higher taxes in Oregon? Because unions representing government workers funded the campaign. The more the government taxes, the more it can pay its unionized workers.

State employees in Oregon don’t contribute toward the cost of their health plans – and they want it to stay that way. So public sector unions in Oregon went all out for higher taxes to forestall spending cuts. Unfortunately this is the new face of Organized Labor across the United States. The market competition that has bankrupted unionized companies such as General Motors doesn’t exist for government. No matter how much unions raise costs, the government (almost always) stays in business. So even as private-sector unions have shed members, public-sector unions have added them.

Last year those paths crossed: a majority of union members nationwide now work for the government. Three times as many union members work for the Post Office as in the auto industry. The union movement’s priorities have shifted with their membership.

Unions once put their energy into improving private-sector working conditions, such as banning child labor and workplace safety laws. Now unions focus on making government employment even more comfortable. Have they ever. The average state and local employee earns $40 an hour in compensation, well above the $27 an hour made by the private-sector workers whose taxes fund their pay.

Much of this generous compensation comes not in cash wages but in benefits. The average government employee earns triple the retirement contributions of the average private-sector worker and can retire far earlier. Government employees get generous health benefits too. Almost one out of every four local government employees pay nothing out of pocket for health care. How many private-sector workers get that?

Government workers have also been insulated from the pain of the recession. The government has been hiring even as the private sector lost 8 million jobs over the last two years. No wonder government employees are more likely than anyone else to tell pollsters that their personal finances are doing well.

Understandably, government employee unions like these arrangements. But the money that makes it all possible comes from your taxes – and that explains why the union movement has become an aggressive lobby for higher taxes all across America.

The labor movement’s love for taxes is not unique to Oregon. In Arizona, government unions successfully lobbied for a $250 million property tax increase. In Minnesota, unions narrowly failed in passing a $1 billion tax hike. In Illinois they are trying to hike the state income tax by 66 percent. The list of union backed tax-increase campaigns goes on and on.

Instead of voters telling the government how to spend their money, government unions now tell voters the taxes they want them to pay. They always have a one-word answer: more.

As taxpayers in Oregon recently discovered, the new labor movement wants you to pay your “fair share” – to them.

James Sherk is a senior policy analyst in labor economics at The Heritage Foundation.

Yes Senator, we know you were stuck in an airport with bad weather.  We know some other choices were not available for last minute replacement.  We truly understand. 

As you move through the primary season, you are trying to act like the conservative you usually aren’t.  If that’s the case, then why would you have the inept Mayor of Tucson Bob Walkup open your office?!?  Yes, the Mayor that voted to sue the state of Arizona.  The mayor who said it’s a “misguided notion” that illegal immigrants have a negative impact upon the community.  The mayor who sat by while the small business community gets slaughtered by his council, without him saying one word to the contrary.

If this is your idea a good last second replacement, your supporters should take a second look at you.  Next time, just have one of your staff welcome everyone and have a good high school band play “God Bless America”.  Having no one talk is better then having a Mayor who proudly states that he has voted in-lockstep with Steve Leal over 95% of time!  This kind of decison-making probably didn’t help when Obama handed your butt to you in 2008.

From the AZstarnet:

Pueblo Politics: McCain misses Tucson office opening

Andrea Kelly | Posted: Friday, May 14, 2010 5:33 pm | Comments

U.S. Sen. John McCain’s Tucson campaign office is opening today without the man of the hour.

McCain wasn’t able to get to Tucson in time for the opening because of flight delays, said Brian Rogers, campaign spokesman. In his stead, he’d hoped to have Congressional candidate Jonathan Paton fill in to address the party. But Paton had personal business to attend to in Phoenix, so he was heading the wrong way on I-10 when the party was underway.

That sent campaign staff scrambling less than two hours before the event.

Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup and car-dealership owner Jim Click spoke to the crowd of about 150 people while the senator waited out a storm in Dallas.

McCain is due back in Tucson in a couple weekends, Rogers said.

Hey, Mayor Bobby Wakeup and friends, read on:

N.J. gov. sets tone for US
By A.B. Stoddard – 05/12/10 05:45 PM ET 

http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/ab-stoddard/97603-nj-gov-sets-tone-for-us
 
In a movie version of this important story of our time, the bold, undaunted officeholder would look much like the boyish, handsome David Cameron — Great Britain’s new Conservative prime minister — who called on his countrymen Tuesday to embrace an “age of austerity.”
But this is America. So the fearless leader willing to be honest with voters, to part with what cannot be paid for, is actually not dashing, nor is he eloquent. He is an overweight Bruce Springsteen devotee, a former prosecutor with a remaining trace of a Turnpike accent who is intent on rescuing New Jersey. If he succeeds, Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) could become a major political force in the years to come, whether he likes it or not.
As the United States watches a debt crisis in Greece like a fiscal oil spill, waiting to see where it will spread first and when it will make landfall on our shores, Christie is tackling the nation’s worst state deficit — $10.7 billion of a $29.3 billion budget. In doing so, Christie has become the politician so many Americans crave, one willing to lose his job. Indeed, Christie is doing something unheard of: governing as a Republican in a blue state, just as he campaigned, making good on promises, acting like his last election is behind him.

Upon taking office Christie declared a state of emergency, signing an executive order that froze spending, and then, in eight weeks, cutting $13 billion in spending. In March he presented to the Legislature his first budget, which cuts 9 percent of spending, including more than $800 million in education funding; seeks to privatize numerous government functions; projects 1,300 layoffs; and caps tax increases.

Teachers unions are incensed, fighting Christie’s proposal that — in order to avoid cuts to education — teachers accept a one-year wage freeze and contribute 1.5 percent to the generous-by-every-standard healthcare plans they now enjoy for free. New Jersey, which has the highest unemployment in the region and highest taxes in the country, lost 121,000 jobs in the private sector in 2009 while adding 11,300 new education jobs. During the last eight years, K-12 enrollment rose just 3 percent while education jobs increased more than 16 percent. According to the Newark Star-Ledger, during the recession that has cost many residents their homes and jobs and scaled back hours and pay for the employed, teachers’ salaries rose by nearly 5 percent, double the rate of inflation.

Christie is adamant about lowering taxes. After taxes were raised 115 times in the last eight years, he said the wealthy are tapped out. Property taxes rose nearly 70 percent in the last decade, and studies show top earners — the 1 percent of taxpayers paying 40 percent of income tax — are fleeing the Garden State.

The goal is not just to crawl out of crisis but ultimately to lead, said Christie in his budget address. “If we make the tough decisions now, we will be one year ahead of 80 percent of the states in the race to economic growth. If we fail to act, we will fall even further behind … by going first, we can become first.”

Can Christie succeed? We will find out on June 30, when the Legislature must pass a budget . But no matter the political price, Christie is determined. “You just have to stand and grit your teeth and know your poll numbers are going to go down — and mine have — but you gotta grit through it because the alternative is unacceptable,” he told The Wall Street Journal.

The alternative is unacceptable — words a growing majority of Americans desperately want to hear from their elected officials.

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From Goldwater Institutes daily email. This session Arizona lawmakers enacted some of the most far-reaching K-12 education reforms in state history. The changes have received little attention from any Arizona media so far. But you can bet you’ll hear much more as the state implements the new laws.

Ten years ago Florida implemented a set of education reforms that transformed their schools from among the worst performers on national tests to among the best. Several of the bills that Governor Brewer has signed into law are modeled on Florida’s success.
Arizona now will annually issue schools a letter grade of A, B, C, D, or F.
The state now will have a robust program for experts in math, science and other areas to teach their subjects without first getting a teaching certificate from a college of education.

Lawmakers have curtailed social promotion by holding back some third graders who have yet to learn the basics of reading.
Legislators expanded the sources available to launch new charter schools.
Lawmakers increased the size and transparency of the state scholarship tax credit program and changed to the date for claiming the tax credits from December 31 to April 15.

The Legislature also specified school districts cannot use “years on the job” as the only criteria when deciding which teachers to keep. The Arizona Department of Education will be required to develop teacher and principal evaluations that include how well students score on specific tests.

Each bill contains important policy changes that will improve education by holding educators accountable to parents and taxpayers. The “A” to “F” school labels and teacher evaluation reforms could revolutionize Arizona’s public schools if properly implemented.

We have many people to thank for these remarkable changes. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Patricia Levesque, the executive director for the Foundation for Excellence in Education, spent their valuable time here in Arizona. Key philanthropic and business community leaders aided with both their money and their time. Governor Jan Brewer and her staff made it a priority to win legislative approval of the Florida-based reforms. The chairmen of the Senate and House education committees, Senator John Huppenthal and Representative Rich Crandall, personally introduced several of the key bills. Most of the measures gathered strong, bipartisan support.

This year, Arizona lawmakers demonstrated with action, not just words, that they will not accept Arizona permanently sitting near the bottom of student achievement rankings. We will not see overnight improvement, and much hard work lies ahead. We have, however, taken the first vital steps to turning our school performance crisis around.

Dr. Matthew Ladner is vice president of research for the Goldwater Institute.

Looks like Cyprus Hill is boycotting Tucson (Tucson Weekly Blog) in opposition to the SB1070 immigration law.  The LA based Hispanic band noted for their hip hop raps and cannabis promotion would fit right in to graffiti ridden Tucson.

Here’s a few highlights from their early 90′s hey day:

The Phunky Feel One -How I Could Just Kill A Man which received heavy airplay on urban and college radio. The other two singles released from the album were “Hand On The Pump” and “Latin Lingo”,

Cypress Hill was banned from Saturday Night Liveafter Muggs smoked a joint on-air and the band trashed their instruments while playing their second single “I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That”.

And their comeback with the wrestling crowd….

Cypress Hill recorded “Just Another Victim” for the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a theme song for Tazz. At the time, WWE was using original music for almost all of the wrestlers, so this was an unusual step for the company to take, but it remains one of the more memorable songs to emerge from the wrestling organization.

We’re sure their fans are totally bumming that they can’t see them live.  The Rialto made a last ditch effort to keep them with a letter pleading for them to reconsider:

You might have also heard that first a police officer in Tucson, and then the city governments of Tucson (and Flagstaff) have filed Federal lawsuits challenging SB 1070′s constitutionality. I have read a lot of legal analysis that strongly suggests that SB 1070 will not survive a legal challenge because it is unconstitutional, but of course that process could potentially take a long time to play out, and meanwhile thousands of people could be harassed or worse simply because they look Hispanic and can now be racially profiled under color of law. You probably did not hear about the May Day rally in Tucson that brought out an estimated 10,000 people (including Linda Ronstadt and Representative Raul Grijalva) this past Saturday. In addition, the Sheriff of Pima County, Clarence Dupnik, has taken a very strong vocal stand against SB 1070 and has said he’d be extremely disinclined to enforce it. In our city, there is an overwhelming consensus against what the state has done and legal steps are being taken to fight it. Your (and our) fight is not with Tucson, but rather certain elements within our state legislature.

I propose that we will donate 50% of any profits from the show to Chicanos por la Causa (http://www.cplc.org/) and/or Humane Borders (http://humaneborders.org/) and that you consider donating a portion of your artist fee from the show to these organizations as well, or to a related charity of your choice.

Pulling out the Linda Rondstadt card, that’s got to have an affect.

Seems like Rondstadt doesn’t like much about her old home town…

In 2007 Ronstadt resided in the San Francisco area, while also maintaining her home in Tucson, Arizona.^[37] That same year she drew criticism and praise^[38]from Tucsonans for commenting that the local city council’s failings, developers’ strip mall mentality, greed and growing dust problem had rendered the city unrecognizable and poorly developed.^[39]

Tucson has some major structural problems in how it’s going about the business of governing. O’Dell’s Star article today about budget growth that is far outpacing inflation and population growth tells a story of a community with no direction, lack of focus on the basics, and and possibly at the brink of not being able to turn it around.

Burning through City Managers, difficulty in building infill housing projects, big box ordinances that chase large retail projects outside the city limits and a general attitude of either lack of caring or downright obstruction to anything that is associated with large or small business and you have a recipe for what we have here in Tucson. Drive around Marana, Oro Valley, Sahuarita or much of Pima County. The graffiti is removed quickly, the pot holes are filled and the streets are safe.

While Tucson fiddled with Rio Nuevo, low income housing and suing the state over SB1070, Sahuarita delivered almost three times as many new housing permits than Tucson and they banked away an entire years worth of general funds for a rainier day. Marana opened the Ritz, created a sales tax generating super center at Cortaro and put together the new Twin Peaks interchange retail developments. Marana’s budget is balance, lay offs have already taken place and services are still getting done.

What do these communities do or have that’s different than Tucson? Leadership and a plan. Keep it up folks I’m sure Marana appreciates looking better and better each passing year.

From O’Dell’s article:

Tucson’s city budget has grown at more than double the inflation rate and nearly five times faster than the population over the last 10 years.

City budget growth remains significantly higher than the inflation and population factors would seem to justify even though there have been numerous cuts over the past two years, scaling back both services and employees, and eliminating one entire department.

Despite a 5 percent reduction in the city workforce from 2000 through 2009, city spending on workers’ salaries and benefits has gone up 40 percent, while inflation has been about 23.4 percent.

Another complicating factor has been the amount of construction paid for with non-voter-approved bonds. Bonds approved by voters have their own dedicated repayment source, such as secondary property taxes or other special revenues. Non-approved bonds must be repaid from the operating fund, competing with police, fire, parks and other services for a limited amount of cash.

Operating fund debt payments increased 89 percent, or $43 million, over 10 years, although some of that was increased spending by Tucson Water, which has always paid for construction that way, using its own revenues.

An analysis by the Arizona Daily Star compared the adopted budgets from fiscal year 2000-01 with the current fiscal year, 2009-10. The operating budget – which excludes money for construction – jumped 61 percent over 10 years.

The departments with the biggest increases include Tucson Water at 36 percent, transportation at 43 percent, police at 61 percent and fire at 96 percent.

A change that saved the budget from growing even larger since 2000 is the transfer of the library system to Pima County, for a savings of $19 million.