First of all I want to address the propositions on the Arizona ballet. Some of you may have voted already. Many of you don’t live in Arizona but bear with me. There’s more for you below the fold, as it were.
Many of these propositions are supported by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, of which election denier Andy Biggs is quoted as saying, “When it comes to protecting taxpayers and taking on entrenched special interests, there isn’t a more effective organization at the legislature than the Free Enterprise Club. I urge everyone to support them.”
PROP 128 — NO
Supported by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, this proposition would give lawmakers the ability to overturn the will of voters. A no vote would keep the current law in place, which voters approved in 1998. The Voter Protection Act won that year with more than 52% of the vote and prohibited lawmakers from changing measures passed by voters.
PROP 129 — NO
Also supported by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, this proposition limits the power of voters to enact their own laws. The League of Women Voters of Arizona strongly opposes this amendment to the Arizona Constitution. The League is dedicated to protecting the constitutional right of citizens to enact laws by preventing legislative action from diminishing or interfering with the will of the people.
PROP 130 — YES (I have since changed this to a NO vote as I’ve found it be a Trojan Horse as it gives the legislature the right to determine the amount & the qualifications for a wide variety of tax exemptions)
This proposition would expand the tax exemption for disabled veterans to include veterans who are currently Arizona residents, even if they were not residents prior to serving in the military. I searched high and low for any arguments against this bill. Perhaps the people I know who say NO on this one are opposed because the eligibility for property tax exemptions are limited to one category. Please feel free to make coherent arguments in the comments on this one.
PROP 131 — NO
This proposition creates the position of Lieutenant Governor to succeed a Governor who is no longer able to serve. It’s a tough call as the League of Women Voters of Arizona AND the AZ Republican Party are both FOR it. The argument against it is the candidates for Lieutenant Governor would not be named until after the primary election, and the candidates would be selected by the gubernatorial candidates rather than by primary voters. The time allowed for voters to get to know that candidate after the primary is too short. The Arizona Free Enterprise Club hates this one, because, you know, freedom.
PROP 132 — NO
This constitutional amendment takes away our right to decide what happens in Arizona, requiring at least 60%, rather than a simple majority of votes to approve a ballot proposition that would enact a tax. Under Proposition 132, this amendment would end majority rule so 41% of voters decide what's best for everyone else.
PROP 209 — YES
The Predatory Debt Collection Protection Act addresses Arizonans suffering from emergency medical debt by curbing predatory debt collection practices. It does so by limiting the interest rate on medical debt to no more than 3%, protecting more assets from being sold to pay off debt collectors, and ensuring hard-working Arizonans keep more of their bank accounts and wages.
PROP 211 — YES
This proposition is the Voters Right to Know Act. The law would require entities and persons spending over $50,000 on statewide campaigns or $25,000 on other campaigns to disclose the original donor of any contributions over $5000.
PROP 308 — YES
This proposition gives Arizona voters the opportunity to allow all students, including Arizona Dreamers, to receive in-state college tuition when a student (a) attended a school in Arizona for a minimum of two years and (b) graduated from a public school, private school, or homeschool in Arizona. Currently, Arizona Dreamers have to pay more than their peers at local colleges and public universities.
PROP 309 — FRICK NO
Nearly 80% of Arizona voters currently cast their ballots by mail. This measure is an attempt by some politicians to discourage Arizonans from speaking up and using our voice in our elections. This proposition adds new barriers to vote by mail that infringe on our privacy as Arizonans. It would remove the current provision in law that allows a voter to present any state or local government issued photo ID to receive a ballot, and replaces it with a stricter list of acceptable forms of identification.
PROP 310 — YES
This proposition provides urgently needed funding for our rural fire departments. Summit Fire may close one of its fire stations without the support that would come from this proposition. would increase sales taxes by a tenth of a penny on the dollar to fund rural fire districts. Guess who also opposes this: the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, because none of them had a home in Yarnell those many years ago.
I posted about judges on September 26 but it bears repeating here:
Do Not Retain:
James P. Beene (appointed by Ducey)
Featured in the Federalist Society’s Oct 2022 symposium on “Originalism and the Arizona Constitution.” In 2018, Justice Beene delivered the Appellate Court’s decision in Madonna v Arizona, upholding a recently passed AZ law requiring “strict compliance” for public initiatives, not “substantial compliance.”
William G. Montgomery (appointed by Ducey)
He fiercely opposes LGBTQ equality, and openly refused to provide adoption support services to same-sex couples. He is a staunch defender of the death penalty, the failed "war on drugs," and mass incarceration and claims membership in the ideologically right-wing Federalist Society.
If you vote for Kari Lake, or Blake Masters, or Mark Finchem, or any other politician endorsed by the lumpy orange man, you are in agreement and support the followers of a man who talks like this:
"You know in this country they leak all over the place even from the Supreme Court by the way you have to find the leaker of the Supreme Court you have to find the leaker you know how you find the leaker? They'll say, oh, this is what I say, so they can't find the leaker he leaked all about Roe vee Wade let, at, ur, this person leaked from the Supreme Court, never happened, you know how you find but they don't wanna mention this 'cause they think it's so terrible you take the writer you're never going to find it you're going through phone records, it's been a long time, you take the writer and or the publisher of the paper a certain paper if you know and you say who is the leaker? National Security. And they say we're not gonna tell you, you say that's okay you're going to jail and when this person realizes that he is going to be the bride of another prisoner very shortly he will say I will very much like to tell you exactly who that leaker is it was bill jones i swear he's the leaker and we got him but they don't wanna do that they don't wanna do that but that's the only way you're gonna find we have to find can you imagine..."
This salad, spewed with the masses cheering and clapping at the Save America Rally in Robstown, Texas, can be boiled down to…let’s toss a reporter in jail and hope for sexual violence. Shocking? Surprising? Not really. This guy has been revealing his utterly loathsome self for years and about half the population of this country LOVES this sort of talk. They want to say those things, too.
According to CBS News, Richard Vallejo, of Corpus Christi, said he had never voted before casting a ballot for Trump in 2020 — and he said he is ready to vote for Republicans this time too. "I feel like he's stood more for the people of color – people don't see that, more people of color were graduating from school, we had the biggest economy in the world, we had a secure border. It's not about race, but uniting the American people, no matter what the color of our skin was."
Another attendee, Scott Graham of Robstown, said he had voted for Democrats in the past, but he feels that it's Republicans who are now "for the people." He said he had supported Trump "since Day 1."
I know Katie Hobbs is not the most inspiring persona we’ve seen in politics but for the love of gawd, consider the alternative. Same down the line.
Governor: Katie Hobbs
Attorney General: Kris Mayes
Secretary of State: Adrian Fontes
Corporation Commission: Lauren Kuby
Treasurer: Martin Quezada
Don’t be a dope. JUST. VOTE. BLUE.
And now…
NO ON 130: This amendment also gives the legislature the right to determine the amount and the qualifications for a wide variety of tax exemptions. Yes, this wacko legislature; The amendment is a Trojan Horse.
Thank you Gary!