Democratic Diva

Big tip o’ the hat to Steve Lemons of the New Times for his blog post alerting readers to this. Lobbyists for many of the major companies in Arizona are part of an extensive host list of a Russell Pearce fundraiser, at a cost of $250 apiece.

But they really, truly, deeply care about immigration reform. Honest.

This is from a press release by a consortium of business and political leaders calling themselves Renew Our Economy seeking to address the immigration issue. In a very pro-business way, natch.

“The Arizona companies joining our effort are proof that in all quarters of the country and in all sectors of the economy there is demand for a smarter, more sensible immigration strategy,” said Partnership Co-Chair Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “We need reform that will both secure our borders and do more to attract and keep the workers necessary for American businesses to compete in the 21st century.”

The release identifies an impressive roster of CEOs and assorted mucky mucks and they want us to know that these titans of industry are deeply committed to forging a sensible solution to our immigration situation.

I have an idea for them: Stop endorsing and funneling wads of cash to Republicans who turn around and pass harsh anti-immigrant measures while blocking reform.

Just a thought.

This is how the Republic ended their paean to outgoing Corporation Commission Chair Kris Mayes.

In short, Mayes has helped position Arizona for the future.

They’re right, of course. Mayes was sharp, pragmatic, highly competent, and a forward-looking thinker and leader. But, sheesh, nerd alert! The Republic ed board must have gotten bored with all this brainiac innovation mumbo jumbo and wanted to get back to some good old corporate patronage so they endorsed oil industry lobbyist and noted CO2 defender Brenda Burns over renewable energy proponent David Bradley.

Arizona Right to Life, Center for Arizona Policy, and other so-called “pro-life” organizations in our state: Where the hell are you?

Transplant patients approved for life-saving treatment are now denied. This is effectively a death sentence for innocent human beings yet we’re not hearing any denouncements from this crowd against the Governor and Republican legislators. Not terribly pro-life-y of them, is it? AZRTL endorsed Jan Brewer because of “her strong support of the pro-life cause over her 25 year career”. CAP has called her a “consistent pro-life ally in Arizona”. The latest dispatch from CAP’s website concerns such weighty matters as gay marriage and school choice. The Right to Lifers have nothing about people being denied transplants on their site either.

Example #2567890776 of how they only care about life when it’s in the womb.

Sorry for the lame duck blogging lately. I’m working on some stuff now but I promise I’ll get back to regular posting soon. Here’s a lazy cut-n-paste of something that came in my inbox earlier.

Tell Congress — Don’t let the EV infrastructure tax credit expire!

Last year, Plug In America, along with plug-in vehicle and EV infrastructure manufacturers from coast to coast worked with members of the House and Senate to get a critical plug-in vehicle infrastructure tax credit into the stimulus bill. These EV tax credits of 50% up to $2,000 for individuals, and 50% up to $50,000 for businesses have led to the beginning of early deployment of EV charging infrastructure all across the United States.

But the infrastructure tax credit is set to expire on 12/31/2010 unless we act now!

Just as plug-in cars are about to get on the road is absolutely the wrong time to end these tax credits.

We were initially successful in advocating an extension in the proposed 2010 tax extenders legislation. But now our efforts are threatened – we hear that the tax credit extension for EV infrastructure may be scaled back or eliminated from the tax extenders bill. This credit should be extended at the same level as in the stimulus for at least another three years.

Credit: blogs.cars.com
We need your help – and we will do most of the work. Please take just a moment to click through the link below and send a strong message to your representatives in Congress and the President telling them that you want plug-in electric vehicles to be successful along with the truly green jobs they can create.

Show Washington just how serious you are about wanting to make sure we can get affordable plug-in infrastructure at our homes and businesses and support plug-in vehicles getting on the road now. Enter your zip code below to start.

It is time to ask Congress to advance the next generation of transportation options. Each and every voice they hear will make a difference.

Let us do the work for you – Just fill in your zip code below so we can load up your representatives and in less than a minute you can get your message to Congress about this key issue:

p.s. If you are about to purchase a new plug-in vehicle. you may want to purchase your EV charging station before the end of the year just in case!

They’re asking y’all to submit your email and they’ll contact your Congresscritter. How lazy is that? Here’s the link.

Our Republican overlords tell us we must cut corporate taxes to make Arizona more “competitive” with slave wage countries. With that in mind, get a load of the 543 companies that have applied for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), a Recovery Act program that provides training funds to help people who lose their jobs due to offshoring. The program’s website lets you see what companies in your state have applied for the assistance. The criteria are as follows:

The group eligibility requirements for workers of a firm
under Section 222(a) of the Act, 19 U.S.C. § 2272(a), are
satisfied if the following criteria are met:

I. The first criterion (set forth in Section 222(a)(1) of the
Act, 19 U.S.C. § 2272(a)(1)) requires that a significant
number or proportion of the workers in the workers’ firm
must have become totally or partially separated or be
threatened with total or partial separation.

II. The second criterion (set forth in Section 222(a)(2) of the
Act, 19 U.S.C. § 2272(a)(2)) may be satisfied if either:

(i)(I) there has been a shift by the workers’ firm to a
foreign country in the production of articles or
supply of services like or directly competitive with
those produced/supplied by the workers’ firm; OR
(i)(II) there has been an acquisition from a foreign
country by the workers’ firm of articles/services that
are like or directly competitive with those
produced/supplied by the workers’ firm.

III. The third criterion requires that the shift/acquisition
must have contributed importantly to the workers’
separation or threat of separation. See Section
222(a)(2)(B)(ii) of the Act, 19 U.S.C. §
2272(a)(2)(B)(ii).

543, count ‘em, 543 corporations operating in Arizona asked the taxpayers to pick up the tab for retraining workers they unceremoniously dump off the payroll to take advantage of cheap labor overseas and the tax breaks they get for taking advantage of that cheap labor. I picked one company at random, Honeywell, which got its application certified:

The investigation was initiated in response to a petition
filed on June 17, 2010 on behalf of workers of Honeywell
International, Inc., Aerospace Division, Purchasing
Department, Phoenix, Arizona (Honeywell). The worker group
includes on-site leased workers from Manpower International.
The workers are engaged in activities related to the provision
of purchasing services.

The investigation revealed that workers of Honeywell who
are engaged in activities related to the provision of
purchasing services meet the criteria for certification.

Criterion I has been met because a significant number or
proportion of the workers have been totally or partially
separated or threatened with separation.
Criterion II has been satisfied because the workers’ firm
has shifted to Mexico, the Czech Republic, and Malaysia the
provision of services like or directly competitive with the
purchasing services provided by the workers.
Criterion III has been met because the shift of
purchasing services to affiliated foreign suppliers by
Honeywell has contributed importantly to worker group
separations at the subject firm.

De facto Gov. Russell Pearce will tell us that an across-the-board business tax cut will cause these patriotic companies to keep the jobs here in AZ instead of sending them to countries with no labor, safety, or environmental protections. Suuure it will, Russell.

My friend Kenny alerted me to this Hotline post calling out members of the Tea Party caucus in Congress as giant hypocrites for the amount of earmarks they’ve requested.

According to a Hotline review of records compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste, the 52 members of the caucus, which pledges to cut spending and reduce the size of government, requested a total of 764 earmarks valued at $1,049,783,150 during Fiscal Year 2010, the last year for which records are available.

“It’s disturbing to see the Tea Party Caucus requested that much in earmarks. This is their time to put up or shut up, to be blunt,” said David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste. “There’s going to be a huge backlash if they continue to request earmarks.”

There is one Arizonan in the Tea Party caucus – Trent Franks. Trent requested 8 earmarks totaling $14 million. Not as impressive as the $100 million in earmarks requested by caucus member Denny Rehberg (R-MT), but still.

What did we in Arizona get from Trent Franks bravely setting aside his teabagger principles?

Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge – $5,250,000
Internal Auxiliary Fuel Tank System – $2,400,000 (that’s in UT)
Gas Engine Driven Air Conditioning – $2,400,000 (that’s in NV)
Silver Fox and Manta Unmanned Aerial Systems – $1,600,000
Air Education and Training Command Range Improvements at the Barry M. Goldwater Range – $1,200,000
Glendale Computer Aided Dispatch and Records Management System – $1,000,000
Hassayampa Freeway (proposed I-11) – $250,000
Police Officer Technology Upgrade – $200,000

Not bad. $9.5 million in earmarks in Arizona, and for some worthwhile looking things. I’m mostly shocked he stopped blathering about abortion long enough to do something productive.