Featured

Obamacare’s Results…so far

January 8, 2012 · 3 Comments 

 “If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away.  No matter what.”   

Not so fast.  According to the Galen Institute’s Grace-Marie Turner, “even before the law fully takes effect, millions of people are losing  ’the coverage they have now,’ and tens of millions more surely will follow.”

What is actually happening on the ground across the country as a result of the rules and regs already in place -  before most of the law comes online in 2014?  Read  The Galen Institute report

Read other effects of Obamacare: Read more »

Campaign 2012

The Lines are Drawn

January 8, 2012 · Leave a Comment 

…and they’re not pretty.

I’m referring to the so-called “Independent Redistricting Commission”, of course -whose five members are responsible for redrawing district boundaries based upon 2010 U.S. Census data.   The Commission system was initiated following approval of Prop. 106 in November of 2000.

Their work will profoundly influence the direction of Arizona’s and our nation’s policies.

This is the story so far:

• The Legislature and Governor intervened in Special Session in October to remove Chairwoman Mathis before the Commission could final vote their woeful work. 
• The AZ. Supreme Court reinstated her, violating separation of powers authority, by denying rights expressly provided to the Legislature and Executive in the voter-approved proposition for the purposes of oversight. 
• Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Dean Fink ruled December 9th the Commission cannot be investigated for open meeting law violations , terminating an investigation initiated by Attorney General Tom Horne into two issues:  whether Commission Chairwoman Colleen Mathis violated state open meeting laws by making dramatic changes - in private and without the full Commission – to draft maps over the weekend of Sept. 24th and awarding  a mapping consultant contract to a partisan firm under a cloud of Open Meeting violations and alleged bid-rigging – effectively removing ANY oversight of the Commission.
• December 20th  and 21st the Commission votes on final Congressional and Legislative maps. Read more »

Media

Obamacare’s Results…so far

January 8, 2012 · 3 Comments 

 “If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away.  No matter what.”   

Not so fast.  According to the Galen Institute’s Grace-Marie Turner, “even before the law fully takes effect, millions of people are losing  ’the coverage they have now,’ and tens of millions more surely will follow.”

What is actually happening on the ground across the country as a result of the rules and regs already in place -  before most of the law comes online in 2014?  Read  The Galen Institute report

Read other effects of Obamacare: Read more »

Legislative Action

Philosophy of the Health Care Compact

January 8, 2012 · Leave a Comment 

Last session the AZ Legislature overwhelmingly passed (and the Governor vetoed) the Health Care Compact which will, when approved by Congress, return governance of health care to the states – where it rightfully belongs – not in Washington.  States in the compact would each have the authority to say “yay” or “nay” to Federal health care regulations that are harmful or don’t serve their citizens well - including Obamacare.

Four states have passed the HCC and 23 more are advancing  HCC legislation in 2012, including Arizona – for the second time.

Why a Compact at this time in history?  The below is reprinted from the Health Care Compact Facebook post of December 16, 2010.  It’s a great piece: 

“Our political problems are structural, not personal. Simply changing our representatives won’t fix them; we need to change the incentives and power relationships embedded in our political institutions. This is structural political change – the kind of change that alters those incentives and power relationships. And that sort of change requires new policy approaches, new policy ideas. Ideas like the Health Care Compact [emphasis mine]. Read more »

Culture Watch

AZ Legislators Address Nat’l Conference

August 20, 2011 · Leave a Comment 

Arizona Legislators, including Senate Majority Leader Andy Biggs, Senator Rich Crandall, House Speaker Andy Tobin, Sr. and Senator Nancy Barto, addressed their peers from all 50 states during the National Conference of State Legislatures’ annual meeting in San Antonio in August.  They participated in sessions about health reform, the changing role of state government and leadership during tough times. 

• In a session called, “States Opting-Out: Health Reform Challenges, Waivers and Alternatives”, Barto shared how Arizona has protected citizens’ fundamental rights and worked to provide free market health reforms such as Interstate Health Insurance and Health Care Compacts to lower health care costs while returning health care decisions to individuals and the states.  

The session began with lawsuit updates from Bill McCollum, former Florida Attorney General and Elizabeth Weeks Leonard, Associate Professor of Law, University of Georgia followed by legislators’ state updates by:

Read ABC 15 press.

Community News

Senate Removes IRC Chair

November 11, 2011 · Leave a Comment 

The Governor and Senate took decisive action, voting to remove Chairwoman Colleen Mathis of the Independent Redistricting Commission.

Was it right?  YOU decide.

The Big Picture:

- Just because the Independent Redistricting Commission is “independent” does not mean it can act independently of the Arizona Constitution.  The IRC is mandated to follow the Arizona Constitution, which lays out the criteria for the maps.

- The IRC has had more than 38 hours of behind closed-door meetings. – There was a time they had as many closed session meetings as open session meetings.

- After these numerous closed-door meetings, the IRC decided to go with a Democratic mapping firm.

- The Congressional map moved in the opposite direction and became less competitive than the existing map.

- The draft maps are blatantly gerrymandered.  They do not respect communities of interest and natural boundaries, nor are they compact, i.e. they are Unconstitutional.

- The IRC used constitutionally forbidden techniques by factoring in incumbent’s residences. Read more »