Strike Everything

U.S. Rep. David Schweikert says he won’t get the committee assignment he wanted most, but he is still holding out for an assignment that “has something to do with numbers.”

Schweikert made an appearance, along with U.S. Reps. Ben Quayle and Paul Gosar, at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s “Welcome to Washington” breakfast today at the Hyatt. The three Republican freshmen said they had moved into their offices in D.C., and are expecting to receive their committee assignments by Friday.

Prime committee assignments will be even more valuable this year, and harder for freshmen to attain, because House leaders have decided to reduce the number of members serving on the committees.

Gosar, who represents the mostly rural 1st Congressional District, used a very unfortunate pun by saying he would be a ”natural” choice for a seat on the Natural Resources Committee, though he didn’t sound very optimistic that he’d get it. 

By the way, Gosar, a dentist by trade, used a toothbrush as a visual aid during his speech. It was part of an analogy about brushing away the plaque in Washington.

Quayle didn’t say which committees he was lobbying for. He said he plans to stand tall for Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District in whatever capacity is chosen for him, later taking a tone reminiscent of Ringo Starr when he told the crowd that he is just “really happy” to be serving in Congress.

Schweikert, who knocked off Harry Mitchell in Arizona’s 5th Congressional District, said he has been told that he won’t get his first choice of committee assignments: Financial Services. Instead, the former Maricopa County Treasurer said he is still in the running for a different committee where his skills with accounting and statistics would be useful.

Schweikert didn’t get into specifics, but all of his talk about numbers probably means he put in for Ways and Means or the Budget Committee. As a test of boldness, he may have requested a spot on Appropriations, though seats on that committee are extremely valuable commodities and usually off limits to freshmen.

“My gift is creating spreadsheets,” he said after the breakfast event.

Looks like we’ve made an acquisition, and it appears to be a big one. Check out this press release:

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec 01, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — The Dolan Company (NYSE:DM), a leading provider of services and business information to professionals in law, finance and real estate, said today it acquired DataStream Content Solutions, LLC, a leading provider of federal legislative and regulatory data and advanced content management systems to information businesses, publishers and governments.
DataStream’s proprietary processes and technology transform highly complex and unstructured data into valuable products and services for its business and government clients. It specializes in applying XML markup language to convert complex and unstructured data into “smarter” forms, allowing flexible queries and dynamic database updates.
DataStream’s proprietary business lines include Legislative Impact(R) and Regulatory Impact(R), data management technologies which simplify searches of vast federal databases and are licensed to business clients and to the U.S. House of Representatives Office of Legislative Counsel. The company also offers other data management, conversion and analytic tools and services. Its subsidiary Potomac Publishing was included in the transaction.
Its target markets have been government, legislative and regulatory sectors.
The Dolan Company Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer James P. Dolan said that DataStream will become part of The Dolan Company’s Business Information Division. “DataStream’s successful subscription-based model is a good example of how we plan to grow this part of The Dolan Company in the future,” Dolan said.
DataStream will continue to be run by its founder and president, Mark Anstey, and its chief information architect, Ed Schulke. Both will report to The Dolan Company’s Business Information Division Executive Vice President Mark Stodder. DataStream will remain in its College Park, Maryland, offices, Stodder said.
“We are very pleased to be joining The Dolan Company,” said Anstey. “It’s an exciting fit between our technological approach to government information and Dolan’s ability to market high-value business information and intelligence.”
The Dolan Company said the transaction would not affect its previous 2010 financial guidance. Management said it believes that DataStream will be modestly accretive to 2011 financial results on a cash earnings basis and effectively neutral to 2011 financial results on a net income basis.
The Dolan Company’s Business Information Division publishes business journals, court and commercial media and other highly-focused information products and services, operates web sites and produces events for targeted legal and professional audiences in 21 geographic markets across the United States. The Company’s Professional Services Division provides specialized outsourced services to the legal profession through three subsidiaries. NDeX is a leading provider of mortgage default processing services in the United States. DiscoverReady provides outsourced discovery management and document review services to major companies and their law firms. Counsel Press is the nation’s largest provider of appellate services to the legal community.
Non-GAAP Financial Measure: Cash earnings, a non-GAAP financial measure, is used in this press release. Cash earnings is defined as GAAP net income attributable to The Dolan Company adjusted for the impact of the following: non-cash expenses, including non-cash interest income or expense related to the changes in the fair value of interest rate swaps, charges for stock options and restricted stock granted, fair value adjustments on earnouts recorded in connection with acquisitions, and amortization; non-recurring items of income or expense; and an adjustment to income tax expense related to the above reconciling items at the appropriate then-in-effect tax rate.
Safe Harbor Statement: This release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the company’s current expectations and projections about future results, performance, prospects and opportunities. The words “plan”, “believe,” “may,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “continue,” “will,” “would,” “estimate,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to the company and are subject to many risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to be materially different from those expressed in, or implied by, such forward looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, the following: costs or difficulties relating to this Datastream transaction may be greater than expected and may adversely affect the company’s results of operations and financial condition; the expected benefits of this Datastream transaction may take longer than anticipated to achieve or may not be achieved in their entirety or at all; the company operates in highly competitive markets and depends upon the economies and the demographics of the legal, financial and real estate sectors in the markets served, and changes in those sectors could have an adverse effect on revenues, cash flows and profitability; David A. Trott, the chairman and chief executive officer of NDeX, and certain other employees of NDeX who are also shareholders and principal attorneys of the company’s law firm customers, may under certain circumstances have interests that differ from, or conflict with, the company’s interests; NDeX’s business revenues are very concentrated, as NDeX currently provides mortgage default processing services to eight law firm customers, and if the number of case files referred by its mortgage default processing service law firm customers, or loan servicers and mortgage lenders served directly for properties located in California, decreases or fails to increase, the company’s operating results and ability to execute its growth strategy could be adversely affected; regulations, laws, bills introduced, court orders, investigations by state or federal officials, and voluntary programs or moratoria seeking to review or mitigate foreclosures in states where the company does business may have an adverse effect on, restrict, or slow the company’s mortgage default processing services and public notice operations (including legislation in Michigan, Indiana and Florida, the Hope for Homeowners Act, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, the Streamlined Modification Program, the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, the Making Home Affordable Program, the Home Affordable Modification Program, the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program, the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, investigations by state attorneys general, and voluntary foreclosure relief programs developed by lenders, loan servicers and the Hope Now Alliance); The Dolan Company has owned and operated DiscoverReady LLC for one year and is dependent on the skills and knowledge of the individuals serving as chief executive officer and president of DiscoverReady; DiscoverReady’s business revenues are very concentrated among a few customers and if these customers choose to manage their discovery with their own staffs or engage another provider and if DiscoverReady is unable to develop new customer relationships, operating results and the ability to execute growth strategies for DiscoverReady may be adversely affected; The Dolan Company is dependent on its senior management team; the company intends to continue to pursue acquisition opportunities, which it may not do successfully and which may subject the company to considerable business and financial risk, and the company may be required to incur additional indebtedness or raise additional capital to fund these acquisitions and this additional financing may not be available on satisfactory terms or at all; and growing the company may place a strain on management and internal systems, processes and controls. Please also see “Risk Factors” contained in Item 1A of the company’s annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 8, 2010, which is available at the SEC’s Web site at www.sec.gov, for a description of these and other risks, uncertainties and factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, forward-looking statements. Except as required by federal securities law, the company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement.
SOURCE: The Dolan Company
The Dolan Company
Robert J. Evans, 612-317-9430 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              612-317-9430      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Director of Investor Relations
Bob.evans@thedolancompany.com
or
Mark W.C. Stodder, 612-317-9437 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              612-317-9437      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Executive Vice President/Business Information
Mark.stodder@thedolancompany.com

Karl Rove’s speech at the downtown Phoenix Sheraton Tuesday started out with about as much intrigue as I expected from the top political advisor for former President George W. Bush; for the first half-hour he flaunted an uncanny grasp for statistics as he explained exactly what’s wrong with the health care law and predicted how the 2012 elections would pan out if voters followed the same patterns as they did on Nov. 2.

It was numbers overload, even for someone who routinely tracks those things.

Honestly, I kept myself busy during that portion of the speech by imagining just how dangerous the security detail sitting next to the stage really was. You gotta’ think they put some pretty experienced bodyguards on guys like Rove, whom is routinely the subject of protests for his role in the Bush administration’s decision to go to war in the Middle East.

Twice, in fact, during Rove’s speech, protesters barged into the room to shout something that was unintelligible from where I was sitting. Rove just kept talking while authorities wrangled the protesters out of the ballroom, unfazed as if that’s what always happens during the Phoenix Chamber’s luncheon speeches.

As usual, Rove got more interesting toward the end when people in the crowd got to forward their questions through moderator-on-stage Russell Smolden. One of the questions was whether Rove had insight on the 2012 GOP presidential candidates and, if so, which one was the frontrunner.

Rove replied by saying it was too early to name a frontrunner because there is no single heir-apparent as there has been for the GOP during recent election cycles.

Instead, he rattled off 10 potential nominees: Former New York Gov. George Pataki, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Minnesota Gov. TIm Pawlenty, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and South Dakota Sen. John Thune.

Here is a list of the uncontested races in Arizona, provided by the Associated Press:

State Senate – District 13

Steve Gallardo, Dem

State Senate – District 14

Robert Meza, Dem

State Senate – District 16

Leah Landrum (i), Dem

State Senate – District 20

John McComish, GOP

State Senate – District 21

Steve Yarbrough, GOP

State Senate – District 22

Andy Biggs, GOP

State Senate – District 27

Olivia Cajero Bedford, Dem

State Senate – District 29

Linda Lopez (i), Dem

State House – District 3

Doris Goodale (i), GOP

Nancy McLain (i), GOP

State House – District 13

Richard Miranda, Dem

Anna Tovar (i), Dem

State House – District 14

Chad Campbell (i), Dem

Debbie McCune-Davis, Dem

State House – District 22

Eddie Farnsworth, GOP

Steve Urie, GOP

We’ve spent countless hours examining polls, trailing candidates, asking tough questions and digging deeply into the backgrounds of more than 200 candidates whose names will be on Arizona ballots today. Just like the candidates and campaign staffers, it seems like everything the Arizona Capitol Times’ newsroom has done during the past year has led up to this moment.

It’s Election Day. And we think that’s awesome.

In fact, we’re so geared up that we’ve decided to pull an all-nighter. Our reporters will be hanging out with the candidates, and our editors will be analyzing the results as they come in to bring you an insider’s view on all the ballot measures and candidate races – from Al Melvin and Cheryl Cage in Legislative District 26 to Paul Gosar and Ann Kirkpatrick in Arizona’s 1th Congressional District. (A list of races we’re watching closely is below)

If you’re an election geek, we’ve got you covered. When the polls close, go to azcapitoltimes.com for live results, exclusive stories on contested races, blogs from the election parties, photos, videos of Arizona’s most prominent politicians, etc.

For a limited time, our election night coverage will be free to nonsubscribers.

Subscribers, though, will be able to access expert analysis on the legislative leadership races, the power shift at the Legislature and what effect the Republican wave will have on the Arizona’s congressional delegation and statewide offices. In addition, subscribers have access to our special 2010 Election site, which contains reams of historical data on districts, candidates and voters.

Here’s a sneak peak at the races we’re watching closely tonight:

Congressional Races:

Arizona’s 1st Congressional District - U.S. Rep Ann Kirkpatrick is hoping to avoid defeat by Flagstaff dentist Paul Gosar, a Republican. Polls show the Democratic incumbent might be in danger of losing her seat.

Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District - Republican Ben Quayle won the primary with about 23 percent of the vote. Democrat Jon Hulburd is hoping enough independents swing his way to overcome the GOP’s voter-registration advantage.

Arizona’s 5th Congressional District - Democratic U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell will try to fend off Republican David Schweikert for the second time in as many elections. Polls show the race is a nailbiter.

Arizona’s 8th Congressional District - Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will be up against Republican challenger Jesse Kelly, who has a strong Tea Party following.

Statewide Races:

Attorney General - Felecia Rotellini is perhaps Democrats’ best hope to avoid a sweep of statewide offices this year. She is taking on Tom Horne, a Republican who survived a brutal primary with Andrew Thomas.

Treasurer - Former CEO of ColdStone Creamery Doug Ducey is taking on Democrat Andrei Cherny, a former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton.

Corporation Commission - Democrats were dealt a blow when Jorge Luis Garcia, a candidate for Corporation Commission, died of heart complications last month. Republicans Brenda Burns and Gary Pierce will be up against Democrat David Bradley, as well as Libertarian Rick Fowlkes and unsanctioned Green Party candidates Theodore Gomez and Benjamin Pearcy. Two seats are open.

Arizona House:

Legislative District 10 - Democrats Aaron Jahneke and Jackie Thrasher will be up against Republicans Jim Weiers and Kimberly Yee.

Legislative District 11 - Democratic incumbent Eric Meyer tries to keep his seat against Republicans Kate Brophy McGee and Eric West.

Legislative District 20 - Democrat Rae Waters will be up against Republicans Jeff Dial and Bob Robson.

Legislative District 26 - Republicans Terri Proud and Vic Williams will be up against Democrat Nancy Young-Wright.

Arizona Senate

Legislative District 10 - Republican incumbent Linda Gray will be up against Democratic newcomer Justin Johnson.

Legislative District 17 - Democratic incumbent David Schapira will take on Republican Wendy Rogers.

Legislative District 23 - Democratic incumbent Rebecca Rios will defend her seat against Republican Steve Smith.

Legislative District 25 - Democratic incumbent Manny Alvarez will be up against Republican Gail Griffin.

Legislative District 26 - Republican incumbent Al Melvin will take on Democrat Cheryl Cage, a repeat of the contest two years ago.

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva

This year, if you are a Democratic congressperson who voted for the federal health care law, didn’t call loudly enough for tough new immigration laws or supported the stimulus act – then voters feel as though you have a lot of explaining to do.

Three of the five Democrats who represent Arizona in Congress are in serious trouble this year. Polls show Democrats Harry Mitchell, Gabrielle Giffords and Ann Kirkpatrick are running neck and neck with their Republican challengers.

Each of those Democrats is running in a district that is split fairly evenly – neither Republicans or Democrats have a wide voter registration advantage. And each of them supported those unpopular policies, which is now coming back to hurt them on the campaign trail.

But perhaps the most revealing indication of just how big the Republican wave could be in Arizona is the race in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District. Incumbent Democrat Raul Grijalva seems to be in a fairly tight race in what has been a Democratic stronghold ever since the district lines were drawn.

Republican newcomer Ruth McClung has gained a lot of traction this year by running an anti-establishment campaign, and she is presumably getting a big boost from Grijalva’s announcement earlier this year calling for the boycotts against Arizona after the state immigration law was passed.

The fact that Grijalva’s race is even close illustrates how significant the Republican movement is in this state – and it shows how voters are reacting to politicians who are soft on immigration.

- Matt Bunk

The most powerful evangelical Christian advocacy group in Arizona has signed a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to bolster California’s case against gay marriage.

The Center for Arizona Policy announced that it got involved because the case jeopardizes bans on gay marriage in 31 states, including Arizona.

“This ruling could invalidate Arizonan’s vote on the 2008 Marriage Amendment, and sets precedent to overturn any ballot initiative based on the court’s inclination,” said Cathi Herrod, chief lobbyist for The Center for Arizona Policy.

The 30 or so groups that signed the brief argue the U.S. Constitution does not require marriage to exclude same-sex couples. They are appealing a lower court’s ruling in Perry v. Schwarzenegger that struck down California’s ban on gay marriage, which was established by a constitutional amendment that passed as Proposition 8 in 2008.

The brief states, in part: “The people may be wrong, as they often are. The courts, too, may be wrong, as they often are. But this we know: Twice in eight years the people of California declared they want to keep marriage as it has been for time immemorial.”

The Center for Arizona Policy and other groups that signed onto the brief say the initiative process is perhaps the most effective way to gauge the will of the people, and the judge’s decision to overturn California’s ban on gay marriage subverted a critical part of the Democratic process.

- Matt Bunk

If you thought the cantankerousness (yep, that’s really a word) of Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District would end after the 10-way GOP primary race, Jon Hulburd has some news for you.

Hulburd’s campaign blasted a statement into Arizona’s e-mail netherworld that just ripped Quayle to pieces, even referring to Quayle as “Brock Landers.”

“This election is now between Jon Hulburd and Brock Landers. It’s between a young man who fabricated a family, degraded women, and then tried to lie about it, and a small businessman and father of five who has been dedicated to his community. These concerns were raised by Republicans during the primary and at least 77 percent of Republican voters were unhappy with Ben Quayle’s response.”

It appears as though Hulburd isn’t going to play nice. And it almost sounds like his campaign is happy to be facing Quayle in the November general election.

Now we’ll have to see if he can hang, considering he’s facing a significant voter registration advantage and has yet to run the gauntlet of public scrutiny that bruised just about every other candidate in that district.

Hulburd, who gained the Democratic nomination without a primary battle, may be good at offense. But certainly there will come a time when the media and his opponent will test his defensive abilities.

That test might come sooner rather than later, judging the response from Quayle’s campaign a few hours after Hulburd’s blast.

“It’s always great to see desperation set in around your opponent on the first day of the campaign,” said Jay Heiler, Quayle’s new communications director. “Hulburd apparently thinks there’s a crying demand in Washington for another liberal blowhard who talks out of both sides of his mouth and sells out the taxpayers to the special interest tax cartel. But from here in Arizona, it looks like all those positions are taken.”

-Matt Bunk

There were some big surprises last night: Chris Deschene toppled Sam Wercinski on the Democratic side of the secretary of state race; Cloves Campbell Jr. lost his House seat; and David Braswell got whomped by Lori Klein in the Legislative District 6 Senate race.

We all watched in amazement as Jesse Kelly beat Jonathan Paton in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District.

But nothing sent bigger shockwaves across the Valley than Ben Quayle’s win in Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District. It’s impossible to say definitively whether he came from behind in the final week leading up to the primary election or if he was leading all along.

In the weeks leading up to the primary election, the mud started flying amongst the front-running CD3 candidates. Whether that had an effect on the outcome of this race is still a matter of debate.

“I think some of the negative campaigning worked,” Waring said. “Ben (Quayle) took some shots at us – if that made a difference, I’m not sure.”

Waring, who mostly stayed away from attack ads, said he ran a “crisp, positive” campaign. “I had no desire to attack my opponents,” he said.

Many of the campaigns in CD3 had written off Quayle as a third- or fourth-place finisher after Quayle’s campaign sent out a mailer that may have went too far in depicting him as a family man and his highly publicized debacle with the racy website dirtyscottsdale.com (now called thedirty.com).

Vernon Parker was considered viable in the final days leading up to the election – at least according to many political insiders. The Parker campaign did call attention to the disputed mailer, although Parker draws a distinction between mud-slinging and calling attention to facts.

“I really believe voters needed to know what their congressperson would do for them,” Parker said on primary night. “I believe in truthful comparisons. When a campaign puts out something they know is untrue, that’s despicable.”

Waring was considered by many to be a favorite in the race after news outlets reported that rival candidate Steve Moak had used his charity organization to promote products sold by a for-profit company he once owned.

As Moak trailed both Waring and Quayle early on primary night, he said he was happy with how his campaign was conducted. “I think we ran a good campaign. Looking back, I wouldn’t have done anything different,” he said.

None of that matters now though, as Quayle has wrapped up the Republican nomination to take on Democrat Jon Hulburd in the November general election.

It’s a scenario that Democrats were hoping for – figuring, perhaps, that Quayle would be more vulnerable to attacks than many of the other GOP candidates in the district.

But it’s still going to take a lot to drag down Quayle to within striking distance in the Republican-leaning district. And it’s still not clear whether Hulburd has the juice to make it a competitive race.

We’ll soon see if national Democrats think it’s a race worth throwing money at – the word is that they’ve rejected Hulburd’s requests for cash so far. If you see Hulburd’s campaign coffers grow significantly, you can bet that the party thinks Quayle is vulnerable. If not, another Quayle is almost certainly going to wind up in federal office.

-Matt Bunk and Josh Coddington

Arizona politicians reacted to today’s S1070 ruling as expected: Many Republicans were upset that federal Judge Susan Bolton halted the major parts of the law, and many Democrats were relieved that it was gutted before taking effect.

Here’s what they had to say:

Sen. Russell Pearce, Mesa Republican and sponsor of S1070:
“This law will go into effect.”
Sen. Jorge Luis Garcia, Senate minority leader:
“Senator Pearce is not going to stop at this. He’s hell-bent on interpreting the Constitution as he sees fit.”
Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County sheriff:
“I don’t think the activists should be dancing in the streets yet.”
Rick Romley, Maricopa County attorney:
“The federal government needs to understand they have not just failed Arizona, they have failed the entire nation. This is a time for them to step up and seal that border.”
Rep. John Kavanagh, Fountain Hills Republican:
“This is the first of what’s probably going to be a 20-round fight. And given that the judge relied solely on the preemption issue, I think we’re in good shape to eventually prevail.”
Roberto Villasenor, Tucson chief of police:
“ I have a sense of relief that we will not be treating people in ways that we should not be treating them based on the literal interpretation of the law, but I think this is far from over.”
Lyle Mann, executive director Arizona Peace Officers Standards and Training Board:
“(Local) officers will still work with immigration services on a daily basis, but whether this clarifies or makes a need for more clarification… I guess you could say we’re back to how it was in April.”
Rep. Ben Miranda, Phoenix Democrat:
“I know there was a lot of elation yesterday within the immigrant community. I just don’t mean to douse their fire, their celebrations, but it’s the status quo for me.”
Bill Montgomery, Republican candidate for Maricopa County attorney:
“While (Bolton’s) analysis resulted in the legal conclusions she came to, I don’t believe that federal preemption should prevent a state from defending its citizens. It’s a twisted application.”
Vernon Parker, Republican candidate in the 3rd Congressional District:
“I interpreted the decision as judicial activism, quite frankly. When you look at the decision it really gives me the impression we can’t even uphold federal law because when the judge is saying you can’t ask someone for their identification, the federal law requires that. It requires law enforcement to do that right now even without 1070.”