Strike Everything

The national spotlight that lit up Arizona when lawmakers passed SB1070 will be back sooner than some anticipated.

Sen. Russell Pearce and numerous out-of-state allies plan to unveil his birthright-citizenship bill during the first week of January in Washington, D.C. The model legislation will serve as a template for lawmakers in 14 states, including Arizona, which hope to force a U.S. Supreme Court case that would challenge the longstanding interpretation of the 14th Amendment and end the practice of granting automatic citizenship to children born on U.S. soil to illegal immigrant parents.

Daryl Metcalfe, a Pennsylvania state representative who is pushing the birthright-citizenship proposal in that state’s Legislature, said the model legislation will give anti-illegal immigration lawmakers a rallying point for the war against birthright citizenship and show unity among members of State Legislators for Legal Immigration, which is what the group of lawmakers is calling itself.

“First we have to have the language formulated,” said Metcalfe, a Republican from Cranberry Township, Penn. “Then you have the process of rolling that out to various legislators across the country that are interested in working on the rollout project and then bringing a number of us together to actually announce the final working product, the final language that’s come out of our efforts.”

The high-profile rollout likely will rile Arizona lawmakers and members of the state’s business community who wanted birthright citizenship to take a back seat during the 2011 session, at least until the Legislature passes a budget and a jobs bill. Some lawmakers claimed Pearce pledged to put birthright citizenship on hiatus until those priorities were out of the way, though Pearce disputes the claims.

“I hope it doesn’t distract Senator Pearce from what our primary objectives are this session, in terms of budget and economic,” said incoming Sen. John McComish. “The first week of January (is) a very busy time for us.”

Senate Democratic leader David Schapira said the press conference will be a distraction for lawmakers who should have higher priorities.

“It appears that the focus of the leadership of the Legislature is going to be on this issue instead of on economic develoment and job creation,” he said. “I’m waiting to hear about Pearce’s announcement of a press conference on economic development and job creation. That’s a priority right now.”

Pearce did not return messages seeking comment. But his stalwart ally in the House, Rep. John Kavanagh, said the unveiling wouldn’t distract from the more immediate tasks of balancing the budget and putting the economy back on track.

“We’ll file the bill early,” Kavanagh said. “My understanding is we want to put the budget and the jobs bill to bed before we move on to this. But it will be this session.”

Kavanagh, a Fountain Hills Republican, said the rollout will get some attention, but he doesn’t expect it to last long.

“I guess you can get a day (of coverage), but that’s hardly the 1070 tsunami,” he said.

Gov. Jan Brewer has insisted repeatedly during the past year that the Legislature has the authority to cut spending for Arizona’s Medicaid program below the level that voters thought they had locked 10 years ago. But she appears to have shifted strategy and instead may ask voters to approve the cuts in a special election.

While speaking to reporters on Nov. 29, Brewer said she may seek a special election to get voter approval for cuts to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). Many legal experts say the proposed cuts would violate Proposition 204, which voters passed in 2000 to expand Arizona’s Medicaid program.

“There’s a possibility we’ll have a special election,” Brewer said following the official statewide canvass of the Nov. 2 election at the Secretary of State’s Office. “That’s one of the options that we’re looking into.”

Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said he believes the state could still make the cuts without getting voter approval. Senseman said Brewer may seek voter approval, “Just so it’s abundantly clear, legally.”

But Senseman did not say what led the governor to deviate from her longstanding message on Prop. 204, or why she would risk rejection at the polls if a special election wasn’t needed. He acknowledged that voter rejection of any AHCCCS cuts would likely nix the entire plan.

“I think what she’s saying is the option’s on the table. We really haven’t speculated beyond whether it may or may not succeed,” Senseman said.

Many legal scholars and attorneys said cuts to AHCCCS would likely be overturned by the courts. Not only that, but cuts to AHCCCS may put the state at odds, again, with the federal government.

Before Brewer can contemplate a special election, the state must get permission from the federal government to make the cuts, which would violate the health care law passed by Congress in March. The law includes a maintenance-of-effort provision that prohibits states from scaling back their Medicaid programs.

Brewer said she will seek a waiver from the federal government, which would allow the state to cut about $1 billion from the AHCCCS budget. Some Republican lawmakers said they will enact the cuts, regardless of whether the feds lift the maintenance-of-effort provision, but Brewer would not say whether she would veto such legislation.

“That’s hypothetical. I don’t know if I can move forward and give you an answer on that today,” Brewer said.

If Arizona made the cuts without permission, the federal government could retaliate by stripping the state of about $7.5 billion per year in Medicaid funding.

-Jeremy Duda

Terry Goddard has a new campaign headquarters, in a building that has some sentimental connection to the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor. It was the backdrop for his press conference this afternoon, at which he released his plan to turn around the state’s economy and create jobs.

The historic Gold Spot Market building at 3rd Avenue and Roosevelt Street was built in 1925 and was one of the city’s first shopping centers. It took its name, Goddard told reporters today, from Phoenix’s nickname as “The Gold Spot,” which was derived from the region’s sunny weather. Not only was the building one of the Valley’s original shopping centers, but it represented the growth taking place in the city: It was north of Roosevelt, which was on the outskirts of town.

Goddard said he chose the location for his campaign HQ for a couple of reasons. First, it was a building he fought to save from destruction during his tenure as Phoenix mayor. But perhaps more importantly, he said, it was chosen because of what it represents. The former tenants of the suite his campaign now occupies was the architecture firm that led the renovation of the Gold Spot building earlier this decade. Feeling the pains of that recession, Goddard said the firm’s owner laid off all of its employees and now runs the company from her home.

Many businesses in the state have faced similar situations, he said, and the top job of the next governor needs to be reviving the economy and putting those businesses back to work. To do so, he proposed an 11-point plan that he said will revive the economy through incentives to businesses and investments in renewable energy and infrastructure.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced July 20 that he will be opening a new section of his tent city jail, just for those convicted under Arizona’s new immigration law. The new section of the outdoor jail will be called “section 1070,” according to a Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.

The new section will be arranged inside the existing tent city area in south Phoenix, since expanding the boundaries of tent city would require approval from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, with which the sheriff has had high-profile public fights involving budget issues.

But the board of supervisors told the Arizona Capitol Times before Arpaio’s announcement that any changes to tent city would need to meet safety and liability requirements, and that despite his assertion that he gets the final say on what happens at his jail, the board needs to provide the proper checks on his practices.

Arpaio will hold a press conference to formally announce and display his tent city addition at 3 p.m. July 21. The announcement coincides with the 17-year anniversary of the opening of tent city. The sheriff’s office will be giving “hot chocolate cake” to all the inmates to celebrate the anniversary. A spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office said all media except the Phoenix New Times is welcome.

Rasmussen’s latest poll shows some upward movement for Gov. Jan Brewer in the four-way race for the GOP primary nomination, with State Treasurer Dean Martin sliding down.

According to their numbers, Brewer has edged up a bit, with 26 percent of likely voters saying they will support her. That’s up from about 20 percent support when Rasmussen conducted a comparable poll in March. In a similar poll by Rasmussen in January, she had 29 percent support from likely voters.

Arizona businessman and political newcomer Buz Mills, who had not officially joined the race before the first Rasmussen poll was released in January, shows 18 percent support. He had 19 percent support in the March poll.

Former Republican Party Chairman John Munger has 14 percent support, compared to 10 percent in the March poll and 7 percent in the January poll.

Martin had led the race in January with 31 percent of likely voter support, according to Rasmussen, which is the only pollster to track the GOP primary race numbers so far. Martin’s numbers, though, have dropped significantly since then; he had 21 percent in the March poll, and the most recent poll showed him at 12 percent.

While the latest numbers indicate steady upward movement for Brewer, and a similarly consistent decline for Martin, 24 percent of those polled said they still hadn’t made a decision about who to support.