Arizona Capitol Times Your Inside Source for Arizona Government, Politics and Business

The June 22 edition of the Arizona Capitol Times featured an article titled “Proposal to add ‘gender expression’ as a protected class ignites State Bar battle” that discussed my proposed change in the rules that govern lawyers’ professional conduct.

If there’s one thing we have plenty of in Arizona, it is sunshine. The sunshine draws people here, powering our tourism industry and real estate industries. But more and more, the sunshine is powering something else — the opportunity for energy independence.

June was not a good month for government labor unions. Early in the month, they lost a big election in Wisconsin that was being watched nationally. And later, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that dealt a blow for constitutional free speech rights and against unions.

Our presidential election campaign is picking up steam, and money is being raised as never before, mostly to convince voters that the other party’s guy is a very poor choice to be president. Most voters have already dug in and need little convincing that their views are a kind of political light that must prevail over the opposing darkness. It’s as if we have brought religious sectarianism into our politics as they have been doing in Iraq and now in Egypt.

We’ve heard many attacks on public employees this year, even though, like most Arizonans, they’ve struggled with rising workloads and stagnant pay levels. Still, the Goldwater Institute claims public unions covering employees like teachers, police and firefighters are costing state and local governing entities $550 million above market compensation.

Shame on the Club for Growth. On June 4, Washington D.C.-based Club for Growth launched a statewide television attack on transportation that also misrepresents the political persuasion of a U.S. Senate candidate. The ad suggests that anyone involved in Proposition 400 in 2004 is “a conservative impostor.”

If the presidential election were held in June, who would win — President Barack Obama or Republican Mitt Romney? While any doubt was long gone, Romney officially surpassed the number of delegates needed to become the Republican nominee when he won the Texas primary at the end of May. So, let’s see where the states stand at this early juncture, understanding that 270 Electoral College votes are needed to be elected.

On behalf of the board of directors and staff of the Arizona Foundation for Behavioral Health, I want to acknowledge the UofA Health Network, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, and Maricopa Integrated Health System for their efforts to bring forward a proposal to the AHCCCS administration which, with the approval of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, has reinstituted a modified KidsCare program.

What do Oprah Winfrey, President Barack Obama, and U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe have in common with 60,000 children in Arizona today? They were raised by their grandparents or other relatives for part of their childhoods. This practice, called kinship care, has been growing in Arizona and throughout the nation.

“Birther,” used by the media with impunity, is a derogatory slur, the equivalent of the “N” word used for another group to cast them as sub- human.