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

Valuing the teaching profession is important to the citizens of Arizona as evidenced by numerous news reports and public opinion polls. In response, commitments have been appropriately made by the Legislature and governor to increase teacher pay. Ironically, Proposition 126 will negate a significant portion of their efforts to address the issue.

For many years Kevin DeMenna had a lobbying practice second to few at the Arizona state Capitol. Then some personal health challenges and a legal situation put a dent in the business. Over these years the business had evolved to include Kevin’s sons, a construct many fathers would be proud of, and relish.

Voting “No” on Proposition 127 won’t stop the expansion of renewable energy in Arizona, but it will protect our schools from more mandates that take money away from classrooms where our children are trying to learn. And, that makes Arizona a better place – for kids and for Arizona’s future.

Like all meaningful opportunities for economic development, we should pull out all the stops to keep the Navajo Generating Station online. We owe it to the Navajo and Hopi people, and we owe it to ourselves to fight for our energy security, our economic strength and our rural communities.

When tax dollars pay for the building of a public highway, a state building, a city or county building, or buildings in a traditional school district, the property belongs to the public, not a private individual or company.

This is the most important election in our history. You don’t have to take my word for it. Our last president knows it’s true. So do something. Now.

Yes, the political fight of five years ago to restore and expand AHCCCS was brutal. But it was worth it.

Electric cars are undoubtedly coming, and a new electric age is on the horizon. Meeting this increased electricity demand will be no simple feat, though. America’s power grid will be pushed to the max. What’s needed is a balanced, diverse electricity mix that incorporates coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind, and solar in the most efficient means possible. To prepare for tomorrow’s challenges, it’s critical to start planning today.

Arizona is at a crossroads. Should we continue to build more costly prisons and fill them with low-level offenders? Or should we follow the lead of many other conservative states that reserve expensive prison beds for violent offenders, and direct the savings to programs that have been proven to reduce repeat offenses?

Having read Shalisa Arnold’s full-throated defense of legislator and charter operator Eddie Farnsworth and his Benjamin Franklin Charter Schools, I thought, “Huh. Ms. Arnold missed a few salient points.”