 |
Arizona's own EspressoPundit Ruminations of an over-caffeinated political junkie |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
My Favorite blogs
Interesting Websites Arizona federation of taxpayers
Boring but essential Websites ATRA--Arizona Tax Research Association
Books that have influenced me most The Bible by: God Systematic Theology by: Wayne Grudem The Memory Book by: Harry Lorayne Slouching Toward Gomorra by: Robert Bork Lyndon Johnson's Path to Power By: Robert Caro Free to Choose By Milton Friedman The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by: Edmund Morris American Caesar by: Manchester Life of Churchill: Alone and Last Lion by Manchester Progress Paradox By Gregg Easterbrook
|
February 28, 2006
Here's a Letter from Senator Huppenthal. Greg,
I am Like so Not Hip. The first time that I saw an email with "LOL" I had to hit reply and have the sender explain that it meant "Laugh Out Loud". I thought, "how cool, that way you don't have to, like you know, type all the words." Then she wrote "BTW you are the first person to ask me to explain that." I didn't have the guts to ask what "BTW" meant because I knew that she would respond "LOL." (I also thought it might be one of the terms from the New Times personals and I figured that it was between her and the other BTWs) But now I have the code. I'm cool once more. Just like earlier this year when my wife finally explained that I'm not supposed to tuck in my shirts. Now I can join her at the mall without a sense of shame. Since these codes have changed my life, I thought I would share them with you.
(Hat tip to my friend Pat Van Midde who broke the code.)
More national attention for Flores One of the most outrageous current examples of out-of-control judges is the case called Flores v. Arizona, now pending in federal court in Tucson, Arizona. Originally filed in 1992, plaintiff lawyers claim to represent an estimated 160,000 children of illegal aliens attending public schools.
Here's a fact I didn't know. Giffords is a smart politician whom even the Democratic field concedes privately to be the front-runner. At some point she owes it to Arizona voters to get specific, frame the debate and give us some detail. Might also be a good idea strategically because Democrats are certain to make hay of the fact that she was a Republican until 1999 - before she entered politics. Of course, it doesn't really matter. Weiss is going to win the primary.
Speaking of Predictions Da Vinci Code is going to bomb. It has everything going for it: Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, a huge book. But if you step back and look at it, the book was pretty lame. It was all the stuff that Dan Brown made up about Christianity that sparked the frenzy. Debates about the Gnostic Gospels don't make good movies.
February 27, 2006
All the News That's Fit to Bury I talked to Sheriff Arpaio over the weekend and he indicated that there will be a full report on the Pederson case out later this week. Be sure to stay tuned. Full coverage will be available in a 55 word summary on B11 of the Republic sometime in April or May.
Know your Enemy In case you had any doubt about the relative positions and tactics of each side in the cartoon debate. These pictures should make is pretty clear. The first sign is, of course, a Shakespeare allusion in defense of Denmark. (the protest was in Washington). The second sign is from a protest in Germany and is self explanatory.
Rage against the Machine Bob Robb had a great point in the back Sunday's Viewpoints section. Too bad that it is obscured behind an entire section devoted to the miracle of biotech. The extent to which Republicans in the
Legislature have bought into the bioscience spin is extraordinary. A bill
providing $150 million for bioscience research with virtually no state
oversight passed the House Appropriations Committee with nary a negative
vote.
Typo Nightmare One advantage that the dinosaur media has managed to maintain in its war with the bloggers is a proofreading department. I can read an espresso pundit entry 1,000 times and miss an obvious mistake. But occasionally, the dead tree folks have a catastrophe. At least I've never had a meltdown like the one. This is from Sunday's Star and was exposed by Tedski in Rum, Romanism and Rebellion. Reporter Rob O'Dell quoting developer Don Bourne. "A lot of my development friends say 'your nuts,' " he said, although he stressed he is still committed to the project. To which Tedski added the hypothetical response "My Testicles Are None of Your Business." February 24, 2006
Even a Broken Clock… Senator Jack Harper has learned a valuable lesson about imitating a piñata on the Senate floor, and just about every news outlet in the state has taken a swing. We’ve learned some lessons as well. The first and foremost lesson is that the candidate/elected official’s kids are off limits. As much acrimony as there is in politics today, there are still some topics that are taboo, and criticizing someone’s family is beyond the pale. The second lesson that we all realized is that while a rowdy four year old may be a reflection of poor parenting skills, adult children make choices and sometimes they are bad choices. The sins of the sons shall not be visited upon the fathers. The third lesson is that the media should show some restraint and not overplay a story just because the protagonist is related to an elected official. If the child of a local politician or candidate allegedly perpetrates a crime, the resulting story should receive roughly the same emphasis as it would if it had been perpetrated by the son of the local Discount Tire manager. Senator Harper missed lessons one and two and has paid a heavy price. However, buried in his floor speech, the pseudo apology and subsequent pummeling was one fact that everyone else seems to have overlooked…Bennett got a raw deal. There is no record of the arrest of Pederson’s son appearing on AzCentral, and the article that eventually made it into the Republic was 108 words on B5. The Bennett case was a feeding frenzy. The initial Republic article contained 433 words on B1. (See a partial list of the articles below.) Harper claimed that the disparate treatment was a sign of bias. Maybe. Or maybe the press simply recognized lessons one and two a bit late…kind of like Harper did. The bottom line is that the local media either dramatically overplayed the Bennett story, underplayed the Pederson story, or perhaps both. Ironically, the Pederson case appears to be much more serious than the Bennett case. A former prosecutor walked me through the Pederson charges (based on press accounts) and they are extremely serious. Drug charges alone are pretty serious, but add a gun and the case changes entirely. Guns + Drugs = Prison. No exceptions. If Pederson is convicted, he will be in prison long after the Bennett case is forgotten.
(These articles will give you a taste of the frenzy. The Republic has removed the underlying stories, but the fact that they were on Azcentral is demonstrated by these cached files.)
Senate president's
son arrested in 18 assaults
Ariz. senator’s son
arrested in Prescott camp hazing
Senate president's
son arrested for hazing
Senator's son
hurt campers, police say
Teens Accused in Alleged
Camp Assaults Post Bond
Teens Arrested in
Alleged Camp Assaults
Gilbert boy’s complaint
sparks arrests
February 23, 2006
National Review Online has some Advice to live By
Lawrence Summers has been booted from Harvard and Stanly Kurtz thinks there is a lesson that we can all take from his situation.
Appeasing tyrants is a bad idea. That's
what the Summers fiasco teaches. I've been disappointed by Summers'
repeated apologies for raising legitimate intellectual questions in a
fair and respectful way. I consoled myself with the thought that, if
Summers remained in place, he might ultimately do more for reform than
he might have by standing up for principle. Now even this second-best
consolation is gone, making it all the more obvious that Summers ought
to have stood up to the Harvard's dictators from the start, even if it
cost him his job. Now Summers must either remain silent, or hit back and
implicitly acknowledge that all those apologies were bogus.
So Summers behaved badly. But that just shows how serious the problem of our politically correct campuses is. Students face a daily choice between speaking their mind and harming their own career prospects by alienating the professors who control their grades and recommendations. And students are far less able than Summers to fight back. Now the pressure for silence grows. Our only consolation is that the academy is daily more discredited with the public. So I hope we've now learned that, at home or abroad, appeasing dictators is a mistake.
February 22, 2006 Breaking News Treasurer Petersen Won't seek Reelection I spoke to Paul Petersen, Treasurer David Petersen's son and attorney, this afternoon and Paul indicated that Treasurer Petersen will not seek re-election. "He wants to do what's best for the Party." "He's going to fight to clear his name and if there ultimately is an investigation, he wants to remove any political component and make sure that it is handled professionally. He is confident that he can be cleared if that's the case."
Chip Shot On December 2nd, it was clear that Len Munsil was going to resign his position at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) and run for Governor. In the article that followed, the Republic's Chip Scutari used this sentence to describe CAP. The group distributes a voter's guide each election cycle that some have accused of being thinly veiled advocacy for staunch social conservatives. On Christmas day, the political insider previewed Munsil’s announcement and included the exact same quote about CAP. The group distributes a voter's guide each election cycle that some have accused of being thinly veiled advocacy for staunch social conservatives. On January 5th, I wrote that I could not find any record of these accusations. In the five years of Republic archives that I searched, there were no articles that included references to CAP’s “thinly veiled advocacy.” I also pointed out that this was a criminal allegation. A non profit corporation cannot advocate on behalf of a candidate and “thinly veiled advocacy for staunch social conservatives” is a Class 6 Felony. Accusations of this nature place a cloud over an entire organization, intimidate staff and decimate fundraising efforts. Good people—people who aren’t public figures—are damaged by these allegations. On February 15th, Chip Scutari covered Len Munsil’s announcement and include the same phrase to describe the Center for Arizona Policy.
The group
distributes a voter's guide each election cycle that some have accused of
being thinly veiled advocacy for staunch social conservatives. “This is analysis based on what several sources have told us.” What? There are no formal accusations? There are no sources that have come forward? These allegations that show up whenever Len Munsil surfaces are “analysis” based on things that Chip Scutari has heard from anonymous sources? The Arizona Republic has a rule that quotes from anonymous sources only run with the permission of an editor. The next day I emailed Chip and referred him to the Republic’s rule and asked him if he had received the requisite permission. The answer that I received would make Johnnie Cochran blush. Greg, that sentence is NOT a
quote. It's information that was gleaned Notice that he never claimed that the sources were not anonymous, his argument is that they are technically not quotes because they are not direct comments and they aren’t in quotation marks. I emailed and asked him if it was accurate to call it a "paraphrase of conversations that you have had with anonymous sources?" That was the last I heard from Chip. I’ll let the editors of the Republic be the final arbiters of their own policy manual. But it’s clear that “analysis” “gleaned from several sources” doesn’t even rise to the credibility level of an anonymous quote. At least an anonymous quote contains something that someone actually said. Flawed Analysis The amazing part of the story is that once you talk to Chip about what the sources actually said, it becomes obvious that the “analysis” is clearly wrong. Let me provide a little background. When I ran for the Legislature in 1990 dinosaurs roamed the earth and Legislators smoked in Committee. As soon as I announced my candidacy, dozens of groups that I had never heard of sent me questionnaires about issues that I didn’t know existed. The Manufactured Housing Association, AMIGOS, the Farm Bureau, together with Planned Parenthood, the NRA and yes the Center for Arizona Policy send questionnaires to every candidate, tabulate their answers and distribute them to their members. This is legal and common. Candidate advocacy, however, is illegal. The voter's guides venture into clear advocacy if they say “vote for candidate Smith because she supports the second amendment.” But no one is going to do something that obvious. No. An organization that tries to skirt the rules will send a bunch of direct mail pieces that tout how great it is that Senator Smith supports education, economic development and lower taxes...then urges you to call her office and tell her how much you appreciate her service. They send these pieces to her entire district about a week before the election. That’s “thinly veiled advocacy” and it’s a felony. It’s a felony because corporations—like Planned Parenthood and CAP—aren’t allowed to fund campaigns and the individual donors who contribute to Planned Parenthood, the NRA or CAP give more than the legal campaign limits. If I give $10,000 to the NRA and the NRA spends it to advocate on behalf of candidates, then I have a serious problem. That’s why allegations of “thinly veiled advocacy” devastate fundraising efforts. That’s why they ruin reputations. That’s why people who work for organizations that get caught engaging in thinly veiled advocacy pay large fines and end up working the night shift at Wal-Mart. But that’s not what the anonymous sources alleged happened in this case. Chip told me that at least some of the sources are former candidates who say that they received obnoxious phone calls from “CAP supporters” who implied that voters will know about their refusal to fill out the questionnaire. The sources didn’t indicate that these calls came from CAP. Well Duh. If I don’t return the Sierra Club’s questionnaire then the voters who get a copy will have a pretty good idea that I’m not a big Sierra Club fan. They may even call me and tell me that they aren’t going to vote for me. More likely, they are going to question the legitimacy of my birth and tell me that there is no way on earth that they are going to vote for scumbag like me. That’s why I don’t have the same phone number that I did when I was elected. Those phone calls have nothing to do with the fine people at the Sierra Club and the voter's guides that generated them are not advocacy. The PURPOSE of a voter’s guide is to inform an organization’s members how a particular candidate stands on the organization’s issues. If voters choose to call the candidate and tell him that he’s an idiot because he doesn’t care about owls or global warning, or the second amendment, or a woman’s right to choose, or partial birth abortion…they have a word for that--“Democracy.” If Chip had discussed these allegations with an editor, she might have said “you know, Chip, that doesn’t sound like thinly veiled advocacy to me. It sounds to me like CAP has some supporters who are jerks. Maybe we should run that by the legal department.” But that didn’t happen in this case. After all, this wasn’t a quote from an anonymous source; it was analysis gleaned from several sources who would prefer not to provide their names.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Jim Irvin WASHINGTON The U-S Supreme Court today let stand a decision -rejecting- a 60 million dollar punitive damage award won by a Houston company. The civil case was against former Arizona Corporation Commission member Jim Irvin. Justices declined to review a July appeals court decision to send the case back to a federal judge in Phoenix, to reduce punitive damages or set a new trial on the issue. Southern Union won punitive damages as well as nearly 391,000 dollars in compensatory damages during a 2002 jury trial. Irvin was found to have misused his office to improperly influence the outcome of a two billion dollar bidding war for Las Vegas-based Southwest Gas. A Southern Union lawyer didn't immediately comment. Irvin resigned in 2003 as the Arizona House prepared to begin impeachment proceedings.
You will Enjoy these Tips for Writers Here at Espresso Pundit, I avoid clichés like the plague and make sure not to be redundant or repeat myself.
February 21, 2006
Tom Patterson
Explodes the TABOR Myth
Big spenders
nationwide were relieved that Proposition C, the proposal to suspend
Colorado’s TABOR law, passed last year by 52 percent. They have rushed
to proclaim that TABOR “didn’t work” and economically suffocated
Colorado. Governor Napolitano says, “Anybody who thinks TABOR is a good
idea . . . should talk to Gov. Owens.”
We did. Owens
himself says that TABOR has worked well in Colorado. Indeed, Colorado
voters were persuaded to support Proposition C only by assuring them
that TABOR would not be eliminated by its passage.
TABOR contained a
“glitch,” as innovations often do. The bug is the so-called “ratchet
effect.” When state revenue levels dipped during the recent recession,
the TABOR limit also dropped and there was no provision for it to return
to the pre-recession spending level when the economy improved.
Proposition C corrected that.
Arizona state
government revenue is expected to grow by up to $1 billion this year,
and Governor Napolitano has proposed boosting state spending by 20
percent next year alone. In times like these, we desperately need
spending limitations. When revenue falls, the higher expenditures can’t
be supported, so we have deficits, accounting gimmicks, borrowing and
ultimately, higher taxes and economic stagnation.
Politicians
should prioritize their spending like the rest of us do, and take only
those dollars from taxpayers that are truly needed. TABOR would make
sure that happens.
Goldwater Institute Corrects the Republic
In a
recent
Arizona Republic article
reporting on political giving by Indian Tribes, the author writes that
Tribes, "aren’t limited in the amounts of money they can contribute,"
and then quotes James Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional
and Presidential Studies at American University in Washington, D.C.
saying, "It is perhaps the last frontier of essentially unregulated
campaign cash contributions."
To set the record
straight: First, while Indian Tribes, like Political Action Committees
(PACs), have no total limit on their giving, they are limited to giving
no more than $2,100 to any one candidate, pursuant to 2 U.S.C. Sec.
441a.
Second, pursuant to 2 U.S.C. Section 441g, they are not allowed to make cash contributions. Tribes are regulated, their contributions are not unlimited, and they do not make "cash" contributions. Good policy starts with good facts, but in the current hysteria to “do something” about the Abramoff scandal, good facts are getting lost in the shuffle. Bradley A. Smith is former chairman of the Federal Election Commission and a Goldwater Institute Senior Fellow.
It takes a Big Man...
I received plenty of comments on the "Al Gore becomes Jane Fonda" post. Several of them were along the lines of..."oh my gosh, what a porker." I don't want to pick on Gore too much, after all, a mind is terrible thing to lose. But since Vice Presidents have been in the news lately, I don't feel too bad pointing out that Gore is 6' 1" and in the summer of 2000, USA Today reported that he weighed 195 pounds. He's looking a lot closer to 250 these days.
Well, this is Making National News. Arizona senators exchanged harsh words during a floor session Monday as Republican Sen. Jack Harper criticized the arrest of a Democratic candidate's son and was in return denounced by another GOP lawmaker So would it be tacky of me to publish the guy's mugshot? Yes, actually it would.
February 20, 2006
Shouldn't they just buy them better Shampoo? This headline in on A 10 of Today's Trib. Women: Scientists Scratching their Heads
First Get a Million Dollars.... Remember the classic Steve Martin routine "how to earn a million dollars and never pay taxes?" It ended with the line "I forgot." I was reminded of that comedy routine when I read this bizarre story was in Friday's papers. A new organization that won't disclose its donors is running a media campaign supporting Gov. Janet Napolitano's legislative agenda. Phoenix radio ads that began airing Thursday urge support for pay raises for teachers and tax credits for businesses to offer health insurance to workers. The ads also disparage "reckless tax cuts that would undermine our financial stability and hamper our ability to retain and attract businesses." Golly, what a great idea. It's so much harder to raise money when people actually know who is contributing. So they've decided not tell anyone. I don't know if they have an attorney, but I would recommend getting one soon...because these names are going to be disclosed. The last group to try a trick like this was Mainstream Arizona. They filed as 527 group and they must have found some comfort in the fact that 527s file their disclosures with the IRS, not the FEC. IRS information is confidential right? Not always. For some reason Congress has made if very difficult to secretly spend money on political candidates or issues. A list of some of Mainstream Arizona's contributors is provided here. So where is local media on this issue? Are they planning to just sit back and say, "gosh, I guess if you guys want to spend $3 million promoting Governor Napolitano and you don't want to disclose your donors, that's OK with us." And how about the Governor herself? Is she going to call for the release of the information, or is she going to accept this anonymous largesse? If a group announced that it was going to spend $3 million to promote Jon Kyl and wasn't going to disclose its donors until after the election, wouldn't the Democrats cry foul? Wouldn't the media call on Kyl to ask that the names be released? Are the Republic, Tribune and Star going to let this stand, or are they going to call on Napolitano to insist that the contributors be disclosed or the ads stopped?
February 18, 2006
This Won't look Good on a Resume.
PHOENIX U-S Senate candidate Jim Pederson's son was arrested by Maricopa County sheriff's detectives last night after an investigation into the use and sales of narcotics. Lieutenant Paul Chagolla says 24-year-old James Robert Pederson was arrested after a search of his home near 15th and Glendale avenues in Phoenix. He was booked on a variety of drug possession charges and a weapons charge and released from jail this morning on his own recognizance. The younger Pederson wasn't booked on sales charges but investigators are still working on the case. Chagolla says the investigation started after tips came in about James Pederson selling drugs to college-age students. Sheriff Joe Arpaio says his office knew who Pederson's father was but politics had no bearing on the case. He says people selling drugs to students is a top priority, no matter who's involved. Jim Pederson is a Democrat who's challenging Republican U.S. Senator Jon Kyl. Arpaio has endorsed Kyl in the race, but says Pederson is a nice guy and any family can be affected by drugs.
Frankly I'm stunned. I can't believe that the son of a US Senate Candidate and muliti-millionaire would live at 15th avenue and Glendale. I'm sure that the Republic Headline on this unfortunate event will be Arpaio declares Pederson a nice guy
February 17, 2006
Earthquake Downtown State Senator Dean Martin rocked the Capitol yesterday as word leaked out that he had filed the paperwork to form an exploratory committee to run for the office of State Treasurer. I met with Martin on Thursday and why he was running. He emphasized his financial background and a long string of accomplishments--tax reform, Constitutional protection from sex offenders, as well as his status as a watch dog. Before word of Martin's move had leaked out, I spoke with Petersen Thursday morning and he indicated that he is considering not running for re-election. We had a previously scheduled appointment for an interview; he canceled the appointment and called me to say that he couldn't conduct the interview because he had some "decisions to make." I asked if he meant that he was considering not running and he said that he was meeting with people on Thursday morning and would get back to me. Calls to his office and cell phone were not returned later that day.
Petersen’s management style has come under intense criticism and the personnel turnover in the office exceeds 100%.
Petersen’s former Executive Secretary, Wanda Simeona, penned a scathing four page letter in which she announced her resignation and accused Petersen of mismanaging the office.
You have made a mess of this office, the morale is horrible and people are leaving faster than they can be replaced. For years, this office had no turnover. Since you have been here people are kicking down the doors to leave rather than enter.
The letter has been widely distributed at the State Capitol. I spoke with Petersen and he indicated that the letter would be a factor in his decision whether or not to seek re-election.
I asked Senator Martin to comment on Petersen's troubles and he demurred. Martin eventually said, "let's just say that I can do a better job. For the last two years, I've been approached by people urging me to run."
While the Simeona letter and the rumors swirling around his office may weigh in Petersen's decision whether or not to seek re-election, having Sen. Martin in the race will be a major factor.
Martin's first race was against Tom Horne for the open Senate seat vacated by Sue Grace. Horne was one of the State Representatives from that district and at the time, I must confess, that I thought Horne was invincible.
Two years later Horne, of course, went on the defeat an incumbent to become Superintendent of Public instruction. He's obviously a good campaigner yet Martin defeated him handily.
Martin has now had six years in which he has proven to be an effective legislator as well as an excellent campaigner. He also has $60,000 in the bank, which is more than Clean Elections provides to a challenger in the Primary Election.
These espresso leaves are pretty easy to read. Martin's going to be the next Treasurer and Petersen will be announcing shortly that he's not going to seek re-election.
The only question is what reason Petersen will provide for his decision. Hmm, I'm thinking that he wants to spend more time with his family.
Dominoes...and I don't mean Pizza
Look for Reps. Gorman and Carpenter to immediately announce for Martin's Senate seat. Gorman because she can win and Carpenter because it gives him an excuse to back away from the disastrous announcement that he's running for Governor.
In the Beginning the Earth was Void without Form...
The State Homeland Security Department was in budget hearings this week and one of the analysts said that he couldn't find the authorization for the agency in statute.
His counterpart in the executive branch admitted that there was no statutory authorization. The State Department of Homeland Security--a state agency that receives millions of dollars in federal funds--had been created by executive order.
When asked for a copy of the order, the executive analysts sheepishly admitted that...it was a VERBAL Executive order.
Is that cool or what? Think of all the sunset hearings that can be avoided. Not only can the Governor create a state agency ex nihilo, but also, she can do it by merely speaking.
Does she at least have to wave her arms and say Abracadabra?
February 16, 2006 With Friends like These… Daily Kos is the most popular blog in the United States. It leans hard left and is a favorite with Democrats. Daily Kos provided an update on the Pederson campaign today and it doesn’t look good. The post is a response to Pederson firing his national staffers and replacing them with Mario Diaz and Joe Yuhas. The entire post is interesting, but the last several paragraphs are a must read. Here’s a what Kos says about Mario Diaz. There are few political staff in Arizona to be known as so cut throat and hard knuckled. And here’s his assessment of the campaign itself. This should be a great shake up to a faltering campaign. OUCH. Here's the whole thing, or read it in its original format here. Pederson ( AZ ) Fires Campaign Manager, shakes up staff by Dour Tue Jan 17, 2006 at 02:36:17 PM PDT http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/... The mainstream media in Arizona really has not picked this up yet, so I figure ya'll should know at least. Pederson fired his campaign manager and several other positions last week and installed Mario Diaz and Joe Yuhas as his campaign team. "Yuhas and Diaz are both Arizona public affairs and campaign veterans and their appointments come on the heels of some grumblings that Pederson was relying too much on out-of-state campaign staff and consultants." "Diaz did not work on Kerry's general election effort and has a reputation for some hardball political tactics. He currently heads his own public affairs and consulting firm in Phoenix." Mario Diaz was most recently the campaign manager for John Kerry's presidential run in the 2004 Democratic Primary for Arizona. Before that he led then Attorney General Janet Napolitano to a stunning upset victory that wrestled controll of Arizona's Governorship from the Republicans. Mario is known mostly for his hardball approach to politics including the renaming of "Squaw Peak" by threatening the Chairman of the Board that renames historical monuments and then getting caught using state property to usurp Gov. Bill Richardson's campaign staff training camp by getting it to come to Arizona instead of New Mexico and renaming the camp to "Camp Napolitano" instead of "Camp Richardson". The scandal in that affair was he sent out some e-mails about the camp using his state e-mail account on accident since both his personal account and his state account are linked on his BlackBerry. There are few political staff in Arizona to be known as so cut throat and hard knuckled. This should be a great shake up to a faltering campaign.
Talton has Lost It. I try to ignore Jon Talton, and indeed, if he were a writer at a small newspaper, new hire, or blogger working on a labor of love, I would never single him out. But Jon Talton is the Business columnist in the state's newspaper of record. He makes six figures and has a position that requires some degree of responsibility. This blog entry is scary. When I worked at the Senate, we would turn letters like this over to security. Take a second and read it...
Ready, air, fire02/14/2006 08:17:34 
The TV talking heads and radio demagogues can't poo-poo the Cheney hunting accident fast enough. There are, they seem to be saying, more important issues facing the nation. Aside from the VP's "I am above the law manner" (or is it a Teddy Kennedy after Chappaquidick attitude?), there are more important things. Such as the administration coming clean about breaking the law to out a CIA agent in order to settle a political grudge. Such as accounting for the billions spent in Iraq, including a "lost" $9 billion, and the country has less electricity, oil and safety than before the invasion. Such as climate change, and stopping the White House effort to give sweetheart deals to oil companies while doing nothing about global warmiing. And on and on. Bloggers who haven't drunk the Kool-Aid can add their own. Ready, aim, fire. It's more that Cheney did.
Wow, where to begin. Now, I'm in no position to complain about typos and we've all split an infinitive, used "effect" instead of "affect" or "further" instead of "farther." And we all have our chronic mistakes. I tend to use "it's" and "its" interchangeably. But Talton went to J school and he works for a major newspaper. The five typos in the column are an indication that he's sloppy or angry or perhaps both. First, the title should read "aim", not "air." The word poo-poo is supposed to be spelled pooh-pooh. (Unless you are dealing with preschoolers who say things like "your mommy is a poo-poo head.") Chappaquiddick is spelled incorrectly, and he has a typo in the word "warming." Finally, in the last line, he means "than" not "that." And what does "Ready, aim fire" have to do with the rest of the column anyway? Those are just symptoms. The real problem with the column is that it is an angry, incoherent rant--one long sentence filled with conspiracy theories and Kool-Aid references. James Joyce meets the Unibomber. After reading this column, I know that Talton's garage is filled to capacity with copies of Catcher in the Rye. Does this really matter? How does Talton affect the Republic? First is the "one bozo effect." What do you think of the Legislature? Just a bunch of clowns right? Actually, the Legislature is filled with people who are much smarter and better educated than average. I served with several Harvard lawyers, not to mention the engineers, doctors, genuine war heroes and the occasional test pilot. So why are they held in such low esteem? Because there is always one bozo, and it only takes one vocal bozo to give the impression that the entire place is populated with idiots. Talton is the Republic's bozo. No matter how talented the rest of the reporters, columnists and editors are, the paper will be regarded as a confederacy of bozos. Second, Talton's typo-laden stream of consciousness rants eliminate his credibility when he needs to make the case for an issue that's actually important to the Republic. Who is going to quote Jon Talton's support of the upcoming Phoenix Bond Election? No one. The guy's a laughingstock. Who cares what he thinks about a bond election? Or the Civic Center, or biotech? That's why most companies don't let their employees go off half cocked. It diminishes their credibility when they have to make a point on behalf of their employer. Finally Talton hurts the Republic because the paper doesn't have a true business columnist. Newspapers are increasingly serving niche audiences. Some folks subscribe for the sports page. My wife read the Dillard's ads. I read politics and business. The paper tries to enhance its circulation by creating features that appeal to a wider audience. That's why you see new sections like "Y.E.S., Your Essential Style." I don't read that, but who cares; I already subscribe. Every paper needs a traditional business columnist and most of them actually know a little bit about business and don't spend every column chastising the Kookocracy, the Real Estate Industrial Complex or Wal-Mart. Even the Arizona Daily Star has a traditional business columnist. Talton was supposed to fill that role. Now, those readers simply go elsewhere. The next letter is from Ed Foster who was a Republic reporter for many years. He has some insight on what's happening in the newspaper business. (Notice that his interest is business, so the subscribes to the Wall Street Journal instead of the Republic.)
Here's a Great Letter. Greg: I ran across this in the Wall Street Journal. It confirmed what I thought I already knew. Nonetheless, it is stunning. Newspaper executives have to be worried sick by this. It is from a story about the Bismarck (ND) Tribune. The article’s thrust is that rural papers have continued to prosper. They have less competition from broadband, and they focus intensely on local issues. However, the killer information was in the last two paragraphs: "One of the reasons that the newspapers out here hung on longer than most is that the people out here, because of our rural nature, were more reluctant to adapt to the Internet," says Steve Scheel, chairman and chief executive of Scheels All Sports Inc. That is changing. Scheels, a family-run business based in Fargo with 22 sporting-goods stores, has about 3,000 employees, a little more than half of whom are 40 years old or younger. The company took a poll recently, Mr. Scheel says, and almost no one in that age range got the local paper at home. At the same time, the response rate to the company's newspaper ads is half of what it was 10 years ago, he says. So increasingly, Mr. Scheel is skipping newspaper ads and reaching out to customers directly through email. Just think: This guy has 1,500 employees under 40, and practically none subscribe to a newspaper. I have three guys working for me under 40. They don’t take a paper, either. Nor do other people around the office, as far as I know. (I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal.) Newspapers are floundering around, looking for a model that works. They’ve made their big money on advertising, traditionally. They used to say that they lost money on every subscriber. Subscribers are necessary to attract advertisers. Newspapers are aggregating eyeballs on the Internet. But how do you get people to look at advertising there? Even though dead-tree newspapers are still the best vehicle for mass advertising, more retailers are turning to mail. And the real danger is the loss of classified advertising. There are numerous ways to advertise your old car on the Internet. Many are free. The same is true for employers looking for help. I use sites like Monster.com, not newspapers. (Newspapers own CareerBuilder.com.) Classified advertising is the newspapers’ gold mine. They’re in the process of losing it. That’s got to hurt. Traditionally, the local publisher has been among the most powerful people in town. Think of Eugene C. Pulliam and Duke Tully. Nobody in their right mind crossed them. Even five years ago, this was an immensely powerful business. Newspaper executives would tell you that they are still making huge profits. That was true of GM and Ford until a few years ago, too. The writing is on the wall. Ed Foster
February 14, 2006 An Interview with Len Munsil
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
