Arizona Progress ACTION

Jan Brewer: Third Term Not Out Of The Question

Arizona Progress — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:35:30 +0000

By Nick Wing - The Huffington Post

Arizona GOP Gov. Jan Brewer's second and final term -- at least according to the state constitution -- is set to come to an end in 2014. But now, as she stands as one of the more controversial Republican governors in the nation, rumblings about her taking steps to challenge the law and run for an unprecedented third term are growing louder.

Brewer has been asked about the prospect and repeatedly suggested that she's open to the possibility.

"I haven't ruled anything out," Brewer said on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. "I'm doing my job as governor. I have two more years."

Her governorship began in 2009 as a replacement to then-Gov. Janet Napolitano, who was departing to serve as President Barack Obama's Secretary of Homeland Security. In 2010, Brewer was reelected to a full term.

While an amendment to the state constitution, approved by voters in 1992, explicitly states that partial terms served are to be counted toward limits, some observers are arguing that the law is more ambiguous than first thought.

Wind Plus Solar Equals Power And Learning For Native American Schools

Arizona Progress — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:45:57 +0000

By Doug Ramsey - Public News Service-Az

Three new wind turbines spin outside Leupp Schools on the Navajo Nation.

On the roof, more than 10 kilowatts of solar panels have been installed. The additions help power the school while stimulating classroom learning.

Karin Wadsack, director of the Arizona Wind for Schools program, says the projects introduce teachers and students to wind and solar energy, while helping to overcome resistance to renewable energy in the surrounding community.

"There's wind turbines going up at schools in rural areas where the community can learn about the wind turbine. They can learn what it does. They can support it because it's at their kids' school."

Leupp Schools is one of eight Native American schools in Arizona installing wind and solar systems, using money from a settlement agreement between the Grand Canyon Trust and the utilities that own the coal-fired Springerville Generating Station.

Advocates: AZ Tax Credits Lack Oversight, Accountability

Arizona Progress — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:18:43 +0000

By Doug Ramsey - Public News Service Az

Arizona's tax credit system is out of control, according to three diverse advocacy groups. Children's Action Alliance, the Goldwater Institute and the Arizona Public Interest Research Group (Arizona PIRG) say income tax credits divert more than $300 million each year from the state's general fund, with little legislative oversight and no accountability.

CAA president Dana Naimark says lawmakers review and vote on the state budget every year, but tax credits are "forever."

"With most tax credits, there never has to be another vote of the full legislature, once they're enacted. And there's very little dialogue about the tradeoffs, and how the costs of the tax credits fit in with our state priorities and our limited resources."

Naimark says there's also a lack of transparency regarding tax credits. She says a legislative oversight committee spent much of its meeting last week behind closed doors.

Naimark proposes that the legislature add sunset dates to each tax credit, in the same manner that state agencies have sunset reviews every five to ten years.

Jan Brewer: 'I Probably Don't Believe' Climate Change Is Man Made

Arizona Progress — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 13:02:39 +0000

By David Edwards - The Raw Story

Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer recently lashed out at a reporter before her appearance at an energy conference, demanding to know “where in the hell” a question about climate change came from.

Prior to her Saturday night speech on energy at the Western Governors’ Association, KTVK’s Dennis Welch wanted to get Brewer’s view on climate change because — as the station noted — it was “[i]ntertwined with the discussion of energy.”

“Everybody has an opinion on it and I probably don’t believe that it’s man made,” Brewer replied. “I believe, you know, that weather elements are controlled maybe by different things.”

But the Arizona governor may have not been aware that the cameras were still rolling when she approached Welch after the interview.

“Where in the hell did that come from?” she asked.

McCain Once Offered Identical Assessment As Susan Rice On Benghazi Attack

Arizona Progress — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:53:40 +0000

By Ben Armbruster - Think Progress

Just three days after the Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said there were “demonstrations” at the U.S. diplomatic mission there and that the attackers “seized this opportunity to attack our consulate.” McCain also said during this Sept. 14 press conference on Capitol Hill that he wasn’t certain whether al-Qeada perpetrated the assault.

Yet McCain has been leading a smear campaign against U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice for essentially making the same assessment two days later on the Sept. 16 Sunday talks shows. Making clear that a more thorough forthcoming investigation would provide better information for “definitive conclusions,” here’s what Rice said about the Benghazi attack on that day, from CBS’s Face the Nation:

SUSAN RICE: Based on the best information we have to date, what our assessment is as of the present is in fact what began spontaneously in Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours earlier in Cairo where, of course, as you know, there was a violent protest outside of our embassy — sparked by this hateful video. But soon after that spontaneous protest began outside of our consulate in Benghazi, we believe that it looks like extremist elements, individuals, joined in that — in that effort with heavy weapons of the sort that are, unfortunately, readily now available in Libya post-revolution. And that it spun from there into something much, much more violent.