For those who have spent time at the Arizona legislature, you’re probably aware that “sine die”, the official close of the legislative session, is a day that is highly looked forward to by most legislators and staffers. It’s the day that they can go back home, return back to their side jobs, or just generally not have to deal with … Read More
The Current Culture Wars Come to Arizona Again: Why Both Sides are Wrong
By Alexander Lomax What do you consider to be an important quality in an elected official? Perhaps their ability to compromise and get deals done, perhaps their approach on fiscal matters and spending. Maybe it’s a major social issue with significant ramifications for you and your loved ones, such as abortion. Before this past election, nearly no one would have … Read More
Infighting Amongst the Arizona Dems: Fractures Show Between Gov. Hobbs and Her Caucus
Arizona Democrats have had to relearn what power means considering how long they had been relegated to an afterthought in Arizona politics. Since they are in a one vote minority in both the state House of Representatives and state Senate, the most powerful tool in Hobbs’s arsenal has been her veto pen, as we have covered here. One would assume … Read More
Maricopa Dems Have Their Own Saturday Night Massacre: Embattled Executive Director Fires Nearly Everyone
Students of history (or older readers) will remember the Saturday Night Massacre: it was the last gasp of the Nixon administration and its attempt to cover up the Watergate scandal. In it, Nixon ordered his Justice Department officials to fire the Special Prosecutor in charge of Watergate, which led to a string of resignations as a result. The Maricopa County … Read More
Guest Editorial: Pima County Dems Say “F*** the 4th” – AZ Democrats Gonna Blow Another Opportunity, Aren’t They?
By Alexander Lomax As a card-carrying liberal, I have become well accustomed to Democrats snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, nearly as predictably as a late-season Kliff Kingsbury collapse. Even then, in the midst of an extremely tenuous economy led by rampant inflation, I felt a ray of potential hope with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. While I … Read More
The Rent Crisis Hits Low Income Areas – Will Progressives Finally Push for More Housing Options?
Rents are increasing all around the country, but most exorbitantly in Arizona, with three AZ cities in the top 20 for highest increases in rent in the country over the last year. This is nothing new for us here at APG, we’ve been sounding the alarm for a while now. But as time goes on, we wonder what catalysts will … Read More
Senator Sinema is Formally Censured by Arizona Democratic Party – Is Her Time with the Democratic Caucus Coming to an End?
By Alexander Lomax In what was a surprise to absolutely no one, the Arizona Democratic Party voted behind closed doors to formally censure Kyrsten Sinema this past weekend. If there was a single saving grace for Sinema (other than the potential support it may elicit from registered independents and other politically homeless voters), it’s that it was not done in … Read More
Do Arizona Democrats Stand for Anything?
By Ronald Sampson I am loathe to draw too many conclusions from Twitter; it is generally a cesspool which is not reflective of real life in nearly any way, after all. But if volume of responses are indicative of anything, then local Dems have en masse tipped their hands as to their lack of moral and ethical rooting in the … Read More
Katie Hobbs’s Race Problem
By Alexander Lomax In what is looking to be a tough election year for Democrats nationally, Katie Hobbs’s path to the 9th floor was already a fairly narrow one. Now a problem from the past has re-emerged and has made that narrow path a more treacherous one. Those who follow local politics closely may remember the story of Talonya Adams, … Read More
Proposition 208 On the Ropes
Proposition 208, the significant tax increase narrowly approved by voters in 2020, is now on the ropes due to a recent decision by the Arizona Supreme Court. In a 6-1 vote, the court declared that if the funds raised by the new tax exceed the amount to be spent on education in a given year as per constitutional dictate, the … Read More