Arizona Bully of 2011 Nominee: The AIRC Attempted Coup Co-Conspirators

Politics is a blood sport and not for the faint of heart.  In Arizona, this is especially true.  Even though Republicans make up only 35% of registered voters, they hold a super majority in the legislature, all elected state offices and 6 of 8 congressional seats.  Though a majority of those registered as independents or “no party affiliation” are conservative, the Republicans have managed their impressive feat through their stranglehold on congressional and legislative districts.

In 2000, the voters of Arizona sought to change all that by taking the process of redistricting out of the hands of the legislature and putting into the hands of an “independent” redistricting commission.  Arizona Republicans have made no secret their hatred for the voter mandated process as they appear to convey it is their “god given” right to rule Arizona.  In 2011, Republicans and their “tea party” movement members basically declared war on the AIRC, culminating with the attempted removal of Chairwoman Colleen Mathis.  Luckily the Supreme Court halted the attempted coup and the AIRC has been able to go about their voter mandated business.

But it is not the entire Republican Party I am nominating as an Arizona Bully of 2011.  No, I am naming the co-conspirators in the attempted coup of the AIRC: Governor Jan Brewer, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne and the Arizona State Senate Republicans.  Congrats everyone!

Arizona Bully of 2011 Nominee: The Editorial Board of the Arizona Republic

I don’t live my life looking through rose colored glasses.  I understand that the world is not black and white but many shades of grey.  I also expect my local newspaper to understand and reflect that reality on its editorial pages.  Sadly, the Arizona Republic and specifically its Editorial Board does not.  The Editorial Board sees everything around it in conservative black and white.  In 2011, the Editorial Board has ranted against organized labor, the “Occupy” movement and the Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican American Studies program, to name a few.

And it is not just that the Editorial Board takes a strong conservative stance on a wide range of issues it’s the way that they do it.  Take for example the lead paragraphs from today’s editorial:

“The activist-educators of the Tucson Unified School District's Mexican American Studies program never were especially good at teaching academically credible history.

Or civics. Or, really, anything that wasn't infused with a thick overlay of leftist political indoctrination as its primary message to students. They taught propagandized math to middle-schoolers, for heaven's sake.

But they have been very good at one thing: waging vicious war on anyone who dared criticize their program. When it came to silencing and marginalizing critics, the MAS activists of TUSD have proved masterful.”

One day the Editorial Board will start seeing the world in the shades of grey that it truly is, but until then, it can rest in the knowledge that is an Arizona Bully of 2011 Nominee!

Arizona Bully of 2011 Nominee: Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Arizona Bully of 2011 Nominee Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  Just saying his name conjures up images of a desert gulag system where the convicted and non-convicted alike are forced to eat green bologna, wear pink boxers and the infamous “Tent City”, Arizona’s very own concentration camp.  Other images include “crime suppression sweeps” in heavily Hispanic neighborhoods and areas with hundreds of deputies and “posse” members rounding up “suspected” undocumented immigrants and violating their rights.  Yet, the most shocking images are those of arrested dying while in Sheriff Arpaio’s custody.


Hell, the images conjured by the mention of Sheriff Arpaio are enough to make the Department of Homeland yank his department’s ability see if a person processed through his jails are undocumented immigrants or not.

Congratulations Sheriff Arpaio, you are an Arizona Bully of 2011 Nominee!

Arizona Bully of 2011 Nominee: Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio

Arizona Bully of 2011 Nominee Councilman Sal DiCiccio

Being able to play nice with others is the hallmark of any good politician.  Trying to circumvent your fellow city council members who won’t agree to your demands by asking the state legislature to force the city to do what you want is the sign of a pure bully.  In 2011, Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio did just that in his attempts to have all services provided by the City of Phoenix privatized.  Councilman DiCiccio is a big fan of privatization of city services and was able to get the Republican dominated Arizona Legislature to contemplate bills requiring Tucson and Phoenix to put any expenditure over a certain dollar amount for “competitive bidding”.  Luckily the bills both died, but I am sure they will be resurrected in the coming session.

If Councilman DiCiccio’s attempts to circumvent the Phoenix City Council weren’t bullying enough, The Arizona Republic reports that Councilman DiCiccio wants to take “pay raises and bonuses” off the table for upcoming contract negotiations with city employees.  He wants to do that by voting on parts of the city’s Fiscal Year 2012-2013 budget before negotiations begin.

Congratulations Councilman DiCiccio, you are an Arizona Bully of 2011 nominee!

Arizona Bully of 2011 Nominee: The FAIR Trust

As we all know, one doesn’t have to be loud, brash or even physical to be a bully.  Some of the most effective bullies are quiet and subdued.  They use the power of the soft spoken carefully chosen word to manipulate others into doing what they desire.  In Arizona no other organization exemplified the quiet bully better in 2011 than The FAIR Trust.  With its donors hiding behind the legal protections of a legal trust, The FAIR Trust’s sole purpose is to protect the incumbency of Arizona’s Congressmen.

Session after session The FAIR Trust’s representatives stood before the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) in an attempt to manipulate the yet to be formed new congressional districts into very safe congressional districts.  As Steve Muratore over at the Arizona Eagletarian has pointed out time and time again their argument is that competitiveness of a district and that districts protection of minority voting rights were diametrically opposed.  This is their way of quietly bullying the AIRC into creating even more safe congressional districts for the Republican Party.

So, the first Arizona Bully of 2011 nominee is: The FAIR Trust!