The burly man with two days growth of beard at the ticket booth looked down at the young lad. “How old are you, son.”
“I’m seven, sir.”
“How come you’re not is school?”
“My school’s closed, sir.”
“You come to see the circus?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’ll be five bucks. Plus the extra sales tax for education. And, I’ll need to see your citizenship papers.”
“Enjoy the circus, son, and don’t miss the sideshows.”
Sideshow 1: The Governor’s Exhibit
In my day job, I regularly deal with government agencies both federal and state. In particular, for this illustration, many state Secretary of State’s offices and their corporate divisions. Arizona’s is the worst. To make the point, I’ll compare Arizona to its neighbor Nevada. In Nevada you can get corporate filings expedited for a fee and have them completed in 24 hours, 2 hours or 1 hour. You can drop off a filing, have lunch, and pick up the competed work on your way back to the office. In Arizona, you can also pay to have corporate filings expedited. Expedited in Arizona means 6 business days; that’s 8 calendar days. You can drop off a filing, drive to San Diego, get on a cruise ship, take a seven day Pacific cruise, disembark in San Diego, drive back to Phoenix, and your completed work might be ready.
During the late 90’s and early 2000’s, most states, then flush with revenue, upgraded their systems. Much can be done online and by email. Arizona, also flush with revenue, punted on modernization. Now, in 2011, doing business with the State of Arizona means in person, by snail mail or by fax. And a personal note – their fax transmissions are just horrible quality, barely readable.
Why does this failure to modernize matter? Because Arizona’s Secretary of State from 2003 to 2009, when she defaulted to the Governor’s office with Janet Napolitano’s appointment to the Obama cabinet, was Jan Brewer. While she may be a competent radiology technician – she has an associates degree from a local community college in the field – her competence to govern a state is in serious question.
Mini displays in the Governor’s sideshow exhibit include:
• Opposition to LGBT rights and gay marriage. She helped repeal legislation passed during the Napolitano administration that granted domestic partners of state employees the same rights as married spouses.
• The LGBT opposition is consistent with her rise to political stature as a born-again religious social conservative. Her run for Secretary of State focused on pro-life positions, though the job of Secretary of State has little to do with the subject.
• Brewer’s NRA membership card is proudly on display. More on guns in a bit.
• She got some flack for hiring two lobbyists for Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) as policy advisors. CCA, you see, operates private, for-profit prisons including six in Arizona. The cost and professionalism of Arizona’s private prisons has come under fire. One of the “policy advisors” still works for her.
• Diverting $10 million in federal education funds to “border security” raised some eyebrows as well.
Sideshow 2: Let There Be Guns
The Arizona state bird is the Cactus Wren. The state flower is the Saguaro Cactus Blossom. The state tree is the Palo Verde. The state animal is the Ringtail Cat. And the state gun, as approved by the legislature this year, is the Colt Single Action Army Revolver.
It shouldn’t come as a shock that Arizona’s legislature should want to be one of only two states to have a state gun. Arizona has open carry. You have the privilege of seeing people in grocery stores with loaded guns in holsters on their hips. Most people avoid the check out lines those gun toters are in.. And, to make it even more fun, Arizona allows folks to carry concealed weapons without a permit. Most states require gun safety training, a background check and a permit, but Arizona isn’t like most states.
If you thought the “State Gun” stunt was a sideshow winner, here’s one that I think tops even that. When Russell Pearce became State Senate President earlier this year he put in place a new senate rule allowing state senators to carry firearms in the senate chamber. Members of the public are forbidden to carry firearms in state buildings. Now, if the public is unarmed, but the senators are armed, who are the senators going to defend themselves against with those guns? Each other?
Oh, I should mention that the Gov did veto a bill that would have permitted students to carry guns on campus, including those unlicensed concealed weapons. The legislature had passed the bill overwhelmingly despite objections from all three state universities.
Sideshow 3: Abortion Tricks
No surprise here. Arizona, after this legislative session, jumps on the abortion restriction and intimidation bandwagon. Abortions in Arizona require counseling including abortion alternatives. Pre-abortion procedure must also include an ultra sound with the image visible to the woman, though she is not forced to look, the opportunity to get a photograph from the ultra sound, and listening to a fetal heart monitor. People can decide for themselves what they think of those ideas.
But, here’s the cutest trick of all. As a lawyer I appreciate such things even when I disagree with them. The Arizona legislature changed the definition of abortion. Until this year, abortion was defined as a surgical procedure. No more. Abortion in Arizona now includes medicinal/medical abortion. That’s a long way of saying RU-486. Why does that matter? Well, in addition to what I mentioned before, Arizona law also requires that abortions be performed by a physician. That means, in addition to counseling, ultra sound and fetal heart monitoring, RU-486 may only be taken in the presence of a physician. Problem: many rural and inner city clinics that dispense RU-486 do not have full time physicians on staff. They are staffed by physician assistants or clinicians with a physician either part time or on call.
……………
It had been a long day, and the young lad was growing tired. As he passed by the ticket booth on his way out, the burly man caught his attention. “Did you get to see all the sideshows?”
“No, sir. Just a few. Can I come back and see the rest tomorrow.”
“Yeah, sure, kid.”
_________________
CODA: This keeps running on longer than I expect. There’s so much sideshow to see and tell about. Guess I’ll have to do a Part III if I’m going to get to immigration, new Medicaid restrictions, private prisons, selling state buildings and a couple of the carnival barkers like Russell Pearce and Sheriff Joe.
Contributor, aka tidbits. Retired attorney in complex litigation, death penalty defense and constitutional law. Former Nat’l Board Chair: Alzheimer’s Association. Served on multiple political campaigns, including two for U.S. Senator Mark O. Hatfield (R-OR). Contributing author to three legal books and multiple legal publications.