The Data Port

Melvin Sees Atoms in Arizona's Future

While we’re waiting to learn the outcome of today’s voting, lets look ahead to 2010 to see what some of the campaign themes in LD 26 might be.

Incumbent Republican State Senator Al Melvin has just been appointed Co-Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Energy and Water. It’s not hard to imagine he’ll be mining that assignment for campaign issues in his re-election campaign.

Melvin believes Arizona’s future lies in becoming a major energy exporter. According to his most recent update we’ll generate thousands of jobs in Arizona. How?

“If Arizona can become the most atomic energy friendly state in the Union, Arizona can become one of the richest states in the USA.”

I assume this means something more than just sending little friendship notes to the one atomic energy plant we already have. I suppose we’ll have to build at least one more, just to prove how atomic friendly we are.

We can augment state income by building a spent fuel rod disposal facility under some of the open land up in Pinal County.

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Foothills voters storm polls?

The Data Port’s resident writers rolled out of bed this morning and hustled off to Orange Grove School to beat the crowds expected to turn up for the exciting bond vote.

Waiting To Vote

The Rush to Vote Was On

At the entrance to the polling place we noticed there were signs indicating a limit of 75 pies, which would have been more than we could eat that early in the morning. It didn’t matter, though, because we didn’t see anyone selling pies.

Terri Proud

A new hat has been thrown into the LD26 ring. Republican Terri Proud has announced she is a candidate for the House seat now held by Democrat Nancy Young Wright.

Proud has been living in Northwest Tucson since 1997. According to her LinkedIn.com listing she is currently employed as Office Manager/Senior Paralegal at Lippman Griffith and Associates. She has attended Pima Community College.

Her current political action position is as Arizona State Coordinator of the Second Amendment March, a project of the NRA, and she belongs to the Pima County Republican Liberty Caucus:

“The Pima County Republican Liberty Caucus (PCRLC) is a political action oriented group of liberty minded individuals within the GOP. Our goal is to return the Republican Party back to its roots of liberty, limited government and free markets. The government which governs the least governs the best.”

(Personal Note: As a one time Philosophical Anarchist I too believed that government was the source of human misery. First as the source of international conflict and, second, as the supporter of capitalism and the active enemy of the socialist movement. Perhaps Ms Proud and I are closer than either of us suspects, where I was once an Anarcho-Syndicalist, she is an Anarcho-Capitalist. It makes to laugh.)

Proud’s political goal as an LD26 candidate is to join hands with Cap’n Al. Her political platform seems to boil down to “cutting taxes” and defeating Ms Wright, who is an agent of Nancy Pelosi.

Proud’s website is here.

Waiting For Independents

A comment on yesterday’s Data Port asked for the registration figures in LD 26.

Here y’are:

Democrats: 37,425

Greens: 136

Libertarians: 589

Republicans: 46,018

Other: 30,271

A close look at these numbers suggests that Cage has an excellent shot at sinking Captain Al, despite the Republican registration edge of over 8000.

How many Republicans will be so ideological that they will overlook Republican culpability for the budget debacle? Pretty clearly the election will turn on two factors: the huge independent registration and, as always, getting out the vote.

All sorts of interesting voter registration data is available at the Secretary of State’s

web site: Click

Cheryl Cage

14 Months before the November, 2010, election Cheryl Cage fires her first broadside at State Senator Al Melvin’s ship of state.

Cage has already got under Mr. Melvin’s skin by showing up at his public appearances to ask questions. Her first newsletter continues to nibble away at the wonderful inconsistencies you get when good sense is subverted by ideology.

She points out:

Melvin sponsored a state bill which banned texting while driving because (Melvin said), “The Highway Patrol likes it and has statistics that show that lives will be saved.”

But soon Ideology gets in the way of good sense. When the same legislation appeared in a Federal bill, good sense walks the plank and Melvin recants:

One of the major proponents (of the federal bill which includes a ban on texting while driving) was Chuck Schumer, who is no hero of mine by any means, and if he is going to be associated with this subject, with the federal threat to cut back on highway funds for states that don’t go along with it (banning texting while driving) I will divorce myself from the subject ” Melvin said. “I don’t want to be involved in that. If they’ve got these Democratic, liberal fingerprints all over it, I’m not going to be a party to that. I’m not. If anything, I would go the other way and try to make a legal issue out of it.

Oh…My…God! Democratic liberal fingerprints!  eewww….eewww.

And, again, Cage points out that Melvin isn’t even sure where he stands on crucial ideological protocols:

Mr. Melvin signed Grover Norquist’s ‘no tax’ pledge in 2006. Then in an 8/8/ 2008 campaign interview he stated, “I have frankly signed the “no new tax” pledge.” Then, eight months later RECANTED and said he did not sign the ‘no tax’ pledge.

Come on, Al, which is it, really?

Visit Cheryl Cage’s web site: Click:

Sign up for Cheryl Cage’s newsletter: Click