Just when we were celebrating the news that the world did not end Saturday….now we find this out:

From the Arizona Republic May 22, 2011:

Sarah Palin buys a house in north Scottsdale?

by Dan Nowicki and Catherine Reagor – May. 21, 2011 12:36 PM
The Arizona Republic

Has Sarah Palin bought a house in north Scottsdale?

For months, rumors have circulated in Arizona political circles that the former Alaska governor and possible 2012 presidential contender either was shopping for homes in Scottsdale or had already bought one.

A just-closed deal on a secluded luxury home in far north Scottsdale might fit the bill, and talk has begun that this may be the one. It’s an 8,000-square-foot, dark-brown stucco home with a guard gate that can keep unwanted visitors away. It has six bedrooms, five bathrooms, a six-car garage, a swimming pool and spa, and a full basement with a home theater, billiards room and wine cellar.

Safari Investments LLC paid $1.695 million cash for the home in a deal that appears designed to cloak the identity of a high-profile buyer.

Safari Investments is a Delaware limited liability firm formed May 12, the day before the deal for the Scottsdale home closed. No officers are listed on the Delaware filing, and that state doesn’t require the names of individual associated with limited liability companies to be disclosed. High-profile people often buy homes through LLCs to maintain their privacy.

Alan Kierman, an attorney with the Phoenix law firm of Mack Drucker & Watson, is listed on property records as the contact for Safari Investments. Asked point blank by The Arizona Republic if Palin and her husband Todd Palin bought the north Scottsdale house through the company, Kierman said he had no comment.

In north Scottsdale’s scenic desert, the former foreclosure house was purchased by real estate agent and investor Ian Whitmore in March 2010 for $805,000. He sold it May 13 to Safari Investments, but said he doesn’t know who is behind the limited liability company. The home was half-renovated when it was taken back by the lender JP Morgan Chase Bank in 2009.

Requests seeking comment from Palin or her aides made Friday and Saturday through her political action committee, SarahPAC, were not successful.

Confirmation of a Palin house purchase in Scottsdale likely would rekindle chatter about whether Palin might run a political campaign out of Arizona, the home state of U.S. Sen. John McCain, who plucked her from relative political obscurity in 2008 to be his vice-presidential running mate.

Palin has been rumored to be considering headquartering her 2012 White House campaign, if there is one, in Scottsdale. She also has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

Palin has made multiple visits to Arizona since the night in November 2008 when, at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, McCain conceded the presidential election to Democratic rival Barack Obama. Palin’s daughter, former “Dancing With the Stars” celebrity finalist Bristol Palin, last year purchased a five-bedroom house in Maricopa.

Palin’s name started coming up in Arizona in March, when state Rep. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, repeated a rumor of a possible Palin bid for the U.S. Senate in his weekly newsletter to constituents. Farley told The Republic at the time that he heard the rumor from two Republican lobbyists whom he declined to name. The same week, a Politico blogger quoted an anonymous source as saying Palin might base a potential presidential campaign in Scottsdale.

The Arizona Democratic Party’s website asked, “Is Sarah Palin moving to Arizona?” and used the rumors to try to raise money.

The speculation was enough for Public Policy Polling, a Democratic company based in North Carolina, to include some questions about Palin in its most recent automated telephone survey of Arizona voters. One question asked respondents whether they would like for Palin to move to Arizona. Fifty-seven percent said no. Another 27 percent said they would like her to relocate to the state, while 16 percent were not sure.

The poll of 623 Arizona voters was conducted April 28 to May 1 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

FaceBook message from Start Our State:

bad news about The Daily Show – the segment on our movement will not be airing. Once they got into the editing room, they realized they didn’t have enough wacky stuff about the legislature & governor. They greatly appreciated Tucson’s hospitality though and send warm regards to everyone

Maybe once Governor Brewer started vetoing some of the crazier stuff, and Russell pearce failed to get his 2011 anti-immigrant agenda through….Arizona had a brush with sanity.

Liberals in southern Arizona seek to form new state

Brad Poole : Reuters

May 10, 2011

TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) – A long-simmering movement by liberal stalwarts in southern Arizona to break away from the rest of the largely conservative state is at a boiling point as secession backers press to bring their longshot ambition to the forefront of Arizona politics.

A group of lawyers from the Democratic stronghold of Tucson and surrounding Pima County have launched a petition drive seeking support for a November 2012 ballot question on whether the 48th state should be divided in two.

The ultimate goal of the newly formed political action committee Start our State is to split Pima County off into what would become the nation’s 51st state, tentatively dubbed Baja Arizona.

Backers have until July 5 next year to collect the 48,000 signatures required to qualify for a spot on the ballot. If they succeed, it would mark only the first hurdle in a long, circuitous process that even the most determined of supporters readily acknowledge has little chance of bearing fruit.

“We at least need to get it on the ballot, as a nonbinding resolution, to ask the people of Pima County if they want to be a part of Arizona,” Tucson attorney Paul Eckerstrom, a former Pima County Democratic chairman who launched the campaign, told Reuters. “All the stars would have to align for this to happen, but it could conceivably happen by the fall of 2013.”

U.S. history is replete with efforts to carve one state from another — from the creation of Kentucky and Tennessee in the 1790s to more modern misfires like proposals to partition Long Island from New York or to split California in half.

The last successful intrastate secession movement was the formation of West Virginia during the Civil War.

More…

A 51st State? Some In Arizona Want A Split

by Ted Robbins KUAT

….Baja Arizona supporters say there’s a serious side to their quest to create a new state. They say Arizona is headed in the wrong direction — cutting education and health care funding and hurting the state’s reputation and business climate with laws like SB 1070. And they say Republicans in the Legislature are punishing Pima County for its opposition.

The Legislature tried to deny money to Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik because he doesn’t support SB 1070. It passed a law trying to change the way Tucson holds city elections, and another bill dictating how the city can bid public works projects.

More…

COMMENT:A lot of people think the goal of creating Baja Arizona is to create some kind of liberal Democrat haven.

I see it a little differently.

The far out right wing in Maricopa County have really skewed Arizona’s agenda. With leaders like Joe Arpaio and Russell Pearce calling the shots up there, they have left everyone who doesn’t put gun rights and locking up millions of illegal aliens as their first priorities out in the cold.

We have every right to point out the craziness of the Arpaio/Pearce agenda. And talking about Baja Arizona and our differences with Maricopistan is one way to do this.

But if you look hard at Baja Arizona what you see is maybe one-third of the voters are Democrats, one-third Republican and one-third Independent. Those two-thirds of the voters aren’t going to turn Baja Arizona into Massachusetts.

I see the climate of Baja Arizona is more center right with a very strong libertarian streak.

People try and define the area based on the city of Tucson’s political image…and if one day Tucson’s city council is actually directly elected by wards instead of city-wide I believe you’d see a GOP controlled city government.

But the definition of GOP or Republican down here is not the same as in Maricopistan. The social conservatives are not dominant here so a “Republican” agenda would look a lot more like something Barry Goldwater wrote. Remember…we elected one of the first openly gay Republicans to Congress over and over again. And no one would call Jim Kolbe a “liberal”.

If Baja Arizona actually was created (highly unlikely) I don’t envision the new state wasting a lot of time trying to allow guns in public buildings or on college campuses, or picking fights with the federal government over abortion  or how to harass illegal aliens.

I do see a state that would much more strongly support its public education system and the University of Arizona, a state that would not throw all its poor people and sick people under the bus, and a state that would celebrate its cultural and ethnic diversity.

From the Christian Science Monitor May 3, 2011:

Fed up with Phoenix, Tucson talks secession from ArizonaArizona’s conservative politics – and Phoenix’s dominant role – lead some in Tucson to call for secession. It’s a divide that dates back to the 1800s.

….The Legislature passes a bill requiring police officers to ask for the documents of anyone they stop who looks like an illegal immigrant. The sheriff of Pima County, which includes Tucson, calls it “stupid” and refuses to enforce it. The state passes a law to ban all ethnic studies at public schools. Students at Tucson Unified School District storm a school meeting and chain themselves to chairs.

More…

Note: I understand petitions for the referendum on Baja Arizona will be available at the Shanty May 5th…which is the official “Free Baja ARizona” day.

Baja Arizona started off as a joke in the Frumious Bandersnatch 46 years ago…could this be the first state that started with a joke?

Press Release February 22, 2011:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Start Our State (SOS) has been formally established as a political
committee registered in Pima County. SOS is dedicated to creating
the 51st American state in Southern Arizona, separating us from the
extremists in Phoenix. Our mission is to establish a new state in
Southern Arizona free of the un-American, unconstitutional
machinations of the Phoenix-controlled Arizona legislature and to
restore our region’s credibility as a place welcoming to others, open
to commerce, and friendly to its neighbors. Our first and immediate
goal is to place a referendum before the voters of Pima County on the
2012 ballot on the question of statehood.

We welcome other Arizona counties that wish to join this effort. In the
meantime, we shouldn’t forget that, with a population of 1,020,200
(2009), Pima County has more people than Montana, Delaware,
North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming. With
an area of 9,189 square miles, Pima County is bigger than Vermont,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode
Island. There is legal precedent for the separation of a portion of an
existing state from the original state in order to form a new one. In
1820, Maine split off from Massachusetts and was admitted to the
Union as the 23rd state.

SOS Co-chairs: Paul Eckerstrom, Peter Hormel
SOS Treasurer: David Euchner

See  Facebook page: Save our state

Resulting news:

ABC Network news:  Arizona Group Pushes County Secession, Creation of New State

MSNBC:  Americ’s 51st state Baja Arizona?

Arizona Capitol Times: Baja Arizona? Annoyed with Legislature, group wants Pima County to form new state

 Fox 11 Tucson: Baja Arizona Movement Gaining Support
Poll finds secession sentiment strong in Baja Arizona

Channel 9 reports 51st state Baja Arizona idea gets strong reactions from sheriffs

Montini on Arizona Republic  Farce as reality: Baja Arizona the 51st state?

Secession from Arizona pushed…Amendment would have allowed Pima County to form its own state

Could Baja Arizona be 51st state in US?  Arizona Daily Star February 24, 2011

Arizona Republic: Southern Arizona residents want to create new state: Baja Arizona

KTAR (Phx tv station) Baja Arizona? — Supporters insist the time has come

KPHO Phoenix Southern Arizona Man Fights To Form New State

KMSB Fox 11Tucson tv station Tucson group wants to secede from Arizona

KOLD tv Tucson  Baja Arizona: America’s 51st state?

KGUN 9 Tucson Splitting AZ: Support grows for 51st state

New York Times February 24, 2011 Arizona Lawmakers Push New Round of Immigration Restrictions

….Opponents said the changes were a drastic rewriting of the core values of the country. In Tucson, a community group was so enraged by what it called the extremist nature of the proposals from Phoenix that it proposed severing the state in two, creating what some call Baja Arizona.

More…

Emil Franzi in the Explorer: Baja Arizona supporters are clueless Tucson narcissistsNote: Emil should have stuck to writing restaurant reviews.

Blog comments

 From Forbes: “Baja Arizona might not become a new state, but it certainly shows a more moderate state of mind.”

To Secede or Not To Secede — That Is the Arizona Question

 Is Baja Arizona really much better? A look at the numbers

Secesión!

Slate: Arizonans Want To Secede From Arizona 

A group of Arizona residents are getting serious about creating a breakaway state—but it’s not the U.S. they want to escape from, it’s Arizona. The Arizona Star reports that a committee of Democrats in the southern part of the state says the conservatives who run things in Phoenix don’t represent them or their values. “Every bill we’ve heard about here is either anti-abortion laws or anti-Mexican laws,” Start Our State‘s Paul Eckerstrom said. “These are not laws that are geared toward solving the real problems that we have,” problems he thinks southern Arizonans ought to take a crack at solving themselves. His group is working to get secession on the ballot in 2012, and he insists the effort is “not a ploy and not merely a political statement.” If the secessionists succeed, a section of Pima County (with an area of 9,186 square miles and population of more than 1 million) would become Baja Arizona, the nation’s 51^st state. But the Associated Press warns that there are “daunting hurdles”: “they must first get on the ballot, then get approval from the Legislature or from state voters to allow the exodus. A new state constitution would have to be approved, plus they’d have to get the OK from Congress and the president.”

NPR Blog: AZ Lawmaker Says State’s So Embarrassing, Her County May Secede

by Frank James

I pass this one along for your amusement.

After the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate passed a bill to let the state nullify any federal laws it didn’t agree with (I know, I know. The senators did this despite the U.S. Constitution’s “supremacy clause”) a Democratic lawmaker said her county might need to secede for the sake of its dignity.

Sen. Paula Aboud, D-Tucson, chose not to try to block SB 1433 which has strong Republican support, including that of Senate President Russell Pearce. Instead, she sought to amend it to say that the moment this law takes effect, the Pima County Board of Supervisors “may act to have the county secede from the jurisdiction of this state.”

Aboud said Pima County residents really do want to remain part of Arizona.

“But we don’t want to be part of this state that continues to embarrass Arizona,” she said. “The point is, our business community is hurting because of the reactions brought upon by this body.”

From the East Valley Tribune:

Tom Prezelski: I was talking about Baja Arizona…

From Huffington Post:  Morning in America: If at First You Don’t Secede…

For sheer temerity, the Grand Canyon State remains unparalleled in its monumental ruination. Following the international debacle that was SB 1070 and the national tragedy of the Tucson massacre, the state legislature has been hard at work to eliminate the vestiges of the public healthcare system, deny organ transplants to dying patients, cut educational spending to the bone, and pass titanic corporate tax cuts at the same time. Perhaps even more shockingly, with the Safeway shootings still fresh in the populace’s mind, the legislature is now advancing a bill to adopt an official state gun, namely the Colt Single Action Army Revolver. Nero may have famously fiddled while Rome burned, but Arizona is close to one-upping him.

More…

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Why Baja Arizona …?

see editorial in the New York Times : Angry Arizona, Again

Arizona Lawmakers Push New Round of Immigration Restrictions

Arizona bills a test of federal government authority

Arizona bill would make Colt revolver state’s official firearm

Outfit your own private army in Arizona

State to feds …you are criminals if you try and enforce federal laws in Arizona

Brewer signs corporate tax give away bill

The state is going broke so what do you do? Cut taxes

Arizona to countersue feds over immigration issues

Is Arizona trying to secede from the United States?

New Arizona legislation aims to loosen gun laws…what? our gun laws are not liberal enough?

Arizona legislators determined to keep Arizona as the center of anti-immigrant efforts

With a climate of hate and easy access to guns for crazy people who else is going to die in Arizona?

Birthright citizenship bill unveiled by Arizona lawmakers — 2011′s version of SB 1070

And then there was last year’s SB 1070 debacle…

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Some far right folks are claiming the current Baja Arizona movement is a precursor to the area joining Mexico…part of their “Aztlan” fear.   And they think we’re crazy….

Others think Baja Arizona is a scheme to leave the United States. Actually it is Arizona that is trying to secede from the US.

Others think this is silly…..well it is sort of….but so is what’s going on in Phoenix.

As Forbes blogger Osha Gray Davidson observed:

Group members insist they’re serious about their desire to secede, but know the odds are against them.

Even though, Baja Arizona may succeed in another way. The secessionist movement sends a powerful message to prospective businesses that the region is different from the butt of late-night talk shows to the north. Baja Arizona might not become a state, but it certainly shows a more moderate state of mind.

From: Nicholas Ilka  startourstate@gmail.com who appears to be a spokesperson for SOS:

Let be be unmistakably clear – Nothing could be farther from the truth! My reasons for supporting this movement can be summed up as follows – If we allow Maricopa county to have its way the result will an Arizona that is no longer a part of the U.S., has its only education system in the private prison industry, and prayer as the only form of healthcare. I oppose these things as part of my patriotic duty to this country. We want to be a full and cooperative partner with our fellow states and the federal government.

One thing that will come as no surprise to most of you is that Sheriff Joe Arpaio has denounced the independence movement as “stupid.” Personally I thought he would have jumped at the chance to get rid of us. On a brighter note we received the unofficial endorsement of Sheriff Tony Estrada from Santa Cruz county!

“I think it’s a tremendous idea. It’s about time we kind of separate ourselves from the great state of Maricopa. We’ve been ignored, we’ve been abused, we’ve been pushed around, we’ve been kicked around long enough.”

Looks like Sheriff Estrada knows exactly how we feel. In the same article Pinal Co. Board of Supervisors Chairman Pete Rios has this to say,

“They’re the tail that wags the dog. The rest of us, regardless of whether we join teams together, we cannot come up with enough votes to defeat anything that Maricopa County legislators want,”

Both quotes and Sheriff Arpaio’s thoughts can be found here

http://tucsoncitizen.com/view-from-baja-arizona/2011/02/26/channel-9-reports-51st-state-baja-arizona-idea-gets-strong-reactions-from-sheriffs/

I am pleased to announce that the official website for Start Our State is under way and in the hands of some very capable volunteers. As soon as we are up you all will be the first to know.

The official email address for Start Our State is startourstate@gmail.com but you can respond to me as well and I will do my best to get you the information you need.

Thanks again and have great day,

Nicholas J. Ilka
Proud local business owner and supporter of Start Our State.

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Is Baja Arizona viable as its own state?

Once the laughing stops about the effort to create America’s 51^st state out of all or a portion of Arizona that lies south of the Gila River….people start asking….is this really feasible?

Consider that just Pima County alone with a population of 1,020,200 (2009) has more people than Montana, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming.

With an area of 9,189 square miles, Pima County is bigger than Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island.

There is legal precedent for the separation of a portion of an existing state from the original state in order to form a new one. In 1820, Maine split off from Massachusetts and was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state. In 1861 West Viriginia split from Viriginia to stay in the Union (sound familiar?)

Before the creation of Baja Arizona gets taken seriously a whole lot of questions will need to be answered.

How much tax revenue is generated from Baja Arizona to the state and how much does the state spend back down here?

The guessing is we send more money to Phoenix than we get back…but everyone needs to know for sure if the existing state of Arizona functions down here can be sustained from existing revenues.

Someone ought to come up with a proposed state budget for the new state so we can see if this really could work.

What would the state constitution of Baja Arizona look like?

The existing state constitution isn’t half bad. Problem is that constitution has not been followed by the Marciopans.

Just one example…besides a separation of church and state the existing state constitution also has a provision banning state subsidy of corporations. Isn’t that an interesting idea? Isn’t that some of what the Tea Party is talking about? Been in the constitution since 1912.

Article 9 of the Arizona state constitution:

7. Gift or loan of credit; subsidies; stock ownership; joint ownershipSection 7. Neither the state, nor any county, city, town, municipality, or other subdivision of the state shall ever give or loan its credit in the aid of, or make any donation or grant, by subsidy or otherwise, to any individual, association, or corporation, or become a subscriber to, or a shareholder in, any company or corporation, or become a joint owner with any person, company, or corporation, except as to such ownerships as may accrue to the state by operation or provision of law or as authorized by law solely for investment of the monies in the various funds of the state.

10. Aid of church, private or sectarian school, or public service corporationSection 10. No tax shall be laid or appropriation of public money made in aid of any church, or private or sectarian school, or any public service corporation.

We could have an internet effort “write your own state constitution” to add some things that would be good to have

 What kind of political structure should the new state have?

Do we want the usual package of governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, school superintendent?

Just thinking about those jobs and who currently holds them is an argument for Baja Arizona….

How many state legislative districts and state legislators do we want?

One good thing about the new state is it would open up lots of new jobs for otherwise frustrated poiticians from down here.

But…while folks assume the new state would be heavily Democratic…..I rather doubt that. My guess is Baja Arizona would be right-of-center….but not as far right as Arizona is now. Our Republicans tend mostly to be more moderate than the GOPers up north. Our Independents are center-right. Baja Arizona would probably not be some progressive’s dream.

And how about the replacement state statues?

Until and when the new state legislature adopts a new state code, the existing laws of old Arizona would still apply. Since a major issue driving the thought of Baja Arizona is all the goofy things the existing state has on its books…what would the people down here want that is different? No SB 1070?

I would suspect a lot of people would not want to vote to create the new state unless they had a really good idea if the new version was actually better than the old version.

What changes would be made to the state revenue system?

Would the new state have a property tax or not? What would the new state sales tax system look like? How about the new state’s icome tax laws?

In my ideal world simultaneously with a vote to create the new state, there would be a referendum adopting the new state’s constitution and state law code so everyone would know up front what they were gettig themselves into.

Obviously answering all the serious questions that need to be answered is not going to happen over night.

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Comment:

 The whole reason new political jurisdictions…nations and states… are created  as well as revolutions started… is to make sure folks have a say in their governments.

If the  original American Revolution was triggered by the colonial people feeling they didn’t have a say in the government from London….the movement to create Baja Arizona is another in a long history of people wanting not to have their lives run by people with very different values and agendas who live somehere else.

What is Pima County except a colony of Maricopa, where Maricopan priorities and values are being imposed on people down south simply because there are more of them than us?

I hope the SOS leaders are serious…now lets see if Santa Cruz will join the effort….doubt if Cochise or Yuma would be interested….

Previous post on Baja Arizona

See “51st state” in Wikipedia which has interesting info on how to actually create a new state.

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UPDATE: Bumper sticker graphics (print your own)…

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History of Free Baja Arizona movement

Baja Arizona first started to be used in 1965 in the Frumious Bandersnatch, a yellow underground satirical newspaper I published at the University of Arizona (still alive on line)…the name to connote a different place from Arizona.

In the 1980′s bumper stickers were printed up (see graphics above) when Ev Mecham was running the state into the ground.

The movement to “free Baja Arizona” started as a joke and a protest to the nuttiness coming out of Maricopa County. The problem is over the decades that nuttiness has grown even crazier, and now has become vicious in its hostility to immigrants. Arzona..it seems..wants to secede from the United States. The idea behind Baja Arizona is the folks down here want to stay a part of the USA.

If nothing else, the statement for a new state tells the rest of America we might be a little crazy ourselves, but we’re not the kind of people who want to jail every illegal immigrant, we find government can be useful, and we are not for  arming every mental patient with an automatic weapon.

The Free Baja Arizona page from the Frumious Bandersnatch:

BAJA ARIZONA–AMERICA’S 51st STATE ?

An enormous mistake was made on December 30, 1853 when the Gadsden Treaty was signed between the United States and Mexico. The northern part of the Mexican state of Sonora, an area located south of the Gila River, was purchased by the United States, and tacked into what became the State of Arizona.The people of the Gadsden Purchase have increasingly chafed under the domination of an enormous population in an around Phoenix (Maricopa County). In order to end the domination of Phoenix, the people of the Gadsden Purchase are seeking statehood. Proclaiming themselves as Baja Arizona, a “state of mind” is acknowledged to exist.

The primary differences between Baja Arizona and the remainder of Arizona are of attitude and tolerance. The people of Baja Arizona are known throughout the southwest for their enlightened view of the world. This is obviously not the case with the passaged of SB 1070 making it illegal to be an illegal in Arizona.

In Baja Arizona people fight for civil rights. In Maricopa County they are jailing immigrants.

In Baja Arizona a major issue is environmental quality. In Maricopa the major concerns are how to harrass Mexicans, and how to gut the budgets of the state university system so we don’t have too many smart people to disagree with Russell Pearce and his buddies in the State Legislature.

In Baja Arizona folks care about health. Up north they have cut off funds for organ transplants…the ultimate “death panel”.

In Baja Arizona we get taxed by Arizona…and little of that money flows back south to us.

If Baja Arizona Became a State imagine…..

The State Motto would be “mas cerveza”.

The State Song would be “Get back” by the Beatles.

The State Animal would be Wiley Coyote.

The State Minstrel is Linda Ronstadt.

Cigarettes would be taxed at the rate of $4.00 per pack to support the new state’s free health care system.

Marijuana might be made legal and taxed to run the state…giving new meaning to “high” taxes. 

There would be no speed limit in Baja Arizona since no one obeys the ones posted now.

Tucson would likely be the capital, creating an economic boom as hordes of lobyyists descended on the town. That might even justify a new hotel in downtown Tucson.

Small government advocates in Baja Arizona suggest the state capitol be in an RV, which would move around from town to town every 6 weeks.

Alta Arizona would no longer have a border with Mexico. Joe Arpaio would have to get an honest job.

Baja Arizona would probably send two Democrats to the US Senate.

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?

The current Arizona state legislature would have to call a special election, and the people of Alta Arizona and Baja Arizona would have to vote in favor of splitting the state. Then Congress would have to approve.

The chances of the people in Maricopa County voting to get rid of the concentration of Democrats to the south, and the people of Baja Arizona voting to sever their ties to the right-wingers to the north are excellent.

The chances in Congress are not so good.

First, there are several proto-states waiting to be created–Puerto Rico, District of Columbia, and Northern California. Baja Arizona is maybe 54th. The other three would probably send Democrats to Congress, as would Baja Arizona. There is no way the Republicans in the US House and Senate would create 4 new Democrat delegations in Congress, just like the South blocked the admission of free states before the Civil War. Like the pre-Civil War period, the only way Baja Arizona gets to be a state is if new Republican dominated states are also admitted. Texas could split into 5 states. Disneyworld could become a state… how do you think we got a North Dakota and a South Dakota, a Virginia and a West Virginia, and a North and South Carolina?

Other statehood movements:

Jefferson

Puerto Rico

Northern Virginia

Long Island

New York City

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

Delmarva

Washington DC

In addition to nascent statehood movements inside the US, one finds suggestions to add Canada, Sonora and Cuba as new US states.

E. J. Montini writes an excellent column in the Arizona Republic. He muses on the movement to Free Baja Arizona…

Farce as reality: Baja Arizona, the 51st state?

by E. J. Montini, columnist – Feb. 27, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Arizona will no longer be parodied on “The Daily Show.”

We’re done providing “The Colbert Report” with material to spoof or for The Onion to lampoon. Late-night comedians will be unable to make jokes at our expense.

Arizona has crossed over.

Last week, the ridiculous was transformed into the plausible. The demented became sane. All that was hilarious about Arizona devolved into the droll. The slapstick was made factual. Farce became reality.

And satire, in our state, became fact.

We fell down the rabbit hole and emerged at the other end in . . . Baja Arizona?

“It’s possible,” Peter Hormel said. “There has been talk for generations about southern Arizona splitting off into its own state. Most of it was meant in fun. But these days are different. It actually might be the right time.”

Hormel and fellow Tucson attorney Paul Eckerstrom have formed a group of Arizona citizens exploring the possibility of making Pima County a separate state, a real Baja Arizona.

(At this point in the column, I should be able to print a line reading: “Insert joke here.” But I can’t. These people are serious.)

“The idea only became public a few days ago, and already we are being overwhelmed,” Hormel told me. “We’ve received so much encouragement and have heard from so many people who want to help in the effort. I have a sense that people are just really tired of what is going on up there.”

The group created a page on Facebook called Start Our State, on which they describe their intentions this way:

“Welcome to SOS! Start Our State is now active. Our first goal is a referendum in Pima County on statehood for our county (and whichever other Arizona counties wish to join us). We seek to establish a state based on justice, reason, and openness, free of the tyranny of idiocy in Phoenix.”

Co-founder Eckerstrom, who has been active in the state Democratic Party, told a reporter: “We’re tired of the extremism that’s been portrayed to the rest of the country, and we feel we’re different down here.”

It sounds crazy, right?

Then again, is the idea of creating a new state from Arizona’s southern counties any more bizarre than a Legislature trying to pass bills that would allow lawmakers to “nullify” any federal law they didn’t like?

Essentially, seceding from the union.

“We send up a group of moderate representatives from Pima County, and they just get overwhelmed by zealots,” Hormel said.

Pima County is bigger than most of the New England states and has more people than Alaska, Montana or the Dakotas.

“As it is, we feel as if we send our tax money to Phoenix and it is used in Maricopa County,” Hormel said. “This area would probably see a net benefit, financially, from becoming a state.”

It might also add two new Democratic senators to Congress, a possibility that will make it tough for the group to get the support in Washington it needs to create a new state.

That doesn’t mean that the idea is thought of as a prank, however. After speaking to me, Hormel was going to fulfill an interview request with the Wall Street Journal.

And while Start Our State hopes to secede from Arizona, Hormel pointed out that he and his associates, unlike current legislative leaders, want to remain in the union.

This is very good news.

It means that although impertinent journalists and comedians may have been robbed of potential satire, we still have sweet irony.

Reach Montini at 602-444-8978 or ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

Whether or not the effort to actually create the state of Baja Arizona has any chance…it is focusing attention of the divide politically between Phoenix and Tucson.

Osha Gray Davidson writes in Forbes ”Even so, Baja Arizona may succeed in another way. The secessionist movement sends a powerful message to prospective businesses that the region is different from the butt of late-night talk shows to the north. Baja Arizona might not become a new state, but it certainly shows a more moderate state of mind.”

Will Baja Arizona Become the 51st State?

Feb. 25 2011 – 1:36 pm |By OSHA GRAY DAVIDSON  Forbes

PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA. Residents of this sprawling desert county which borders Mexico have a message for what they consider the extremists who currently dominate Arizona’s state government. 

That message is: “Buh bye.” 

Talk of secession fills the dry air in the cactus-studded land that would become the nation’s 51st state, with the name Baja Arizona. 

Proposed flag for Baja Arizona (by Dillon Hayne)
Paul Eckerstrom is co-chair of the insurgent group, Start Our State, told the Arizona Daily Star that supporters of the movement are fed up with far-right policies coming out of the state legislature and Governor’s office in Phoenix — especially legislation that defies the power of the federal government. The most famous (or infamous) example is the law passed last year that usurps federal authority to enforce immigration laws. Passage of the bill led to a nationwide boycott of Arizona

This extreme position, said Eckerstrom, “really does border on them saying they don’t want to be part of the Union any longer. Well, I want to be part of the United States.”

Others are joining the movement for statehood for economic reasons. Arizona has a huge budget deficit, but, say Baja Arizonans, the Republican-led legislature and Republican Governor Jan Brewer are either not addressing the state’s economic woes — focusing instead on anti-immigrant and anti-abortion bills — or working for changes that will hurt the economy. One example of the later is the proposed legislation to gut or end altogether the state’s health care program for poor and elderly patients. That would cut Arizona’s annual payment of around $2 billion, but would also trigger a cut-off of federal funds totaling $7 billion a year. The plan, say experts, would force most rural hospitals in Arizona to close and cause a devastating ripple effect throughout the state’s fragile economy.

Proponents of Baja Arizona point out that Pima County is large enough — in both geographical size and population — to be a viable state. Encompassing over 9,000 square miles, Pima County is bigger than Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Rhode Island. With over a million residents, it is also more populous than seven other states. 

The group’s Facebook page lists as its mission: 

To establish a new state in Southern Arizona free of the un-American, unconstitutional machinations of the Arizona legislature and to restore our region’s credibility as a place welcoming to others, open to commerce, and friendly to its neighbors. 

Group members insist they’re serious about their desire to secede, but know the odds are against them. 

Even so, Baja Arizona may succeed in another way. The secessionist movement sends a powerful message to prospective businesses that the region is different from the butt of late-night talk shows to the north. Baja Arizona might not become a new state, but it certainly shows a more moderate state of mind.