Smart Gators
Daily Archives: May 27, 2014
Republicans speak out on Tom Horne-gate
Opinion by Glen Davis
Recent revelations about an extramarital affair by Republican Tom Horne have caused the Republican party to speak out.
Some have attempted to blow it off with a comparison to South America. That happens all of the time in Brazil. Or the same caparison to European politicians. If a European politician doesn’t have a mistress there is something wrong with him. Oh, it’s so cosmopolitan they cry.
What a man does in the privacy of his own room is his own business, Republicans are quick to add.
The Republicans are stressing that the Federalist Papers make it clear that a misdemeanor is not impeachable unless it violates our national security.
Oh, I am sorry. I got my stories confused. The same people that are running ads encouraging people to call Tom Horne to urge him to drop out of the race are the same people that used those statements to defend the extramarital affair of Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky in 1996.
And the media—especially in Arizona—is loving to hate. The same media that defended Bill Clinton’s extramarital affair is going after Tom Horne like he was investigating the death of four Americans in Africa.
AZfamily.com did report that Horne paid the $300 fine for the misdemeanor hit-and-run. The article quotes Horne as saying,
The vehicle’s owner stated the car already had a dent that the federal agents who noted the incident wrongly assumed I caused. Had I known there were scratches, I would have left my name and contact information so that I could have taken care of this personally.
He apparently pleaded not guilty to the affair (pun intended) back in November of 2012, however.
The intent of this oped is not to defend extramarital affairs by anyone. They are wrong.
I do have a problem with the States’ Attorney General not leaving a note no matter how small the accident might seem. The one thing that the Federalists of old assured the people is that everyone would be obligated to follow the laws that were passed by Congress—including Congressmen. Except, of course, for the Obamadoesntcare mandates.
Of course Arizona politicians from Flake to Salmon (and of course Democrats) are asking Horne to step aside. If Horne does not step down it could impact the party which McCain and Flake have so carefully maintained as the bastion of Republican ideals which our founder espoused.
The problem is that people cannot seem to see the hypocrisy of the position of the media because the media apparently does not deliver historic context to their iPads. Voters cannot be bothered by anything beyond the latest episode of Twilight or latest scripted reality series.
Tom can always apologize to his mistress in 17 years, or so.
Mystery flight MH370 wins over Benghazi at CNN 239 to 4
Opinion by Glen Davis
Photo from Business Insider
The Washington Post agrees.
Select committees make for good theater and often uncover important facts. But in the national security arena, the independent commissions that have probed the most shocking security lapses — including the 2001 attacks and several devastating bombings of U.S. embassies — have a better record of conducting impartial investigations and bringing about landmark reforms.
The report does not mention a YouTube video that had about ten hits prior to being linked as the cause of the 911 attack in Benghazi.
Continue reading
Coconino Community College district to raise your property taxes.
COCONINO COUNTY – The Coconino Community College district will raise your taxes on the next property tax cycle based on public input today. Elisha Dorfsmith of the Flagstaff Liberty Blog noted that a Truth in Taxation notice appeared in the May 4th edition of the Arizona Daily Sun for the Coconino Community College. A public hearing was held today on the CCC campus in Page. There is nothing on the web site of the Coconino Community College about the proposed tax increase.
The notice read:
TRUTH IN TAXATION HEARING
NOTICE OF TAX INCREASE
In compliance with Section 15-1461.01, Arizona Revised Statutes, Coconino County Community College District is notifying its property taxpayers of Coconino County Community College District’s intention to raise its primary property taxes over last year’s lever. The Coconino County Community College District is proposing an increase in primary property taxes of $140,690 or 1.98%.
For example, the proposed tax increase will cause Coconino County Coummunity College District’s primary property taxes on a $100,000 home to increase from $46.95 (total taxes that would be owed without the proposed tax increase) to $47.88 (total proposed taxes including the tax increase).
This proposed increase is exclusive of increased primary property taxes received from new construction. The increase is also exclusive of any changes that may occur from property tax levies for voter approved bonded indebtedness or budget and tax overrides.
All interested citizens are invited to attend the public hearing on the tax increase that is scheduled to be held May 27th, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. in the D10 classroom at Coconino Community College, 475 S Lake Powell Blvd, Page, Arizona.
John Moore, Mayor of Williams, said that he was not aware of the proposed tax increase, but he opposed it. His opposition, however, was not specifically targeted at this proposal. He opposes an increase in taxes anywhere in the government in this economy.
We spoke with Gioia Goodrum, elected District 3 board member who could not comment on the issue and referred us to Coconino Community College.
Scott Talboom, of the public relations department of CCC, informed the Gazette that the statute cited in the notice allows College Districts to increase taxes by 2.5% per year. This increase is allowed to be automatically generated by the College District independent of voter intervention according to the statute cited in the ad. Apparently even the elected Coconino College Community board has nothing to do with the increase.
It is when they ask for an increase of more than the 2.5% that they must make a proposal to voters as with the failed initiative last November. The Arizona Daily Sun reported in January that Coconino Community College lost its bid for a hike of $4.5 million in the November 5, 2013 special election. Only four of Flagstaff’s 10 voted districts supported the override and it was defeated by Williams voters.
The questions that Mr. Talboom could not answer are why the comments are being taken in Page and if there are any other alternative means of making public comments. This is one of the issues raised by The Flagstaff Liberty Blog. Reaching the Page campus is difficult even under the best of conditions. With highway 89 impassible it creates even more of a burden.
The college could not confirm if there are alternative methods of public input, but they do have a contact section on their web site for Faculty and Staff.
Slide Rock firefighters discover historic cabin
Firefighters preparing to do burnout operations on the Slide Fire north of Sedona discovered the remains of a previously unidentified historic cabin unknown to the forest.
Engine Boss Leo Holley and crewmembers from the Coronado National Forest identified this historical small cabin, tucked away in a steep side canyon, and right away recognized the importance of this exciting find.
Leo and his crew began to remove fuels and constructed a fire line and removed debris around the cabin to protect and preserve the delicate piece of unseen history. They reinforced defense efforts with a layer of protective fabric that will help save it during burnout operations. Coconino National Forest archaeologist Jeremy Haines salvaged an axe hewn log from the structure in order to send it to the Tree Ring laboratory at the University of Arizona to have it dated.
This is just one more extraordinary effort firefighters have taken to preserve this piece of land we all hold dear.