Dec. 24, 2011 09:00 PM
The Arizona Republic
Blowing up the bunker at Child Protective Services? ... Child advocates have offered a long list of reforms for the state's child-welfare system. A task force has just compiled more than 100 recommendations for Gov. Jan Brewer to consider as a roadmap to improving the safety of Arizona children.
Adding a new communications director to the Department of Economic Security? Never made the cut.
Nevertheless, Tasya Peterson has left Brewer's communications office to become the new top flak at DES, which oversees CPS. She'll earn $89,999 annually and supervise five people when she starts this week, according to DES spokesman Steve Meissner.
Will adding another body to the public-information office translate to more public information from DES, an agency once tagged by its own director as suffering from a "bunker mentality"?
Remains to be seen. But it will offer the governor's office a well-placed source as the high-profile, gargantuan agency navigates through tumultuous times.
Quite the conundrum for the Q-man ... Attorney General Tom Horne is suing former Rep. Doug Quelland to collect a $31,000 fine, with interest, for the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission.
Perhaps he shouldn't hold his breath.
Quelland, of the handlebar mustache and West Valley rental business, was accused of padding his publicly financed 2008 District 10 campaign with private spending.
The commission held hearings, found he'd run afoul of the law and levied the fine. He appealed twice and lost.
Quelland accepted public financing when he ran for re-election, and lost, in 2010, months after a second judge had ordered him to pay the fine.
He's not done yet.
"I am innocent. Innocent of everything," Quelland tells Insider. "I've got to go to court to fight these people."
He said he plans to run in 2012, though it remains to be seen if he can accept public-campaign dollars when he's being sued to collect a fine for misusing public-campaign dollars.
"Most folks just pay the penalty," said Clean Elections executive director Todd Lang. "We hope Mr. Quelland changes his mind and pays his as well."
Good luck with that.
And now a word from the real Boss ... The final vote last week of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission was a poignant moment. And we're not talking about the vote on the legislative map.
Chairwoman Colleen Mathis used her "yes" vote to reveal a bit about her worldview.
"To quote Bruce Springsteen, I believe in the promised land," she said.
Hmmm ... Here's what Springsteen wrote. Maybe it gives us a window into what the Tucson independent feels she's been through this year:
"There's a dark cloud rising from the desert floor
I packed my bags and I'm heading straight into the storm
Gonna be a twister to blow everything down
That ain't got the faith to stand its ground."
Appropriate, perhaps, for a woman who became a virtual political pi?ata as she led the commission through the task of drawing new political boundaries.
But with most of the mapmaking now behind her, perhaps another Springsteen hymn is apropos: "Born to Run."
Tweet of the week
"Right before spkg at event, I'm told my suit pants are ripped open in back! Now that's transparency!" Mesa Mayor Scott Smith tweeting via @Mayor_Smith.
Compiled by Republic reporters Mary Jo Pitzl, Alia Beard Rau and Mary K. Reinhart. Get the latest at politics.azcentral.com.
music awards 2011 jill biden jill biden al mvp ama awards 2011 ama awards 2011 uekman
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন