Steller: Arizona's Prop. 123 looking a bit like failed bond election

A vague sense of déja vu is starting to well up in me, something other voters may also sense.

I remember that last year a well-funded campaign for public spending in Pima County went down in flames thanks to a fed-up electorate — Democrats and Republicans — as well as a tiny, impoverished opposition campaign with a well-placed elected official, Supervisor Ally Miller, as chief spokesperson.

Pima County bonds election, meet Proposition 123.

A similar dynamic may be developing around the education-funding proposal that goes to Arizona voters May 17 — or sooner if you get an early ballot. A “no” campaign with no paid staff seems to be gaining momentum, thanks in part to outspoken opposition by state Treasurer Jeff DeWit and former holders of his office.

That’s despite the fact that Gov. Doug Ducey and the state’s power structure are behind the ballot measure. Led by the Paradise Valley-Scottsdale crowd, contributors have given $3.7 million to the “yes” campaign. The “no” campaign reported receiving $617 at the last deadline, though that figure has since reached $4,000 to $5,000, chairman Morgan Abraham told me.

And yet, there’s life in the “no” campaign. On Thursday, former Congressman Ron Barber became one of the more high-profile Arizonans to come out in opposition to the proposition.

“It is my belief Prop. 123 will do far more harm than good,” Barber said in a video. “The issues I have with Prop. 123 include numerous triggers that will allow the Legislature to keep money from public education, the fact that it changes our constitution, and the real concern that it depletes our state land trust by eating into the principal.”

I’ve come out in grudging favor of the proposition, which would resolve a lawsuit over school funding against the state Legislature and allow some additional spending for next school year. I think it’s the best we can expect from our current elected officials, and we need to change them if we want better.

But there is certainly merit in the arguments against, arguments that are embraced by many Republicans as well as Democrats. And the more people come out against the measure, the more it opens the door for others to have the political courage to do the same.

GOP delegate swarm

Like many political reporters, the Star’s Joe Ferguson is boning up on the selection process for delegates to the national conventions. He reported April 7 that here in Tucson, as elsewhere, the Ted Cruz campaign was trying to recruit delegates to vote for him on a second ballot if the process reaches that stage at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Now, Joe is massaging the data on those who will be candidates at the state convention April 30 to go to Cleveland. He passed me a list of potential delegates from Pima County Thursday. Here are a few of the names that jumped out at me:

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Former state Sen. Frank Antenori, Republican National Committee staffer Sergio Arellano, attorney and former Rio Nuevo board memer Jodi Bain, campaign consultant Christine Bauserman, state Rep. Vince Leach, Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce president Lea Marquez Peterson, NRA board member Todd Rathner, former congressional candidate Gabriela Saucedo Mercer, first vice chair of the state GOP Parralee Schneider and former Pima County GOP chair Bob Westerman.

They’ll be among 900 candidates competing for 55 slots.

KidsCare conclusion

For months, the outrage has been strong and persistent.

State Sen. President Andy Biggs has refused to allow a hearing on a bill that would restart KidsCare, health insurance for 30,000 children of the working poor. As we’ve explained, what’s so mind-blowing is that the insurance is paid for by the federal government.

Arizona simply needs to re-start enrollment, and a bill that flew through the House would do that. It would even stop the program if the federal government stops paying for it.

Now, a resolution to the conflict seems to be in sight. As Sen. Steve Farley, a Tucson Democrat, and others explained to me, it would go like this: When the state budget is being debated on the Senate floor, an amendment will be proposed that would reopen KidsCare enrollment. That way, Biggs and other opponents can vote against it while still allowing others to push it through.

Biggs is running for Congress in the very conservative District 5, and it could be helpful to him in the Republican primary race to be able to say he voted against the bill. That says something about the Republican primary voters in CD5.

Damaging the brand

On Wednesday, we published an op-ed piece by Supervisor Ally Miller in which she argued that it’s the majority of the Pima County board and Administrator Chuck Huckelberry who are responsible for “damaging the brand” of Pima County, if anybody is. Miller pointed out the use of that phrase by Huckelberry and yours truly.

I have no problem with how Miller described her broader argument, but it obscured where that phrase “damaging the brand” comes from. As I reported Feb. 7, it was Miller who used the phrase to encapsulate her strategy for taking control of county government. As she wrote in a November email, “I’m still not sure they realize I have been setting the table for 3 years damaging their brand.”