Jon Talton, Author at Rogue Columnist

Politics: Arizona/Phoenix Politics: National

Fergit, hell!

It was reported earlier this week that independents have surpassed Republicans as the largest voting bloc in Arizona. Independents are only slightly ahead of GOP registration. The bad news is that only 29 percent of the state's registered voters are Democrats. In 1992, Democrats made up 42.5 percent of voters.

More bad news would come in the unasked questions. How many of these "independents" trend to the right when they vote? And how many are low-information voters who will also naturally vote for "conservatives," if they vote at all? Nationally, the "independent" label has been well exposed as misleading. I hate to sun on the parade, but Arizona is a red state not a purple one.

I mention this in the context of the wider political story of 2014: The Democrats are running scared, running away from President Obama and Obamacare. The political press is all but in agreement that the Republicans will take control of the Senate in the fall election.

As an editor of mine used to say, Why is that?

Jon Talton March 17, 201469

Politics: National

When push comes to shove

The first F-35 Joint Strike Fighter arrived at Luke Air Force Base this week, which will be the primary training base for the new airplane.

The memory of Frank Luke deserves better. But it is also appropriate that the quintessence of the Military Industrial Complex's rackets should be operating alongside the top guns of the Real Estate Industrial Complex's hustles.

If you're new to the F-35 Lightning II, the program was intended to produce an affordable, durable, next-generation stealth fighter that could be manufactured in mass numbers to replace all of today's fighters. Not only that, but it would be used by all the jet-based services, including the Marines who demanded a short take-off and vertical landing version.

It was intended to be widely sold to U.S. allies. And this backbone of the future Air Force, Marine and naval tactical aviation was touted as a wonder: Not only with stealth capabilities, but a highly advanced "combat suite" for the pilot, including a helmet providing 360-degree "situational awareness" and relaying this to other F-35s and controllers.

Instead, it has become a disaster of trillion-dollar proportions. Only Lockheed Martin is happy.

Jon Talton March 14, 201489

Phoenix Politics: Arizona/Phoenix

The fix was in

If I really wanted to grow Rogue's readership, this post would be something like "Ten Reasons Do(w)nton Abbey Sucks" (1. All the white guys look alike, can't tell a footman from a nobleman…). But no, we'll stick with the serious stuff in the antique essay form.

Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Dennis Wagner wrote a fine piece of public-service journalism last week. It shows what the Arizona Republic would be capable of doing if its corporate masters at Gannett would allow it to commit more journalism and do less fad chasing.

It turns out that the FBI gave federal prosecutors all they needed to bring serious criminal charges against the High Sheriff for Life of Maricopa County, the ambitious right-wing county attorney, Andrew Peyton Thomas, and their top stooges.

The three-year investigation of abuse of power produced "found probable cause to recommend felony counts of obstructing criminal investigations of prosecutions, theft by threats, tampering with witnesses, perjury and theft by extortion."

Instead, the feds shut down the three-year investigation in August 2012.

Let me pause to note that this story didn't come from "crowdsourcing," "citizen journalists" or video and slide shows. It came from good, street-smart, shoe-leather investigative journalism, including the newspaper using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain all records of the investigation.

Jon Talton March 11, 201424

Politics: National

Ukraine and us

Godwin's Law posits that the longer an Internet discussion goes on, the greater the risk of an analogy to Hitler and the Nazis. It didn't take long with Ukraine*. Thus, conservatives have compared Vladimir Putin's grab for the Crimea to Hitler's occupation of the Sudetenland on the eve of World War II. That makes President Obama a Chamberlain appeaser. Even Hillary Clinton reportedly brought up Hitler.

Putin is not a Hitler. Obama is not a Chamberlain. This is not Munich revisited — oh, how many foreign policy disasters have we made in order to forestall a "second Munich." This is ignorance mixed with bad taste considering how the Russians suffered under Hitler.

The first thing to remember is that only Americans forget history, and history lays heavy on Ukraine.

Jon Talton March 6, 201423

Phoenix Politics: Arizona/Phoenix

‘Picking on Arizona’

Let's close out the SB 1062 saga with a look at the meme, "Why is everybody picking on Arizona?"

1. While it is true that similar anti-gay Jim Crow laws have been introduced in at least nine other states, only Arizona passed it through both houses of the Legislature. It would have become law if not for the veto, under great pressure, by Gov. Jan Brewer.

2. Context matters. Arizona has already gained national infamy from such things as the anti-immigrant Jim Crow SB 1070, the ongoing misdeeds of the High Sheriff of Maricopa County, his highly publicized immigrant "sweeps" and horrendous jail conditions, Brewer wagging her finger in the face of the president of the United States with her mouth open in a hectoring pose, the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and ongoing gun liberalization, including guns in bars.

3. Phoenix is the nation's sixth most populous city, Maricopa County the fourth most populous county and the Phoenix metro area the 13th largest metropolitan statistical area. This is not rural Oklahoma. It has bureaus of influential news organizations, including the New York Times. So Arizona's Krackpot schemes will be noticed.

Jon Talton March 4, 201436

Phoenix Politics: Arizona/Phoenix Politics: National

SB 1062: The aftermath

Keep Arizona green. Bring money. — Old expression

It was well and right to let a day pass for celebration that Gov. Jan Brewer finally vetoed the anti-LGBT Jim Crow SB 1062. To thank the better angels of Arizona's nature and imagine more appeared. To join in the boozy cheering at Seamus McCaffrey's downtown. A day when, as one observer put it, "we (could) be gracious in victory and in defeat."

Now it is time for a serious assessment. The illusion that with the international spotlight off, Arizona can "move on," the usual "nothing to see here, move along," could not be more misguided or toxic.

I don't see much profit in dwelling on Gov. Brewer and wondering if she is more complex and pragmatic than thought. Do not be fooled. She is no surprising "liberal hero."

If that were the case, she could have made it clear to legislative Republicans that the bill would be vetoed even before it was passed. She would have avoided letting the bill sit for days like a vagrant's turd deposited on her desk.

She could have issued a veto statement clearly, strongly grounded in morality. Instead, it was largely fuzzy proceduralism and nods to the "religious freedom" crowd (probably drafted by fixer Chuck Coughlin) cloaking a fear of the state losing billions. Her manner was that of a pouty teenager being forced to clean her room. She is a kook. She is not too bright. But she is ambitious and can take orders. And she might want to become a U.S. Senator.

To be fair, Hendrik Hertzberg disagrees with me.

Jon Talton February 27, 201437

Phoenix Politics: Arizona/Phoenix

The ghost of Ev Mecham

Given Arizona's population churn, many living there now probably know little of Gov. Evan Mecham. He's the one who opposed a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday ("King doesn't deserve a holiday") and thought it was fine to call black children "pickaninnies."

A broad coalition came together to impeach and remove this embarrassment in 1988. Tolerance won over hate. The beloved Rose Mofford became governor. And Arizona marched forward into its greatest era of (population) growth ever. Or so the elevator speech goes.

Now I'd like that, as Samuel L. Jackson's character says in Pulp Fiction, but that shit ain't the (entire) truth.

Which is why we should study Mecham as people come together again to press Gov. Jan Brewer to veto the Jim Crow, anti-LGBT "denial of service" law. Backed by today's coalition, Brewer can use her power as governor to stop the bill that has brought fresh infamy on the state, much as in the 1980s the Legislature stopped a hateful governor.

Jon Talton February 24, 201425

Phoenix Politics: Arizona/Phoenix

The Hate State

Why does the Kookocracy hate Arizona? For years this has been the unasked but most pressing question. Far more important than, say, tut-tutting that a certain columnist doesn't have multiple growthgasms every time the sun comes out and another tract house is laid down ("Talton hates Arizona").

Which brings us to the bills just passed by the Legislature which would essentially allow businesses to discriminate against LGBT individuals — right down to refusing service — based on the owners' "religious beliefs."

Naturally, this has been pushed under the jingle of "freedom of religion."

Pre-emptive war based on false pretenses and torture by my government offend my Christian religious beliefs. But I had to suck it up. That's the way majority rule works and thank God for the Bill of Rights, tattered though it may be. More to the point, discrimination based on an individual's sexual orientation is another iteration of Jim Crow — it would not even get past the Roberts court.

But the damage done to Arizona by this action, whether or not it is signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer: Priceless. (Among the many national news organizations covering it, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the widely read parody, the Borowitz Report).

Jon Talton February 21, 201459

Downtown & central Phoenix Phoenix

Park it

Before getting to the preliminary plan for the remake of the deck park, I want to linger over the most important recent story you may not have read.

According to the Phoenix Business Journal, the Department of Justice has sued Barron Collier Co. over $66.5 million the government claims it is owed for parcels the giant land owner and developer has along Central Avenue north of Indian School Road.

You should read the story and try to make sense of it, but this gets at one of the most curious and outrageous events: Breaking up the old Phoenix Indian School and conveying the most attractive parcels of this public property to a private entity for private gain.

And make no mistake, there has been gain. Despite the company leaving the land a barren waste and claiming it is "not economically viable" to pay its obligations to the feds, this property has no doubt been quietly adding paper value like all the banked land in Midtown Phoenix.

Jon Talton February 17, 201446

Politics: National

The spirit of 2014

Try as I might, I can't figure out what it is. Today the American Zeitgeist changes from moment to moment, tweet to tweet. Or perhaps, to the extent that the word implies intellectual fashion or school of thought, it doesn't exist at all. We don't think. We consume.

Which is not to say that most of us don't work like dogs to do so. So perhaps inequality is new the American Zeitgeist. Maybe this will be the year of raising the minimum wage. This is certainly au courant in Seattle — a campaign to hike it to $15 an hour in the state with the highest minimum already. I see it all over our atomized (formerly mass) media.

Something needs to change. By any metric one wishes to choose, inequality is at highs not seen since the eve of the Depression or even the Gilded Age. It is bad for the economy, bad for out democracy. But the roots of the trouble go far beyond the minimum wage, and few Americans want to go there.

Jon Talton February 12, 201438

Phoenix Phoenix 101: History Politics: Arizona/Phoenix

Phoenix’s charter journey

For better or worse, Phoenicians with a sense of civic pride claim as their finest achievement not a magnificent city hall as in San Francisco, or a great subway system as in New York, or the breathtaking parks of Cincinnati. No, it is the efficient, professional handling of city business through the council/manager form of government. It's the most populous city in America without a strong mayor (with the city council acting as a legislature).

And it all began with the charter government movement of the late 1940s. Anyone that wants to understand Phoenix City Hall today or contemplate changes such as a strong mayor, must have at least a basic understanding of how we got here.

Once upon a time, Phoenix was a wide-open town, full of vice, politics dominated by unsavory bosses, and city hall eminently bribable. Then a group of crusading young businessmen, who knew the city could not grow and prosper under this corrupt yoke, threw out the rascals and created the cleanest city government in America. They went by the name of the Charter Government Committee. The rest is history.

But history is written by the victors. And the real story of Charter is more complex…and far more interesting.

Jon Talton February 7, 201426

Phoenix

The price of Phoenix hatred

So the Phoenix Coyotes NHL team is changing its name to the "Arizona Coyotes." Anthony LeBlanc, the team chief executive, justified the decision at length in this story:

We are very excited to announce that our franchise name will change to Arizona Coyotes for the start of the 2014-15 NHL season. Becoming the Arizona Coyotes makes sense for us since we play our games in Glendale and the city is such a great partner of ours. We also want to be recognized as not just the hockey team for Glendale or Phoenix, but for the entire state of Arizona and the Southwest. We hope that the name ‘Arizona’ will encourage more fans from all over the state, not just the Valley, to embrace and support our team.

As some say in the South: Huh, do what?

This is actually another example of the pathological hatred of the city of Phoenix and the city's name that fascinates, repels and carries significant consequences beyond sports.

Jon Talton January 30, 201460

Politics: Arizona/Phoenix Politics: National

The McCain censure, explained

My email boxes filled up this weekend with people wanting my take on the "censuring" of wealthy Republican John Sidney McCain III by the Arizona Republican Party.

The decision certainly attracted much attention among his chief constituency. The Wire reported, "Citing his 'long and terrible record of drafting, co-sponsoring and voting for legislation best associated with liberal Democrats,' the Arizona Republican Party passed a resolution attacking Senator John McCain for being too liberal." It added, "It remains difficult to be a maverick."

For the New York Times, McCain "has become known for his willingness to work across party lines" and the Gray Lady (using a Reuters story) took comfort in former Sen. Jon Kyl telling the Arizona Republic, "I've gone to dozens of these meetings and every now and then some wacky resolution gets passed."

Over at the Washington Post, the story noted that "McCain has been dogged by conservatives objecting to his views on immigration and campaign finance, among other issues, since he first ran for Congress in 1982. Republican activists were also turned off by his moderate stances in the 2000 presidential race."

McCain's constituency is the media and they just can't quit him, their make-believe straight-talk express "moderate."

Jon Talton January 27, 201424

Downtown & central Phoenix Phoenix

The wrecking crew

I was stunned to read this story about the future of the historic Barrister Place in downtown Phoenix. The 1915 Hotel Jefferson, now city-owned, is one of the few remaining of what were once scores of beautiful old structures downtown.

The Republic's Dustin Gardiner writes, "The hotel, which featured 150 rooms, was decked out in mahogany, marble and expensive colonial furniture. It featured a coffee shop, a cigar stand, private suites and a rooftop garden with palm trees and a fountain."

As an EMT-Paramedic, I saw it in harder times, when it was an SRO which frequently required visits from emergency responders. Amid the human tragedy and shabbiness, it still retained good bones. Unfortunately the interior was later gutted. Now the city is looking for a buyer.

Here's what stunned me: "Councilman Jim Waring…questioned whether the city could get more money for the lot, in the heart of downtown Phoenix, if a buyer could demolish the building and start from scratch."

Fortunately, he didn't prevail. But behold what your city council risks becoming, Phoenix.

Jon Talton January 23, 20148

Phoenix 101: History

Arizona Counterfactuals

"Counterfactual history" are fighting words for historians. Some view "what ifs" as useless or even pernicious. Others, and I am among them, think they can be a useful way to deepen our understanding of the past and how we got here.

In a previous column, I looked at some specific lost opportunities for Phoenix. This time, I want to lay out some turning points that might have gone another way, with profound implications for Arizona and the nation.

1. William Henry Harrison lived and served out his term(s). As every schoolboy or schoolgirl should know, the hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe was elected president in 1840. He delivered the longest inaugural address in history on a frigid March day with no hat or overcoat. He caught cold, which turned into pneumonia and pleurisy and he was dead in a month.

The consequences for American history were profound. Harrison led a Whig agenda (the "American System") that today would be considered progressive. His vice president, John Tyler, a former Democrat, abandoned it. Had the Whigs been able to enact their policies under this popular president and extend them with the election of another statesman, Henry Clay ("Harry of the West"), the power of the South would have been lessened and the Civil War might have been postponed for decades.

The Mexican War likely wouldn't have happened. An independent Texas Republic might have emerged and even joined the union. But what became Arizona would have remained part of Mexico. A weak and divided Mexico would have been unable to subdue the Apaches in the late 19th century. The result: Cal's dream of "sahuaros" as the largest population in a land of empty majesty.

Jon Talton January 17, 201432