As the SCOTUS confirmation circus rages in D.C., Arizona got some significant news of our own this week with Gov. Ducey’s appointment of Jon Kyl as John McCain’s successor in the U.S. Senate.

The selection of Kyl -- a placeholder -- means the seat will be up for grabs again in 2020. Let the positioning begin:

GOP:

• Kirk Adams: Gov. Ducey’s Chief of Staff was widely speculated to be among the short-list of candidates to succeed Sen. McCain.
• Karrin Taylor Robson: Robson, a member of the Arizona Board of Regents, was also rumored to be in the running for the Senate appointment. She’s the owner of a land use and real estate development company and a member of the prominent Robson family.
• Mark Brnovich: Arizona’s Attorney General would be a formidable candidate. But doesn’t he have his eyes on the 9th Floor in 2022?
• Kelli Ward: Because what would a Republican primary for U.S. Senate be without Dr. Ward?

DEMS:

• Grant Woods: Former McCain staffer and Republican Attorney General Woods is being openly recruited by national Democrats to run for Senate.
• Mark Kelly: Kelly, the astronaut hubby of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, has long been considered a strong candidate for statewide office. Will he finally take the plunge?
• Ruben Gallego: Central Phoenix congressman Ruben Gallego has been thought to be more interested in House leadership, but has lately indicated he’s considering running for Senate in 2020.
• Greg Stanton: As the former Mayor of Phoenix and potential next congressman for AZ09, Stanton is thought to harbor statewide ambition.
• Ann Kirkpatrick: Former Congresswoman Kirkpatrick failed in her Senate bid to unseat McCain in 2016. If she wins her CD-2 race this November, will she take another shot at the Senate in 2020?

Jon Kyl sworn in as senator replacing McCain
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The late U.S. Senator John McCain’s seat was filled on Wednesday when Jon Kyl, a former senator, took the oath of office in time to help Republicans in their push to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kyl, 76, was sworn in as the new senator from the southwestern state of Arizona in a brief ceremony on the Senate floor. Vice President Mike Pence, who also serves as president of the Senate, administered the oath.

In replacing McCain, a maverick who at times went against his party, Kyl is expected to bring a somewhat more conservative political viewpoint to the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans. They hold 51 seats with 47 Democrats and two independents who align with Democrats - unchanged from when McCain held the seat.

McCain died on Aug. 25 after being diagnosed last year with brain cancer. He was buried on Sunday following tributes in both Arizona and Washington.

[...] Kyl, who had been working as a lobbyist at the law firm Covington & Burling, had a previous stint as senator, rising to serve in Republican leadership before retiring in 2013.

[...] Kyl was appointed on Tuesday by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, also a Republican, to temporarily fill McCain’s seat.

In a news conference on Tuesday, Kyle said he would not be a candidate in a special election in 2020 to finish McCain’s term that ends in January, 2023.

Read more HERE

Maricopa County supervisors grill Adrian Fontes over election day snags
Arizona Republic

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Wednesday grilled Recorder Adrian Fontes over election day problems that affected 95 precincts and thousands of voters.

On Aug. 28, polling places were not ready to open at 6am when voting was to begin.

Fontes blamed the issue on an information technology contractor who he said did not provide the agreed-upon resources to set up voter check-in machines. The Tempe-based contractor disputed Fontes' claim and pointed the finger back on an unprepared Recorder's Office.

The county supervisors, who do not have direct oversight of the Recorder's Office but do allocate funding for the office, met Wednesday to finalize election results and discuss the issues.

The supervisors voted unanimously to spend up to $200,000 on external auditors who will assist the county's audit team in reviewing what went wrong on election day. Auditors will suggest fixes to ensure the issues don't occur during November's general election when turnout is expected to be much higher.

"I don't think we have any choice. We have to do this. The right to vote and the right to be able to vote when you want to vote during those voting hours is fundamental," Supervisor Bill Gates said.

[...] Beyond some polling places opening late, voters have reported a number of other seemingly unrelated issues at polling places across the county, the supervisors told Fontes.

The supervisors shared stories about poll workers who felt unprepared for their responsibilities, voters receiving incorrect ballots and other concerns about the security of ballots.

"We've got to be better," Supervisor Denny Barney said. "We can't have a repeat ... of what we experienced a week ago."

Fontes acknowledged the concerns and said he would continue to work with the supervisors on individual voter issues.

"There's not a jurisdiction on the planet that's ever had a 100 percent perfect election. I'm not making excuses, that's just the way it is," he said. "And we are again going to try to move forward to resolve some of the circumstances that were incredibly unfortunate and just flat bad."

[...] Read more here.

The year of the Arizona woman
Chamber Business News

The year 2018 is being called the year of the woman in America. In Arizona, women are taking it to heart.

Last month, they glittered in the primary elections, and the state is about to elect its first female U.S. senator. Their economic power and influence is also rising. Arizona recently ranked among the highest in the nation for growing women’s economic clout, and is ahead of much of the country in pay equity with men and starting new businesses.

Women aren’t doing it alone, experts say.

“The results of the primary speak to how accepting the business community is and to the activism and support from both parties who put so many women on the ballot for high level positions,” said Joseph Broschak, Associate Professor of Management & Organizations for the Eller College Management at University of Arizona.

Women’s rise in power is aided by a strong network of private and public organizations that provide training, assistance and loans, said Mesha Davis, CEO of the Arizona Foundation for Women that mobilizes resources and funding to benefit women and children.

Heightened awareness in the past year also helped make this the year of the Arizona woman, she said.

“The #MeToo movement is really helping women feel they can have a voice if something inappropriate happens to them in the workplace,” Davis said. “More companies are saying they can’t allow this. Even men are saying, ‘It’s about time.’ “

Women ownership is growing in almost every industry in Arizona including STEM companies, said Kathy McShane, assistant administrator for the Office of Women’s Business Ownership for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

Female owned businesses now generate $1.7 trillion in revenues annually for the nation, according to the State of the Women-Owned Businesses Report that was commissioned by American Express OPEN and based on U.S. Census surveys of businesses.

In Arizona, they generate $24 billion for the economy but lag behind the nation in sales and number of employees. While inequities remain, particularly for minorities, Arizona women are gaining in three key areas:

[...] Read more HERE.

Our View: Clean energy measure looks like expensive proposition

Today’s News-Herald

The debates on the propositions for Arizona’s ballot are taking place in courtrooms as multiple proposals face legal hurdles before final qualification.

Among the latest is an Arizona Supreme Court ruling allowing a renewable energy proposition to go to voters in November. If approved, it would dramatically increase the use of renewable energy in Arizona.

It would also, detractors say, carry costly consequences for consumers.

The Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona proposition would mandate that Arizona receive half its electricity from renewal resources by 2030. The current requirement imposed by the Arizona Corporation Commission is 15 percent by 2025.

Who wouldn’t be for clean energy and a healthy Arizona? No one, of course, but there’s no truth in labeling provision for ballot initiatives.

If there were, this one might be called “The billionaire’s plan to make big bucks on the backs of Arizonans.” Whatever its other aspirations and consequences, the proposition would at the least require huge and rapid investments by utilities to acquire renewably-sourced power.

Those costs will all be passed along to the homes and businesses who use the electricity. Nowhere does the proposition say it has to be cost effective.

And that’s the big issue. The economics, though, work both ways. The parent company of Arizona Public Service is battling the proposition with an $11 million campaign aimed at convincing Arizonans to vote against the measure.

APS and other utilities have a lot to lose if the current electrical power infrastructure gets turned upside down.

APS and others maintain that nuclear should be counted as renewable energy, disagreeing with Pro. 127’s backers.

The current goal of 15 percent renewable energy in the next seven years seems attainable without breaking the bank. Once that goal is reached, higher levels can be targeted to allow the solid but gradual growth of these alternate sources.

This seems a much better approach than a wholesale leap away from fossil fuels without regard for cost.

Oh, that wooden dollhouse? It was built in an Eloy prison
PinalCentral.com

There’s a long ribbon stenciled on the walls of Red Rock Correctional Center, waiting to be painted in.

The sketch skirts around classrooms that offer programming to the prison’s hundreds of inmates. There’s classes in computers, wood shop, literacy, even horticulture.

There’s an actual greenhouse tucked away behind barbed wire fences, where inmates can grow their own tomatoes, peppers and cilantro.

Greg Fizer, the prison’s assistant warden, said the ribbon on the walls is meant to symbolically bind all the programs together. Over the last couple years, he said Red Rock has emphasized offering new programs that will keep inmates from coming back.

In 2016, the Arizona Department of Corrections agreed to start sending hundreds of its felons to Red Rock, a private facility managed by CoreCivic.

On a day in late August, the medium-security prison was just below its maximum population of 2,000 inmates. Fizer said the prison tries to keep inmates productive by finding jobs or programs for all 1,910 of them.

“There’s a lot to do to stay busy,” said Joseph Henderson, a 40-year-old inmate serving time for armed robbery. He works as a peer-mentor for other inmates and a teacher’s assistant in the prison’s horticulture classes.

Inmates get as much out of prison as they put in, said Henderson, who wants to leave Red Rock better than he was when he entered.

[...] The prison recently introduced a program, known as “Go Further,” that’s designed to encourage inmates to examine their past behavior and make plans for their futures.

Maria Moss-Appleton, one of Red Rock’s case managers, said only inmates who really want to change are accepted into the program. She reviews applications and interviews inmates before deciding who gets to participate.

She said the purpose is to give participants tools that will help them re-enter society and not return to prison. Red Rock was one of a handful prisons run by CoreCivic to start piloting the program last year.

[...] Read more HERE.