By Ray Stern About 1,700 fugitive illegal immigrants from the Phoenix area were eligible for a three-week voluntary deportation pilot program that’s ending today. Only one turned himself in. A guy from Estonia. Nationwide, a whopping total of eight people took advantage of the program. Only one was from Mexico,…
Jeff Flake fires back on the county GOP’s neo-Nazi problem. In Thursday’s blog post on the local Republican Party’s J.T. Ready-problem, I included an excerpt from Maricopa County Republican Party Chairman Tom Husband’s letter to Congressman Jeff Flake, wherein Husband claims ignorance of Ready’s neo-Nazi affiliations. The conservative Sonoran Alliance…
By Stephen Lemons Ward Connerly’s anti-affirmative action initiative off the ballot. (Na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, hey hey-ey, goodbye.) Congressman Jeff Flake defends anti-Ready letter as Rep’s Nelson learns the joys of LexisNexis. Obama to announce Veep soon. D-Backs whup Padres, 4-1. Rep reporter who wrote up death of Lovejoy dog, charged in…
Maricopa County Republican Chairman Tom Husband, from the MC GOP Web site. The Republic amuses me. Why is it when they finally get around to pulling themselves off the sofa to write about a story I’ve been whaling on for over a year, they act like they’ve just discovered Plymouth…
By Paul Rubin We had good reaction to our recent story on Suzi Dodt and the great work she’s been doing as an investigator for the Office of the Maricopa County Medical Examiner. People from as far away as Guam wrote to thank Dodt for her dogged public service. She…
By Ray Stern Just about every news outlet in town has covered the pathetic case of Arizona Republic reporter Eugene Scott, who’s accused of leaving his 1-year-old Puggle in his hot SUV at the Chandler Fashion Center. Except for the Arizona Republic. A search for the story on the Republic’s…
By Stephen Lemons Local GOP boss Tom Husband denies knowing J.T. Ready’s a neo-Nazi. Check what he had to say to New Times about it way back in February. Dems want state Senate Prez Tim Bee to pay for Bush visit. Disgraced Dem Mark DeSimone replaced. D-Backs sock San Diego…
I am the proud uncle of five Mexican-redneck kids who recently moved to Wausau with their mamá wisconsiana after living in la Capirucha all their lives. I’ve talked to them on the phone several times a week since they left for la tierra de los sueños materializados, and I’ve noticed…
Something went wrong. That’s what politicos from Tucson to Flagstaff are saying, as an unprecedented number of citizen initiatives have been kicked off this fall’s ballot. No one can remember the last time that any statewide initiative got booted after turning in its signatures. This year, we’ve already had three…
NAPPY’S SKELETONS You were flabbergasted to hear Sand Land’s top Dem, Governor Janet Napolitano, come to the defense of GOP brown-basher Russell Pearce? This cynical sandpiper wasn’t. Far from it. Asked about recent revelations of alleged domestic abuse in a sworn, notarized divorce petition signed by Pearce’s wife, LuAnne, in…
Joey answers the front door of his home in Surprise, 30 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix. Playing the perfect host, he jumps into his guest’s arms and lays a big kiss on his cheek before showing the visitor around the well-appointed, spotless 5,300-square-foot residence. Joey’s wearing light-blue pajamas colorfully adorned…
DEAR JOHN Cindy got off easy: This is an amazing article. The most striking part of it is the soft-glove slap on the wrist Cindy McCain got for illegally taking prescription drugs. If that were you or me or the lady down the street, we would have faced jail time…
A flier for Tonopah’s upcoming Oi Fest!, one of many neo-Nazi/white power events scheduled for Arizona. As you might have read in the far right Sonoran Alliance blog this morning, three GOP Congressmen from Arizona — Jeff Flake, John Shadegg and Trent Franks have called on Tom Husband, Chairman of…
By John Dickerson In March New Times identified an addicted doctor who was practicing in Arizona without drug tests. The story (“The Doctor Is Out,” March 6, 2008) critiqued Arizona’s program for addicted physicians. Research showed three out of four doctors relapsed after the board stopped drug testing them. It…
By Stephen Lemons Congressmen Jeff Flake, John Shadegg, and Trent Franks call for neo-Nazi and Russell Pearce-pal J.T. Ready’s ouster as precinct committeeman. What took you guys so long? Virtual border fence on not-so virtual hold. The Gannett axe swings, chips a few souls off the Republic, reportedly. Grampa McCain…
Tomorrow another issue of your favorite alternative weekly will hit the stands and the Web. Take this opportunity to pick Phoenix’s collective brain on last week’s stories. On: Arizona Supreme Court Declines Andrew Thomas’ Request to Halt State Bar Probe “Remember how Thomas filed that paperwork the same day he…
Manuel Nieto Jr., Manuel Nieto Sr. and Velia Meraz By Ray Stern Two Phoenix siblings who claim in an ACLU lawsuit that they were racially profiled and harassed by Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies both have criminal records. As Manuel Nieto Jr. and Velia Meraz explained to me on Tuesday, their…
By Paul Rubin You may recall our stories on Gary Karpin, the disbarred Vermont attorney who moved to Arizona in the mid-1990s and proceeded to rip off a whole bunch of folks with his faux-lawfirm, “Divorce With Dignity.” Here’s the first of the stories, published way back in 2002. That…
By Stephen Lemons Kyrsten Sinema spanks Ward Connerly, pics to come. Some dood tips strippers with jive Jacksons. Yeah, I just said, “jive.” College presidents want drinking age slashed to 18. (Talk about real men of genius!) Tucson po-po blows 99K on Bush trip. Why Sean Hannity’s as dumb as…
By Ray Stern Pacts signed recently by top law enforcers in Arizona and Mexico seem to be a good step in boosting the crime-fighting cooperation efforts of both countries. After all, as the Tucson Citizen noted in an opinion column on Sunday, “people and drugs flow illegally from Mexico into…
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema: Giving Connerly and Thomas a proper paddywhack on the rumpus. It was Ward “Money Bags” Connerly and Andy “Candy” Thomas who figured that this white bread-and-mayo state of ours needed less diversity, not more. And they reckoned their way of achieving this ass-backwards, bigoted goal was the…
By Stephen Lemons D.L. Hughely misses Bernie Mac, as do we all. Sgt. Tom Lovejoy beats Arpaio’s ginned up charge on croaked K9. D-Backs fall to Astros. Dan Saban gets some face time on 3TV. Campers flee Grand Canyon floods. Mike Phelps swims past Mark Spitz’s Olympic record. L-word royalty…
