A U.S. customs officer who pleaded guilty to accepting bribes to allow immigrants into the country illegally, is heading to the joint, compliments of a federal judge.Jose Carmelo Magana, 46, of Yuma, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge James A. Teilborg to serve 37 months in federal prison followed…
With fewer half-naked aborigines in the world to hang out with, National Geographic decided to spend some time last year with the polygamist clan north of the Grand Canyon. The magazine received “exclusive” access to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Colorado City, Arizona and…
Sarah Palin, the new darling of the Conservative party, announced today that she will be making the campaign rounds for several Republican Congressional candidates, including a stop in Arizona to campaign for her former running-mate, John McCain.Apparently getting run down by the hope and change-train in the 2008 presidential election…
Arizona Senator John McCain is looking at last night’s Massachusetts Senate election as the “wake-up” call that could change how business is done in the nation’s capitol. “Last night, a shot was fired around this nation … saying no more business as usual in Washington, D.C.,” McCain said on the Senate floor this…
Pick a job, any job…Paradise Valley Mayor and political rookie Vernon Parker’s PR honcho, Jason Rose, reluctantly confirmed to New Times today that the mayor is dropping out of the race for governor and is planning on filing paperwork this week to officially make him a candidate for the congressional…
State Senator Pam Gorman announced that she will be joining the growing field of potential replacements for Congressman John Shadegg. Gorman says that Washington D.C. politicians are “out of control” and she seems to think she can change that. This is the same Pam Gorman who caused a bit of a…
Political rookie and Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker is putting his gubernatorial ambitions on hold for a few days to mull over a possible run for the District 3 Congressional seat.The seat is currently held by Congressman John Shadegg, who announced last week that he won’t be seeking re-election. Parker,…
Here’s one fresh from the rumor mill:With John Shadegg’s long-overdue departure from the U.S. House of Representatives, there are rumors that Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon may be looking to take his seat.So, does Mr. Gordon really want to go to Washington? He’s certainly spent a lot of time there this…
With Congressman John Shadegg throwing in the towel and announcing he would be retiring from Congress yesterday, there is no shortage of talk about who his potential replacement might be.One of those mentioned is Treasurer Dean Martin, who also happened to announce his candidacy for governor on Wednesday.Martin, however, says…
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard is doing something fairly out of character: Taking a stance on a controversial issue. Goddard sent a letter to the Arizona congressional delegation today urging them to oppose a provision of the national healthcare bill that has created some seriously hoopla lately.The “Nebraska compromise,” as…
Barring a sudden change of heart or some hitherto undiscovered legal analysis, U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver indicated today that she will hand the Goldwater Institute a huge victory and strike down the “matching funds” component of Arizona’s publicly funded elections system.Silver made her intention clear in a “draft…
John Shaddegg’s not the only one with a retirement party in his near future — Congressman Harry Mitchell’s got one coming, too. Only, as far as we know, Mitchell has no plans to retire.It turns out that Mitchell’s Republican opponent, Dr. Chris Salvino, will be hosting the party on the…
Representative David Lujan made it official today and announced that he would be running for attorney general in 2010. Lujan has had an exploratory committee going for close to a year so this is far from a shocker. But another candidate for AG, former Assistant Attorney General Felecia Rotellini, who…
Arizona Congressman John Shadegg is throwing in the towel; he announced today that he will not seek re-election in 2010.Score one for sanity in government.Shadegg, who’s antics during his tenure in the Congress have bordered on lunacy, is now one of 13 Republicans in the House of Representatives who will not…
One little tidbit we forgot to mention in our earlier post about Treasurer Dean Martin’s announcement that he was running for governor is who would replace him as the Republican candidate for state treasurer.The likely suspect — for now, anyways — is Senator Jim Waring.Waring is term-limited in the Senate and…
As we predicted yesterday, Arizona Treasurer Dean Martin officially declared his candidacy for governor this morning at a closed electronics plant in Phoenix. Martin, who is in his first-term as treasurer and is a former state senator from Phoenix, will challenge sitting Governor Jan Brewer for the Republican nomination. Other notable Republicans possibly seeking…
Speculation that Arizona Treasurer Dean Martin would be throwing his hat in the ring for a shot at the state’s top spot has been in the air for months but tomorrow may be the day he makes his run for governor official.We got an email today from Tim Gaffney, communications…
We predicted nearly a year ago that — thanks to a lawsuit from those principled conservatives over at the Goldwater Institute — matching funds could be history for this year’s state elections.But either Governor Jan Brewer didn’t read the story, or she doesn’t buy our legal analysis. According to a…
Political rookie and Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker criticized Governor Jan Brewer’s State of the State address live yesterday, 140 characters at a time — and he did it 34 times in about 38 minutes. Frankly, we don’t know how he found time to listen to the speech and tweet so…
Mark Weaver, the top campaign strategist for Senator John McCain, believed rumors that McCain’s wife Cindy was having an affair with a Tempe man, according to a new book hitting stores this week.Game Change, the new behind-the-scenes look at the 2008 presidential campaign by veteran reporters Mark Halperin and John…
In a move that seems taken from the pages of Barack Obama’s social-media political playbook, Paradise Valley Mayor and political rookie Vernon Parker will be tweeting live criticism from Governor Brewer’s State of the State address next week.Considering Parker is looking to oust Jan as the GOP’s candidate for governor,…
Joe Villasenor, a senior assistant to Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, will be placed on “indefinite, unpaid leave” as of this evening, according to his supervisor.Villasenor was arrested December 15 after his wife told Phoenix Police officers that he’d grabbed her arm and shoved her hard enough to send her face-first…
