In a marathon floor session that lasted late into the night, the Arizona Senate passed a controversial bill to divert taxes — both from the city and county, and from state income tax — to be spent on improving the nearly 30-year-old stadium. The Diamondbacks have cast the bill as an existential measure that will keep them from leaving Arizona, even asking fans via email to lobby lawmakers in support of the bill.
After passing the Arizona House of Representatives and sitting dormant for months, the bill finally got a hearing in the Senate last night, with some significant changes. The new version of the bill caps the amount of taxes the county and city must set aside for the stadium each year, and caps the total amount of taxes used for the stadium to $500,000,000 over 30 years. Both of those limits will increase yearly with inflation, however.
The bill doesn't require that the Diamondbacks spend $250 million of their own money on the stadium, as they've promised to do. But it does put the team on the hook for any debt incurred on stadium work should the Diamondbacks leave Chase Field before the end of the bill's 30-year term.
Those changes were enough to reportedly win the support of the city of Phoenix, and of several Democratic lawmakers. The bill passed 19-11 in the Senate and will go back to the House — which will not be back in session until Monday — and then to Gov. Katie Hobbs, who seems likely to sign it.
But the bill also garnered bipartisan opposition, including from two ideologically opposed lawmakers who expressed their no votes in verse. State Sen. Mitzi Epstein, one of the most liberal members of the body, was the first to read a poem about the bill, sharing a long poem about "the Billionaire Beast" that included language like "ugly red eyes" and "greedy ghouls."
Epstein's poem apparently inspired state Sen. Jake Hoffman to do the same. Hoffman, who is one of the most far-right members of the body, used the artificial intelligence service Grok to construct a poem inspired by Ernest Lawrence's famous "Casey at the Bat." Hoffman also voted no.
Both lawmakers shared their poems with Phoenix New Times.
State Sen. Mitzi Epstein penned a long poem about "the billionaire beast" to explain her opposition to a bill to use tax funds to improve Chase Field.
Gage Skidmore/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
Mitzi Epstein’s poem
The Billionaire Beast is raising its ugly head, demanding to be fed.This is not just 1 bill, it is part of the laws, like claws ripping and chipping away
the power of the people, growing the domination of the money over the many.
HB2704 takes tax dollars away from education,
roads, and safety, and gives it to the stadium for repairs and luxury
upgrades. It benefits the baseball billionaire team owners. This bill for
billionaires.
You don’t become a multi-billionaire by just selling good products. NO. Surely
we have all learned from Elon Musk that billionaires require government
contracts, commitments of cash for decades.
The billionaire beast is the rigged part of our system that is rigged against
You, Joe and Joan on main street. Whether Donald Trump says it or Bernie
Sanders says it, the people know that the system is not working for the people.
The billionaire beast has grown and learned that customers are OK, but a
commitment of taxpayers’ dough really makes the billions flow to private
profits, away from the people.
The people tell us, “Our communities are struggling,” and I hear them, do you?
But NOW — The Billionaire Beast is raising its ugly head, demanding to be
fed. It is hungry, always hungry for more, always taking, never making the
community better.
The community struggles, and the beast roars, stripping us down to our core,
and still it hungers for more!
Its claws are deep in our society taking from our children, taking from our
economic freedom.
That freedom comes at a cost. The people need warriors and Leaders who are
not lost, but who FIND A WAY to fight for them Again, again, again.
The people matter – how will they activate and what will motivate their vote?
The power matters – the power. When we pass a policy, we absolutely must
look at WHO IS GETTING THE POWER? If we give in and feed the billionaire
beast this time, its power grows and we KNOW the beast will drain us more.
The power keeps winning and winning and my head is spinning with the
pain as they drain every speck of energy I have.
Year after year, I stand up here and I beseech you to stop feeding the beast.
Year after year, in the neighborhoods I knock on doors, and the people take a
moment from their chores to plead, “Feed it No More!”
But here we are again.
The billionaire beast is glaring its eyes of red, demanding to be fed.
With this deal — the many must pay but they cannot play. With this deal — the
many must pay but they cannot play. With this deal — the many must pay but
they cannot AFFORD to play.
“Our communities are struggling.” “We cannot afford to walk in the stadium
door” and still the politicians will feed the beast more.
My Friends, it is time for an END to this war of the money attacking the many.
The many, many, many people of Arizona will say, “NO” to feeding the beast.
That’s why you refuse to ask them; refuse a Referendum.
The many would choose to NOT pay for rich people's places to play.
The political poultry is too afraid to send this fodder for the beast to the voters.
The voters in the street would strike down this rotten deal in a heartbeat!
The voters are sick and tired of paying for the playgrounds of the Luxury Class.
“What do we get out of this,” they ask?!!
The Elite smugly say, “Oh you get to watch us play our games, watch us drink
our fancy drinks, and watch us eat our fancy chow.”
Holy Cow! Are you serious?!
“Our communities are struggling!” the many cry out. “We cannot even
watch a game on TV unless we pay a fee."
And now the billionaire beast wants us to pay to build the luxury boxes we can
never afford, because the beast always want more, more, more, and more.
“Our communities are struggling,” the many lament.
“FEED ME” roars back the beast, as its demands foment into an unending
foam, seeping back to the legislature’s dome. Or it comes as a threat. The
billionaire beast is a bully that threatens to Move its business and leave the
state, businesses of all sorts -microchips, or batteries, or sports. They bully us
and threaten us and demand a ransom.
The money is strong, but the many are stronger, when they are informed.
The many will gather and the many will Shout to the money, ‘STOP.” Cut it out!
Stop taking my tax dollars for your private profits, and greedy ghouls.
Stop draining my children’s schools to add fluff and feathers to the
billionaire beast.
No disguise, decoration, or delirium will change the ugly red eyes and evil ways
of the beast.
The many, many, many will find a way to stand up against the money.
It has happened before and it will happen again that those who choose
stadiums and billionaires for friends,
May find vital programs for people and even elected jobs
coming to an end.
State Sen. Jake Hoffman used the AI service Grok to create a poem explaining his vote against the Chase Field bill.
Gage Skidmore/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
Jake Hoffman’s (and Grok’s) poem
The outlook wasn’t rosy for the D-backs’ grand demand,A half-a-billion tax bucks sought to spruce their desert land.
With stadium dreams a-glitter, they pitched their shiny plea,
But Arizona’s voters scoffed, “No cash from you and me!”
The team had spun a vision, with seats and lights so bright,
A ballpark grand to rival all, a tourist’s pure delight.
They wooed the state with promises, of jobs and civic pride,
But taxpayers, they smelled a rat, and took it in their stride.
The owners, bold, stepped to the plate, their smiles as wide as day,
They swung with charts and fancy talk to make the doubters sway.
“Economic boom!” they thundered, “This deal’s a home run, see?”
But the crowd just yawned and muttered, “Not with *our* money!”
There was guile in their proposals, slick as a serpent’s pitch,
They dangled dreams of pennant runs to make the public rich.
But when the facts came rolling, the truth was plain to see,
The fans loved baseball plenty, but not a subsidy.
Oh, somewhere in the desert sun, a ballgame’s played with cheer,
The hot dogs sizzle, beers are cold, the crowd’s roar fills the air.
And the people wish the owners would plan anew, with private funds, they hope —
But in Arizona’s dusty heart, they’ll strike out on this dope!
