BUNDGAARD-INSPIRED INITIATIVE FILED

posted to Political Buzz by Andrea Kelly

Voters may be asked to scale back the amount of protection legislators have from prosecution during the legislative session. A statewide initiative was filed this week, and the sponsor needs 259,213 signatures by next July to get it on the ballot.

The proposal would allow legislators to avoid arrest during the legislative session, but it would remove the provision that they also can avoid civil prosecution during the session.

The sponsor is Frank G. Nelson, of Leupp, Ariz., east of Flagstaff.

Here's Nelson's description of the initiative: "This would prohibit politicians from hiding behind immunity laws in regards to DUI's, domestic violence, postponing tax issues with the IRS, etc. They will be held to the same judicial standards as their constituents. This would require politicians to obey the laws outside the legislature and carry out their duties for the public good, not for their own private indulgences."

Last session, Sen. Scott Bundgaard was involved in an incident for which he reportedly requested legislative immunity. Bundgaard and his girlfriend at the time were allegedly arguing and physically fighting on the side of a freeway in the Phoenix area. Passers-by saw the incident and called police. Police reports indicated Bundgaard requested legislative immunity at the time, though he denied that.

Earlier this month, he pleaded no contest to the charges. The Senate ethics committee is considering an investigation into the incident.

BREWER'S NONPUBLIC SCHEDULE NOW PUBLIC

posted to Political Buzz by Michael Chihak

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's schedule has been beefed up to include more of her appearances.

This week, for example, the schedule for the first time lists events “closed to the media at host’s request.”

(Parenthetically, one must wonder why two events this week have that designation: One is a salute to GOP legislators, the other a speech by the commander of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.)

In the past, such events would not appear on the schedule, leading to criticism by the media and others of Brewer. That was heightened when she made an unannounced appearance at a meeting in Florence to express support for the digging of a new copper mine in Pinal County.

Brewer spokesman Matthew Benson told the Arizona Capitol Times that the governor's office typically hasn’t list events that are closed to the press, “but we are trying to give you as clear a picture as possible as the governor’s public activities."

Benson said the change wasn't in response to any criticism but rather came out of a desire to be transparent.

See the governor's weekly schedule here.

HOW DID 9/11 CHANGE ARIZONA AND ARIZONANS?

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Michael Chihak

The stinging rebuke that the 9/11 terrorist attacks sent to Americans' safety, security and freedom has lessened somewhat with the passage of a decade. But memories of that day and what it wrought for all remain vivid.

On Friday's Arizona Week, we will ask Arizonans their personal stories and remembrances, and we will pursue information about how some of them have acted upon their thoughts and emotions in the aftermath.

On the program:

-- Maqsood Ahmad, a Tucsonan and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Islamic Center of Tucson.

-- Rabbi Samuel Cohon of Tucson's Temple Emanu-El.

-- Rana Singh Sodhi, a Gilbert, AZ, businessman whose brother Balbir was killed four days after 9/11 in Mesa in what authorities called a hate crime.

-- Rep. John Kavanagh, of Fountain Hills, AZ, a state representative and retired police detective with the New York Port Authority, which was headquartered at the World Trade Center.

TUCSON CITY MGR LETCHER'S RESIGNATION LETTER

posted to Political Buzz by Michael Chihak

From City Manager Mike Letcher's letter to mayor and City Council today:

"Unfortunately, I cannot change the current political and media climate in this community that focus more on blame than resolution. I know now that I can only go so far in changing the organizational climate of the city that has not seen consistent City Management since Joel Valdez. I know that I will continue to find problems to fix that expose the city to public criticism. Based on these facts I am submitting my resignation as City Manager effective August 31, 2012. This will allow me to complete one more budget cycle and for the new Mayor and Council to start a thoughtful recruitment process to select the next City Manager.

"During the search process and the final months of my service in 2012, I will work with Mayor and Council to: implement the adopted plan for lifting furloughs, fulfill the final year of the current budget and finalizing the budget for FY 2013. I am committed to holding our bond ratings and establishing a firm foundation to maintain core services within acceptable budgetary resources in my work on the budget for next fiscal year."

Read Letcher's full letter here.

RANA SINGH SODHI REMEMBERS HIS MURDERED BROTHER

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Lucy Valencia

Four days after watching the televised collapse of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, a man took one look at Balbir Singh Sodhi's turban and beard, a custom of Sikh faith, and fatally shot him at a gasoline station the Indian man owned in Mesa.

Sodhi and his brother, Rana Singh Sodhi, left India to escape ethnic violence and find a better life in America, and instead found themselves caught in more ethnic violence. Rana Singh Sodhi will tell the story on Arizona Week Friday, recounting memories of his older brother nearly 10 years after the incident.

On the morning of Sept. 15, 2001, Frank Silva Roque, then 42, drove his truck to a Chevron station and fired five or six shots at Balbir Sodhi, who was outside speaking with a landscaper.

Roque continued his rampage by firing his .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol at a home he had previously owned and which he had sold to an Afghan couple. Though family members were home, no one was hurt.

Roque then drove to a Mobil gasoline station and sprayed bullets through the convenience store window at the clerk, who was of Lebanese descent, but missed.

The rampage shook an already mourning country, leaving many feeling harassed because of their race or ethnicity.

Roque told police he was lashing out at "Arabs," according to The Arizona Republic. He was arrested on the evening of the shootings.

Police charged Roque with one count of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, reckless endangerment and three counts of drive-by shooting. He was sentenced to the death penalty for the murder.

“I stand for America all the way,” Roque said as he was being handcuffed by Mesa police, according to the East Valley Tribune. He pleaded insanity but was judged sane and a jury found him guilty.

Roque's sentence was reduced to life in prison without parole in 2006.

MARY DECAMP SHAKES UP CAMPAIGN STAFF

posted to Political Buzz by Andrea Kelly

Mary DeCamp won the Green Party's primary in the mayoral race last week, and now she has a new campaign manager.

DeCamp announced she is replacing her primary campaign manager, Mike Cease, for the general election race. In his place will be Dave Croteau, DeCamp's opponent in the primary. She took in 70 percent of the votes cast in the party's mayoral primary race.

The Greens insisted their primary election competition was friendly, and DeCamp keeps that tone in announcing the staff changes.

DeCamp was happy with Cease's work and it was Cease who suggested Croteau come on as campaign manager for the general election, according to a news release announcing the changes.

“We are growing a co-evolution that brings people together; we’re not following ‘status quo politics’ of knee-capping one’s opponent,” DeCamp said in a statement in the news release.