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Political Buzz – March 13th, 2012

CARDON RELEASES SENATE AD

Republican Wil Cardon is the second U.S. Senate candidate in Arizona to release a TV advertisement this week, taking the race to the airwaves five months ahead of the primary election.

The open Senate seat, being vacated by Republican Jon Kyl, has drawn interest from both major parties. In the Republican primary, so far Cardon and U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake are competing for the nomination. Democrats Don Bivens, a former state party chairman, and former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona are seeking their party’s nod.

Cardon’s ad is an introduction of him to voters, and says he is “an outsider” who will work to create jobs if elected.

Bivens released his first TV ad yesterday, targeting Flake for his party’s stance on women’s health care issues that have come up in national politics recently.

Watch Cardon’s ad:


PATTERSON PUSH BACK

The Legislative District 29 Democratic Committee has passed a resolution calling for the resignation of Rep. Daniel Patterson. The resolution said, “With criminal charges and an ethics investigation by the House of Representatives pending, the LD29 Democrats call for the resignation of Rep. Daniel Patterson for lack of decorum and professionalism."

The vote from the LD 29 committee comes just hours before Patterson is set to go before the House Ethics Committee. Patterson was charged with four misdemeanor domestic violence charges last week. The ethics complaint stems from domestic violence allegations.

Patterson pleaded not guilty to the charges in a Tucson court. It should be noted that both Patterson and his former girl friend admit they did have a fight.


HOUSE DEMS TRY HAND AT A BUDGET

The Arizona Republic reports today that Arizona House Democrats are circulating their owns state budget proposal.

It's a first in the 50th Legislature, in which Democrats are so outnumbered that their voice has been little more than a squeak.

But House Minority Leader Chad Campbell says he and his colleagues are releasing a spending proposal because of what he calls a "hoarding" plan by Republicans with what is the state's first surplus in several years.

The Dems want to spend money restoring some of the big cuts that were made in the last four years to education, health care and child care.

The Democrats say their plan is more responsible than both the Republican legislative plan and GOP Gov. Jan Brewer's proposal because under the Democratic plan, there would be a smaller deficit come 2015.

That's the year after the state supposedly will fall off a "fiscal cliff," as the Republicans have been consistently describing it.

What are the percentage chance that Democrats will get anywhere with their plan? Let's just say it's a round number, a really round number.

Arizona Republican legislators Arizona state budget Chad Campbell Gov Jan Brewer fiscal cliff,

PATTERSON: ON HIS WAY OUT?

The Arizona Republic's Laurie Roberts sums up in her column Tuesday the case involving Tucson Democratic Rep. Daniel Patterson and his jurisprudence issues.

Roberts calls the case "an embarrassment, an outrage, a disgrace" and says Patterson is either "the world's most misunderstood man ... or he's a total jerk."

Patterson is charged with four misdemeanor counts of domestic violence in connection with a complaint filed by his girlfriend.

It isn't his first brush with the law, as Roberts points out. She says his ex-wife gained a court order protecting her from him a few years ago.

He gets his day before the House Ethics Committee at the state Capitol today and his day in court in Tucson Thursday. He is claiming legislative immunity. House Speaker Andy Tobin Monday stripped Patterson of his committee assignments.

Patterson is in his second term representing District 29 in central Tucson.

Daniel Ptterson House Ethics Committee,

About Political Buzz

News, commentary, analysis from the AZPM political team: Christopher Conover, Andrea Kelly, Michael Chihak.