Philadelphia's Progressive District Attorney Larry Krasner Projected to Win Re-election
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner fended off competition from progressive challenger Pat Dugan on May 20 to win the Democratic primary election, meaning he will continue serving as the city's top prosecutor for a third term, according to unofficial
Krasner, a former civil rights lawyer, was leading Dugan, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and the former head administrative judge of the Philadelphia Municipal Court, with 63 percent of the vote as of late Tuesday, results showed.
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Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- Yahoo
AZ Senate Republicans are the adults in the room. Well, 11 of them, anyway
Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this column misidentified the legislative chamber to which Rep. David Livingston belongs. Sen. Jake Hoffman and his Arizona Freedom Caucus must be feeling tire tracks on their backs. Early this morning, the Republican-run Senate passed a bipartisan budget — one negotiated with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs — then suddenly adjourned for the year. 'See you in January!' Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, exclaimed. Of course, the Senate can't constitutionally adjourn for the year without the House's approval. But Petersen's move puts the more conservative House, which earlier passed its own Republican-only budget, in a take-it-or-leave-it situation. That is, unless Petersen relents and pulls the gone fishin' sign off the door to the Senate. A budget must be in place by June 30 to avoid a state government shutdown. (OK, I know some of you think that might not be such a bad idea. ...) Petersen told me he believes the $17.6 billion Senate-Hobbs budget 'leans right' and will get House approval. 'It has the votes to pass. That is why we sent it,' he said. House leaders and Hoffman, the Senate's believed-to-be lone Freedom Caucus member, must be feeling a little like roadkill. While Senate GOP leaders wisely negotiated with Hobbs, hoping to avoid the whole veto dance, House Speaker Steve Montenegro, R-Goodyear, and the Freedom Caucus pulled on their blinders and decided to go it alone, declining to negotiate with Democrats or even Senate Republicans. Their smaller $17.3 billion budget is enough to make a MAGA heart go pitty-pat. It would strip in-state tuition from 'Dreamers' and other students who are here illegally and cut in-state tuition for everybody else, ignoring the fact that tuition is high because the Legislature slashed state funding for the despised universities. It would freeze salaries for family court judges and their employees — I guess somebody in the House has a rather specific ax to grind — and freeze enrollment in the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state's Medicaid program, for childless adults. It would make it more difficult for Attorney General Kris Mayes to prosecute politicians suspected of corruption. Fake electors like Hoffman, for example. Oh, and it would offer millions to their former Freedom Caucus bro, Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, to aid in his fight with the GOP-run Board of Supervisors over election duties. Also left dead on the floor when the Senate adjourned: House Republicans' request to boost Maricopa County lawmakers' daily expense pay, or per diem as it's called, by a modest 514%. Color the Freedom Caucus purple with apoplexy that Senate GOP leaders would dare to negotiate with Hobbs. 'Today the @AZSenateGOP submitted to Katie Hobbs and passed a budget handing Arizona to the radical left on a silver platter ... ,' Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, raged on social media. House Appropriations Chairman David Livingston, R-Peoria, actually called the staunchly conservative Petersen a RINO. All this, because he dared to negotiate with Satan's handmaiden on the Ninth Floor. Or in the alternative, dared to seek common ground. Senate Republicans have become increasingly annoyed at House Republicans' field trip to 'fantasyland,' as Sen. T.J. Shope, R-Coolidge, called it. That exasperation spilled into public view on June 19. 'We have one job to do down here at the Capitol. Pass a real budget,' Petersen said on social media. 'Not a fake budget for optics and talking points that will be gutted by a line item veto pen, but a real budget that has a consensus of conservative Republicans and gets a signature. 'I am proud of my caucus for not resorting to juvenile behavior. They have shown maturity in the face of misinformation, intrigue, hypocrisy and deception.' For their trouble, Senate Republicans who supported the budget got $5 million each to spend as they see fit. Expect to see a lot of local road projects in GOP districts. Among other things, the Senate-Hobbs budget offers pay raises to state police and firefighters, a 4% bonus for corrections officers and additional money to fight illegal immigration and drug smuggling. It also gives a $200 million one-time boost to K-12 schools, despite the House proposing to cut their funding. Opinion: Rich kids need our help to pay for their piano lessons Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, tried for hours to add in some Freedom Caucus priorities as the Senate passed the budget bills. Things like denying in-state tuition to students who lack legal status and helping Heap in his 'election integrity' battle against the Board of Supervisors. Things like allowing Grand Canyon University and other private and religious colleges to participate in the state Teachers Academy program, which pays tuition at state universities and community colleges for future public school teachers. 'We can get non-woke, well-trained teachers into our classrooms,' Hoffman said. Time after time, Hoffman's amendments were rejected by his fellow Republicans, frustrating the Legislature's biggest bully as the budget passed with the support of 11 Republicans and six Democrats. 'This is the governor dictating to the Legislature the power of the purse,' Hoffman huffed. 'The power of the purse doesn't belong to the governor. It belongs to us.' Actually, it really belongs to us, the voters who installed a divided government. Petersen and 10 other Senate Republicans, in recognizing that fact, are the grown-ups here. Reach Roberts at Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz, on Threads at @LaurieRobertsaz and on BlueSky at @ Get more opinions in your email inbox by signing up for our free opinions newsletter, which publishes Monday through Friday. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Freedom Caucus just got run over ... by Republicans | Opinion
Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- Yahoo
7 days until Arizona government shuts down. Here is who to blame
Just in time for the Fourth of July, Gov. Katie Hobbs should put up a sign at Slide Rock and Red Rock state parks and on the voicemail of the Department of Public Safety and AHCCCS, which insures roughly one in every four state residents or 2 million people: Closed. For more information, contact House Speaker Steve Montenegro, R-Goodyear, (602) 926-3635. Montenegro is the guy who is so terrified of Sen. Jake Hoffman and his hard right Arizona Freedom Caucus that he's ready to shut down state government rather than approve a budget negotiated by Senate Republicans and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. Negotiations in which House GOP leaders refused to negotiate. Several people close to the situation tell me the House votes were there last week to pass the $17.6 billion Appropriations Chairman David Livingston on June 18 predicted the Hobbs-Senate budget would pick up support from as many as 31 of the 60-member chamber's 33 Republicans. 'We have a lot of good things in there for members,' he told Capitol Media Services' Howard Fischer. Then on June 19, as the Senate was passing the bills and Hoffman was on the losing end of every vote, the House abruptly adjourned for the weekend. Montenegro announced the House votes weren't there. 'The House is not going to be forced into a take-it-or-leave-it deal that doesn't reflect the will of ourmembers or the people we represent,' he announced on the afternoon of June 20, after a three-hour closed caucus. 'We will do what responsible legislators should do: take action to keep government running and protect Arizona taxpayers.' Even Rep. Livingston has changed his tune, lambasting the staunchly conservative Senate President Warren Petersen for daring to embrace the reality of divided government and negotiate with Hobbs on a budget — a budget that just a day earlier he had praised as containing 'a lot of good things' for Republicans. 'The Governor, with the help of RINO Senate President, is pushing a Democrat Budget,' he said late on June 19, as the Senate passed its bill and announced it was adjourning for the year. Montenegro is now proposing a skinned-down budget to prevent a shutdown and 'give us the time we need to continue negotiations.' I'm not sure what there is to negotiate in July that couldn't have been negotiated in May and June, when House GOP leaders refused to come to the table. Instead, House Republicans went it alone and produced their own $17.3 billion budget — guaranteed veto bait given the cuts to education and AHCCCS. Meanwhile, the Hobbs-Senate $17.6 billion budget increased funding for education and border security and gave pay raises to state police and firefighters, a bonus to corrections officers and $5 million to every Senate Republican who supported the budget, to spend in their districts or otherwise as they see fit. Opinion: Call the doctor. Some GOP lawamkers just got run over So, what happened? One word: Hoffman. Multiple sources tell me he's the shadow speaker, the puppeteer pulling Montenegro's strings. That Montenegro is terrified of being removed as speaker, so he caved to the Freedom Caucus, which Sen. Hoffman chairs. Hoffman's No.1 goal at the Capitol is to hobble Hobbs. It has been from the moment she was elected. Because really, what's more important? Ensuring the smooth operation of state government or making Hobbs look bad to improve Republican Rep. Andy Biggs' odds of knocking her off next year? Something to ponder as you rush to get that Real ID driver's license before you fly this summer or find yourself in need of a state highway trooper or help from the Department of Economic Security. Something to ponder as wildfires — the kind that happen outside the state Capitol — ignite. Starting July 1, the state of Arizona will be closed for business. If you need help, call 1-800-MONTENEGRO. Reach Roberts at Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz, on Threads at @LaurieRobertsaz and on BlueSky at @ Get more opinions in your email inbox by signing up for our free opinions newsletter, which publishes Monday through Friday. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona is a week from shutdown if House refuses budget deal | Opinion
Los Angeles Times
44 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Letters to the Editor: The Democrats aren't the ones ‘more concerned with the interests of the few'
To the editor: Columnist Jonah Goldberg writes that the Democratic Party is 'a mess' because it is 'fairly perceived as more concerned with the interests of the few and less concerned with the welfare and rights of the many' ('Maybe the latest Democratic disarray means they're coming to their senses,' June 17). He then defines the 'few,' at least in part, as the teachers' and government employees' unions. Unfortunately, Goldberg misses the big picture. It's the Republican Party that consistently gives tax cuts to the rich and the corporations while they pay lip service to the middle class and are openly hostile to the poor. It's the Republican Party that seems to hate the unions — the economic movement that has most benefited the middle class and the working class. It's the Republican Party that is hostile to anything that helps consumers and the environment. It's the Republican Party that wants to dismantle Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, food stamps for children, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Environmental Protection Agency. Donald Trump conned millions of Americans into believing that he is a populist who is looking out for their interests. The White House's Department of Government Efficiency cut government funding and services for programs that help the middle class and the poor, and now Trump is seeking tax cuts for the rich and corporations. Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' will do more of the same. It should be obvious that Trump and the Republicans are not concerned with 'the welfare and rights of the many.' Michael Asher, Valley Village
