Greetings
And welcome to another BAK Open Thread. Our purpose tonight is to finalize plans and begin promotion of the 4th Annual Baja Arizona Kossacks Picnic. Many of you will remember the 1st Annual which took place at Reid Park. The 2nd was at Rancho Tres Palmas and the 3rd was held out at ItsaMathJoke's place in the foothills of the Rincon Mountains. It's time for another, more below. First the news ...
Adios Jan
I guess the biggest recent story is that our Governor, the lovely and talented Jan Brewer, finally took a look at the state constitution and discovered that she is not eligible to run for re-election. It's pretty clear actually, from Article 5, Section 1:
1. Term limits on executive department and state officers; term lengths; election; residence and office at seat of government; duties
(Version amended by 1992 Proposition 107)
Section 1. A. The executive department shall consist of the governor, secretary of state, state treasurer, attorney general, and superintendent of public instruction, each of whom shall hold office for a term of four years beginning on the first Monday of January, 1971 next after the regular general election in 1970. No member of the executive department shall hold that office for more than two consecutive terms. This limitation on the number of terms of consecutive service shall apply to terms of office beginning on or after January 1, 1993. No member of the executive department after serving the maximum number of terms, which shall include any part of a term served, may serve in the same office until out of office for no less than one full term.
As we look back on the Governor's years of
service to our state we bid her a teary-eyed farewell and wish her luck as she returns to
her regular gig.
▼ more below ▼
The 4th Annual
The 4th Annual Baja Arizona Kossacks Picnic will be held on Saturday, April 5 beginning at 4 p.m. The event will be held at the home of most generous Mr. and Mrs. sneakers563. Their house is in central Tucson and very easy to find. Precise directions will be sent by Kosmail to all those who RSVP. The main dish will be grilled bratwurst, there will be a vegetarian option. Topics to be discussed will include, but are not limited to, Ron Barber, Martha McSally, the A-10 and More and Better Democrats.
Other Events
Congressman Raúl Grijalva will kick off his campaign for re-election in Arizona's 3rd Congressional District this Sunday night, March 16 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the El Casino Ballroom, 437 E. 26th. I'm going to try to make this one. Although I no longer live in Raúl's district I usually do a little volunteering for his campaign. There will probably be another get together when they open the new Campaign HQ.
There will be a Moral March up in Phoenix on Saturday March 29. There was some chatter about a contingent from Tucson making the trip up for this one. I'm not sure what the latest is on this. Kossack LamontCranston will be in from out of state and it may be a chance to meet some of the Phoenix Kossacks. Also in Phoenix, the Clinton Circus will be at ASU March 21-23 for a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University, whatever that is.
All these events in Phoenix would be a lot easier if we had passenger rail between Tucson and Phoenix. ADOT will be doing some community events to get input from the public on possible routes. ☛ Arizona Daily Star Here is the ADOT document and these are the routes they're talking about:
Any of these would be alright with me, as long as the train is cheap and fast, but note the last paragraph in the ADOT document linked above:
There is currently no construction schedule and no funding identified for a project to build a rail system between Phoenix and Tucson. It will be up to the public and policymakers to decide if the project is feasible and how to generate the funding to pay for the project.
So there's that.
OK that's all I got. Check in, let us know if you plan to attend the Picnic and whatever else is on your mind.