I've been in hiding. Yes, it's hard to be even mildly liberal in Arizona these days.
What's made me come out? One of those reminders about why I am a Democrat.
Details after the jump.
Senator John Kavanagh is an arrogant cuss. Yeah. I said it. It's fun to be anonymous.
As irritating as it is to hear the man's lectures on what Arizonans think delivered in his New Jersey accent (he's got a PhD, he often reminds us), it's far more irritating and sad that he thinks it's the government's job to kick around the least of us.
Witness his latest proposal. This from the Arizona Daily Star:
The Republican lawmaker from Fountain Hills on Wednesday pushed a measure through a legislative committee to make it a misdemeanor to push a crosswalk signal if the only purpose is to stop traffic to beg from motorists. SB 1063 now needs approval of the full Senate.
Yes, this is apparently such a scourge that it can't be handled by local statutes that already limit panhandling. We need the full weight and power of the Arizona government to slam down on these miscreants. Why is this necessary?
Kavanagh said this is more than an academic problem. He said it happened to him when he was driving home from the Capitol.
“There’s a lot of traffic because it’s rush hour. But more than usual,” he said, because was someone was soliciting money from stopped cars.
“The minute the light would turn green, he’d hit the crosswalk button, not to cross the crosswalk but to cause the light to cycle faster so he could solicit more people, thus slowing everybody down without good cause,” he said.
They made for such a nuisance for Sen. Kavanagh. Why can't these poor people go and hide somewhere where they don't delay his commute home by the twenty or thirty seconds a crosswalk button lengthens a red light? (
if they are even programmed to work)
Apparently, this problem is so bad that he refers to it as a "little murder."
I get why people get angry about squeegee men or other aggressive panhandlers. And yes, there are dangerous homeless people out there. But if your first thought on seeing a homeless brother or sister is their effect on your own personal convenience, you really need to reevaluate your entire moral outlook. You may deserve our pity as much as the homeless do.