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>>> Good evening, I'm José
Cárdenas.
Welcome to a special edition of
"Horizonte."
>>> It's our annual journalist''
year-end show.
We'll look at the back at the
issues and stories that made
headlines and look ahead with
predictions for 2014.
The journalists' year in review
show is next on "Horizonte."
>> Funding for "Horizonte" is
made possible by contributions
by the friends of eight.
Members of your Arizona PBS
station.
>> Thank you for joining us.
This is the annual year in
review show.
Our journalists are Jim Small,
Arizona news service editor for
the "Arizona Capitol Times."
Monica Alonzo, reporter for the
sneaks new times.
And Elvia Diaz, editor for "La
Voz" newspaper.
Welcome to all of you for what
is really one of my favorite
shows.
It's a fun time to review some
interesting events with some
interesting people.
I want to start with you, ELViA,
an important news item was the
fact you're now the editor of
"La Voz," and that happened in
August.
>> I was appointed, I have been
with "The Arizona Republic" for
14 years or so, so they
appointed me to lead this new
team, the idea is to integrate
"La Voz" staff really integrate
"La Voz" into the republic media
newsroom.
Meaning A.C. central, and 12
news.
And in addition to actually
change or expand our presence in
the community and have a digital
presence, which we don't have
right now.
>> What does this mean?
What would be the motivation,
what does it mean in terms of
the Latino community?
>> The media is taking the
Spanish community really
seriously, how we can serve
Latinos better in our platforms,
"La Voz" with the Spanish
speaking community, Arizona
central, the republic and 12
news.
>> In your new role and the role
you've had for some time there
were some interesting items this
year.
Perhaps the ones that dominated
the news the most were the
Phoenix city council elections.
Monica, let's talk first about
district eight.
>> I covered that race in depth,
and it was really interesting
because in district eight the
African community had held that
seat for nearly 50 years.
It was a seat that they've
fought hard for back, you know,
several decades ago to have that
representation, to have a voice
on the city council.
And this race pitted Kay GALLEGO
against pastor Warren Stewart
there.
Was a lot of angst and there
remains a lot much angst because
of the loss, Kate GALLEGO beat
him pretty handily.
So I think it seems there was
some complacency because as
Elvia pointed out, even when
that community had the minority,
what was the minority in the
Latino majority district, they
were still able to get the votes
out and still win election after
election.
So I think it signaled some
complacency within the
African-American community and I
think right now they're trying
to figure out ways to really --
>> does it all also natural,
Elvia, a diminution in the power
of the Latino leadership in that
community?
Because you did have a lot of
the established Latino
leadership supporting reverend
Stewart.
>> That district has fascinated
me for a long time.
I covered it eight years ago
when I was a reporter covering
city hall, African-Americans
have done a tremendous job
getting the vote out.
We're talking about 4%, 6% of
the population in the district,
yet they had been able to win
the district pretty easily until
now.
And yes, the old guard, the old
Latinos were supporting
African-Americans in this time,
what fascinates me is that this
time, you have --
You have always had a largely
Latino district.
It has never been an
African-American district.
It's just been controlled by
African-Americans.
This time Kate GALLEGO does a
wonderful job, she's a white
woman with a Latino name who was
able to take over this district
I just think is fascinating on
how she was able to do it.
Against Latinos as well.
>> How long do you think the
hurt feelings will linger?
>> For African-American
communities and for the old
Latino guard here, I'll say for
a while.
>> And Jim, I want to get to the
heart of the legislative issues
a little later, but there's a
connection here, because while
all this is happening in the
Latino caucus and the
legislature, you had senator
Leah Landrum Taylor lose her
position as the leader.
>> It was a double whammy I
think for the African-American
political community in the
state, which you know, isn't
large, but has had --
Always had representation and
people in key spots.
And Taylor was the senate
minority leader in terms of led
the Democratic caucus in the
state senate.
And in October she was ousted.
It was kind of a --
They had one --
The second in command had
stepped down from her position,
and they were meeting to fill
her spot, and there was a little
bit of a coup that was
orchestrated, so when they went
to fill the one spot they
decided to replace all three
spots, and the new senate
minority leader is Anna Tovar
from the west valley, latina
democrat, and so it's kind of a
change in style and a change in
personality and a change in
approach to the job.
>> And what was behind it?
>> It was a couple things.
There was certainly some
personality issues.
There was a schism within the
caucus amongst folks who were
new blood politicians versus
some of the old guard, and
Landrum Taylor would certainly
be considered part of that old
guard.
And there was also --
Part of that schism revolves
around their approach being in
the minority at the state
capitol, is it better to sit
back and oppose everything the
Republicans do and just kind of
be reactionary, or is it better
to be proactive and find those
areas of common ground and go
find where you can cut deals,
and I think the whole situation
around state budget this year
was a good example.
You saw Democratic leadership in
the house really take the bull
by the horns and be aggressive
and work with the governor's
office and with Republicans, and
Democratic leadership in the
senate was a little bit more
complacent and more willing to
sit back and watch everything
develop while there were some
other democrats in the senate
who are now in leadership who
were more actively involved and
were working to try to come to
some kind of agreement.
>> So we'll come back to the
legislature.
Before we do that I want to
cover the two other contentious
city council races you had in
district four what some referred
to as the legacy race between
pastoand Justin Johnson.
>> There was a lot of that --
A lot of involvement from Ed
pastor and Johnson in that race.
When Laura pastor ran when it
was district seven, in years
back, she lost in the runoff,
and I think that really taught
her a lesson, part of what the
scuttle butt was she didn't work
hard enough last time.
And I think she made up for it
this time.
>> And she was the underdog
going into the runoff.
>> She was.
Because you know, everybody
thought Justin Johnson, because
he was backed by a lot of the
development community, and folks
with a lot of money to
contribute --
>> both have the names, the
other relatives' names.
And I think they both --
>> as much as they denied that
was a factor, certainly both of
them used that to their
advantage when it came to
raising money and you know,
going out and just trying to
say, you know, trying to ride
the coattails.
And I know they don't like that,
but that really was a fact.
So I think Laura outworked --
And I think toward the end she
did get a lot of support from
some of the other campaigns,
maybe from the Kate Gallego
campaign that was more locked
in --
>> that was an observation you
made, Jim, and what evidence is
there of that?
>> Just from talking with folks
that are close to the Gallego
campaign, you mentioned earlier,
she won pretty handily in her
race, and it's clear they didn't
need to have --
The campaign machinery they had
in place for the initial
election, which almost got them
to avoid a runoff, they were
able to shift some of that and
move some of those volunteers
and some of the people who were
the foot soldiers on the ground,
they didn't really need that big
of a pull I don't think to be
Warren Stewart.
So they saw a need and saw an
ally, who needed some help.
>> I think the difference here
is the Gallego campaign was
young, was energetic, and you
were talking about the
complacency of the same people,
African-Americans had been
traditionally aggressive at the
legislature, the state level,
and the community, and this time
I don't think they have been
that aggressive.
You see a new wave of Latinos at
the city council level, the
legislature, you see different
names running for office, which
did you not see at the city
district eight, for instance.
In the African-American
community, I do not see any new
faces, any young folks unless do
you see them, they are --
Getting ready to run.
>> -- ran in the primary
against --
Pastor Stewart and also
Gallego --
>> he was a new face, but that
was almost used against him.
He was an interloper --
That's how they tried to
characterize it.
>> that goes back to the way
these candidates were chosen.
You mentioned it was the
established Latino leaders, the
established leaders in the black
community who pretty much
handpicked pastor Stewart in the
basement of his church.
And I think that goes to where's
the community discussion, and I
think that's part of why there's
that complacency.
They have to get their voters
excited again, and just in
talking to some of those
leaders, they hoped this is
going to be what riles everybody
up and gets them out to the
polls, to sort of find that
passion again, that despite
being a minority, was able --
They were able to hold on to
that seat for almost five
decades.
>> Jim, the last city council
election I want to talk about is
kind of --
Was viewed by some as a
referendum on the power of
unions in the city of Phoenix.
That's the --
The DiCiccio election.
How do you assess that one?
>> It was a campaign with a lot
of money, Monica probably has
better grasp, hundreds of
thousands of dollars were spent
by the campaigns and outside
groups, both pro and pro parks.
And it was largely unions,
firefighters especially, going
after --
It's ironic because they were
the ones that helped get him in
the office in the first place a
number of years ago.
That's got a whole other subtext
to it.
But you know, he ultimately won
rather comfortably.
He won by about 10 points, and
for a race with that much money
that's being thrown around, kind
of a referendum on Sal
DiCiccio's attacks on the
pension system and his --
What some would say is almost
singular focus on this pension
issue and this kind of
antigovernment employee kind of
position, that the voters there
don't have a problem with that.
They like what he's doing, and
they support him.
And I think that really --
He passed the referendum at the
end of the day.
>> In that district, they has
his base, the fact somebody was
willing to step up and run
against an incumbent and
still --
I know 10 points is a big margin
in any election, and there was a
lot of money thrown around on
both sides, but you know, I
think that there is generally
Phoenix is --
You can see --
I don't know if I say
pro-union --
>> the firefighters aren't going
away.
>> The firefighters aren't going
away.
>> Let's leave the topic at that
point and move on to the
legislature, where the overall
dominating issue seemed to be
the governor's decision to
expand Medicaid and that all
kinds of reverberations.
Give us a quick summary.
>> It subsumed everything about
the session.
Basically everything boiled down
to Medicaid expansion.
And the governor's push for it,
and Republican leaders'
opposition to it.
And by and large most Republican
lawmakers were opposed to it.
And at the end of the day it
resulted in a unprecedented move
where the governor formed an
alliance with a small group of
Republicans, all of the
democrats, and they asked the
budget --
They upended leadership and told
them, if you want to oppose
this, we will go ahead and make
you no longer, you will be the
ex-leaders of your chamber and
we will depose you.
So they basically sat back and
said, OK, we'll fight the good
fight and we'll give all of our
speeches and we'll do everything
we can to oppose it, but
ultimately this is pass or fail
on the votes.
>> So it made democrats relevant
in this session, and it made
them relevant in the next
session because of the threats
of retribution against those who
supported the governor.
The moderate Republicans.
>> This was the topic the
democrats were waiting for.
Because they had been
insignificant politically
speaking because, you know, the
legislature has been controlled
by Republicans, the governor is
a Republican, so for years they
have not been able to do
anything.
So this was their time to do
something and help the governor.
I'm still curious about the
motivation of the governor.
She's had nothing to lose by
doing this politically.
She can't run again, she doesn't
have anyone she's supporting
right now, what was her
motivation?
>> I think when you look at the
way Governor Brewer has handled
herself in office, the one thing
you can say about her is that
for --
As conservative as she is, she
also comes from a background of
pragmatism, where sometimes you
have to make decisions that you
don't want to make, but you've
got to do it.
Look at the prop 100 sales tax.
That was another issue where she
went against the grain
politically.
Certainly within the Republican
party.
>> The common wisdom was on a
dollars and cents basis this
should have been done, and it
was done.
>> It was.
You can almost look at prop 100
and the Medicaid expansion in
the same light.
We're in a certain financial
situation, and all of the
numbers say we need to go do
something that's unpleasant or
that we don't want to do.
So in the case of the sales tax,
the governor backed it.
The case of Medicaid expansion,
we had to fund --
The voters of Arizona have on
several occasions said we need
to fund --
We need to cover people who make
up to 100% of the federal
poverty limit.
In a lot of states it's 50%, it
was 33%.
Arizona was 100%.
We cut that during the recession
and it was designed to be
temporary.
So the governor said we need to
restore that funding, and if
we're going to do it it's cost
to cost us a large amount of
money.
But if we expand to the
Affordable Care Act requires,
it's going to cost us about a
quarter of that amount of money
because we're --
>> It made sense to do it and
she did it.
The other big issue that seems
to have dominate the the whole
year but actually is more the
last quarter, and also involves
the governor is CPS.
Monica you've written about in
some respects just the opposite
of what CPS is being criticized
for right now, which is their
lack of follow-through.
And you have written about what
you consider to be overzealous
activities by CPS.
>> Yeah, Arizona --
The CPS system is clearly
broken, and it just --
It's difficult to see how it
could possibly be repaired.
But you hear now after the
announcement or the discovery of
all these cases that went
uninvestigated, child abuse
cases, that --
Well, you have --
I lost my train of thought, I'm
sorry.
When you have CPS not acting
enough, not doing enough, but
the story I reported on, which
is interesting to me especially
now that some police departments
are talking about investigating
some of these cases that went
just unheard, but what you have
is with the police departments
investigating this particular
case I looked into, they cleared
the parents of any wrongdoing in
the abuse of their kid, but CPS
still removed both of the
children.
>> Perhaps an overreaction to
the criticism --
>> The other thing that was
interesting in that was the
number of parental rights that
were severed has really
increased over the years.
I think almost five fold.
So in the past there had been a
few cases that really got CPS
highly criticized for not doing
enough, maybe children who had
died in the care of the other
parent or their foster homes
when CPS was already aware that
there were problems.
So I think that showed there was
an overcorrection.
And so then a child is injured,
and even though at least in the
case I investigated this young
Guatemalan couple had their
parental rights severed even
after the Phoenix police
department cleared them of
wrongdoing, CPS went ahead and
severed those rights.
So you know, it is --
>> speaking of inconsistencies,
Jim, the allegations that this
practice of marking N.I., not
investigated on so many files,
6,000 or more, was a revelation,
I think you just broke a story
that the legislature and the
governor's office actually had
this information for some time.
>> Yeah.
It was interesting, the
department of economic security
which oversees CPS had said a
month ago that we found these
cases and this is news to us,
and as it turns out, it
shouldn't have been news to them
because it was in reports they
were sending to the governor,
the legislature, they sent twice
yearly reports.
And in those reports was lists
of cases, clearly labeled, not
investigated.
And those are these cases.
They were in these reports.
So now that the department has
shifted its tone and gone from,
yeah, we didn't know about these
cases to, well, the legislature
and the governor's office should
have known, because we gave them
this information.
>> And child care advocacy
groups were questioning these
matters.
>> Yeah.
One of my colleagues spoke with
some of these child care
advocates and said, why didn't
you see these, this such in
these reports?
And they said we did, we saw it.
>> do you think they were
reading the reports at all?
Or just passing them out?
>> That's the other thing.
In the governor's office it will
go to staff.
It's not going to land on the
governor's desk.
And they'll prepare a report.
But the legislators we talked
with and the child care
advocates who received these
reports, they said that they
asked CPS about it and they had
questions about these not
investigated case and they were
told either that they were cases
where the allegations were so
minimal as to not require an
investigation, or that was just
temporary, and they were being
investigated at the end of the
day.
As it turns out that was not the
case.
>> I think this will continue to
roil into the new year, and
we'll talk about predictions in
a few minutes.
Elvia, the other big issue in
Arizona was immigration.
Perennial issue.
The year started with a lot of
hope that we would see
immigration reform, but we
didn't.
>> Latinos made a huge deal
about the fact that they voted
and they should have, and that's
the only reason why we were
talking about immigration reform
at the federal level.
Latinos did vote, and therefore
Republicans had no choice but to
pay attention to immigration
reform, and they saw it as an
opportunity to reach out to
Latinos.
I think that lasted for about
three months, the real optimism,
the hope that something was
going to happen.
>> We had something come out of
the senate.
>> It was approved, everyone was
talking about it, it seemed to
be a compromise, we had eight
senators working on the issue,
bipartisan, Republicans,
democrats were all happy working
together, and it just didn't
happen.
And you were mentioning that,
you know, it was --
I didn't think it was going to
happen.
Because there's not the
political will.
>> But it did bring out what
seems to be more activism by the
dreamers, a lot of activity by
those kids.
>> Absolutely.
There was a lot of excitement.
They may not --
Even though they made --
>> you predicted last year there
would be immigration reform.
>> I did.
I did.
I was wrong.
The dreamers, they're just very
passionate about this issue, and
even though they made a lot of
noise, and went to Washington,
and talked to federal lawmakers
and really pushed hard for it,
they may not have had that great
of an impact there, but
certainly in local elections as
they were behind them,
supporting Gallego, and even her
opponent Lawrence Robinson who
didn't make it into the general
election, but there is a lot of
passion there, and I've written
some stories about that.
I think the thing that is
interesting is that these young
people who can't vote are out
there rallying their community,
and their neighbors and their
families to vote.
And I don't see that slowing
down.
I think at least locally there's
still a lot of passion, still a
lot of hope, and the fact they
are having some significant
impact in local elections, I
think that's going to give them
the will to keep on moving
forward.
>> Before we do on to our
predictions, one other somewhat
immigration related matter, Jim,
was the findings, why the
federal court with respect to
racial profiling by the
sheriff's office.
>> Yeah, it's the conclusion of
the lawsuit, alleging racial
profiling and the court
concluded that, yes, there was
racial profiling that happened
with NC --
MCSO, and they were acting
unconstitutionally in doing.
So right now they're haggling
over a monitor, the solution
they've set upon, is to put
someone in place basically to
oversee what happens in the
sheriff's department.
And so right now they're going
back and forth and there's some
appeals with the initial ruling,
so this is an issue I'm sure
we'll be talking about at next
year's round table.
>> Elvia, you've already
indicated that you didn't think
there was going to be indication
reform this year and I assume
your prediction is next year is
also no?
>> Definitely, we're getting
closer to a presidential
election, I believe this was a
year to do it.
Barack Obama could have done
what he did with the dreamers,
he could have --
>> you don't think anything will
happen next year?
>> No.
>> What about the sheriff?
Do you have any prediction was
respect to the sheriff?
>> I think finally something is
going to happen with the
sheriff.
I can't tell you exactly what it
is, but I just know something
huge is going to happen.
I just feel it.
>> Good or bad from his
perspective?
>> Bad.
>> That will be interesting to
see.
Monica, your predictions for
next year.
>> Well, unfortunately I really
don't think much of anything is
going to change in Arizona.
I think that with the Republican
controlling the legislature and
having a Republican governor
just seems like a given, I think
the steady drum beat against
immigrants here is going to
continue, the governor just
expanded the ban on driver's
license for any type of
immigrant now, I think that
there's going to continue to be
that steady beat against unions
and government employees, and --
Yeah, so I guess my prediction
is things are going to stay the
same.
>> And Jim, topic we should have
covered but we ran out of time,
maybe you can touch on it in
your predictions, the race for
governor, and what we might see
there.
>> That one is tough to figure
out.
I'm not bold enough to make any
predictions on the race for
governor, other than --
>> you ought --
>> the obvious one, the
Democratic candidate Fred Duval
is going to have a tough hill to
climb.
If you talk about the elections
bill, the massive elections bill
that was passed last year that's
going to be on the ballot next
year for voter approval --
>> and that will have an impact.
>> That will have an impact but
I think at the end of the day
voters will be scared off by the
specter of voter fraud and
they'll support the law.
>> On that note we'll have to
end.
We'll come back next year and
see if you were right and see
what happened.
Thank you so much for joining
us.
>>> And remember, if you missed
any previous episodes of
"Horizonte," just go to our
website, www.azpbs.org/horizonE.
While you're there, you'll find
transcript and upcoming show
information.
That's our show for tonight from
all of us here at eight and
"Horizonte" I'm José Cárdenas.
Have a good night.
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>> The arc for Mary over the
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>> The series starts with Mary
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It's almost like she is in this
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Tom cullen, who is playing a
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