We’re not going to be disrespected:
Arizona lawmakers on the losing side of the Medicaid expansion vote have no legal authority to stop the new law that broadens eligibility for low-income residents, attorneys for Gov. Jan Brewer argued in a court filing Wednesday.
Brewer’s attorneys asked Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper to dismiss the lawsuit, filed last month by the conservative Goldwater Institute, saying the court should not get involved in a legislative dispute.
The Republican lawmakers “are a disgruntled faction within the Legislature that was outvoted by a bipartisan coalition,” wrote Douglas Northrup, an attorney with Fennemore Craig. “Legislators’ alleged injury is a loss of legislative and political power.”
Three other plaintiffs — two constituents and the state director of Americans for Prosperity — also lack authority to sue, he argued, largely because they can’t show they’ve suffered any harm from the portion of the law that’s being challenged, which is an assessment on hospitals to help pay for expansion.
The Goldwater lawyers represent all but two of the 38 lawmakers who voted against the law, which is to take effect Jan. 1.
scott (the other one)
They’re starting to sound like the Glenn Close character from Fatal Attraction. Only without the justification.
“I mean…I’m not gonna be IGNORED, Dan!”
BGinCHI
How did these fuckers not get thrown out of grade school for not playing well with others?
Have they no basic human decency?
priscianus jr
They fought the not-so-good fight.
Wag
Taking a cue from the House GOP If you can’t defeat a bill before it becomes a law, then try and delay the law before it takes effect and people are the benefits.
Kay
@BGinCHI:
It’s really true. There’s an antisocial aspect to this that goes beyond ideology. They cannot take a loss.
yam
Do these guys think that they’re really on the right side of history? Do they see themselves as valiant defenders of the Republic?
Wow…
Suffern ACE
Wow. Can’t they just find someone who was harmed by Medicaid expansion? Should that be too hard?
skooter
A lot of this crap reminds me of 1998, when the repubs went after Clinton.
All the crap they threw up on the wall to see what stuck. It’s in their dna, it’s what they do.
Adolphus
Every time I see the word “Maricopa” in a news article I take a shot of Jaeger before I read it, cuz I know it’s gonna make me want to drink.
Lee
OT:
Dems poised to neuter teabaggers
Phil Perspective
@BGinCHI: If they had a basic sense of decency they wouldn’t be GOP Teabaggers, would they?
Rob in CT
It’s Tire Rims and Anthrax all the way down.
stinkwrinkle
When your behavior makes Jan Brewer look like the mature adult in the room…
Violet
That’s hilarious. The thing they are protesting is that they are more impotent than they’d like. Aren’t there some blue pills for that?
dmsilev
@Violet: Obamacare probably covers that.
Joel
The discharge petition is almost essentially a no confidence vote for John Boehner, isn’t it?
NotMax
Too much time in the noonday desert sun.
Scott S.
@Lee: Oh, if only they could neuter all of them. Of course, most of them are old enough that they’ll never beget young again…
OzarkHillbilly
Pathological.
beltane
The parents of these overaged, oversized brats should have chosen a life of celibacy.
dmsilev
@Joel: That, and a “put up or shut up” challenge to what passes for the moderate wing of the House GOP.
Mr. Longform
The always mature throw-the-checkers-on-the-floor response when the game isn’t going your way. I wonder how their law suit against the popular kids in high school who made fun of them is coming along.
beltane
If you think about it, the Sun is a soc1al1st star since it shines on rich and poor alike. If these teabaggers really meant business they would stand naked in the Arizona sunshine and scream at the sun every days until it goes dark.
balconesfault
Speaking of Arizona – the little flap over the Grand Canyon bugs me a little.
If Jan Brewer wants to pay to keep it open out of state funds … why doesn’t the Dept of Interior just present her with a bill that would keep the Grand Canyon, plus every National Parks Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service office in the state open during the shutdown. Paid in advance. Keep the paychecks coming for a lot of people who have already been hurt by the sequester …
OzarkHillbilly
@beltane: This is just more proof that abortion should always be an option.
piratedan
@stinkwrinkle: the scary part was that she actually found enough GOP members who understood either fiscal realities or political realities to sign on….
catclub
@Lee: Those mysterious 20+ GOP Reps have yet to appear and sign a document. They may be related to Nessie and BigFoot.
PhoenixRising
@balconesfault: Read/watch the Ken Burns’ ‘The National Parks’ segment on Teddy Roosevelt for a quick, easy history of why letting AZ have the keys to the Canyon, on any terms whatever no matter how carefully negotiated, is not a good idea.
Zifnab25
@BGinCHI: Homeschooling means never having to say you are sorry.
boatboy_srq
@BGinCHI: No. No, they don’t.
Can we serve that line up to the GOTea congresscritters now obstructing routine business? It sounds deliciously appropriate.
Belafon
So, they have completely forgotten how a representative government works. “If I don’t win than I’ll throw a tantrum” is something I broke my kids of by age 6 – I stopped letting them win at card games, Yugioh for example, at age 5.
Amir Khalid
I found this amusing. It describes what Obama and the Democratic party’s leadership are already doing.
ETA:
@Belafon:
It’s advice on dealing with children’s tantrums, and fits your point perfectly.
Lavocat
May it please the Court:
Whereas the plaintiffs are seeking to have the Court acknowledge rightwing temper tantrums as a cause of action, the defendants herein seek the affirmative relief, should said cause of action be duly acknowledged, of having each and every one of the said plaintiffs spanked, bare-assed, over the collective knee of the Court with the Court loudly proclaiming “I’ll give you something to cry about!”, together with such other, further, and additional relief as this honorable Court deems just, proper, and appropriate.
NonyNony
@Suffern ACE:
Who could possibly be harmed by Medicare expansion the way it was done? I’m not seeing an avenue of attack along those lines.
In fact, the Goldwater institute is suing because:
Apparently Brewer and the bi-partisan majority in Arizona were trying to get around the Arizona law that tax increases require a 2/3 majority vote in the legislature by instating an “assessment fee” on hospitals instead of a tax (who were happy to pay it because they want the increased Medicaid funds from the Feds – they aren’t dumb and they can see that a small payout to the state will net them big returns in the long run).
I suspect that this is why the law was challenged in Maricopa County.
(Good for the adults in Arizona to try to get around the stupid supermajority rule for tax increases, but I suspect that this will go down in flames in the end. Even though the hospitals practically begged for this and will see greater harm when it gets overturned. This is why Arizona can’t have nice things.)
balconesfault
@PhoenixRising: why letting AZ have the keys to the Canyon
Why give them the keys to the Canyon? Just allow them to pay the DOI employees to man their posts until the Federal dollars kick back in. If nothing else – give Arizonans some appreciation for how much money the Feds spend in their state.
azlib
@piratedan:
She was lobbied hard by the hospitals who stood to lose a lot without a Medicaid expansion. There was also the small problem of a voter initiative which supported better medical care for the poor. The Medicaid expansion paid for a large part of that initiative. Some small number of Republicans decided not to go against the voter initiative and also not have to deal with a huge government deficit in coming years.
boatboy_srq
@beltane: You haven’t sorted out the disconnect these people need to survive. AGCC is a mythical, heretical non-faith – but for G#d’s sake get yourself some sunscreen and a patio shade because the sun’s so darned bad for you these days (and it wasn’t before donchano). Teh Intertubz is home to vile immorality – but (again) just try to pry their smartphones and iPads from them. They really don’t get that all the things that enable them are products of that great Soshulized labor force they keep trying to eliminate, and that many of the things that harm them are artifacts of industrialization-without-regulation. Common sense (on large-scale matters) is one of the most clearly lacking traits they possess. So they’d be happy to stand out in the midday sun and shout obscenities at it – but they’ll get slathered in SPF 50 first and they’ll wear long sleeves and big hats when they do it.
I keep hoping there’s a moment when some sphere comes along and turns these squares on edge so they can see the whole picture.
Citizen_X
Bwaah ha ha ha ha ha! I understand that can cause severe butthurt, though.
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
Don’t they teach civics in school any more?
Bokonon
These guys learned the lesson of Bush v. Gore – sue early and often, use the courts aggressively, and see if something sticks with a friendly judge. And if you lose, you can always howl about judicial activism, and the need to place good, common sense judges on the bench in the place of the people who disrespect the will of the people … Where is the downside, if you have no shame?
In this case, though … it is just pathetic. Since when do legislators get to SUE over losing a flipping vote?
johnny aquitard
@Kay:
They cannot take a win, either, not without that antisocial streak showing itself. When they win they are still assholes, and they have no reason to be so.