Journalists’ Roundtable for April 22

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for another edition of the Journalists’ Roundtable. Joining us tonight to discuss the week’s top stories are: Bob Christie of the Associated Press, Jeremy Duda of Axios Phoenix, and Jim Small of the Arizona Mirror.

The topics for the week:

• Suit vs. Biggs, Gosar, Finchem Candidacies
• Skinny Budget Fails
• Bowers Receives Profile in Courage Award
• Senate Passes Parental Rights Bill
• Trump Disses Brnovich
• Mitchell Named Interim County Attorney
• Arizona Supreme Court Ruling

Today, there was a dismissal of a lawsuit that was aimed at keeping three Arizona politicians off the ballot.

What did the Supreme Court say about those tax cuts?

Christie: “Those people who collected five percent of the voter signatures to put it on the ballot, to put those on hold, you do not get a voice, sorry. This is a constitutional decision from the Supreme Court, they have not explained exactly how they got there yet. We are all really interested in how they did that, because the state constitution says if you can refer any law past passed legislature including this almost two billion dollar tax cut, supposedly, by collecting enough signatures. Except if it is for the maintenance and support of the government. This is a tax cut, so the lower court judge said well obviously a tax cut does not support the government, the Supreme Court disagrees, and thus no vote. They are now in effect.”

The bottom line is flat tax here?

Duda: “Who knows how that would have shaken out had it gone to the ballot. Obviously Republican lawmakers… they did not want to find out. There has been talk all session long of a repeal and replace or a repeal and accelerate, whatever they want to call it, trying to repeal last years cuts and pass them in a slightly different form.”