9 Comments

“Meanwhile, lawmakers had to slash $1.4 billion in spending…”

No, no they didn’t. They CHOSE not to do anything about the bloated ESA voucher program or the Ducey tax cuts.

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What are base salaries in the AGs office like in comparison to other states?

Look, I'm an attorney who has worked in non-profit law and government. I went to a Top Ten law school, won school, won awards, had a prestigious fellowship and have 15 years of experience. I'm probably giving up a good half-a-million or more a year to do what I do.

I love it and consider my work my rent for being on the planet, but I do deserve to be paid commensurate with other attorneys in national non-profits and at the federal government level. So do the people in the AGs office.

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I wonder if any AZ school districts will try and pull an L.A. Unified and ban cell phones?

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They absolutely should. Cell phones and social media are this generation's tobacco in at terms of addiction. The damage may not be as severe as cancer, but there is harm being done to mental health and capacity.

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Your art intern deserves a raise and a bonus.

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Had to read it twice - laughed too hard to be sure I got it right the first time . . . . . a campaign sign in Clue's lawn is "interfering in our primary" ???????? [bent over laughing again].

Apparently the current version of the AZ GOP demands a primary election where only the whackiest of voters are allowed to participate - - a concept I strongly support - - as long normal human beings capable of logical thought, immediately start a different AZ GOP party for those expelled by the current mob.

If anyone's interested in forming the "MSR Party" [Mentally Stable Republicans], DM me. This could be fun.

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The pay for attorneys at the AGs office has long been well below market rates, including in comparison to other government attorneys. I recently left Maricopa County to join the AGO, and took a pay cut to do so. (And unlike other employers who give annual increases as a matter of course, the AGO has not done so in the decade-plus I’ve been aware of their salary practices).

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I think if you compare the raises and retention bonuses for attorneys at the AG's office and Supreme Court with the general salary hikes attorneys in Phoenix have seen in the last few years, it becomes much more reasonable. Nationally, first year firm lawyers have seen salary hikes upwards of 30% in the last 5 or so years. Famously, the market rate for first year "big law" associates nationally was hiked from 140k in 2019 to 215k now (though that is a really small sample of some of the highest-paid young attorneys). The state has to stay competitive in the market for lawyer salaries if it wants to keep decent lawyers.

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AZ Agenda: “Over the last year, economists and budget analysts have cautioned, in increasingly frantic tones, that the state budget was bloating beyond sustainability and massive cuts would be required to keep the government afloat.”

Narrator: AZ Agenda blaming it on “bloat”

Everybody: Ducey’s flat-tax giveaway slashed state revenues, and the Ducey-AZGOP bottomless pit of ESA expenses is stealing state revenues from everything. This is exactly the GOP budget playbook, on repeat.

AZ Agenda: *crickets

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