Sen. Ableser is a degree away on job description

DState Sen. Ed Ableser twice during a legislative forum on the death penalty mentioned he is a psychologist.

“I’m a psychologist by trade,” he said at one point.

Um, not quite, Counselor Ableser.

To carry the title of psychologist, one needs a doctoral degree. Ableser has a master’s degree in counseling.

Some Phoenix City Council candidates who didn’t make it to November’s runoff election still haven’t taken down their signs.

City spokeswoman Sina Matthes said, “The time frames are 15 days (after the Aug. 27 election) for the right of way and 10 days for private property.”

But there may not be much incentive for candidates to obey the ordinance.

“There are no fine structures in place at this time,” said Erin Andres, signs section supervisor in planning and development. “When my inspectors are out doing other inspections, they see the political signs that are out and remove them, or we act on a complaint basis.”

Andres said the city does not return the signs to the former candidates but recycles them.

“That’s an expensive loss if they choose to run at a later date (and) potentially wanted to reuse those signs,” Andres said.

» Quote of the week “The death penalty absolutely is a specific deterrent. No one executed has ever killed again.” — Maricopa County Attorney

Bill Montgomery

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If you know Paul Petersen, newly appointed Maricopa County assessor, you know he has great hair and loves cars.

The hair works well for an elected official, but the fancy Audi? Not so much, according to some county folks who recommended Petersen rethink his car choice.

Then, Petersen’s new car was spotted in the assessor’s parking spot: a white Jaguar.

It was a face-palm moment for county leaders who were thinking more along the lines of a Ford Focus. “I was told to get a new car, so I did, and now I’m getting flak for that, too. I guess I can’t win,” Petersen told

At least it’s not new: “It’s a 3-year-old Jag. It’s nice, and it drives great,” he said, adding his Audi was 11 years old.

“I’ve loved cars for a long time. I just like cars. I wanted to have a car that was more professional but fun to drive,” he said.

So came the Jag, which is supercharged with V-8 horsepower — though not quite sure what all that means.

Not to suggest that the Phoenix Coyotes saga sucked all the air out of the Glendale City Council chambers since 2009, but Councilman Gary Sherwood was musing the other day about the number of high-priority matters the council has handled since the hockey deal was completed in August.

Council members hired a new city manager to fill a yearlong vacancy and a new city attorney to replace the one they forced to retire in the spring.

They also reviewed and released a forensic audit that detailed financial mismanagement under the departed city manager’s watch. They forwarded the audit the Attorney General’s Office for further legal review and monitored new City Manager Brenda Fischer as she conducted a house cleaning of top municipal administrators, including an interim city manager, who were linked to the financial mismanagement.

Plus, council members have begun to address next year’s budget.

“It’s actually dealing with real issues, and that’s something, especially with the amount of time the arena took over the last several years,” Sherwood said. “It’s nice to actually go after some of these other very large issues.”

Is there another city in Arizona where those issues would be a welcome relief?

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