Pass

Campaigning by a thread

The Arizona Legislature is weighing a piece of legislation, House Bill 2722, which would loosen restrictions placed on wearing partisan articles of clothing or adornments to polling stations. Current state law allows poll workers to bar people from voting if they wear items that support or disparage a particular candidate or measure that is being voted on. Officials believe these items might unduly influence how others vote. The bill would uphold restrictions on poll workers wearing political paraphernalia and continue to bar people from actively electioneering within 75 feet of polls.

For once, this is a welcome piece of legislation from the Capitol. The fact that poll workers currently have broad discretion in how they apply the statute opens would-be voters to potential discrimination. And since only about half the country votes anyway, we really don’t have the luxury to turn anyone away for something as silly as wearing a pair of elephant earrings. The idea that wearing either an “Obama 2012” or “Nobama 2012” shirt might change the way someone would vote is ludicrous. Then again, since these are American voters we’re talking about, perhaps it would.

Either way, this bill gets a pass, and hopefully the Legislature agrees.

Fail

Embarassing report card

In a recent study of the accountability and transparency of states, Arizona received a “D ” from The Center for Public Integrity. In the 14 categories outlined in the report, Arizona received five “F’s” in areas such as lobbying disclosure, ethics enforcement agencies and state civil service management.

It’s this kind of devil-may-care environment that perpetuated the Fiesta Bowl scandal, which is where it was discovered that legislators were getting free tickets to games and not reporting them, thus bringing to light the many loopholes in the ban of gifts. To this day, the House or Senate Ethics committee have yet to investigate any of the 28 legislators involved and there are no plans to do so.

But it’s not all bad. Arizona did get an “A” for its redistrcting efforts. You know, the same process that was marred by Gov. Jan Brewer ousting the head of the redistricting commission in order to facilitate GOP gerrymandering. Yay?

While the state may be ranked 27th in the nation, it’s still embarrassing that after years of scandals Arizona has yet to crack down on its legislators and hold its politicians accountable. Just because everyone else is sinking to the bottom does not excuse Arizona from trying to rise above the closed-door petty policies that have come to embody state politics.

For talking the talk but not walking the walk, Arizona government gets a fail.

Pass

Students for hire

College graduates have gotten shafted by the past few years of economic troubles. Now, according to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, they may finally be getting jobs.

According to the survey, businesses expect to hire 9.5 percent more college graduates this year than last. While this isn’t even one-half of the 22 percent plunge in recent graduate hiring in 2009, it is certainly a step in the right direction. The survey also said that employers are the most confident about the college labor market that they’ve been since 2007, which should help recent graduates breathe a sigh of relief as they leave the welcoming embrace of academia. As tuition continues to rise, it’s comforting that students can plan on getting some sort of bang for their buck after graduation.

For finally opening their doors to the young workforce, businesses get a pass.

— Editorials are determined by the Daily Wildcat editorial board and written by one of its members. They are Bethany Barnes, Kristina Bui, Steven Kwan, Luke Money and Michelle A. Monroe. They can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu or on Twitter via @WildcatOpinions .