The morning daily's Rhonda Bodfield, in today's political notebook, picked up the story we broke last week in The Skinny about Rep. Frank Antenori's meetings with members of the Pima County Board of Supervisors in his pursuit of the state Senate seat now held by state Sen. Jonathan Paton. (Paton is stepping down later this year to challenge Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.)

Although the first-term Republican lawmaker said he wasn't "trying to threaten anybody," Antenori told us that the supervisors would be wise to select him for the Senate slot because he was sure to win it in November anyway: "I think the Board of Supervisors would much rather have a guy in the Senate that has been working with them than a guy who is working against them. I think they'd rather have a happy Frank Antenori rather than an angry Frank Antenori."

That story got picked up by the online Arizona Guardian. In an interview with reporter Dennis Welch, Antenori let the supes know that they'd be sorry if they didn't pick him for the job: “Why am I going to bust my ass for someone who screwed me over?” Antenori wondered.

Rhonda reports today that Republican Marian McClure, who held a House seat for eight years before geting termed out in 2008, is also interested in the Senate appointment, but she's a bit behind the times with that one. MClure told us on Friday that she won't seek the appointment, but will instead try to run for the seat in the August primary. That's probably smart politics, since she'll be able to sidestep what's sure to be a messy session with a lot of unpopular votes to solve the budget mess.

We also hear that among the names that may get forwarded by LD30 GOP precinct committeemen to the Pima County Board of Supervisors are two former lawmakers from the area: Rancher Bill McGibbon and golf pro Randy Graf.

Other dominoes are falling in Legislative District 30. With Antenori giving up his House seat, four Republicans are getting ready to run in the August primary for the two House seats: Rep. David Gowan, who now holds the second seat in LD30; Doug Sposito, who unsuccessfully ran for the LD30 House seat in 2008; Ted Vogt, who is now GOP chairman of LD30; and Kurt Knurr.

Democrat Andrea Dalessandro, who ran unsuccessfully for the LD30 House seat in 2008, is taking another shot this year.

Funny or Die's Will Ferrell and gang are taking their Internet delights to the other system of wires and tubes with a new HBO series that starts next month on Fridays starting Feb. 19. Until then, keep going to funnyordie.com for your fix. Below when Pee Wee gets his own iPad.

More bad news on the state’s financial front: We still have not hit bottom.

For the 17th consecutive month, the amount of taxes collected has dropped by double digits compared to the same month one year earlier. In December 2009, the tax take was 12 percent below December 2008.

We’ll fill in more details as we crunch the Joint Legislative Budget Committee report, but here are some key takeaways:

• The total tax take for the month was $681 million, which was more than $90 million below forecast.

• In the first six months of the fiscal year, tax collections have shrunk 16.7 percent compared to the previous year.

• Sales taxes were off by 10 percent in December. Merchants can be happy that the retail sector was only off by 3 percent, but construction workers lost out as contracting taxes dropped by more than 36 percent. Sales tax collections, by the way, have been shrinking for 23 months.

JLBC now projects a $1.5 billion shortfall in the fiscal year that ends in June.

The staff also projects the state will bring in $6.9 billion next year and is on track to spend $9.5 billion, for a $2.6 billion shortfall.

Check out the report yourself: mfh-jan-10.pdf

I wonder if Maurice, Howard and JD are having some interesting talks someplace? I'm also wondering who takes Maurice and Howard's place? Who's ready for a little civil disobedience?

Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives, without the support of Democrats, have addressed the state budget deficit by passing a massive collection of future tax cuts.

Reaction from the Arizona Budget Coalition:

The Arizona Budget Coalition (ABC), representing more than 50 organizations around the state standing for jobs, education, and health and human services, decries the passage of HB 2250 out of the Arizona House of Representatives and asks the State Senate to kill the bill.

Scott Washburn, State Director of SEIU Arizona, explains that while the Coalition shares the goals stated in the bill to bring jobs to Arizona, it believes the sweeping tax cuts are not well targeted to economic development and will in fact cost Arizona jobs and economic growth. “Cutting general fund revenues at a time when basic services are already being slashed will make Arizona a less desirable place for business relocation and expansion,” Washburn said.

“Both voters and businesses expect our state to provide the assets we need for a strong economy — assets like roads, parks, health care, and a world-class education system,” said Dana Wolfe Naimark, President and CEO of Children’s Action Alliance. “Twenty years of tax cuts have left us short on these assets and contributed to

Glittter, glam and trash. T-Rex, Bowie, Gary Glitter, Sparks, Roxy Music, and much more of the excesses of the 70s. Gender expansion, space invasion, and rocking fucking music are all promised.

As usual with a Powhaus Production, there will be lots of music, lots of dancing, lots of outrageous people doing outrageous things.

We expect extraterrestrial visitation this night. We also expect trash and all who fall in between.

18+, ID required for alcohol. $3 cover. Cheap drinks.

Featuring DJ Dan Shapiro, and DJ T-Bag.

Video art by Heather Wodrich.

Live music by Silver Fox and Cadillac Steakhouse.

As usual, Filmed For Broadcast.

Come and look outrageous, dance outrageous and become a star. Not enough glam in your wardrobe? No problem. We will have a glitter booth to help you look fabulous.

Hosted by Kitty Katt McKinley and Desert Diamond Dallas.

The latest bulletin from Sierra Club lobbyist Sandy Bahr:

Hi everyone! Don’t forget Environmental Day - Rally for Parks at the Capitol on Monday from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. We will have a brief program on the House Lawn. Speakers will focus on parks and environmental programs and let us know how we can help turn the tide. Please bring a brown bag lunch to enjoy while listening to the speakers. We will provide tables and chairs, drinks, and cookies for dessert.

This week, please contact your legislators and tell them you support State Parks! Ask them to:

Discontinue the transfer of monies from the Heritage Fund to the State Forester.

Eliminate all of the Fund Reductions and Transfers and Excess Balance Transfers from December 2009 — totaling about $8.6 million.

Allow Parks to keep all enhancement dollars (park fees) for operations, including those being collected currently.

Reject proposals for Fiscal Year 2011 that would divert all of the Heritage Fund dollars to the General Fund or any proposals to permanently divert all of the lottery revenues to the General Fund. This affects Game and Fish habitat and endangered species programs too.

Support a program that would allow Arizona residents with an Arizona license plate to visit all Arizona parks without paying an entrance fee. This can be accommodated by

The gang at Arizona Illustrated is airing a one-hour special examining the economy tonight. My Friday Roundtable colleagues, Linda Valdez of the Arizona Republic and Mark Evans of TucsonCitizen.com, will be joining Arizona illustrated anchor Bill Buckmaster to interview UA economists Marshall Vest and Jerry Swanson. (I would have joined them, but I was on assignment in the Bay Area when the show was taped yesterday.)

Check it out at 9 p.m. tonight on Channel 6.

After the Tucson City Council voted to cut $379,368 from Access Tucson, the public access TV station announced Thursday that it would close its doors for a month beginning in early February. Here's the release:

During last night's Access Tucson Board of Directors meeting, the Board decided to shut down Access Tucson for four weeks while we continue to negotiate with the City to keep public access viable in Tucson. This temporary measure is being taken to preserve our remaining reserve funding.

Access Tucson Closure:
Wednesday, February 10th through Tuesday, March 9th

Programming will continue on the channels but no other services will be provided and staff will not be working. No new programming or cablecast calendars will be accepted