David Waid

As the TIME Coalition tries to fight its way back onto the ballot through the courts, there are a lot of questions being asked about how the Coalition - backed by Gov. Janet Napolitano and supported by some of the top political consultantcy firms in Arizona - found itself in this position.

The Coalition is trying to put a 1 cent sales tax increase before voters to pay for improvements in transportation infrastructure - an initiative the governor considers vital for Arizona's future. Yet Secretary of State Jan Brewer invalidated a large number of signatures collected in the effort, and unless the Arizona Supreme Court rules otherwise, TIME will not appear on the November ballot.

Much of the blame is being placed with Ziemba Wade, the relatively new but high profile consulting firm that was ultimately in charge of the campaign. Though not many political insiders are speaking publicly, behind the scenes there is talk that Ziemba Wade failed its first major test as a power in Arizona politics.

PolitickerAZ.com will be expanding over the coming months and adding a few contributors to our roster to bring our readers a wide variety of viewpoints.

This week we would like to welcome David Waid. Waid is a former chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, member of the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee and a veteran of top political campaigns from New York to California. He is a co-founder of Ziemba Waid Public Affairs in Phoenix, a firm specializing in lobbying, public relations, coalition building, grassroots and grasstops outreach, campaigns and ballot initiatives in the Western states.

In the coming weeks we will be adding more contributors who will be submitting op/ed columns for our site on a variety of issues and covering the full spectrum of political view points. As always, we welcome your input, ideas and comments.

After two rounds of balloting, Charlene Fernandez, Chairwoman of the Yuma County Democratic Party was selected as 1st Vice Chair of the Arizona Democratic Party, instantly becoming a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention. In her speech, delivered to a room that seemed to favor Barack Obama, she announced that she would cast her vote for the Illinois senator, and confirmed it after her election, adding another Obama vote in the crucial race for superdelegate support.