💰 Billion-Dollar Ballpark Begging: Arizona's Corporate Welfare Playbook | BUCKMASTER
Why Diamondbacks owner's $1.2B taxpayer grab makes utility rate hikes look like pocket change
Based on the Buckmaster Show for 6/26/25, a daily radio show in Tucson, AZ, interviewing local newsmakers. Analysis and opinions are my own.
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
🌵 Arizona's government is letting rich people and big companies take advantage of regular families in really unfair ways. 🤑 A billionaire who owns a baseball team convinced politicians to give him over a billion dollars in tax money to fix up his stadium instead of making fans pay a little extra. ⚾
Meanwhile, electric companies keep raising prices way more than they should, making it harder for families to afford air conditioning in the desert heat. 🔥 Trump's health secretary is also making it harder for people to get vaccines by making them too expensive.
💉 A former health official named Will Humble is speaking out about how these problems are all connected and hurt the same people—families who are already struggling to get by. 🗣️🏠
🗝️ Takeaways
🏟️ Stadium Socialism: Arizona legislature hands Diamondbacks owner $1.2B in taxpayer-funded improvements—more than the team's actual value
💡 Utility Usury: APS demands 14% rate increases after back-to-back 8% hikes, forcing families to choose between food and air conditioning
💉 Vaccine Vendetta: RFK Jr. strategically removes vaccine recommendations to make shots unaffordable without technically banning them
🏠 Heat Death Crisis: 50% of Arizona's homeless population suffers from serious mental illness, requiring housing solutions beyond cooling centers
📚 Literary Resistance: Summer reading picks include tech industry exposés and Indigenous identity narratives
🏛️ Regulatory Capture: Arizona Corporation Commission rubber-stamps rate increases, serving corporate shareholders over community needs
Desert Dialogues: When Corporate Greed Meets Community Need in Trump's Arizona
Another scorching summer in the Sonoran Desert, another round of corporate welfare disguised as economic development. Welcome to Arizona, where billionaire ballpark owners cry poverty while abuelas choose between insulin and air conditioning.
The mercury prepares to climb soon toward a merciless 110 degrees as Bill Buckmaster fired up his Thursday show from Tucson's Green Things Zocalo Village Studios, serving up the kind of unflinching analysis that cuts through Arizona's political theater like monsoon lightning.
With the state legislature locked in their annual fiscal kabuki dance and temperatures threatening to turn humans into human jerky, Buckmaster assembled voices that refuse to whisper when they should be shouting.
The Heat Behind the Headlines: Context for Resistance
Arizona operates on a July 1st fiscal year, and as June 26th approached, our elected representatives were pulling their usual performative budget chaos. Because nothing says "responsible governance" like shutting down the clock and pretending deadlines don't exist.
The state has never experienced a government shutdown—a fact that speaks more to political theater than actual fiscal responsibility.
Meanwhile, Trump's second presidency has unleashed a fresh wave of anti-science authoritarianism through Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose vaccine vendetta continues targeting public health infrastructure. For Indigenous and Chicano communities already facing health disparities, these attacks represent another layer of systematic violence disguised as policy.
Will Humble: The Public Health Cassandra Nobody Wants to Hear
Former Arizona Department of Health Services director Will Humble joined Buckmaster for his monthly reality check, bringing four decades of public health expertise to bear on our current catastrophes.
As executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association, Humble has watched as corporate interests systematically dismantle community protections while politicians genuflect before the interests of shareholders.
Stadium Socialism for Billionaires, Austerity for Everyone Else
The conversation began with House Bill 2704—Arizona's latest capitulation to corporate power.
The legislation hands Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick (net worth: $1.3 billion) a $1.2 billion taxpayer-funded upgrade to the team's stadium over the next 20 years.
Because apparently, when you're worth over a billion dollars, the appropriate response to needing stadium improvements is crying to the government like a toddler who dropped their ice cream.
"He doesn't want to put a surcharge on ticket prices, basically a user fee for people that go to the games," Humble explained with the weary tone of someone who's watched this corporate welfare playbook deployed countless times. "In my view, [the] people that go to the games... should be the ones that pay to improve whatever needs to be done to the stadium."
Instead of asking fans to pay an extra dollar on their already overpriced $15 beers, Kendrick successfully lobbied to redirect all player and staff income taxes directly from Arizona's general fund into stadium coffers. The same general fund that pays for schools, roads, and social services—you know, those pesky public goods that interfere with profit maximization.
The mechanism reveals the sophisticated evolution of corporate welfare: rather than direct taxpayer checks (which even Arizona voters might reject), the legislature diverts tax revenue that would otherwise support public services.
"Over the next 20 years, the team, well, the stadium will have about a $1.2 billion to make changes to that stadium, $1.2 billion. That's more than the value of that team," Humble noted, highlighting the absurdity of subsidizing improvements worth more than the franchise itself.
For Indigenous and Chicano families struggling with inadequate schools, crumbling infrastructure, and limited healthcare access, watching billionaires extract public resources for luxury entertainment venues represents colonialism's latest iteration.
Same extraction, different century.
Kennedy's Vaccine Vendetta: Death by a Thousand Bureaucratic Cuts
Mid-show breaking news revealed Kennedy's latest anti-vaccine gambit: his advisory panel voted to eliminate recommendations for flu shots containing thimerosal, a preservative primarily found in multi-dose vials used by rural health clinics. While this specific move won't immediately devastate vaccine access, it exemplifies Kennedy's strategic dismantling of public health infrastructure.
"What Kennedy has done is not strip the licenses of these vaccines because if he did that, he'd get sued and he'd lose," Humble explained. "Rather, what he's doing is removing recommendations for vaccines, which means that when you go to the doctor's office... your health plan doesn't pay for it because it's not recommended by the CDC anymore. So if you want it, you can have it, but it's going to cost you $230."
The strategy is diabolically effective: maintain plausible deniability while making vaccines financially inaccessible for working families. It's like claiming you support food while making groceries unaffordable—technically true, practically devastating.
For rural Indigenous communities already facing healthcare deserts, losing access to multi-dose vials could mean driving hours for basic preventive care. Kennedy's policies don't just threaten individual health; they systematically undermine community resilience, particularly targeting populations already marginalized by systemic racism and geographic isolation.
Utility Usury: When Monopolies Hold Life Hostage
Perhaps Humble's most passionate condemnation targeted Arizona's utility rate increases—a crisis affecting every household in the state. Arizona Public Service imposed back-to-back 8% rate hikes and then demanded an additional 14% increase. Tucson Electric Power followed with similar demands, creating what amounts to legalized extortion for an essential service.
"These are rate increases way above inflation," Humble emphasized, connecting the dots between corporate greed and community survival. "What's so frustrating is that voters keep putting people in the Arizona Corporation Commission who just rubber-stamp these rate increases."
The Arizona Corporation Commission—elected officials who supposedly regulate utilities—operates as a textbook example of regulatory capture, where industries control their supposed overseers. It's like hiring foxes to guard the henhouse, then acting surprised when chickens disappear.
The human cost extends far beyond monthly bills. "It gets harder and harder for people to make ends meet, and they end up making choices like... I'm going to skip food, or I'm not going to pay for my medications, or... they turn their thermostat up to where it's not healthy," Humble warned. "You put your house above 80, you're putting your life at risk."
For Indigenous elders and Chicano families already navigating poverty, these rate increases force impossible choices between survival necessities. Eat or stay cool. Take medication or keep the lights on. Classic American healthcare, brought to you by corporate monopolies.
The commission prohibits shutoffs during summer months—a policy born from public outcry after heat-related deaths. But disconnection moratoriums don't eliminate bills; families accumulate crushing debt that follows them into winter, creating year-round financial instability.
Housing Heat: Addressing Root Causes, Not Just Symptoms
Humble connected Arizona's heat death crisis to structural failures in mental health infrastructure, revealing how seemingly separate issues interweave into systemic violence.
With heat deaths now ranking as the state's 12th leading cause of death—tied with pneumonia and influenza—cooling centers offer necessary but insufficient Band-Aid solutions.
"A much bigger part of it is that Arizona just simply does not have the kind of supported housing that's needed for people with serious mental illness," Humble explained, cutting through political rhetoric to identify root causes. "There are about 70,000 people with serious mental illness in Arizona... 50% of the people that you see that are homeless in our communities are people with serious mental illness that should be getting supported housing."
So we build cooling centers while ignoring why people need them—classic American problem-solving, treating symptoms while feeding the disease.
Literary Resistance: Bruce Dingus and Greg McNamee's Quarterly Canon
The show's final segment featured Bruce Dingus (retired Arizona Historical Society editor) and Greg McNamee (prolific author and Southwest Books of the Year selection chair) delivering their quarterly literary recommendations—a welcome respite from political dystopia that nonetheless carried subversive undertones.
McNamee's Magnificent Selections
Greg's choices ranged from tech industry indictments to oceanic survival stories, each carrying implications for our current resistance moment:
"Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism" by Sarah Wyn Williams dissects Facebook's transformation from an independence-minded startup to a data-harvesting authoritarian tool. Williams, a former Facebook diplomat, watched Mark Zuckerberg evolve from protecting user privacy to "crafting enemies lists and selling data to China." Because nothing says "connecting the world" like surveilling it for profit.
"Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard" by C.M. Kushner celebrates the crime fiction master who declared he wasn't interested in how educated people think—yet ended up beloved by precisely that demographic. Leonard's evolution from a Western writer to a crime novelist mirrors broader cultural shifts, proving that an authentic voice transcends genre boundaries.
"It's Only Drowning: A True Story of Learning to Surf and the Pursuit of Common Ground" by David Litt (former Obama speechwriter) offers pandemic-era wisdom wrapped in wetsuit metaphors. Learning to surf during a period of political isolation sounds about right for our current historical moment.
"A Marriage at Sea: The True Story of Love, Obsession and Shipwreck" by Sophie Elmhurst recounts a couple's 117-day survival ordeal after colliding with a whale, a story remembered as a national holiday in South Korea but largely forgotten in England. The same story, different cultural responses—sounds familiar.
Dingus's Distinguished Lineup
Bruce brought historical expertise to contemporary relevance:
Ron Chernow's "Mark Twain" biography explores America's iconic humorist who pioneered celebrity culture alongside Buffalo Bill and P.T. Barnum. At 1,200 pages, it's summer reading for the intellectually ambitious. Because understanding how Americans learned to worship celebrities might explain our current political predicament.
"Old School Indian" by Aaron John Curtis examines identity and healing within Mohawk reservation life, particularly relevant as Indigenous communities face renewed attacks under Trump's policies.
"A Passing West: Essays from the Borderlands" by Dagoberto Gilb explores often-unacknowledged Spanish and Mexican influence in the Southwest. For those who need reminding that "Mexican America" existed before Anglo colonization.
"The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the Wild West Wild" by Brian Burrow argues that the Lone Star State exported its peculiar brand of violence across the frontier. Some might say they're still exporting it.
Taking Action: From Analysis to Organizing
Understanding these interconnected crises means recognizing opportunities for resistance. The Arizona Corporation Commission races remain winnable—these officials directly control utility rates affecting every household. Supporting candidates who prioritize community needs over corporate profits represents immediate, practical resistance.
For healthcare access, supporting local community health centers and advocating for expanded Medicaid benefits for vulnerable populations facing Kennedy's sabotage. Indigenous and Chicano communities have centuries of experience surviving government attacks on health and welfare—now those survival strategies benefit everyone.
Housing advocacy connects individual survival to collective liberation. Supporting organizations working on mental health infrastructure, affordable housing, and harm reduction creates alternatives to cooling centers and emergency responses.
The desert teaches patience and adaptation, but it also teaches that survival requires community. Corporate power depends on individual isolation; our resistance, however, depends on collective action.
Sustaining the Resistance
Quality independent journalism becomes essential during authoritarian periods. Corporate media won't investigate utility rate manipulation or stadium subsidies—they depend on the same advertisers profiting from these schemes.
Support Three Sonorans Substack to keep this analysis and investigation coming. Independent media requires community support, and your subscription directly funds reporting that challenges power rather than amplifying it.
Local voices like Buckmaster's provide crucial forums for experts like Humble to speak truth to power. Protecting and supporting these platforms helps maintain democratic discourse when corporate media fails.
The heat will break eventually—Arizona's corporate capture doesn't have to be permanent. Every rate increase, every stadium subsidy, every public health attack creates opportunities for organizing. The question isn't whether resistance is possible, but whether we'll organize it effectively.
What Do You Think?
How do we break the cycle of regulatory capture that allows utility companies to extract guaranteed profits while families face impossible choices? What would an effective community response to Kennedy's healthcare sabotage look like in your area?
Share your thoughts below—whether you're surviving another Arizona summer or watching these dynamics play out elsewhere. Desert communities have always found ways to thrive in harsh conditions. Now we apply that resilience to harsh politics, creating oases of justice in democracy's desert. The monsoons will come eventually. So will change, if we organize for it.
Have a scoop or a story you want us to follow up on? Send us a message!
