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Will the real Lisa James please stand up.

November 30, 2006 By 18 Comments

     Hot AZ It Gets has an update to this issue.

     It may be just fine if Lisa is nominated in another district. As I understand it then the names are forwarded to the county statutory meeting for election of state committeemen.

Lisa James.jpg   So Lisa James wants to run for Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party. Fair enough but according to Phil at Hot AZ It Gets she needs to brush up on her knowledge of the state bylaws. Phil claims that she has made it onto the list of District 20 state committeemen. But according to this link at d8azgop.com she is an alternate from District 8. Which is she, an alternate from LD 8 or a state committeeman from LD 20?

   Please excuse my being from Pima County and not knowing the ins and outs of Maricopa party politics. It is possible that there are two different people named Lisa James that are both planning on going to the state meeting? Please feel free to add any knowledge you have of the situation in the comments section.

   Speaking of comments we do moderate them from new participants but only as a way of filtering spam. So let us know what you think and we will get it on the blog as soon as possible.

Thanks to blogger cpmaz for his comment at Rum, Romanism and Rebellion that led us to http://www.d8azgop.com/

Thursday 11-30-06, 4:45 pm by jlnwd@yahoo.com

Hot AZ It Gets has an update to their original story on Lisa James.

Filed Under: Political Parties

Haney Wins!

November 29, 2006 By 44 Comments

LD11.jpg     It was a clear victory Tuesday night for the conservatives in LD 11. Not only did Rob Haney get 215 votes to Symington’s 166 but the whole conservative slate for the District triumphed. John Acer won 1st Vice Chair, Tom Husband got 2nd Vice Chair, Carolyn Berta for Corresponding Secretary, Charlotte Reed for Recording Secretary, and George Teegarden for Treasurer. The best speech of the night was from Tom Husband who was funny but also on message. The largest margin of victory was for Carolyn Berta who received 229 votes to Paul Boyer’s 151.

Fife and Randy.jpg     Everyone got along very well and was polite to each other but it was a little much to listen to Fife talk about how he was a grassroots guy. He promised better speakers at the meetings and to even cook. Apparently that is not what LD 11 PC’s were seeking in a chairman.

     The turnout was high. One of the counts stated that there were 242 ballots in person and 140 by proxy. Dignitaries included State Senator Jack Harper (who was openly supporting Haney), Superintendent Tom Horne, RNC Committeeman Randy Pullen, Commissioner Jeff Hatch-Miller, Representative elect Adam Driggs, Don Goldwater, and County Recorder Helen Purcell. Speaking of Helen the county brought in their machines to tally the votes. Good idea given the turnout. None of the people who signed the letter supporting Fife were anywhere to be seen. They definitely phoned in their support. (If I missed any other dignitaries and high-power lobbyists in fancy suits please excuse a tired correspondent for not getting every name.)

Machines.jpg     It was a long night. The place was already getting full by 6:30 pm. Speeches by the candidates got underway just after 8:00 pm. The final results were read at 9:45 pm. The winners stayed around to chat but the room cleared out pretty quickly. The district is entitled to 133 state committeemen but those results were not announced at the meeting. Given the votes for the district officers and the level of organization displayed by the conservatives it is not likely that many moderates made the final cut.

     Someone had filled the room with Lisa James literature. She is apparently running against Randy Pullen for Republican State Chairman. Good luck to Lisa. I hope she was not counting on LD 11 to put her over the top.

Wednesday 11-29-06, 12:55 am

For a transcript of the best speech of the night go to Hot AZ It Gets.

The Arizona Republic weighs in on the LD 11 election.

For a summary of who was not elected to be state committeemen from Hot AZ It Gets.

(One of the subjects of this story has objected to a certain picture posted here. Since he was nice enough to write in we have updated the photo. We were a little confused by his comment that we “are a disgrace to Republican ideals.” If we are a disgrace I wonder what he thinks of Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney.)

Filed Under: Political Parties

Patricians want to re-take District 11.

November 25, 2006 By 5 Comments

frick.jpg     Rob Haney has committed the worst of sins in Republican politics, talking back. Apparently, the grunts of the party are supposed to sit by quietly as elected officials stray from and trash the values that draw many people to volunteer for the party.

     It seems District 11 passed a motion to censure John McCain. Given McCain’s membership in the Keating Five, the McCain-Feingold anti-speech, incumbent protection act of 2002, McCain’s war on private transfer of firearms, and McCain’s program for a path to amnesty a censure rises to the news level of dog bites man.

     In addition to the censure Haney is supposedly responsible for other sins according to Greg at Espresso Pundit. Greg seems to fault Haney for the defeat of John Allen. Funny thing, I thought the defeat of Allen was because of the 6,369 people who voted for Driggs and the 6,165 people who voted for Hesselbrock. Does Rob Haney control 6,000 votes? He must be a very powerful district chair. No wonder they want him out.

     That brings up the next topic. Now that Haney has been identified as a heretic in the party (forget all McCain’s statements and action against the party) he is being targeted for replacement. By whom? A grassroots organization supported by Jon Kyl, John Shadegg, Jeff Flake, Rick Renzi, Tom, Horne, Gary Pierce, Jim Waring, Laura Knaperek, Steve Tully, and Andrew Thomas. Grassroots my a**. Haney has been target by the powers that be for the sin of speaking out. Despite Greg’s puff piece interview with Fife, the truth is that Haney has been targeted by McCain and the other anointed ones. Problem is that even if they take out Rob there are still those 6,000 voters who strayed from the script during the primary. And we have not even got started on the other districts where the same thing is happening without any help from Rob Haney. LD 26 comes to mind where 10,924 voters missed the memo about supporting moderate / liberal incumbent Republicans in the state senate primary. Interesting thing there is that the moderates are firmly in control of the district leadership and the great unwashed still rose up.

     McCain and Kyl and Shadegg and Flake and Renzi, et all can go after Haney all they want but the people that put him there will not go away and if they do have fun trying to win the next election. Which brings up another point from Patterson’s little rant about Haney. “Haney worked incredibly hard, recruited a ton of Precinct Committeemen.” Funny that sounds a lot like the job of the local Republican county party. You don’t imagine that the county party was derelict in their duties and left the door wide open for Haney to get the base involved? I am not the only one who thinks that similar conditions exist in Pima County.

     The upshot is that the Republican Party is cursed or blessed (depending on your perspective) with a very conservative base and the higher ups had better find a way to live with that or Rob Haney will be the least of their problems.

BTW – Before anyone votes for Symington they should read this article and make sure that they can publicly and convincingly refute every one of the charges or else the Democrats will make Fife the new poster child for the Republican Party in Arizona.

Saturday 11-25-06, 11:50 am

Randy Pullen comments on District 11.

Symington weighs in.

Filed Under: Political Parties

The True Lesson of Thanksgiving.

November 23, 2006 By Leave a Comment

Bradford.jpg     I don’t usually quote Rush Limbaugh for historical reference but here is a great story about Thanksgiving. Skip down to paragraph 6 which begins “On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail.” and read on from there.

     Happy Thanksgiving and I hope that all enjoy time with their family and friends.

Thurday 11-23-06, 9:55 am

Filed Under: History

Len Munsil Seeking GOP Chair

November 22, 2006 By 14 Comments

Rumors are circulating that conservative gubernatorial candidate, Len Munsil, will be making a bid to lead the Arizona GOP. Meanwhile former Governor, Fife Symington, will not seek the post.

During the last period between the Primary and General Election, Len was very successful in raising almost $700,000 dollars in a six-week period for the state party. Considering where he was in the polls, this was no easy feat. But if you look back on Len’s ten years organizing and developing the Center for Arizona Policy, his track record is even more clear. Whether its raising big bucks to propel the GOP back into the 2008 elections or raising the armies of grassroots volunteers, Len would be very successful and bring a breath of fresh air to the Republican party.

The GOP will hold its election in late January.

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections, Political Parties

Out of Wedlock Births Up To 40%

November 22, 2006 By 7 Comments

Could this be one of the reasons why the marriage amendment failed in Arizona? It’s a pretty big stretch but if this trend continues, the definition and meaning of marriage and role of fathers may become archaic or obsolete. Homosexuals and polygamists will be setting the new definition of marriage.

At least they’re not killing these babies before they’re born.

Filed Under: Family, Sanctity of Life

Use of Force.

November 22, 2006 By 1 Comment

     I just came across this on You Tube. It is a video of cops repeatedly stunning a young person in a UCLA library. According to some reports UCLA Police Officers repeatedly used a Taser against a student. I plan on researching this more but if this is being done in the name of “public safety” mark me down as one who has had enough.

     According to the article in the Daily Bruin one student is quoted as stating that the suspect was Tasered while handcuffed. This raises the question of what possible purpose use of the Taser served at that point. Here is an LA Times story in the incident.

Tuesday 11-21-06, 6:15 pm

Filed Under: Government

CAIR Preparing Test Case?

November 21, 2006 By 8 Comments

Prayer

Last night six Imams enroute to Phoenix were detained and removed from a US Air flight returning to Phoenix (link). According to reports, the six Muslim clerics were returning from a conference in Minneapolis (conference brochure) and held evening prayers in the terminal prior to boarding. Witnesses also overheard the Imams make anti-American statements prior to boarding.

Its hard to believe that any American would be concerned let alone terrified about the possiblity of terrorism about to take place unless you’re with the ACLU.

Yesterday’s incident may very well be the beginning of a test case being generated by CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) and the ACLU to test our national homeland security policy and freedom of religion. The Muslim Legal Defense Fund is also expected to get involved. Look for CAIR spokespersons to begin using the “back of the bus” argument in the days ahead as this incident exacerbates.

Filed Under: National Security, Race Relations, Religion

Where’s the Tusk?

November 21, 2006 By 5 Comments

Republicans for Janet

Prior to the election, Janet Napolitano touted Republican support for her re-election campaign by putting up a section on her website called “Republicans for Janet.” Here is the link: http://www.janet2006.com/republicans/republicans.html

One thing I’ve wondered is if the State GOP ever challenged this ploy AND the use of its GOP trademark elephant on the site.

I seem to recall a certain consultant who was lambasted by the party for sending out a mailpiece with the GOP elephant logo on it. Something doesn’t reconcile with the lack of tusk used this year by the GOP in confronting Janet over the use of the logo.

Am I missing something?

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections

The Race for AZ GOP Chair

November 21, 2006 By 6 Comments

For those following the race to succeed GOP Chairman Matt Salmon, here is the latest.

National Committeeman Randy Pullen has indicated he will run for the position. This would allow Pullen to work closer to home to refocus and reinvigorate the GOP in preparation for the 2008 races. As some of you may know I publically endorsed Randy Pullen four years ago at the State Convention when he challenged and sucessfully defeated Mike Hellon for the position.

Just entering the race is former Governor, Fife Symington. I’m assuming that Fife wants to play an active role in the party once again and thus the reason for his interest in jumping in.

Check back as more develops on this race…

 

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections, Political Parties

You don’t understand, it’s very complicated.

November 21, 2006 By Leave a Comment

treasure.jpg     Earlier in my life I was as a classroom teacher. I worked in a few different schools teaching math at the secondary level.

     Being who I am I was always interested in the structure of the educational establishment. At your average large public high school there are several assistant principals. They keep pretty busy helping out with discipline and sometimes running the athletic department. Above them is a whole other bureaucracy at the district level. Never quite sure what the district people do but whenever they showed up on campus the event was sure to be exceedingly boring. Oh, they handled payroll, benefits, something called career ladder (of which the other teachers did not seem to think very highly), centralized procurement, personnel, etc. Then there was the Arizona Department of Education, which handled licensing so we can be sure that every teacher in the classroom has passed the same test. I think they also collect statistics on which schools have half of their kids fail the math portion of AIMS. After getting my certification I never had much to do with them so I do not know what else they were up to. I am sure they have a nice sized budget though. And then of course to top it all off is the U.S. Department of Education. They take money from the residents of each state, run it through the bureaucracy and then send some of it back to the states, usually after someone at one the of the districts has written a very nice grant proposal to justify returning a small portion of it. This is called “helping the states.”

     In all of this I never understood the need for the individual counties to have their own little separate departments of education. I know there was a really good reason and that I was just ignorant. To my relief I finally found an article in the paper that explains why each county has their own separate little office to work on the same things that each school, district, state, and the federal government are doing. Now I know.

Tuesday 11-21-06, 12:05 am

Filed Under: Education, Government

LD 26 Republican Update.

November 20, 2006 By 4 Comments

Sad Elephant.jpg     Things have been a little subdued for NW Tucson Republicans. Pima County posted the final count yesterday. The results are unaudited but the numbers are not encouraging. In the state senate race Pesquiera leads Melvin by 455 votes district wide.

     Elections were held last week for the Republican LD 26 Committee. Most positions were unopposed but the 2nd Vice Chair and Secretary had 2 names each. For the 2nd Vice Chair a go-along, get-along conservative ran against a troublemaker from the far-right. The get-along conservative quoted from the bible during his speech and won 2 to 1 in the vote. In the race for Secretary the incumbent, despite essentially having moved out of the district, was on the official slate and narrowly defeated a highly qualified local PC who walked her precinct several times during the latest election season. Upshot – do not look for anything new to come from LD 26 Republican Committee. More of the same, whatever that was.

     It is our understanding that the LD 30 Republican meeting was a little livelier. Still researching that one.

Monday 11-20-06, 12:00 noon

Filed Under: Political Parties

Moore in Arizona for Taxpayers

November 19, 2006 By Leave a Comment

Stephen Moore

The Arizona Federation of Taxpayers held its annual award luncheon today featuring keynote Stephen Moore, Wall Street Journal Editorialists and founder of the Club for Growth. (AFTA is the sponsoring organization for the Arizona Taxpayer Action Committee, a political action committee for which I serve as Treasurer.)

The event was well attended by many taxpayer-friendly elected officials and activists from across the state. Even blogger extroardinnaire, Greg Patterson of Espresso Pundit, was in attendance and has posted his observations on the event.

Several awards were handed out including the “Oops on You Award” which went to Janet Napolitano for vetoing taxpayer-friendly bills. The worst legislator of the year award went to the bottom of the food chain of taxpayer-friendly Democrats, Oliva Cajero-Bedford. Kyrsten Sinema would have won the award again this year if she had not been in an automobile accident that kept her from voting against AFTA-supported legislation. Now that she’s been re-elected by the Peoples Republic of District 15, she’ll probably be working to reclaim her title in 2007.

This year’s top three legislators also received awards. Outgoing State Representative Colette Rosati, who deserved to win her Senate primary against RINO Carolyn Allen in LD 8, received the third-place award followed by State Senator Jack Harper from LD 4. But the top friend of the taxpayer champion award for 2006 went to Senator Ron Gould of Lake Havasu (LD 3).

Keynote speaker, Stephen Moore, spoke on the recent elections and posed the plaguing and penetrating question, “Will Republicans learn their lesson?” Moore further detailed how the ascendency of the GOP was driven by principles in 1994 but since 2000, Republicans began to act less like conservatives. In the last six years, the federal budget has increased $900 Billion or 49.6 %; The Department of Education budget has doubled from $25 billion to $50 billion and; earmark projects have grown from 1,500 in 1995 to 15,000 in 2006! Moore asserted that this was one of the major reasons why the voters gave the GOP the boot on November 7th and elected conservative Democrats in traditionally “red districts.”

But Moore’s speech also gave a prescription which was well received: 1) Reform the tax system, 2) Clean up the corruption, 3) Cut government spending as much as possible, 4) Promote free trade and; 5) Pass voucher-based educational reforms. If the GOP takes this advice it will prove that it has learned its November 7th lesson and regain control of the legislative branch in elections ahead.

One interesting anecdote that Moore referred to was President Reagan’s first cabinet meeting. When Ronald Reagan had gathered all the new cabinet members in the West Wing of the White House he waited until the room fell silent, stood up and made the following statement, “Gentlemen and ladies, I hate inflation, I hate taxes, and I hate Communism. Do something about it.” He then walked out of the room and as you all know, the rest is history.

At the end of Moore’s speech, he took a few questions from the audience which included his speculation on the 2008 Presidential race. He conceeded that Hillary Clinton has locked up the Democratic nomination as she has gained the support of trial lawyers and labor unions. He then mentioned several names which brought about interesting reactions. Mitt Romney seemed the most innocuous while Rudy Giuliani brought on a “not conservative enough” reaction. Most favorable was the name of Newt Gingrich who engineered the GOP takeover in 1994. Apparently, a majority of the crowd thought we need to get back on the reform bandwagon.

But the name that brought about the most vehement political gag reflex was none other than Arizona Senator John McCain. Not one person in the crowd of nearly 200 raised their hand in support of our senior senator. Moore was quite surprised but the moment was captured by someone who yelled out. “We know him!” Oh do we ever.

I was quite surprised by Moore’s recommendation of Congressman Jeff Flake as a candidate in the style to consider. He was also disappointed that John Boehner and Roy Blunt were both reelected to GOP leadership when Mike Pence and John Shadegg were clearly the reform candidates so direly needed. This he felt, was a display that the GOP has not learned their lesson.

Overall, the luncheon was a terrific presentation of a growing movement in Arizona to strengthening our taxpayer-friendly climate and influencing the direction of Washington in the years ahead.

Hats off to my hard-working AFTA friends, Tom Jenney, Tom Husband and especially Chad Kirkpatrick on a luncheon well done!

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections, Government, Taxation

Dems Divided, GOP Still Doesn’t Get It

November 17, 2006 By 7 Comments

Blue Dog DemocratsCongressman John ShadeggCongressman Mike Pence

The last two days have demonstrated that the new Congress will still be a mess.

Yesterday, Democrats elected Steny Hoyer, an apparently “more reasonable” Democrat, to the number two position in House leadership. The vote between Hoyer and Murtha was lopsided (149-86) as the newly elected “Blue Dog Democrats,” demonstrated their impact on the new Congress. Blue Dogs are recognized as being more conservative on social and fiscal issues. This leaves the Democrats in a state of division as “San Francisco Values” feel the challenge of conservative Democrats.

Meanwhile, today, Republicans demonstrated that they still don’t get it. While Democrats are moving to the right, Republicans are reaffirming their comittment to the reason why they were trounced on Election day. The GOP elected John Boehner to Minority Leader over Mike Pence, a far more conservative choice. In the number two position of Minority whip will now serve Roy Blunt. Arizona’s conservative darling, John Shadegg, fell short in the vote count.

The obvious impression Americans are left with is “out with the old - in with the new” for the Democrats and “same old – same old” with the Republicans. If this trend continues, the GOP will head into 2008 with a further disgusted and disheartened base.

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections

AZ Dems Elect New Leadership

November 17, 2006 By Leave a Comment

Democratic LeadershipDemocrats elected the new majority leader today in Steny Hoyer over John Murtha. The vote was 149-86 and the ballot was secret. 

I’m dying to know how our two new congressional members voted.

If anyone finds out, please drop a comment. But my guess is that Giffords went with Hoyer and Mitchell voted for Murtha. And we can also assume that Grijalva also voted for Murtha. I love the look on Murtha’s face. Does he ever smile? 

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections

Medical procedure.

November 16, 2006 By 3 Comments

exploration.jpg      Not sure about the URL name but here it is. The official web page for McCain’s 2008 Exploratory Committee, at least it looks that way. Not sure what the Submit a Resume is for? Are they hiring or just filling out their enemies list? 

     I am quickly getting resigned to McCain as the nominee unless a credible conservative gets in the race soon. Rep. Duncan Hunter was making noises and I read that Tommy Thompson was thinking about it. They better not wait too long. I know Romney is running but I just don’t see him as a conservative. 

Thursday 11-16-06, 4:25 pm 

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections

Milton Friedman (1912-2006)

November 16, 2006 By 1 Comment

Milton Friedman

Today, the nation and the science of economics lost a giant. Dr. Milton Friedman passed away from heart failure in San Francisco at the age of 94.

This man was a giant in the world of economics and was especially adored by conservatives for his groundbreaking work in free market and monetary theory. Ronald Reagan even called upon Dr. Friedman to serve as an advisor on his Economic Policy Advisory Board.

This blog will do no justice in honoring Dr. Friedman so please take a moment to visit Wikipedia’s presentation on this great economic theorist and leader.

Filed Under: Economics
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