Arizona Politics for Conservatives: Sonoran Alliance
Arizona Politics, News, Commentary and Information with a Blatantly Conservative Worldview Presented by an Alliance of Writers, Activists, Consultants and Government Insiders.
Word over at Hot AZ It Gets is that Rob Haney is at home and recovering. We hope that he continues to get better.
Hot AZ It Gets certainly got the scoop on us but can’t they find a better picture of Mr. H?
BTW – I have been taking an online course in HTML. Can you tell?
When Phil Gramm served in the U.S. Senate, he carried the banner of Conservatism. He picked up where Sen. Barry Goldwater had left off. Two incidents capture the wit and philosophy of Senator Phil Gramm. During a hearing with an Asst. Secretary of Education, Gramm was making the point that he thought parents were better at making education choices than bureaucrats because as a parent, he loved his children. This bureaucrat went on to say, “Senator, I assure you that we love your children as much as you do.” To which Senator Gramm simply asked, “What are their names?” It was a priceless moment in exposing the problem of big government nannyism.
The second incident was during the fight over Hillary-care, in which Gramm famously said that it would pass “over my cold, dead, political body.” Thus, throwing down the gauntlet that he would expend every ounce of political capital he had to defeat the greatest government intrusion in our lifetime. And he succeeded.
Now, after being out of the limelight for many years, Senator Gramm is weighing in on the challenges that face our nation today. In today’s Wall Street Journal he writes:
I believe the man we need to meet the mortal need today is here. He is experienced, but has not lost his common sense or his ability to be outraged. His conservatism is not the result of a studied philosophy, but of common sense and personal observation. His name is John McCain. He might not be the right president for all times, but he is the right president for these times.
That is a pretty solid endorsement which is going to carry a lot of weight with conservatives. Read the whole thing, it’s worth it. http://opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009690
We have news that Rob Haney has suffered a heart attack late Monday and is in the hospital. We are asking for prayers for Rob and Marne and their family.
Here is an amazing story about a baby born weighing 10 ounces who is now going home from the hospital.
An AP article on Yahoo News has some photos.
Mitt Romney appears on This Week on ABC News.
He takes a lot of tough questions on his religion. I would love to see the same scrutiny applied to Senators Clinton and Obama.
According to our sources Bill Montgomery will be seeking the Republican National Committeeman position being vacated by Randy Pullen.
We do not know who else is running but Bill is certainly the kind of person that we would like to see in that slot. We will follow up on this as more details become available.
Friday 2-17-07, 12:10 am
The New York Times visits Maricopa County.
Matt Salmon thinks the conservatives are dragging branches behind their horses. Sure beats what is behind McCain’s horse.
Warning: Link to a Liberal Web Site.
The management has asked us not to link to leftist sites but this is a special case. Looks like Max Blumenthal at The Nation has been reading our blog or else talking to someone who does. We are sorry to be missing out on all the traffic that a link to our story about the real backers of Grassroots Arizona PAC would have provided but at least the truth is getting out there.
Our sources have hinted that more coverage on McCain’s reputation in Arizona may be coming in the New York Times and on NPR.
Recently the Goldwater Institute released a report demonstrating that institutionalizing children in formal educational settings at an even earlier age has dubious and fleeting benefits.
Home schooling has long been an interesting contrast to formal education. Many home-schooled children show equal or better progress than children institutionalized in a formal education setting. Recently a new movement (actually the most original setting for learning) has emerged called Unschooling. Today’s East Valley Tribune has an article about this approach to early education and development. My favorite quote in the story is from a science teacher in the Higley Unified School District, “Everybody’s different, not everybody fits into the public school system.”
The last 11 paragraphs of the story about a junior at Georgetown University who was unschooled as a youth are a refreshing view on learning and development.
The notion that students who are not doing well in the confines of the current government run schools need increased exposure to those same institutions seems short sided in view of the success of many of those outside of the system. Has it occurred to our governor that perhaps a different setting is needed all together, not just more of the same?
Friday 2-16-07, 11:45 am
It’s good to see that Len Munsil is back actively involved in conservative politics. However, will his new PAC siphon away contributions that would normally go to the state Republican party? Does this have anything to do with the fact that Randy Pullen won as state chair over Munsil’s preferred candidate Lisa James? Randy Pullen is a conservative, and conservatives should be working together. Pullen will ensure that contributions aren’t all funneled to RINO’s. While it’s not always been the best idea to contribute to the state party over the candidate, is this the next best solution? Maybe, maybe not.
Of course, You Tube has everything, including politicians in the midst of positions they once held.
Ouch! Has anyone seen his 2007 explanation?
The following should be read as a fictional work, that is until is all becomes true.
A lot of hand wringing took place before the Republican state chairman election about whether one of the candidates was a proxy for McCain. Lots of readers commented that was not the case. It looks like they might have been right.
The PR firm owned by the husband of the purported McCain proxy is now working for Rudy Giuliani. One of the primary handlers in Pima County for the candidate for state chair looks like she might be lining up behind Rudy. Her position as a vice chair of the county party should be helpful to the Giuliani effort in Arizona.
Which all brings us to the point of this post. The real threat to the McCain candidacy is not a certain district chairman in central Phoenix or the state party chairman but actually the Rudy Giuliani campaign. McCain was never really counting on the far-far right of the party. The 1 or 2 percent behind Duncan Hunter was not going to make or break his candidacy. But the great middle of the party that is seriously looking at Giuliani, now there is a threat to the aspirations of the senator from Arizona.
Rudy Giuliani mentions Ronald Reagan when he talks in public but we suspect he will more likely carry the Rockefeller banner if elected. John McCain is quickly wining the title of Bob Dole of 2008. Mitt Romney has already lined up some heavyweights and is attracting interest among some of the grassroots as the only viable alternative to Giuliani or McCain.
Even though it is still early some of the blogs are lining up behind particular candidates. A blog supposedly run by former “Mafia Hit Men” seems to be lining up behind McCain. (I wonder if they can document that “500 hits” per day.) Look for a blog that served as a front for the Kyl campaign to get behind Rudy any day. Espresso Pundit will wait for the Arizona Republic to pick their favorite Republican and then Greg will choose someone else. Sonoran Alliance has many different contributors but I imagine that we will look for the most conservative candidate that has some chance of actually winning the party nomination. But as Rush said today it is still early and someone could come out of nowhere (i.e. 1976.)
BTW – When did Sean Hannity become Rudy’s campaign manager? I missed the announcement.
Rudy Giuliani was in California this last weekend and explained his support for gun control. Rudy probably felt pretty comfortable discussing the topic in that state. Trouble for him is that California is one of the last states in the primary line-up. Republican primary voters in early states like New Hampshire, South Carolina, Alabama, North Dakota, Utah, and Florida might not agree with Giuliani that gun control is such a great idea.
The article about his trip to California quotes Rudy as saying “I understand the Second Amendment.” He claimed his past actions would have no effect on hunting. That is strange. I did not know the Second Amendment had anything thing to do with hunting.
It’s not like the other leading contenders are much better on this issue. McCain got a C in 2004 from the NRA Political Victory Fund (PVF.) Romney got a B from NRA-PVF when he ran for governor in 2002. For an A rated governor running for president you only have to look next door at New Mexico where Bill Richards was enthusiastically supported by the NRA-PVF in his 2006 race (that he won.) Maybe those crafty Democrats are on to something.
Warning – Powerful examples of cultural bias against human life!
A video exposing the truth behind the modern abortion industry was posted on You Tube on February 7, 2007. You are not able to view the video with out being logged in because it has been tagged as inappropriate. But if you search for “Saving Private Ryan” at You Tube this video is available without restriction (posted in October, 2006.) Hopefully You Tube will review their practices and stop restricting the truth and start actually limiting gratuitous violence.
The video about Baby Rowan can be viewed without restriction at ProLifeBlogs.
Monday 2-12-07, 5:10 pm
Word down on West Washington is that new GOP Chairman Randy Pullen has completed his national search for an Executive Director and will be hiring Sean McCaffrey, an experienced campaign director and fundraiser. A Google search for McCaffrey provides us with the following biography. If this is true, it should be good news for GOP faithful as this guy looks like he really knows what he is doing.
Sean McCaffrey is a veteran of campaigns and elections with more than a decade of experience at the federal, state and local levels since 1992. In addition to consulting on top U.S. House, Senate and gubernatorial races across the country, Sean was a partner in the strategic political and fundraising consulting firm of MKM Strategies, where he directed public affairs, strategic research and political practices.
Sean served as Political Director of the Washington State Republican Party, where he helped engineer breakthrough developments in GOP grassroots and issue advocacy efforts for the 2002 elections and beyond utilizing a landmark voter identification and targeting system now implemented by national and state political parties. These efforts, and a successful fundraising program, successfully reclaimed control of the State Senate and helped elect Republicans to a majority of the state’s county offices.
Previously, Sean served as Senior Information Officer in the Washington State House of Representatives. He was also appointed by Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed to the Washington State Elections Administration and Certification Board.
In 1999, Sean was the Director of Policy and Public Affairs for Freedom Alliance, a Dulles, VA, educational non-profit organization, where he also served as an aide to LtCol Oliver North, founder of Freedom Alliance, assisting with Col. North’s nationally syndicated column, radio show and television show, “Equal Time,” on MSNBC.
In the 1998 election cycle, Sean served as Deputy Research Director for Legislative Affairs at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) in Washington, DC. There, he supervised campaign issue and message development for candidates for the U.S. House, and provided strategic research, training and consulting services to more than 110 congressional campaigns around the nation.
Sean is also a former Senior Political Analyst and Political Communications Director for the Business-Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC) in Washington, DC, providing political consulting services to a majority of Fortune 500 companies, the national business community and leading national associations and organizations. His record-setting political fundraising operation also brought in $10.4 million for more than 100 pro-business congressional candidates in the 1996 election cycle.
Sean McCaffrey is the author and editor of the NRCC’s 1998 Issue Book, a comprehensive issue/message guide for congressional candidates, and is the co-author and editor of Forward Thinking, a trade book published by BIPAC to educate American businesses about successful involvement in campaigns and elections. He also co-wrote and edited Elections-In-Sight, BIPAC’s monthly analysis of congressional and state elections for the national business community.
Sean is a member of the National Association of Republican Campaign Professionals, and is an instructor at the Republican National Committee Campaign Management School and other political workshops. Originally from Eugene, Oregon, Sean is a graduate of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He resides in Virginia.
A friend sent an Arizona Republic article about the governor’s visit to Mexico to me. In his e-mail he said, “we can’t make this stuff up.” The article is packed full of interesting items so I am not sure about what part he was talking.
The 9th paragraph did catch my attention. Apparently Mexico is upset that one of its citizens got shot after illegally entering the U.S. and then threatening a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Mexico has “helped assemble a team of lawyers and forensic experts to pursue possible legal action against the Border Patrol.” Perhaps the U.S. should assemble a team of lawyers and consider charging Mexico with masquerading as a sovereign nation while in reality being a drug cartel. Or how about an award for impoverishing most of its population while controlling a sizable portion of the world’s most valuable natural resources.
If that is too weighty for you read the last four paragraphs to find out whom the Mexican press showed up to see when the governor’s plane arrived.
Definitely a must reprint and read!
All-Day Kindergarten Failing as Education Reform
All-day kindergarten fails to improve Stanford 9 reading, math, language arts scores
Goldwater Institute News Release
February 07, 2007
Phoenix—A report published today by the Goldwater Institute examines Stanford 9 test scores and finds Arizona kindergarten programs initially improve learning but have no measurable impact on reading, math, or language arts test scores by fifth grade.
The study, Putting Arizona Education Reform to the Test: School Choice and Early Education Expansion, by Matthew Ladner, Ph.D., vice-president for research at the Goldwater Institute, is the first of its kind to empirically test the relationship between Arizona kindergarten programs and later school achievement.
Governor Napolitano has made expanded kindergarten a key piece of her education reform strategy, saying:
The data is simply overwhelming that the combination of quality childcare and full-day kindergarten will reap rewards many times the financial investment we make now. Our children…will have higher academic achievement if we start them off on a stronger footing.
Darcy Olsen, president of the Goldwater Institute, says, “This report demonstrates that all-day kindergarten is not an education reform strategy that policymakers can hang their hats on. All-day k delivers short-term benefits at best.”
The study analyzes test score data from schools throughout Arizona that offered all-day kindergarten or preschool programs during the 1999-2000 school year. In those schools, reading and math test scores for third graders are higher than those without all-day or pre-k. By the fifth grade, however, there is no difference in test scores between schools with and without these programs.
Dr. Ladner controls for the percentage of students in English Language Learner programs, students eligible for free and reduced lunch, student ethnicity, teacher experience levels, among other variables. The Goldwater Institute also examined the impact of all-day kindergarten on AIMS passing rates and found passing rates did not improve.
The study also measured the impact of competition from charter and private schools on public school test scores. Building on a 2001 study by Harvard University economist Dr. Caroline Hoxby, which found schools in Maricopa County facing competition for students from charter schools had faster student achievement gains, Dr. Ladner applied a similar methodology to schools in Pima County.
Stanford 9 test scores show that during the 2001-2004 school years, students at Pima County public schools facing competition moved up in their Stanford 9 rankings faster than schools not facing competition. Schools facing competition made gains twice as large on the Stanford 9 math test than those not facing competition. In Stanford 9 reading scores, competition group schools gained an average of four national percentile points, while the non-competition group averaged less than one.
“This report is not an indictment of kindergarten as an institution. It just makes clear that if policymakers are looking for an education reform strategy that has been proven to work, the search is over. Early education programs like all-day kindergarten and preschool do not deliver long-term academic improvement. Competition for students, however, increases achievement in the short-term through higher test scores and in the long-term through greater year-over-year achievement gains,” explains Dr. Ladner.
Download Putting Arizona Education Reform to the Test: School Choice and Early Education Expansion
