2008 January

9th Circuit OKs Choose Life plates

January 28, 2008 By Sonoran Alliance 3 Comments

Capital Media Services is reporting that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned the Arizona License Plate Commission which deemed that The Arizona Life Coalition’s Choose Life licence plate was “too controversial.” The Arizona Daily Star article uses the term anti-abortion rather than mention the actual wording of the plate – Choose Life.

Read the opinion at The Center for Arizona Policy website.

In February, 2001, pro-life leaders across Arizona formed the Arizona Life Coalition under the vision to “witness a culture which ends abortion and values each human life.” Major players included Arizona Right to Life, The Center for Arizona Policy, The Crisis Pregnancy Centers of Greater Phoenix and more than a dozen of smaller crisis pregnancy centers and other pro-life organizations.

One of the primary functions of the Arizona Life Coalition is to serve as the sponsoring organization for the “Choose Life” license plates. These plates would serve the broader community by providing a means of financial support to women and their unborn children seeking assistance through crisis pregnancy centers statewide. These speciality plates would be purchased for an annual fee of $26 of which $17 would be administered through the Arizona Life Coalition to the various crisis pregnancy centers.

In January, 2002, the Arizona Life Coalition submitted the appropriate application to the State License Plate Commission. After a lengthy effort to obtain approval, the commission denied the request in August, 2003 without providing a definitive reason other than the excuse that the plate was “too controversial.” The Coalition responded with a legal challenge. That challenge sponsored by The Center for Arizona Policy with lead counsel, Peter Gentala, went through several legal maneuvers before finally obtaining a favorable ruling today by the 9th Circuit (read story).

Congratulations to the pro-life community for remaining persisitent, faithful and determined to stand for women and their unborn children.

Sonoran Alliance will continue to follow and report on this story as The Arizona Life Coalition works to prepare issuance of these plates.

Filed Under: Freedom of Speech, Sanctity of Life

Camelback YR’s featuring representatives from 5 presidential campaigns tomorrow

January 28, 2008 By Arizona Freedom Fighter 1 Comment

The Camelback Young Republicans meeting will be tomorrow night, Tuesday, January 29th. Representatives from all five Republican presidential campaigns will briefly speak and answer any questions you may have

Meeting Details:
Date: Tuesday, January 29th
Time: 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM (although please arrive and leave as your schedule allows)
Location: Half Moon Sports Grill; 2121 E. Highland Ave., Phoenix. Click here for a map. (Note: we’ll be in the Platinum Club room inside Half Moon Sports Grill. Once you’re inside Half Moon, veer to the right. The Platinum Club room is across from the restrooms.)

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections, Special Event, Uncategorized

Super Tuesday with KKNT-960

January 27, 2008 By Shane 1 Comment

KKNT 960 Super Tuesday

Join the bloggers of Sonoran Alliance and other Arizona conservative bloggers at Nixon’s on Tuesday, February 5th as we watch returns come in during Super Tuesday. This will be your opportunity to meet some of the best bloggers and the staff of the best conservative talk in the State of Arizona. Eats and drinks begin at 6 PM at Nixon’s located at 2501 E. Camelback, Phoenix. Please sign up with KKNT if you plan on attending by clicking here. See you at the event!

Filed Under: Blogs, Campaigns & Elections, Media, Special Event

Latest Blog Rankings

January 27, 2008 By Shane 2 Comments

AZ Politcal Intel has posted the latest rankings and Sonoran Alliance continues as one of the top conservative Republican blogs in the State of Arizona.

I really don’t understand how these rankings work so maybe some of you techies may want to comment on the details. Truthfully, I never thought we’d ever get this kind of readership but given the talent of our writers, I shouldn’t be surprised.

Thanks to all!

DSW

Filed Under: Blogs

Look who is advising McCain

January 27, 2008 By Arizona Freedom Fighter 14 Comments

Senator McCain’s Campaign Advisor for Hispanic Outreach has a Mexico First position. Michelle Malkin has detailed coverage.

In a recent video McCain states that he will secure the border. Senator what have you been doing about the issue over the past 25 years in Washington?

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections, Illegal Immigration

Just the facts

January 27, 2008 By Sonoran Alliance 21 Comments

McCain scores.jpg

One of our writers got a little snide with the title of a story so in an attempt to tone it down we are going to cover just the facts of Senator McCain’s ratings from the American Conservative Union. His lifetime rating of 82.3 has been cited often. One of the state’s other conservative blogs pointed out that his most recent score from the ACU was 65 for 2006.

We thought it would be instructive to look at the senator’s whole record. His first term was in the House in 1983. In 1987 he began his service in the Senate. Here are the scores from the last 24 years. The average of his first 10 years in office is 85.8 and for the most recent 10 years it is 74.9.

1983 96
1984 86
1985 81
1986 73
1987 91
1988 80
1989 93
1990 87
1991 86
1992 85
1993 83
1994 96
1995 91
1996 91
1997 80
1998 68
1999 77
2000 81
2001 68
2002 78
2003 80
2004 72
2005 80
2006 65

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections, History

Stop this Endless Tax

January 27, 2008 By Guest Opinion 1 Comment

The Phoenix City Council is set to vote on a PERMANENT sales tax increase. Please make every effort to speak out at this Wednesday’s (Jan. 30) 3 pm city council meeting. The city council is expected to refer a permanent tax increase to the May 20th special election – a.k.a., an “invitation-only” election designed to ensure low voter turn-out.

There are two big problems with Phil Gordon and the City Council’s wanted tax increase. For one, its permanent. Typically, these are 10-year programs, so the city and voters can reassess if its working and needed. Second, this tax increase pays for maintainance and operations, which is supposed to come out of the city’s operating budget. Its highly unlikely the city will cut its operating budget, so this may free up more money for the city to spend.

If passed, this could open the door to the city putting most of its budget on a permanent sales tax, passed in invitation only elections, and freeing its $3 billion plus budget to be used for a local version of pork-barrel earmarks.

From the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers-Americans for Prosperity (disclaimer, I am the chairman):

AFT-AFP blasts Phoenix City Council’s “endless” parks tax

PHOENIX—The Arizona Federation of Taxpayers, a state chapter of Americans for Prosperity, condemned yesterday’s unanimous policy decision by the Phoenix City Council to move forward with a proposal to extend a city parks and preservation tax “in perpetuity.” The current parks and preservation tax, enacted in 1999, is set to expire next year.

“An endless tax gives city politicians a never-ending blank check,” said AFT-AFP state director Tom Jenney. “If a tax sunsets every ten years, that provides much-needed accountability, so that citizens can periodically review city practices,” he said.

Jenney also questioned the proposed uses of the tax. While the current tax has mainly been used to acquire and develop park lands, Deputy City Manager Rick Naimark explained to the Council yesterday that the endless parks tax would increasingly be used to pay for maintenance and operations functions, including park rangers and security. “This is a revenue source looking for a purpose,” said Jenney.

Jenney also criticized the City Council for failing to consider private-sector alternatives, such as taking competitive bids and granting private companies the right to operate exclusive concessions in parks…

AFT chairman Chad Kirkpatrick questioned the propriety of placing the tax question on the May ballot, when a much more substantial voter turnout will occur in the November general election. Kirkpatrick also pointed out that the vote on the parks tax would be the City’s second tax vote in less than a year. “The City Council put the Prop 1 sales tax increase on the September ballot to get an additional $60 million a year for police and fire, after it deliberately underfunded police and fire budgets in order to make the tax increase more attractive to voters,” Kirkpatrick said.

The current tax, which is one-tenth of one percent on sales in Phoenix, will have raised over $200 million by the time it expires.

At its meeting next Tuesday, January 29th, at 3:00 p.m., the City Council will hold a final vote on an ordinance to refer the tax for voter approval to the May 20th ballot.

Contact: Tom Jenney, Arizona state director, Americans for Prosperity, tjenney@afphq.org   (602) 478-0146

Filed Under: City Government

11 Committeemen drink the Kool-Aid

January 26, 2008 By Sonoran Alliance 21 Comments

On the same day as the Arizona Republican Party mandatory meeting Arizona’s two representatives to the Republican National Convention, Sharon Giese and Bruce Ash, have endorsed John McCain for president.

After a twisted attempt at rewriting history, Reagan was just an actor and Lincoln was a failure, in order to redefine conservativism the current mantra for McCain supporters is now Electability. I recall hearing similar comments about Ford in 1976 and Dole in 1996.

As noted on Seeing Red AZ, Senator Kyl was not able to swing by Saturday morning’s Republican meeting after his Friday afternoon event in Phoenix. Maybe he does not like appearing in front of crowds larger than 25 people. While current office holders from Congress were meeting in West Virginia most of the Republican candidates for congress were happy to appear. CD-1, CD-5 and CD-7 campaigns were well represented. Interestingly the one candidate, so far, from CD-8 was absent.

Filed Under: Political Parties

Another Sonoran Alliance Entrance Poll!

January 26, 2008 By Arizona Insider 2 Comments

Sure, you can go to the networks for their exit polls, but only Sonoran Alliance will provide you with the results of races before the voting even starts. This time, we are calling the race for 1st Vice-Chair of the Maricopa County Republican Committee for Diane Ortiz-Parsons. The vote will be taken during the February meeting of the MCRC’s Executive Guidance Committee (EGC).
Sure, this is not as tricky as the last race we called, especially since Ortiz-Parsons has already released endorsements from sixteen voters and only needs fourteen to win. Additionally, Ortiz-Parsons is eligible to vote for herself and is not included in that total, giving her seventeen and counting. Several other members of the EGC will also be voting for Ortiz-Parsons but they did not want to be on the endorsement list so that they did not hurt the feelings of the second candidate, Phil Corbell.

Who knows, perhaps the fact that this race is over before it starts will lead Corbell to drop his challenge altogether. Either way, Ortiz-Parsons can start measuring for drapes at the county office!

Her endorsements include district chairmen Dave Braswell (LD6), Cheryl Pietkiewicz (LD7), Royce Flora (LD8), Ray Spitzer (LD9), Kimberly Yee (LD10), Sandy Weiers (LD12), Chuck McCracken (LD14), Constantin Querard (LD16), Dale Despain (LD17), Mike Middleton (LD20), Craig Nelson (LD22), as well as other EGC members Debbie Lesko, Sandy Doty, Ken Going, Brian Symes, and Russ Grimm.

In related news, anti-tax crusader Jeff Greenspan is currently unopposed for the 2nd Vice-Chair position that Ortiz-Parsons will leave vacant when she is elected to the 1st Vice-Chair position.

Filed Under: Political Parties

Flake Continues to Call for Moratorium on Earmarks

January 26, 2008 By Shane 4 Comments

While we’re on the topic of budgets and spending, here’s the latest news from the Congressional Office of Jeff Flake.

For Immediate Release: Saturday, January 26, 2008
Contact: Matthew Specht, (202) 225-2635

Congressman Flake Reiterates Call for Earmark Moratorium:
Republicans Still Have Chance to Convince Voters Why We Deserve to Be in the Majority

Washington, D.C. – Republican Congressman Jeff Flake, who represents Arizona’s Sixth District, today reiterated his call for a Republican moratorium on earmarks.

“Republicans and Democrats seem content to play out the Alphonse and Gaston routine on earmark reform – ‘You first.’ ‘No, you first,’” said Flake.

“I’m confident that Congress will eventually enact meaningful earmark reform, but Republicans have lost, at least for now, an opportunity to show voters why we deserve to be in the majority.”

“Rather than qualifying our actions on earmark reform on Democratic action, we should enact our own moratorium on earmarks. If we acknowledge that the system is broken, why do we have to wait for the Democrats to act?”

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections, Press Release, Spending