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Representative Giffords defends her vote.

October 3, 2008 By 5 Comments

      CD 8 Representative Gabrielle Giffords is one of the people who switched her vote in favor of the bailout. Her office was nice enough to send out a press release so I am linking to it here. It is a little long but this part stood out to me:

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act not only addresses these concerns but also promotes growth-oriented policies with clear tax benefits for Southern Arizonans and all Americans.

The most important among these for Southern Arizona’s economic development is an eight-year extension of the residential and commercial solar tax credits.

      We are in the middle of the largest economic crisis on decades and Gabrielle thinks the solar tax credit is the most important issue. I just don’t get it.

Filed Under: Federal Budget

What Just Happened?

October 3, 2008 By 2 Comments

This is what you get when you pass legislation that pushes for policies that promotes home ownership as a “right.” The fact of the matter is that these government sponsored enterprises paved the way for lenders to set people up with loans who had no means to pay these loans. The fanatic and greed-driven push to promote home ownership created an inflationary effect on the housing market that was bound to collapse at some point in time. Here are two YouTube videos that help to describe this crisis. The first one was put out by the National Republican Congressional Committee. The second was produced by an independent group called The Mouth Piece.

Expect this crisis to now widen to include student loans (Sallie Mae) and consumer credit (credit cards). It’s time to pay the price for living beyond our means.

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Filed Under: Economics

But is she still a Blue Dog?

October 3, 2008 By 1 Comment

     We know Congresswoman Giffords had to vote yes on the revised bailout so the Henry Paulson could save the world with hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayers money. It is so comforting to know that solar energy is on its way.

     I wonder if Giffords is still a member in good standing with the Blue Dog Democrats after her vote for the bailout. Giffords voted against the bill when it was 100 pages and cost $700 billion but voted yes after it grew to $800 billion and 400 pages. That sounds like a lot of Red Ink for a Blue Dog.

     BTW – What happened to PAYGO? I have not heard the Democrats use that term much lately.

Filed Under: Federal Budget

Bee responds to Giffords’ vote for the bailout

October 3, 2008 By 11 Comments

The Tim Bee for Congress campaign  has just sent out the following press release regarding Gabrielle Giffords’ vote for the financial bailout bill.

Press Release
October 3, 2008
Contact: Tom Dunn
520-481-7919

Statement on today’s bail-out

When Congress had a chance to stand up and do the right things for the American people, they didn’t. The proposed bail-out couldn’t pass earlier this week. Ms. Giffords voted against it because she wanted “adequate taxpayer protections” and complained that the legislation was rushed.

Well, this new legislation epitomizes the systematic problems in Washington. Instead of addressing the crisis and passing sensible legislation that would protect the taxpayer and not bail-out Wall Street on the backs of Main Street, a broken Washington saw an opportunity.

Washington (and the incumbent) seized an opportunity to pile on the American taxpayer.

They added pork for wooden arrows, racetracks, rum, bicyclists, and Hollywood studios to name a few.

Our Congresswoman Giffords wouldn’t stand by and say “no!” to the pork. She added her own. I support the extension of the solar tax credits. These are tax credits that are important, but can pass on their own without bailing out Wall Street. Her vote to roll over taxpayers was bought with tax credits that a real leader would have passed months ago as part of an all of the above energy package.

This bill should be about protecting our taxpayer, stabilizing our markets and strengthening our economy. It should not be about how much more pork barrel spending you can get away with.

Southern Arizonans deserve someone that will stand up for them and do the right things.

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections, Federal Budget

The revised bailout bill passed

October 3, 2008 By 3 Comments

HR 1424 has passed in the House. Here is how the Arizona Delegation voted. Kyl and McCain both voted for the Senate version.

Renzi – No
Franks – No
Shadegg – Yes
Pastor – Yes
Mitchell – Yes
Flake – No
Grijalva – No
Giffords – Yes

Here is a breakdown of the votes.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Last chance to kill the bailout.

October 3, 2008 By 5 Comments

Voting is now underway. Watch live at C-SPAN online.

Watch out. Congress is in session and they want another Trillion dollars. Congress is now debating the revised bailout, aka the Trillion dollar pork sandwich. This may be your last chance to save your county from bankruptcy.

Please call and express your opinion. The main number for the house is (202) 224-3121. If you know the name of your congressman, you can use the numbers below to call their Washington D.C office directly.

CD 1 – Rick Renzi
(202) 225-2315

CD 2 – Trent Franks
(202) 225-4576
Indicated he will vote against the bill.

CD 3 – John Shadegg
(202) 225-3361
Indicated he will vote for the bill.

CD 4 – Ed Pastor
(202) 225-4065

CD 5 – Harry Mitchell
(202) 225-2190

CD 6 – Jeff Flake
(202) 225-2635

CD 7 – Raul Grijalva
(202) 225-2435

CD 8 – Gabrielle Giffords
(202) 225-2542
Indicated she will vote for the bill.

Filed Under: Government

Has the AZ State GOP completely lost its way? Updated

October 3, 2008 By 23 Comments

Sheriff Joe Arpaio was set to win decisively against his newly minted Democrat challenger Dan Saban. With a big lead against the challenger most people would take the opportunity to run some positive ads about what a great job the incumbent has done. But no. The Arizona Republican Party had to channel Nathan Sproul and run a despicable hit piece on Dan Saban. Even if the ad against Saban is factual it is so far from the issues that most people care about that is serves to do little more than besmirch the state GOP more than Saban.

The Arizona Republican Party was not content to just run the ad so Sean McCaffrey, Executive Director of the Arizona Republican Party, followed up with a press release. McCaffrey supports the three attacks in the ad and includes the following statement:

Finally, Mr. Saban has claimed that he ‘passed a polygraph test’ regarding the claim of masturbating on duty. The point is in the polygraph, he admitted it. The source for this claim comes from a deposition between Mr. Saban and an attorney for KNXV news in Saban’s lawsuit against the station. Finally, it’s worth noting that it was revealed in court records that the president of the company which administered the polygraph to Mr. Saban was in fact a political supporter of Saban’s and made a campaign contribution to Saban’s previous campaign for Sheriff.

I do not have much respect for Emily DeRose but I am not sure even she is capable of issue a press release so far off message as this one. Does the Arizona Republican Party think this is the issue on voters minds in 2008? Another amazing question is why is the Arizona Republican Party wasting money on a slam dunk election when there are so many close legislative and congressional races that they could work on winning.

Nice work Mr. Pullen. You and your “team” have outdone yourselves.

Update: A late July Rocky Mountain poll showed Arpaio ahead by 14 points, 52% to 38%.

Filed Under: Political Parties