Comments on: OUTRAGE! Reason for Governor Brewer’s tax increase is to reward lobbyist/employee Chuck Coughlin

By: Sonoran Alliance » Governor Brewer Shills To Launch $225K Media Blitz

Sonoran Alliance » Governor Brewer Shills To Launch $225K Media Blitz — Fri, 29 May 2009 21:10:58 +0000

[...] Here’s one from the file of “WE TOLD YOU SO!” [...]

By: Sonoran Alliance » Coughlin’s Associated General Contractors helped pay for tax increase poll

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:48:54 +0000

[...] Yellow Sheet is confirming what we reported here previously, that lobbyist Chuck Coughlin is behind Republican Governor Brewer’s tax increase, because it [...]

By: Sen. Ron Gould

Sen. Ron Gould — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:44:50 +0000

The five most feared words in the Arizona Senate “Senator Gould Has An Amendment”

By: Thane Eichenauer

Thane Eichenauer — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:37:05 +0000

@5
Compassion is voluntary. The program you describe is an example of wealth redistribution.

@6
One definition of character is “the set of qualities that make somebody or something distinctive” (MSN Encarta).

@7
You assert that Mr. Shofir is blatantly wrong or outlandishly inaccurate and yet you apparently are unable to point out any inaccuracy. This isn’t TV news, the comment box has space for more than unsupported assertions.

@8
Good point.

@16
Ron Gould doesn’t prohibit anything from getting done, he just thinks that most activities don’t have to be performed by government with tax money. People can continue to work with others, just without coercive government assistance. As for credibility if you have a truly credible program, you won’t need government to pay for it.

By: Duh.

Duh. — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:55:06 +0000

I hear that Ron Gould single-handedly stops a lot of things at the legislature:

Like their ability to get things done, their ability to work with others, their ability to fix Arizona’s problems, on yeah, and their credibility.

By: Conservative Majority

Conservative Majority — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:37:15 +0000

Chuck Coughlin is a jerk and deserves every smear he gets. He tries to bully Conservatives at the legislature for his client, the Association of General Contractors. I read that Ron Gould single-handedly stopped Coughlin from pushing through a tax increase (referral from the legislature) and that is why the had to take TIME to the ballot by citizen’s initiative. Stop lying, Chuck!

By: Republican Circular Firing Squad | Noble Thinking

Republican Circular Firing Squad | Noble Thinking — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:24:33 +0000

[...] posted an over the top hit piece on local lobbyist/political operative Chuck Coughlin who runs a firm called Highground. Chuck has [...]

By: Attacks on Governor and Supporters « FIX ARIZONA NOW!

Attacks on Governor and Supporters « FIX ARIZONA NOW! — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:10:39 +0000

[...] plan, you must be a nefarious character, seeking nothing more than to line your own pockets – read the ridiculous OUTRAGE! here. Here is the response which poses a fairly solid reality [...]

By: Jay T.

Jay T. — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:07:11 +0000

Chewie Shofir must be a Nathan Sproul buddy.

By: Ann

Ann — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:12:29 +0000

I thought the behavior of the fab freshman and fearless leaders who bucked the Governor was poor political play, but recently I learned “from a major business figure” just how bad the sweeping of encumbered Science Foundation Arizona funds impacted our state. It has left us with the horrible reputation that contracts are not safe. There are huge contracts to be tendered by the state and vendors who are choosing Texas and even more mid-western states are taking that into consideration. How good is the contract if at the whim of a handful of legislators it can be cancelled and your invoices left unpaid?

If Arizona wants to be pro-business and bring in a revenue stream to shore up the loss in housing, proving the state to be a shady business partner is not the way to do it.

There are folks out there doing bad things in the name of good, Coughlin isn’t one of them.

By: George of the Desert

George of the Desert — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:47:39 +0000

This is an absurd argument. I know Chuck makes enemies, but he doesn’t just make up tax revenue projections – those are factual. Income tax collecttions are down about 22% and sales tax collections are also way down. Lawmakers are in a real bind because they only have so much control over the budget a vast percentage is voter-protected.

The real enemy here are the voter-approved boondoggles that are untouchable. If those could be cut, we would not have to look at cuts to education or health care. Reform that now!

As for the stimulus dollars – much of that is formula-based, meaning the feds send it here and the state uses it on existing federal programs. The Gov’s discretionary fund of nearly $200 million is not gojng to go very far and will be used up easily.

I hope we don’t have tax hikes. I would like to see aggressive efforts made to make Arizona more business-friendly to attract jobs and therefore more taxpayers.

I heard from a major business figure last week that for every California business that relocates to Arizona, five choose Texas instead. Much of the reason for that is a less-cumbersome regulatory environment in Texas. Texas, by the way, is in far better shape financial than Arizona right now.

I wish the Gov and legislature would push very hard to ease the business regulatory burden and create incentives for luring more businesses here. That’s far better than taxing in a recession (or any other time) and it’s a more productive argument than an ad-hominem attack on Coughlin.

By: CQ

CQ — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:44:43 +0000

Wow, this post was just a smear job. I don’t know Chewie or what his/her beef is with Coughlin and Governor Brewer, but the budgets being considered have no money for anything even remotely related to the TIME Initiative. Claiming that the tax increase is designed to be a back door funding exercise for TIME is total garbage. At least using “OUTRAGE!” to headline the post displays an ironic sense of humor. Still, SA needs to explain to its writers that permission to post here is not the same as permission to pursue vendettas.

BTW, is was High Ground who ran Russell Pearce’s race in 2008, as he stomped Kevin Gibbons in what was a truly great moment for conservatives and decent people all over Arizona. Let’s give credit where credit is due!

By: Ginger Lamb

Ginger Lamb — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:29:18 +0000

Nice photo of Chuck. It needs to be attributed to Bill Coates, Arizona Capitol Times, Best of the Capitol, 2007.

By: Roger

Roger — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:59:24 +0000

When will Sonoran Alliance realize that Chewie Shofir taints the reputation and credibility of the site?
This is just the latest in a forever growing list of posts by him that proves to be blatantly wrong or outlandishly inaccurate.
If Shofir were to say today the sky is blue, my first inclination would be to think it were green and begin checking his sources and how he came to his conclusion.

By: Wow!

Wow! — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:55:03 +0000

You know what the real outrage is? The fact that you are allowed to post and bring down the otherwise distinguished character of this website.