Thu 23 Apr 2009
Konopnicki “sick of” Russell Pearce, says people want conservatives to rot in hell
Posted by Chewie Shofir under Spending , State Budget , State Government , Taxation[27] Comments
In a very unprofessional display of nastiness directed towards fellow Senator Russell Pearce, liberal-leaning Rep. Bill Konopnicki used some extremely rude language criticizing Pearce for refusing to back down and increase spending and taxes. From the Legislative Report –
Konopnicki said one reason for the meetings is “because the hard-right Republicans are not helping us” solve the deficit…They want to do one thing: They want to go in with a meat cleaver and chop everything,” he said. Konopnicki also expreased frustration at the power Pearce wields over the process. “Quite frankly, I’m sick of one person — Russell Pearce — saying what we’re going to do on the budget. I think people are mad enough that they will let those [conservatives] sit and rot in hell before they cut a deal with them.”
(emphasis added, and [conservative] added by Legislative Reports)
Message to Konopnicki: Pearce has a lot of power because a majority of Arizonans and Republican legislators agree with him, not you. Message to Pearce: Thank you for sticking to your principles and not caving in to the tax increase lobby pushed by Chuck Coughlin and other special interests like Konopnicki and other legislators have.
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Bill Konopnicki is a representative – not a senator.
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Konopnicki did not say conservatives, that was inserted, he was clearly talking about ” hard-right Republicans.” I believe that is a difference.
It is funny to claim Konopnicki is liberal leaning when he actually has a better ranking in the linked to website that Bob Burns does.
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Speaking of rude, who was it that got up in the middle of the state of the state and left?
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:44 pm
todd, Konopnicki is THE LOWEST RANKED Republican in the House. That means he is the most liberal of all 35 Republicans in the House. Also, I don’t really see much of a difference between “hard right Republicans” and conservatives.
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Todd, Bill Konopnicki has the lowest rating of all of the Republican Representatives. The reason the Senators and Representatives are listed separately is that they are voting on different things (or nothing in the case of the Senate right now) at different times.
Even at the end of the session, making comparisons between the two should be done cautiously. Even the organization running the evaluation gives out its awards to the top 3 representatives and top 3 senators – not to the top 6 legislators.
During the session, it is only relevant to compare senators to other senators and representatives to other representatives.
So, comparing Bill Konopnicki to Bob Burns based on those scores is not really meaningful – especially before the end of the session.
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Say what you will about Konopknicki’s voting record, but he has every right to tee off on any other member he wants. At least we know where the guy stands. Sen. Peace may be a hero to some, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be criticized whether you agree with that criticism or not.
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Oops.. meant Sen. Pearce. Interesting slip.
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Russell Pearce gives Republicans a bad name. He is nothing but a bigoted bully who loves the government having more control over us, that is when he controls the government. He is not conservative.
April 23rd, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Let me just say, Russell Pearce rubs me the wrong way. His demeanor and attitude seem very callous. I don’t see him smile or laugh. He looks grumpy most of the time. His inflammatory style tends to hurt the conservative cause
With that said…Joe, it is unfair and completely baseless to say that Pearce “loves the government having more control over us.” That statement is patently false. Pearce has built his reputation on two things in my view: (1) Ridding Arizona of illegal immigrants and (2) Shrinking the scope of government. On the first issue I personally believe Pearce goes to far and approaches the issue in the wrong way to build consensus. However, there is no doubt that he seeks to shrink the budget and relieve citizens of the burden of government. The Goldwater Institute consistently rates Pearce as one of the top 2 or 3 legislators.
You may not like his tactics, but there is no denying that he fights for liberty on issues of taxation and government spending.
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Dear #9,
I agree with you wholeheartedly about Pearce’s reputation and it is clear to me that he has CONSISTENTLY worked against big government. It also seems to me that one’s demeanor, looks, sex appeal, facial expressions and jollarity (sic) are absolutely irrelevant. Look who we got for president, whom I’ll bet before his term is done will be doing a centerfold for PLAYGIRL. ARGGH!
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
BTW, I publicly debated Konopnicki once. There is not a lot of there, there.
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:03 pm
#9 – i think the contradiction comes with expanding government to “rid” Arizona of illegal immigrants.
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Also – I did not realize the ratings were such finely-tuned. I do know that Burns is labeled as a RINO and Konopnicki is ranked as a Bipartisan Republican. I’m not the one who pointed to the rankings, Chewie was.
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:34 pm
It’s true that he favors a stronger (expanded) government role in putting an end to illegal immigration. However, that is not necessarily inconsistent with a conservative/limited government viewpoint. You see, even those who believe in very little government still recognize the need for a government that enforces laws. Without the enforcement mechanism, everything goes to pot. Stopping illegal immigration is upholding the law of the land, which is a necessary part of our society. So as far as limited government goes, enforcing important legal standards is a decent rationale for expanding government.
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:39 pm
I am a conservative voter but if Pearce and the others think that they can just decimate public education and have tuition over 10,000 they are not going to last. There are many of us who believe in limited government who still want an education system that is the laughing stock of the county. No company is going to locate to a state where there are 40-50 students in a classroom. There is only so much fat in the system and the irony is without the federal stimulus money we might have 50 students in a class and 15,000 tuition.
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:24 pm
I love all the people who post comments on here pretending to be real Republicans, criticizing Pearce, but in reality you know most of them are from the liberal minority of Republicans. Who are well-connected to the lobbying industry, which is why they are slamming Pearce, who would cut off all the pork to them, their clients, and friends.
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Here’s some background, until very recently Bill Konopnicki voted for every budget Napolitano put before the legislature.
In fact, some folks who work in the Executive Office building have remarked that there was no Republican more frequent to Janet Napolitano’s office than Bill Konopnicki.
Bill is known to actively support ultra-liberal Jack Brown over any Republican candidate … and Bill has co-authored a HJR with Krysten Sinema … get this, an Arizona Department of Peace!
Bill is known to be in favor of amnesty and has worked hard to undo Arizona employer sanction laws and voter mandated Prop. 200.
Bill Konpnicki a Republican? He makes Senator McShame look like Michael Savage!
April 24th, 2009 at 8:04 am
To set the record straight, Konopnicki is a conservative look at his voting record, right to life, tax cuts, second amendment, school choice, personal property rights, etc. He works for his district not the party bosses or Russell. Jack Brown was supported by the late Senator Jake Flake. Konopnicki was worked to securing the border; help develop thousands of new jobs for AZ and a stronger rural Arizona. So why do you want to make him look bad—because he THINKS things through and understand the outcomes of the decisions of the legislature. We need more Konopnicki that think and less Russell’s who only react!
April 24th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Thanks Russell – I appreciate what you are doing, what you have done, and what you will do.
Mr. Konopnicki – go re-register, and stop hiding behind McLame, Kyile and Shedegg…..
April 24th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Jay, Konopnicki works for himself.
You sir keep the record straight. Konopnicki *never* worked to secure our borders; his money trail incriminates him as does yours. Konopnicki is a favorite son of special interests including the insurance folks. He is on record in committee speaking of illegal immigration as stating flatly, “…Arizona needs all the workers it can get” [to keep our economy afloat]. He has even made that same comment in the media after the state’s economy began to falter.
I appreciate you’re being an appologist for Mr Konopnicki; but you don’t work around the legislature and get paid to conduct opposition research.
April 24th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Oh, and you failed to address his conspiracy with Janet Napolitano Jay.
Konopnicki’s only claim to being a conservative is his position on marriage and abortion. The Second Amendment? He’s squishy.
April 24th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Oh, purity, thy name is Tad’s Lad.
April 24th, 2009 at 11:12 am
To Post #17- If I recall, Russell Pearce also voted for most of the budgets in the last 7 years.
April 24th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Can someone start a recall?
Konopnicki has gone way over the line.
April 24th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Posting #18 sounds like a polished political sound byte… maybe a little too polished?
April 25th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Tad’s Lad sounds like a disgruntled House staffer. Has anyone been demoted or fired this week?
April 26th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Are we really discussing ‘manners’ and ‘Russell Pearce’ in the same blog?
I’m sorry, but if I truly thought that “the majority of Arizona Republicans” agreed with Pearce, I’d pack my bags and haul on out of here. This is the man who ‘accidentially’ sent a Holocaust-didn’t-exist email. A man whose own wife…er, wives…have called the police on him.
Pearce also isn’t listening to his constituents. He’s listening to the Goldwater Institute and other well-funded (and often out-of-state) interest groups. He is certainly not a Republican I would ever vote for – he sure the heck doesn’t represent me!