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Pearce responds to Tribune’s criticism re giving illegal aliens benefits

November 28, 2009 By 8 Comments

Our Nation Depends On It
by State Senator Russell Pearce

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!   As author of Proposition 200; “Arizona Taxpayers and Citizens Protection Act,” that passed by over 1 million voters in 2004. It was intended to do three things.

(Thanks to Attorney General Goddard and Former Governor Napolitano the 3rd provision was not implemented.  It was a back door veto of the people’s vote.)

Proof of citizenship to register to vote: The U.S. Constitution established more than 200 years ago that only citizens may vote. The initiative requires everyone equally to prove that eligibility as does Title 7, Section 12 of the Arizona Constitution.  Thanks to Proposition 200, ACORN’s efforts of voter fraud were thwarted here in Arizona.

Photo I.D. When voting: Photo I.D. Is required to cash a check, apply for welfare, sign a lease, or get a rental card at a video store.

Proof of eligibility to receive non-federal mandated public benefits: The initiative would require everyone to provide proof of eligibility equally. The Urban Institute studied this extensively in 1994, the University of Arizona in 2001, and estimated such costs to vary widely in the tens of millions of dollars.

To make matters worse, we have a financial crisis in Arizona and are cutting services to citizens and yet the cities are demanding that illegal aliens receive taxpayer benefits.

There is currently a battle raging in this country that will determine whether our nation enforces its immigration laws and secures its borders or becomes victim of its enemies.  We are a Nation built upon the “Rule of Law” and either we stand up for the principles that our Founding Fathers gave us to ensure lasting Liberty, enshrined in a Constitution that protects those liberties or we destroy all that is sacred and the end result will be a nation who commits suicide.  Illegal immigration is the Trojan Horse and we must secure our borders and enforces our laws.

“Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”.  This prophetic speech in that Henry was warning his countrymen that if they were not prepared to fight for their liberty, the only alternative was to live in “chains and slavery.”

THE TIME HAS COME TO FIGHT.  FIGHT TO KEEP GOD IN THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. FIGHT TO KEEP GOD IN OUR NATIONAL MOTTO.  FIGHT TO KEEP THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON PUBLIC DISPLAY. FIGHT TO RETURN PRAYER TO THE CLASSROOMS. FIGHT AGAINST ABORTION, FIGHT AGAINST PORNOGRAPHY, FIGHT TO SECURE OUR BORDERS, FIGHT TO PRESERVE THE RULE OF LAW, FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT, AND (IN THE WORDS OF WINSTON CHURCHILL) NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!

AHCCCS has exploded to $5 billion annually, more people enrolled in AHCCCS than in K through 12!!!  Hospitals in trouble financially (in 2003, 77 border hospitals filed bankruptcy), crime impact (majority of violent crime involves illegal aliens), neighborhoods in trouble, drug trafficking, home invasions, our election process violated, and I can go on.

We must have responsible policies to protect our citizens.  That is our job.  The average taxpayer bears the burden of our bloated welfare system.  It jeopardizes the integrity of our elections.  Our number one responsibility is to protect the rights and liberties of the Citizens of this great Republic.

As long as we have a welfare state, in consideration of the fact of Federal abdication of their responsibility to protect our borders, we (Arizona) must necessarily resort to ‘self-help’, and let the shirkers and the cowards be darned.

We are a nation of immigrants, but immigrants originally settled every nation in the world; this cliché confuses facts with wisdom.  When the Statue of Liberty was erected in 1886, there were less than 65 million Americans.  We did not have the Bloated Welfare system we have today.  We did not have those coming to America demanding “free” stuff as we do today.  We did not have “Public” education at a huge cost to taxpayers that we have today.

It is said that immigration is important because there are “jobs that Americans won’t do.”  This probably never was true, but this cliché has now become a job-destroying and wage-lowering philosophy where employers use both unskilled and “increasingly) skilled immigrants to hold down wages and obtain cheap labor at the expense of American workers and the “left” benefits from the increased political base by luring them here and allowing/encouraging them to get addicted to government programs.

Why should “Illegal Aliens” have the right to “Free” taxpayer/citizen benefits?

Impact of Illegal Immigration:

U.S.
Illegal immigrants cost American taxpayers $68 Billion annually in federal programs in 2002. Studies estimate that amnesty would increase that three fold.

$311 Billion in uncollected taxes (Barron’s study)

$200 Billion annually in lost American wages. Native-born American men lost an average of $1700 in wages in 2000 due to US immigration policy (Harvard University)

Arizona
FAIR study (Federation for American Immigration Reform):
This is the 6th largest population of illegals in the country and 222% higher than the 1990 figure and according to Time Magazine (not a conservative publication) over 3 million will cross illegally through the Arizona border this next year alone!!!

Arizona hospitals spend $150 annually on illegals’ care. Some rural hospitals have had to downscale or close (2003 77 border hospitals filed for bankruptcy)

Health department in Cochise spends 1/3 of its budget on care for illegals

Maricopa County Hospital loses over $2 million weekly on uncompensated care (largely due to illegal aliens).

Feds owe $25 million in uncompensated SCAAP costs just in Maricopa County, (1/3 of our federal prisons are illegal aliens)

Arizona spends $1 billion annually to educate illegal immigrant students

Over half of all AHCCCS births are from illegal mothers 1/3 of children in Arizona have immigrant parents

Other problems include: congested freeways, damage to environment from trash and unwanted trails, crowded housing, crime and poverty.

By some estimates 60% to 80% of the violent crime in Arizona is involving illegal aliens; i.e. Homicides, drug trafficking, home invasions, car jackings, gang activity, etc.

The Zogby, Roper, Lou Dobbs and Pew polls show over 80% of Americans do not want amnesty given to illegals.  They want enforcement.

IN VIOLATION OF THEIR OATH OF OFFICE

This year, over three million illegal aliens crossed over our borders against the laws set forth in our Constitution and Federal immigration mandates. These laws are specific. They demand arrest and deportation for anyone within the United States of America without lawful entry. For anyone hiring an illegal alien, these laws provide fines of $10,000.00 per illegal hired and up to five years in prison.

Additionally, our elected officials from mayors to our President work against American citizens in what history will report as the single greatest “invasion-without-guns” takeover of a nation in history. “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion.” Article IV Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution.

The Law:

“A person (including a group of persons, business, organization, or local government) commits a federal felony when she or he: assists an illegal alien she/he should reasonably know is illegally in the U.S. or who lacks employment authorization, by transporting, sheltering, or assisting him or her to obtain employment, or encourages that illegal alien to remain in the U.S. by referring him or her to an employer or by acting as employer or agent for an employer in any way, or knowingly assists illegal aliens due to personal convictions.” Federal Law- Section 8 USC 1324. If you suffered a horde of people overrunning your home or community, you would call the cops and have them arrested. Not so with illegal aliens! By lack of law enforcement, illegals recognize the open invitation to illegal entry. The benefits of lawbreaking exceed their wildest dreams.

Undocumented Immigrant is a euphemism that suggests the problem with immigrants is the lack of documentation. ACTUALLY, they are citizenship-deficient; in the same way that a residential burglar is key deficit.

Filed Under: Illegal Aliens, Illegal Immigration, Legislation, State Budget, Taxation

City Severance Packages Cost More than $120,000

November 28, 2009 By 5 Comments

I want to be a city manager.  I know nothing about the job or what it entails.  And who cares?  All I know is want to have get one of these sweet severance packages that city mangers receive when they get kicked to the curb. Like this one.

Firing City Manager John Little may have brought some political peace to Scottsdale City Hall, but terminating his contract came with a price. Little’s employment contract granted him a severance package worth six months of his total compensation, which included wages, vacation time and other benefits. The cost of Little’s severance comes to more than $120,000.

Here is the breakdown of  Big John Little’s package:

  • Six months’ wages: $95,004
  • Six months’ vacation accrual payoff: $10,962
  • Six months’ auto allowance: $3,600
  • Six months’ deferred compensation: $11,400.48
  • Six months’ medical, dental and life insurance coverage: $2,411.64
  • TOTAL $123,378.12

Are you PO’d yet?  No?  the story gets better.

It is cheaper than what it cost when then-City Manager Jan Dolan left in early 2008. Dolan received $160,000 as part of her voluntary separation agreement. Little’s separation is not the first time this year the city paid to get rid of a charter officer. It cost Scottsdale $105,200 to pay off former City Attorney Deborah Robberson’s contract.

Down the road in Tucson, we have a similar story to tell.  When Tucson’s City Council fired city manager Mike Hein last year, he too received a six month severance package.

The City Council voted 4-3 this afternoon to remove City Manager Mike Hein from office.  The vote came after an approximately 20-minute, closed-door meeting to conduct his annual performance evaluation.  The motion was approved with no public discussion.  Hein, who was paid more than $200,000 annually, left the meeting immediately following the vote saying he had no comment. His employment contract guarantees him six months severance pay.

Still not mad?  OK try this out.  Time to pour salt in the wound.  They hired this guy back!

Former Tucson City Manager Mike Hein has been hired to head up the county’s Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

Hein will make $110,000 a year in the new position.

Hein, Tucson’s city manager since April 2005, lost the job in April when the City Council voted 4-3 to fire him. He received six months’ severance pay. He was arrested in September in Oro Valley on a charge of DUI.

So I want to be a city manager.  It obviously does not matter to anyone in the state how you perform.  They are going to reward you handsomely, no matter what.  Nice work if you can get it.

Filed Under: City Government, State Budget

Arizona budget crisis becomes national news

November 28, 2009 By 6 Comments

Arizona’s budget situation has become national news.  The following article is excerpted from The Los Angeles Times:

Arizona struggles with budget crisis

The Legislature faces a nearly $2-billion deficit, which rises to $3 billion next year. It’s one of 35 states with ongoing budget problems, and experts say its plight is second only to California’s.

Burns

Arizona Republican state Sen. John Huppenthal, standing, talks with Senate President Bob Burns during the Legislature’’s fourth special session in four months. (Ross Franklin / Associated Press / November 19, 2009)

By Nicholas Riccardi
November 27, 2009

Reporting from Phoenix -  When the Arizona State Senate broke into disarray last week during its fourth special session in four months to deal with this state’s seemingly perpetual budget crisis, Senate President Robert “Bob” Burns told his colleagues: “It amazes me we’re having this much trouble. This is the easy part.”

It took until Monday for the GOP-controlled Legislature to pass $300 million in spending cuts, ones they had already approved in June but which were vetoed by the state’s Republican governor, Jan Brewer.

Even so, Republican lawmakers still argued among themselves over how to close what is a relatively small part of the state’s deficit. Looming on the horizon is a nearly $2-billion gap that remains in this year’s $10-billion budget. Next year the deficit rises to $3 billion.

In percentage terms, Arizona’s deficit is nearly as big as California’s, and although the state may lack a movie-star governor, there has been no lack of drama in Phoenix for several months.

The state has put its Capitol buildings on the block to raise money. It is trying to privatize its prisons, and some legislators are talking about a four-day school week. This month, the Pew Center on the States ranked Arizona as having the second-worst budget crisis in the nation, just behind California.

“There are actions they can take, but none of them are easy or pleasant,” said Dana Naimark, president of the Children’s Action Alliance, a local group fighting budget cuts.

Noting that legislators have already cut more than $500 million since February, she worried that the state is already reeling from reduced services. “It’s very disturbing, going backwards on so many fronts,” she said.

Most states need to have budgets in place each July 1, when the fiscal year begins. But with the economy in the tank, many states are watching new deficits pop up as tax receipts plunge and more and more people demand social services to alleviate their own financial woes.

Arizona and California — which still faces a deficit of $20 billion — are only two of the most extreme examples. Thirty-five states are still scrambling to balance their books for the current fiscal year.

“We’re seeing this in several states across the country because the revenues continue to drop faster than projected,” said Sue Urahn, managing director of the Pew center.

Arizona’s revenues are 16% lower than projections made as recently as this summer. Unlike California, the state grew rapidly this decade. Legislators, awash in tax money, cut taxes and expanded government.

But that growth was fueled by booming real estate. Now Arizona has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation, and its economy has ground to a halt.

For months, Brewer battled with members of her party, arguing that an emergency tax hike was needed to save vital programs. But conservative Republicans refused to raise taxes, saying it would devastate Arizona’s already weak economy.

This summer Brewer vetoed cuts in education and social services, insisting that the Legislature live up to a deal to place a penny sales tax hike on the November ballot. But the referral to the ballot failed by one vote, and Brewer signed cuts into law this week.

On Monday, Brewer and GOP legislative leaders are scheduled to meet to discuss how to get a possible tax increase on a future ballot. Kim Sabow, a spokeswoman for the governor, said the delay has been because “every single Democrat and a handful of GOP extremists have prevented solutions from passing — choosing only to vote ‘no’ instead of being responsible for participating in solutions that have a chance of passing.”

The budget battle has so far been an all-Republican affair. The GOP holds commanding majorities in both houses of the Legislature. Democrats, who have voted against every major budget bill, complain that Brewer would not negotiate with them until days before the July 1 budget deadline.

“She has been unwilling to work with the Democrats to get her proposal through,” said David Lujan, minority leader of the House of Representatives. “The problem’s so big we can’t cut our way out of the crisis. We have to raise revenue.”

Steve Pierce, majority Senate whip, said the state may be able to come up with ways to raise money — by cutting taxes. He said that cuts in business taxes may raise tax revenues…

Pierce said Arizona would have to find a new way to govern itself. “We’re going to have to redo government here,” he said. “There are good programs that were created in the past that we just can’t afford anymore.”

He floated the idea of cutting both the government workweek and the public school week to four days, and of violating the minimum funding levels the state needs to meet in K-12 education and healthcare to qualify for stimulus funds.

Burns, the Senate president, said that lawmakers would be unable to take decisive action until voters gave them direction. “We need to let the voters tell the Legislature what is your choice,” he said. “Do you want taxes or what some people call ‘draconian cuts?’ ”

Of course, putting that question on the ballot would require another special session of the Legislature, possibly as soon as December.

“This year, it doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to end,” Burns said. “It just keeps going.”

Filed Under: State Budget