Wed 13 Jan 2010
PR: John Munger on Dean Martin & Public Financing
Posted by Press Release under Campaign Finance , Press Release[10] Comments
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 13, 2010
JOHN MUNGER COMMENTS ON DEAN MARTIN’S DECISION TO ACCEPT PUBLIC CAMPAIGN FINANCING
(PHOENIX, AZ) January 13, 2009 – Republican Gubernatorial candidate John Munger released the following statement today:
Dean Martin’s first move as a potential future Governor is to throw the people of Arizona under his shiny campaign bus. His decision to use taxpayer funds to finance his campaign represents a complete flip- flop of his long-held position against accepting “clean elections” money.
It was Martin who once referred to public campaign financing as “welfare for politicians.” Yet now that he is officially a candidate, he has decided to go on the public dole himself. Further underscoring his hypocrisy, Martin continues to be a party to a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Arizona’s clean elections law.
My position on taxpayer-financed campaigns has remained consistent. What started as a well-intentioned law to ensure fair elections has instead turned into a convenient mechanism for professional politicians to continue running for office without any real public support.
The courts will decide the future of Arizona’s Clean Elections law. But Arizona voters will ultimately decide the moral issue of whether it is right for a candidate to go back on his word and use taxpayer money to fund an election campaign when our state is nearly bankrupt.
###
January 13th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Go John! Tough, but true. Almost Kerry-esque: “I was against Clean Election before I was for it.”
January 13th, 2010 at 10:59 am
John who?
Who designed this guy’s logo? His less-talented grandchild?
What question is John Munger the answer to? Surely not the next GOP nominee for governor.
These process criticisms may feel good to the campaign and get insiders abuzz but voters are looking for leadership. The next governor will need to deal with the world as he finds it not as he wishes it to be. All agree. Arizona has a rigged campaign finance system. Martin is just dealing with the world (in this case a gubernatorial campaign) as he finds it.
Clean Elections ensures traditional campaigns are doomed… like the Munger effort. Why should the right (and Right) candidate unilaterally disarm and play the game as if one gets 5 strikes when rules clearly state one only gets 3? 5 strikes might be what we’d like the rules to say but it’s still only 3 strikes until the courts or voters say differently.
Nominating a Republican that can beat Terry Goddard is too important to waste time engaging in breathless press releases raging against reality.
Is this the best the Munger campaign is left with? Gravy-training off another candidate’s financing? Really? Brewer’s not a fat enough target?
I welcome Dean Martin to the race, now we can set aside the sideshow candidacies and get down to challenging Brewer’s mis-leadership.
January 13th, 2010 at 11:22 am
Did not realize Munger was still running in this race. What a poorly run campaign. I agree that the logo looks like it was done by a high school student.
January 13th, 2010 at 11:33 am
Good try, Mr. Munger.
January 13th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
It’s true – John Munger is not the right guy for AZ Governor. But he’s right – it’s incredible hypocrisy for Martin to rail against Clean Elections, and then use it. It sends a pretty bad message about his ethics.
January 13th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Would it be sane for the National League team in the World Series to send their pitcher to the plate while their American League opponent got to utilize a designated hitter? No. There is no hypocrisy in playing by the rules when the alternative is to essentially concede before the first pitch.
January 13th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
John would you get it right, CCEC IS NOT TAXPAYER FUNDS. You know better and your willingness to through truth under the bus strongly suggests your NOT the man for the job.
CCEC is voluntary … when you exceed the speed limit you volunteer to contribute to CCEC should a DPS officer be on hand to collect the contribution.
January 13th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Sorry, “throw”… I hate it when I type too fast. But that’s the problem of doing 65wpm thanks to a school system that actually prepared students for graduation once upon a time.
January 14th, 2010 at 7:50 am
Gees, everybody is acting as if Dean is the messiah or something.
I am not saying Munger is good, in fact “Is this guy in the race” is right, Munger’s operation is a joke, and his logo was obviously drawn with crayons.
But a dopey Dean Martin is no answer for Terry Goddard.
We need somebody who is going to get our based excited. (yes that means you JD Hayworth or you Joe Arpaio) Not a bunch of losers.
January 14th, 2010 at 8:46 am
VV: the funds are public funds, and they come from taxpayers. The “surcharge” is a tax, and while it doesn’t go into the state general fund, so what? And if that doesn’t convince anyone, all public funds can be used to replace the funds that the larger group of us pay. Watch what the legislature is doing, and Brewer, to sweep other dedicated fund sources into the general fund.
It doesn’t really matter what the source is, the fact is that it’s money the government has that could be used to do other stuff.