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Bundgaard v. Jurassic Park

January 18, 2011 By 17 Comments

What right thinking individual could possibly support a GOP fossil like Ron Carmichael over Senate Majority Leader Scott Bundgaard for GOP Party Chairman, should the telegenic conservative make a last minute bid for the post?

Bundgaard is purportedly lining up a conservative constellation of stars
since Bruch Ash dropped out of the race.

Carmichael–seriously?

Why not Ted Baxter instead? Or Jack Tripper? Or Potsy? Has Carmichael done anything since Richard Dawson anchored Family Feud? Mr. Furley would make more sense to represent Arizona Republicans than Mr. Carmichael.

Here’s a real simple idea. Have whatever candidates place their name in nomination debate prior the convention — before voting takes place.

This way, and perhaps only this way, can everyone witness how meaningful the differences are for our party between Bert Tollefson and, well, Scott Bundgaard. Or, on a national level, the difference between an archaic pretender like Arlen Specter and the real deal like an up and comer like John Thune.

Unite, don’t divide. Bundgaard can fundraise and articulate. Carmichael? Seriously? Republicans can do better than a warm up act at Vee Quiva as opposed to someone who is already headlining Jobing.com Arena.

Filed Under: Political Parties

Utah Republican Hispanic Assembly: Disclaimer on Somos Republicans

January 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Due to a flurry of media advisories being dispersed by Antonella Packard under the name of ‘Somos Republicans’; The Utah Republican Hispanic Assembly wants to make clear, that we are not ‘Somos Republicans’ (hereafter referred to as SR), nor are we affiliated or associated in any way with the actions and words of SR.

SR made its debut in Utah when they issued a press release on December 1, 2010 titled: We condemn the incarceration of Dream Act activist near the office of Senator Orrin Hatch. The Utah Republican Hispanic Assembly objected to SR’s attempts to malign the character of Utah’s Senior Senator Hatch with the issuance of a media advisory riddled with inaccurate, misleading and accusatory information. At the time, some members of the media and the Utah GOP mistakenly attributed the press release as being authored by the Utah Republican Hispanic Assembly.

On December 9, 2010- SR issued a press release titled: “Somos Republicans is the largest and fastest growing Hispanic Republican organization in the nation, and we are proud to announce and appoint Antonella Packard as State Director for Utah.”

On December 28, 2010 –SR promoted Antonella from the position of Utah state director to that of ‘Northwest Director’ of their organization. Even more rapid than Antonella’s ascent in the organization is its report of exponential membership growth in Utah. In a Deseret News article by John Daley titled: ‘Hispanic Republicans look to raise profile on immigration’, Antonella reports they have ‘thirty members’. At this point, as far as many of us can determine SR in Utah has a membership of one person. If thirty new Hispanic Republicans do materialize, party officials in Utah would be more than happy to meet them and welcome them into the GOP.

Of notable interest here in Utah, is that the Utah Republican Hispanic Assembly has worked closely with Republican and Democrat legislators, civic and religious organizations to develop several versions of an in-state guest worker program for consideration during the 2011 legislative session. In contrast to the direction we are moving with immigration reform, a recent City Weekly article stated “Somos Republicans does not champion “state solutions,” even the more Hispanic-friendly ones like Sen. Luz Robles’ plan to create a waiver for undocumented immigrants in the state…”

In terms of our purposes; The Utah Republican Hispanic Assembly is an integral part of the Utah Republican Party and is designed to bring even more Hispanics into the Party. In stark contrast, “Somos Republicans’ biggest strength may be its independence from the GOP, which allows the organization to take jabs at Republicans…” (Antonella Packard to Lead Conservative Latinos, City Weekly- December 28, 2010).

This same City Weekly article states that SR has 6,000 members in twelve states. That number is disputed by Party officials in those states as well as the claim that they are ‘largest and fastest growing Hispanic Republican organization in the nation’. “Matt Roberts, a spokesman for the Arizona Republican Party, last week described Somos Republicans as a one-issue organization often quoted in the Arizona media, although he questions the strength of its membership.”We have tried to work with them in the past, and they have been unwilling to work with the Arizona Republican Party in promoting some Republican candidates. We have several Hispanic Republican groups in Arizona that we work with, and Somos is not one of them,” Roberts said.” (Hispanics hope to sway GOP, Des Moines Register –December 12,2010). Arizona Political pundits describe SR as a “Fraudulent GOP group still hard at work to undermine Republicans” (Political Views from a Red State blog – October 4, 2010) and “DeeDee Blase’s one-woman “Somos Republicans” does not represent AZ Republican Hispanics” (Sonoran Alliance blog – March 12, 2010). One blogger wrote:”Dee Dee Blase was an embarrassment by bringing her shrill amateur presentation to the table. It’s not that I completely disagreed with Mrs. Blase, but if you are going to present your ideas to a public forum, you should at least be civil and composed. Her rants mirrored the same style leftists use every time their ideas are challenged.” (The Right Guy blog –May 6, 2010)

All evidence to date, suggest that SR consist of a handful of disenchanted Arizonians that have in turn appointed a lose network of state and regional directors with the allurement of ‘national exposure’. There is no question that their cyber-world presence via web page, blogs, twitters, press releases, social media etc…far outweighs their value to the GOP in the real world of politics. Our purpose in creating this fact sheet is to clearly make the distinction between our two organizations and our stated purposes. They are not us, and we are not them.

WHO ARE WE?

The Utah Republican Hispanic Assembly was founded in 1991, by Jorge Arce-Larreta. Past state chairs include Marco Diaz, Sylvia Haro and Joe Reyna.

The Utah Republican Hispanic Assembly is an official auxiliary of the Utah Republican Party. Our current State Chair, Michael Clara works as a Transit Planner and serves as a member the Republican State Party Executive Committee and is a member of the Republican State Central Committee. Additionally, Michael was elected by the precinct chairs in his Salt Lake City neighborhood to serve as Senate District 1 Chair, which gives him a seat on the Salt Lake County Republican Party Executive Committee; he is both a county and state delegate. He has previously served as a Region Chair, Legislative Chair and Precinct Chair in the Salt Lake GOP.

Michael is honored to serve the Assembly and the Party with the following executive team:

First Vice Chair – Ana Archuleta
Second Vice Chair – Pedro Cavallero
Treasurer – Juan Manuel Ruiz (President, Latin Chamber of Commerce)
Secretary – Joel Acevedo
Subcommittee Chair- Lee Gardner (Salt Lake County Assessor)
Subcommittee Chair- Erik Contreras (Co-Chair, Utah Latino Legislative Task Force)

The mission of the URHA is to build a membership organization to foster the principles of the Republican Party in the Hispanic community; to provide Hispanic Americans with a forum to fully participate in local, state and national Party activities; to increase the number of Hispanic elected officials; and to create and maintain a network of Hispanic Republican leaders and policy makers.

Un abrazo,

J. Michael Clára
Utah Republican Hispanic Assembly
www.LosRepublicanosDeUtah.com

Filed Under: Political Parties Tagged With: , ,

Ruth McClung Endorses Ron Carmichael for Arizona Republican Party Chairman

January 18, 2011 By 21 Comments

TUCSON, AZ:  2010 Republican Congressional nominee Ruth McClung endorsed Ron Carmichael as the next Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party.  McClung cited Ron Carmichael’s plan to provide strong support to Republican candidates across the state.

“Looking forward to 2012, our Party will face a momentous election.  Although I believe Marty Hermanson is a great candidate, I endorse Ron Carmichael for State Chairman,” McClung said.  “Ron has decades of experience but is also willing to listen to new ideas. I found it refreshing to hear that he plans to organize help at the statewide level for candidates who have won their primaries. I am particularly aware of the importance of this help because it was a critical element that was lacking in my campaign against Raul Grijalva. I believe he will be a unifying force within the party and will help us complete the work begun in 2010.”

Ron Carmichael has been a resident of Arizona since 1964, and has served as a district chairman, precinct committeeman, state committeeman, campaign advisor, and chairman for numerous candidates.  Ron was also a Young Republican State Chairman and Chairman of the Young Republican National Convention Committee.

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections, Endorsements, Political Parties

2006 Revisted – Lessons To Be Learned

January 18, 2011 By 9 Comments

With so many familiar players on the scene for the Arizona Republican Party elections coming up on Saturday, it might be worth revisiting the party election held six years ago.

Back then, conservatives were coming together behind former Congressman Frank Riggs, a conservative who was elected out of California before later moving to Arizona. But conservatives didn’t have nearly the numbers they have in today’s AZGOP and Riggs was seen as being close to then Congressman J.D Hayworth. This caused concern among Hayworth’s congressional rivals (Shadegg and Flake), while Riggs’ conservative support caused concern for Senator Jon Kyl who was up for re-election in 2006.

So Kyl recruited former Congressman and gubernatorial candidate turned lobbyist Matt Salmon to run for State Chairman. There was still considerable good will towards Salmon from his 2002 campaign and without the base of votes needed to make a real race of it, Riggs never began his campaign. Salmon was elected in January of 2005.

Of course, Salmon was a reluctant chairman, serving only because his Senator asked him to do so. Predictably, the Arizona Republican Party became little more than an offshoot of Kyl’s re-election campaign. Most of its resources and volunteers were directed towards Kyl’s race. Kyl won his race, but in the process Arizona Republicans suffered devastating losses as congressional candidates like J.D. Hayworth and Randy Graf were left high and dry without help. Republican legislative candidates were ignored and took a beating as well and Republican majorities dropped to dangerous levels. Our gubernatorial nominee received no help, except what he himself was able to raise through the party, and he got crushed by Janet Napolitano while Salmon’s hand-picked Executive Director agreed to not speak badly of Napolitano for the last few weeks of the campaign as a condition of his future employment with the Chamber of Commerce. With bare majorities that actually consisted of too many liberal Republicans, the Republican legislature got rolled over by Napolitano for the next two years, blowing up our state’s budget and getting us into the mess we still find ourselves in.

But Jon Kyl got re-elected, so it sounds like everything worked out just fine for him.

The year is now 2011 and Jon Kyl has once again emerged to handpick someone to run the Arizona Republican Party. Perhaps we should study our history so we are not doomed to repeat it?

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections, Endorsements, Personalities, Political Parties

Arizona Speaker of the House Kirk Adams Announces Endorsement of Ron Carmichael

January 18, 2011 By 7 Comments


Following the path of Senator Jon Kyl and countless district and county chairman, Arizona Speaker of

the House Kirk Adams has announced his endorsement of Ron Carmichael as the next Chairman of the

Arizona Republican Party. As leader of the Arizona House of Representatives, Kirk Adams has long been

an advocate of conservative values and policies.


“I am proud to support Ron Carmichael for Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party,” Speaker Adams

said.  Ron is committed to a wen-funded grassroots effort in recruiting and electing Republicans across

Arizona, and brings the leadership necessary to add to our Republican majorities in the Arizona

Legislature. “

Since moving to Arizona in 1964, Ron has held many positions within the Arizona Republican Party,

including district chairman, precinct committeeman, state committeeman, campaign advisor, as well as

chairman for numerous Republican candidates.

Filed Under: Political Parties, Uncategorized

Governor’s budget places bad bet

January 18, 2011 By 4 Comments

by Byron Schlomach, Ph.D.
Goldwater Institute
 
Last year, the Arizona Legislature and Governor Jan Brewer passed a state budget they claimed was balanced, although three ballot measures had to pass to make it so. A sales tax increase was approved in a May special election. Two other measures, worth about $450 million, failed in November. As a consequence of “balancing” the budget on a gamble, Arizona now faces a budget deficit of $763.6 million with less than six months left in the fiscal year.

In her plan released Friday to balance this year’s budget Governor Brewer has asked for another $245 million “rollover” for public education funding. The state already rolls one payment due to schools into the next year, this would make it two, meaning instead of receiving 12 payments from the state like they are supposed to, schools will only receive 10 this year. And it would push the state’s debt to school districts to more than $1 billion. Another gimmick proposed by the governor would be to borrow $330 million on June 30 and pay it back the next day on July 1, the start of the next fiscal year. Sounds harmless, but we would have to repeat this gimmick every year for the foreseeable future, increasing the interest we pay on state debt year after year. As it stands, interest payments on current state debt already will be the fourth largest budget line item.

Governor Brewer’s proposal to close next year’s $1.1 billion gap includes a $481.2 million reduction in the state’s Medicaid program. That’s certainly justified as Arizona has one of the nation’s most generous programs for Medicaid benefits. But, these proposed Medicaid reductions require a special waiver from President Barack Obama’s administration because of the federal health care law passed in 2010. Crossing one’s fingers and wishing for the best works no better in budgeting than when rolling dice in Las Vegas. The governor wants to take another huge gamble that no one should bank on.

This budget plan depends too much on gimmicks and hopeful thinking and too little on fundamental reform. Instead of effective alternatives to prison for non-violent offenders, for example, there is more funding for prison guards. School buildings get more funding, even though school districts already have the power to authorize charter schools which receive no funds for buildings and make use of existing real estate space. The icing on the cake, though, has to be the creation of a brand new $40 million fund to hand out money to private corporations if they will locate in Arizona.

We cannot afford any more failed gambles that set the stage for a third tax increase. What we need is real, fundamental reform and a government we can afford.

Dr. Byron Schlomach is director of the Goldwater Institute’s Center for Economic Prosperity.

Learn More:

Goldwater Institute: Budget Reduction Opportunities

Office of the Governor: The Budget Presentation of Fiscal Year 2012

Arizona Republic: Arizona budget gimmicks and debt won’t help

Filed Under: Government, Spending, State Budget, State Government

Conservative Options for GOP Chairman Emerge!

January 18, 2011 By 19 Comments

Randy PullenWith Bruce Ash’s withdrawal from the Chairman’s race, four names have climbed to the top of lists being bandied about the state by conservative and Tea Party groups. They are Randy Pullen the current Chairman, former State Senator Thayer Verschoor, Senate Majority Leader Scott Bundgaard, and House Speaker Pro Tem Steve Montenegro.

Each offers unique characteristics that appeal to the conservative movement:
Pullen – Has been chairman for the last four years and would likely have been the prohibitive favorite had he not been blocked at the LD11 elections late last year. He has had his share of run-ins with the Kyl/McCain camps, but conservatives always knew he had their back. The big question is whether or not he could be talked into running. Most people we spoke with were not convinced he would run, but that didn’t stop them from speculating.

Thayer VerschoorVerschoor – Currently the Executive Director of the PAChyderm Coalition, Verschoor was a solid conservative during his eight years in the State Senate, and he has a good base of support in the East Valley. Can he raise the money? That is the question asked most, but most feel Republican fundraising will be strong through 2012 no matter who the Chairman is.

Scott BundgaardBundgaard – Bundgaard also has an eight-year record as a tax-cutting conservative and he has a healthy rolodex as a result of his work with the Joe Foss Institute. Also working in his favor is that he is the Majority Leader in the State Senate, ensuring that lobbyists and high-dollor donors will take his phone calls. There is some question about how strongly the McCain voters will oppose Bundgaard though, given his history of opposing McCain during his Presidential runs, but that might work in his favor given the makeup of the delegates.

Steve MontenegroMontenegro – He has a shorter record than Bundgaard, but electing a conservative Latino Republican as Chairman would send a very strong message that the GOP intends to continue to compete for the Hispanic vote across the state. And his Speaker Pro Tem title would work much like Bundgaard’s when it comes to getting his phone calls returned.

Time is short, so expect rapid movement on this list!

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections, Political Parties