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Congressman Flake Votes for a Tax Hike and Against American Jobs

December 13, 2011 By 7 Comments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 13, 2011
CONTACT: Katie Martin

Phoenix, Arizona – Congressman Flake voted Tuesday to increase taxes by an average of $1000 a year for all American working families and voted against a new oil pipeline project that would create more than 20,000 new jobs. The Congressman voted against H.R. 3630, which will extend the payroll tax holiday and allow for the Keystone XL Pipeline to be constructed.

“Congressman Flake has been in Washington so long that he doesn’t understand Arizonans need lower, not higher taxes and America needs jobs,” said Wil Cardon, candidate for U.S. Senate. “Career politicians like Congressman Flake just don’t get it.

“The Congressman’s vote to deny working Arizonans more take home pay will continue to hurt working families in this bad economy. Additionally, Congressman Flake’s vote against creating 20,000 new jobs is unconscionable. But what can you expect from a politician who has never spent a day in the private sector, nor ever created a single job.

“In the Senate, I will fight every day to grow our economy by cutting taxes, reducing spending and promoting pro-growth policies that help businesses create jobs. That’s why I am running for the U.S. Senate.”

Last week, Cardon called for comprehensive pro-growth tax reform to fix the country’s dire economic situation and create a stable environment for job creators.

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Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections, Elected Officials, Federal Budget, Federal Government, Government Reform, Press Release, Taxation Tagged With: , ,

Rep Flake: Future Congresses Unlikely to Pay for this Congress’ Payroll Tax Cut Extension

December 13, 2011 By 1 Comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 13, 2011
CONTACT: Genevieve Frye Rozansky

Broken Entitlement System Must be Reformed Before Reducing Dedicated Revenue Sources

Washington, D.C. – Republican Congressman Jeff Flake, who represents Arizona’s Sixth District, today voted against H.R. 3630, the Middle Class Tax relief and Jobs Creation Act of 2011.

“Simply put, we can’t keep passing one-year extensions and promising to pay for them over 10 years,” said Flake. “We’re unable to compel future Congresses to carry out any budgetary measures put in place now, so there’s nothing to ensure that this extension is paid for in the future.”

“We all concede that our entitlement system is broken. If we don’t have the courage to reform entitlement programs, we shouldn’t be siphoning off their dedicated revenue.”

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Filed Under: Elected Officials, Entitlements, Federal Budget, Federal Government, Legislation, Press Release, Spending Tagged With: ,

Gosar Files Congressional Resolution of No Confidence in U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder

December 13, 2011 By 1 Comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 13, 2011
CONTACT: Apryl Marie Fogel

WASHINGTON, DC –Today, U.S. Congressman Paul Gosar, DDS (AZ-01) introduced H.Res. 490, a Resolution of No Confidence in U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The resolution states “that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress has lost confidence in the Attorney General of the United States.”

Congressman Gosar hopes to accomplish two goals with this resolution: First, the reproval by Congress of an executive official, is a significant statement. Cabinet positions, including the Attorney General, are appointed with the consent of half of Congress, the Senate. Congress is more than entitled to express its approbation, disapproval or censure. This resolution does that for the House.

The second goal is public awareness. By filing this resolution, we are anticipating a debate on the House floor and a floor vote. This will bring needed inquiry, exposure and transparency to the issue itself.

Congressman Gosar said “It is imperative that the citizens of our nation have confidence in our Attorney General. After months of evasive answers, silence and outright lies it is time that Congress speak up on behalf of the many people who have or will fall victims to the firearms in the flawed gunrunning operation Fast & Furious.”

H.Res. 490 has 21 co-sponsors including Trent Franks (AZ), David Schweikert (AZ), Jeff Duncan (SC), Connie Mack (FL), Paul Broun (GA), Lynn Jenkins (KS), Gus Bilirakis (FL), Kenny Marchant (TX), Michael Grimm (NY), Blake Farenthold (TX), Renee Ellmers (NC), Jeff Landry (LA), Dan Burton (IN), Alan Nunnelee (MA), Francisco “Quico” Canseco (TX), Vicky Hartzler (MO), Bobby Shilling (IL), Steve Pearce (NM), Bill Johnson (OH), Walter Jones (NC), Allen West (FL).

Link to Resolution: www. gosar.house.gov/ResolutionofNoConfidence

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Filed Under: 2nd Amendment, Conservatives, Conspiracy Theories, Crime and Punishment, Elected Officials, Federal Government, Government Reform, Legislation, Press Release Tagged With: , , ,

Rep. Quayle: Attorney General Holder Must Step Down

December 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 13, 2011
CONTACT: Richard Cullen

WASHINGTON (DC) Congressman Ben Quayle (R-AZ), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, released the following statement Tuesday calling for the resignation of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder:

“Fast and Furious was a fundamentally flawed operation. Since its implementation, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and numerous Mexican citizens have been killed by criminals using weapons that were allowed to ‘walk’ during the program. These weapons continue to pose a grave threat to people living near the Southern border. These facts alone signify a lack of leadership and control within the Justice Department that warrant the removal of those people who authorized and failed to supervise this damaging operation.

“When the incredible failures of Fast and Furious came to light, Attorney General Holder and his subordinates chose the route of evasion over forthrightness. They provided documents to Congress only when compelled to produce them with subpoena. These documents revealed that on February 4, 2011, senior officials at the Justice Department, the ATF and the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s Office responded to an inquiry by Senator Charles Grassley with a letter that contained categorically false information. Ten months later, the Justice Department was forced to rescind that letter—a move the attorney general acknowledged is extremely rare. During last week’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, the attorney general refused to take responsibility or hold any of his subordinates accountable for their handling of Fast and Furious. Mr. Holder himself called the operation ‘wholly unacceptable’ and ‘fundamentally flawed.’

“The fact that he hasn’t fired a single person shows that Attorney General Holder is more concerned with protecting himself and his political appointees than holding individuals accountable for Fast and Furious. I have refrained from calling for his resignation until he had a chance to testify before the Judiciary Committee. Asking for a cabinet member to resign is a serious step and one I take very seriously. After reflecting on last week’s testimony, the operation, and Mr. Holder’s handling of the fallout, I have lost all confidence in his ability to lead the Justice Department. I call for his immediate resignation.”

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Filed Under: 2nd Amendment, Conspiracy Theories, Crime and Punishment, Elected Officials, Federal Government, Government Reform, Judicial, National Security, Press Release Tagged With: , , ,

Calls for Arpaio Resignation Pure Political Opportunism

December 13, 2011 By 51 Comments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 13, 2011
CONTACT: Chad Willems

PHOENIX, AZ – The Re-Elect Joe Arpaio 2012 campaign committee released the following statement today:

“Elected Democrat officials in Arizona are breathlessly calling for the immediate resignation of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio based on a four-year-old story involving sex crime investigations, which were reviewed and investigated by his office four years ago. These Arpaio detractors are also breathless in their insistence that none of this has to do with politics or partisanship.

The actions and words of Ruben Gallego, Randy Parraz, Steve Gallardo, Kyrsten Sinema, Congress members Ed Pastor and Raul Grijalva, and other elected Democrats, reek of political opportunism and partisanship. After all, these are the same Democrats that have been opposed to the Sheriff’s enforcement of illegal immigration laws for years.

The fact of the matter is this: the mishandling of these cases was brought to the Sheriff’s attention in 2007. Arpaio immediately ordered the cases re-opened and investigated. They have been brought to a conclusion. Further, the Sheriff is hiring an expert in the area of sex crimes investigations to train staff for future cases and will offer that service to other law enforcement agencies.

Meanwhile, the City of Phoenix has nearly 2,500 cases involving sex crimes and molestation currently under review. Many of these were never pursued or were mishandled. These cases surfaced only months ago, yet there is a deafening silence from these elected officials in calling for elected Mayor Phil Gordon, a Democrat ally, to immediately resign.

Why would they remain silent about Phil Gordon? Mayor Gordon was responsible for going to Washington several times to request that the Justice Department investigate Arpaio’s enforcement of state and federal immigration laws.

Arpaio has stated he will not criticize Valley law enforcement agencies that currently have the same problem his office experienced four years ago. However, for these elected officials and other activists to use these investigations, which have received extensive coverage media coverage through the years, as a pure political tool is disgusting.

Many of these Democrat politicians calling for Arpaio’s resignation are the same ones that have called upon the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate his office. But they have curiously remained silent on any calls for resignation from (Democrat) Attorney General Eric Holder and his role in the “Fast and Furious” scandal that resulted in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

The political left in this state feels emboldened by their recent success in removing Senator Russell Pearce from office. The leader of that effort, Randy Parraz, has publicly stated that his next target is Arpaio.

Tomorrow this group will attend and surely disrupt the Maricopa County Board of Supervisor’s meeting in a futile attempt to have Arpaio removed from office.

The transparent political stunt to resurrect a four-year-old story after steps have been taken to resolve the issue is shameful, desperate and again, disgusting.

The voters in Maricopa County will see this for what it is and reject this partisan witch hunt.”

Next month, Arpaio will announce plans for his political future.

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Filed Under: County Government, Crime and Punishment, Elected Officials, Press Release Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Rep. Flake Organizes Bipartisan Letter Urging House Leaders to Let Ethanol Subsidies Expire

December 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 13, 2011
CONTACT: Genevieve Frye Rozansky

Letter to Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader Pelosi Stresses that Ethanol Industry Should Stand on Its Own

Washington, D.C. – Republican Congressman Jeff Flake, who represents Arizona’s Sixth District, along with 73 House Members, sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi urging them to resist calls to continue, expand, or create new ethanol subsidies in any of the remaining legislative proposals this year.

The volumetric ethanol excise tax credit and the prohibitive import tariff are both set to expire at the end of this year.

“Handing out billions of dollars in federal subsidies to an industry that ought to be capable of standing on its own is fiscally irresponsible,” said Flake. “The ethanol industry has cost taxpayers billions of dollars and been shielded from competition for long enough.” 

A copy of the letter can be found here.

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Filed Under: Elected Officials, Federal Budget, Federal Government, Legislation, Press Release, Spending Tagged With: , ,

Freedom is the key to jobs

December 13, 2011 By 2 Comments

by Byron Schlomach, Ph.D.
Goldwater Institute

With America’s unemployment rate at or above 9 percent for three years, prior to the rate being pushed down by people leaving the workforce, job creation is on everybody’s mind. Unfortunately, for many policymakers across the country the ideas to turn that rate around – tax breaks for big corporations or outright subsidies to biotechnology, solar power, or other high-tech industries – have been tried, with little to show for them.

Nearly all the proposed fixes that we’ve seen in the last few years can be categorized into one of five myths McKinsey Quarterly laid out regarding job creation: 1) Surely there’s a quick fix, 2) The key to boosting employment quickly is to help small businesses, 3) High-tech jobs will solve the problem, 4) Higher productivity kills jobs, and 5) Increasing exports will revive manufacturing employment.

None of these paths, pursued in isolation, will help the economy in the long run. Job creation involves people taking risks, investing, and working very hard. The key, as Whole Foods CEO John Mackey recently pointed out, is to allow entrepreneurs the freedom to do so – freedom from prescriptive tax policies and subsidies to their competition, inefficient regulation, and burdensome government in general. But, the U.S. is moving in the wrong direction. Once ranked third in the world in economic freedom, we are now tenth, behind Great Britain, Canada, Singapore and Mauritius, among others.

But there are some policymakers who are on the right track. Phoenix city councilman Sal DiCiccio, for example: He is working to reduce the permitting burden by the City of Phoenix, which lowers business start-up costs. He also wants to reduce the cost of government by privatizing some government services and with meaningful pension reform.

Ultimately, tinkering at the edges is no longer enough to be competitive for jobs. The states that will really thrive must be bold and make the decision that they will use freedom as the most important tool in the economic development toolbox. Indeed, “we’re the freest place to do business in the country” could be a powerful job creation mantra.

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

Learn More:

McKinsey & Co.: Five myths about how to create jobs

Wall Street Journal: To Increase Jobs, Increase Economic Freedom

Cato Institute: Economic Freedom of the World

Filed Under: Economic Development, Government Reform, Regulations, Small Business

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne Finds Quartzsite Open Meeting Law Violations

December 13, 2011 By 1 Comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 13, 2011
CONTACT: Amy Rezzonico

PHOENIX (Tuesday, December 13, 2011) — Attorney General Tom Horne has found evidence that the Quartzsite Town Council has violated Arizona’s Open Meeting Laws (A.R.S. §§ 38-431 et. seq.) in connection with the conduct of Town Council meetings and dealings with a member of the public.

In a letter to the Quartzsite Town Attorney, Horne notes that on June 28, 2011, while addressing the Council, Quartzsite resident Jennifer Jones was removed from the meeting by a vote of the council. She had turned her back on the council and was addressing the audience, which the council reasonably could object to. Public bodies can eject members of the public for disruptive conduct, but they must first give a warning, which the council failed to do.

The second violation occurred on July 10, 2011 in which the Council convened an emergency meeting on at the Town Hall to discuss disruptions during previous meetings. The Council locked the doors to the meeting room and did not allow any member of the public to attend its meeting. Excluding the public from this meeting violated the Open Meeting Law.

In the third and related violation, the Attorney General notes that the Council did not fully comply with the posting requirements for emergency meetings. As of December 9, 2011, the minutes of the emergency meeting were not posted on the Town website.

The final violation involves the failure to comply with posting requirements for Notices and Minutes.

The Council did not post minutes for the July 10, 2011 emergency meeting. In addition, the Council failed to post minutes for a number of its meetings labeled as “work sessions.”

As a remedy, Horne is recommending that:

  1. The Council will discuss the concerns listed in this letter with its legal counsel in open session during a properly noticed public meeting.
  2. Each member of the Council and staff will participate in a training session with counsel from the League of Arizona Cities and Towns regarding the requirements of the Open Meeting Laws.
  3. The Council will be subject to oversight by the Attorney General’s Office for a period of twelve months.

View a copy of the letter to the Town here.

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Filed Under: Arizona Politics, City Government, Crime and Punishment, Elected Officials, Government, Judicial, Press Release Tagged With: ,