Special to the White Mountain Independent
October 9, 2012
There’s an old adage that in Washington there are workhorses and there are show horses.
Arizona is on the verge of losing the consummate workhorse when Sen. Jon Kyl begins his well deserved retirement at the end of his term. Considering all that Sen. Kyl has done for our state, it is almost unfair to ask his replacement to attempt to fill his shoes.
But when assessing the two candidates seeking to represent Arizona in the U.S. Senate, Rep. Jeff Flake is the clear choice.
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry is proud to join with the country’s strongest advocate for the free-market, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in endorsing Jeff Flake for Senate. Our two organizations are committed to supporting policies that strengthen our economy and grow jobs. In this race, there is no one better on issues relating to jobs and the economy than Jeff Flake.
The decisions we face this election are important ones, for our state and the entire country. Earlier this month our national debt surpassed $16 trillion. The Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire in January, which would represent the largest tax increase in the history of the United States. And as a result of sequestration, an additional $500 billion dollars of automatic cuts will occur to our national defense, an action that could cost the nation over one million jobs. Many economists are saying that as a result of this coming “fiscal cliff” our fragile economy could head into a potentially deep recession. The American taxpayer can’t afford on-the-job training in the U.S. Senate.
Throughout his career, Flake has always stood up for Arizona taxpayers, bucking party leadership when it was addicted to earmarks and the irresponsible pork-barrel spending that followed. Senator John McCain has been railing against this egregious spending for years. Now, because of their leadership, earmarks are largely a thing of the past, a testament to these two Arizonans’ ability to bring points of view as disparate as Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner, Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell together.
Stopping earmarks is not some small symbolic victory. Without our tax dollars going to bridges to nowhere in the backwoods of Alaska, they can be used for legitimate reasons in places like Arizona.
For example, Flake supports Interstate 11, which would connect Phoenix and Las Vegas, the two largest metro areas not connected by an interstate. He understands such projects are critical to our state’s ability to staycompetitive in our second century. That’s why he’s positioning Arizona to win the jobs of the future by supporting our state’s drive to be designated as a test location for unmanned aerial systems.
And he’s pushing back against an over-reaching federal bureaucracy, especially the EPA, an agency whose heavy hand puts Arizona jobs at risk. Congressman Flake made the Arizona Chamber the first stop in his recent statewide issues tour to talk with business leaders about the negative effect over-regulation has on their bottom line and how it hampers their ability to add jobs.
It’s because of Flake’s pro-growth agenda that he was recently recognized by the National Association of Manufacturers with its Award for Manufacturing Legislative Excellence. America’s job creators know they can count on Jeff Flake.
These are serious times and they call for a serious lawmaker. We know where Jeff Flake stands on the top issues of the day facing Arizona businesses from taxes, to health care, to regulation. Jon Kyl’s departure from the Senate is a blow to our state. But electing Jeff Flake in November will be to our benefit.
Glenn Hamer is the President and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Jeff Flake is the clear choice for those who support illegal alien amnesty and the cheap, south-of-the-border labor so loved by the Chamber of Commerce!
When Arizona passed the Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA), it was the U. S. Chamber of Commerce which, with the support of the Obama DOJ, challenged it’s provisions in court. What were those challenged provisions?
The first provision mandated that Arizona employers utilize the E-Verify system to help assure that those they hire are, in fact, U. S. citizens and not illegal aliens.
The second provision allowed for punitive action against employers who KNOWINGLY hire illegal aliens. They could have their business license yanked!
The U. S. Chamer of Commerce, which along with the Arizona Chamber of Commerece backs Jeff Flake, claimed that the two above provisions of the Legal Arizona Workers Act were unconstitutional.
The U. S. Chamber of Commerce, in U. S. Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting, lost in court after court until the only legal recourse left to them was the United States Supreme Court.
B. Hussein Obama had his Solicitor General ask SCOTUS to hear the case. SCOTUS agreed and after having heard the case found against the U. S. Chamber of Commerece and in favor of LAWA.
Of course both the U. S. and Arizona Chamber of Commerce support Jeff Flake because Jeff Flake is a known and proven supporter of illegal alien amnesty which would provide a huge pool of cheap labor. The business fat cats could make more profit by exploiting south-of-the-border workers while putting more U. S. citizens, including Hispanic U. S. citizens, out of work. This, of course, is just what is needed with high unemployment and a bad economy!
And there you have it in your face. Glen Hamer and the costa nostra Arizona Chamber of Commerce naturally want to suck Jeff Flake into a U.S. Senate seat. The COC has opposed Arizona on every immigration bill or law going back to Prop 200 in 2004. The COC SUED Arizona all the way to the Supreme Court over the employer sanctions law. The COC violently opposed SB 1070 and joined lawsuits to stop it.
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce is a collection of racketeers and cut throats who would sell Arizona and the nation to Mexico for a dime’s worth of profit. The Arizona Chamber of Commerce could give a flying f**k about officer Nick Early, shot down in the streets of Phoenix by an illegal alien. The COC could give a flying f**k about border agent Brian Terry, shot down by illegal aliens with guns provided by the Obama administration. The COC could give a flying f**k about 17-year old Mesa resident Olivia Wilson, killed May 28th 2012 by drunk illegal alien Alfonso Valdez-Olea.
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce embodies the total disregard for Arizona’s safety, sovereignty, and tax burden on Arizona citizens to subsidize the invading plague of cheap-labor border jumpers. The Arizona Chamber of Commerce is the preeminent example of profit-sucking scum who should be eradicated from the face of the earth like infectious rodents.
The Arizona’s Chamber of Commerce choice to represent THEM in the U.S. Senate?
JEFFREY LANE FLAKE. Tell the FILTH in the Arizona Chamber of Commerce to F.O.!
Vote for Richard Carmona for U.S. Senate November 6th.
I never dreamed I’d be singing from the Kum By Ya songbook, but let’s realize that we need to RE-TAKE the U.S. Senate. Look, I hate Jeff Flake as much as the next hard-core conservative. I think a good old fashioned Roman-style flogging and crucifixion would be a good start for his punishment for his betrayal of conservative principles. Unfortunately, if we’re going to re-take the Senate, we need to GAIN seats, not lose them. The Arizona legislature should be a prime example of how a narrow margin of majority just isn’t good enough because the liberals will peel off the moderates. We had SUPER-majorities in BOTH houses of the Arizona legislature and that STILL wasn’t good enough to get labor reforms or anti-illegal immigration reforms through the legislature. Unfortunately, at this point, we need Flake to beat Carmona or we’ll have to pray that conservatives replace Democrats with Republicans elsewhere. Do you really want to make that gamble? Just remember, if the Senate remains Democrat, we’ll never repeal Obamacare, and, if Romney wins, he’ll have to put liberal judges in the Supreme Court just to get through the Senate confirmation process. If you want Flake to lose, you might as well resign yourself to living under Obamacare and embrace a Supreme Court packed with more liberals.
With all due respect, Spiked Flails, the “we MUST re-take the Senate” rationalization for voting for Jeff Flake doesn’t work. What we MUST do is elect Mitt Romney. Why is it imperative that we elect Romney and imperative that we do NOT elect Jeff Flake?
As long as Republicans control EITHER the House OR the Senate, liberal Democrats cannot legislate their agenda into being. That is why Obama has been using rule-making power and executive orders to do an end run around Congress. With Obama gone, those end runs will stop AND all of the bad actors in the Obama administration, Eric Holder, Janet Napolitano, will be history!
Electing Jeff Flake does NOT necessarily mean that Republicans will regain control of the Senate! In that case, we will be stuck with Jeff Flake “representing” us without having achieved the reason why you held your nose and voted for him!
You really need to get past this “football game” kind of thinking! It isn’t R’s and D’s any more. It’s now all about individual candidates. What good does it do if your team’s quarterback is throwing the ball to the opposing team? That is EXACTLY what Jeff Flake has done, no matter which jersey he is wearing!
Jeff Flake, working with liberal “progressive” Democrat Luis Gutierrez of Chicago, co-authored and sought to get passed by Congress the STRIVE Act which contained hidden within it Harry Reid’s DREAM Act illegal alien amnesty! THAT is the quarterback throwing the ball to the opposing team! You don’t knowingly elect a treacherous traitor to represent you in the U. S. Senate!
Jeff Flake is a self-admitted liar. You don’t knowingly elect a self-admitted liar to the U. S. Senate to “represent” you!
Get past the mental constructs about things like controlling the Senate and open your eyes to what the man, the person, Jeff Flake REALLY is! He is a man of poor character who doesn’t keep his word and who backed the illegal alien amnesty scheme of fellow Mormon Harry Reid and Reid’s sidekick, Dick Durbin! That is NOT representing the interests of the people of Arizona and it is most certainly not representing the interests of Conservative Republicans in Arizona!
Bad behavior should not be rewarded. It should be punished. That is why Flake’s fellow Republicans kicked Flake off his position on the powerful House Judiciary Committee. They cited “bad behavior”. We need to kick Flake out of Congress for his “bad behavior” in attempting to sell out Arizona Republican voters with his illegal alien amnesty schemes!