FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 7, 2012
CONTACT: Julie Lind

Tempe Candidate for Mayor and Current Tempe Mayor Praise County Attorney for Showing the Way

(Tempe, Arizona)Candidate for Tempe Mayor Michael Monti is joining Mayor Hugh Hallman in calling for gift bans and reporting requirements in Tempe. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery has proposed a long list of restrictions to prevent another Fiesta Bowl scandal. Monti and Hallman believe Tempe should lead the way and adopt a strict set of rules on the municipal level. They include:

• Reporting any gifts worth more than $15 dollars
• Banning all gifts valued at more than $50
• Immediate reporting of gifts on the city website
• Penalties for officials who knowingly violate the rules
• Immediate reporting of taxpayer funded travel expenses

Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman has set the standard in Tempe by refusing gifts of any kind. He has even turned down perks such as a parking space at Tempe City Hall. County Attorney Bill Montgomery has listed a set of rules that can easily be adopted at all levels of government.

Monti said, “Our Mayor has set the standard. Our County Attorney has identified the proper standards. Now it’s time for Tempe to adopt those standards so that we can lead the way in clean government. Not everyone has followed Mayor Hallman’s example.”

Michael Monti, owner of Tempe’s historic Monti’s La Casa Vieja, co-founded Local First, Arizona. He is also active in the Tempe Diablos Charities, and is the youngest inductee in the Arizona Restaurant Association’s Hall of Fame.

His campaign is based on bringing private sector ideas to government, fiscal responsibility, civic involvement, economic opportunity, and innovation. His proposals include:

• Financial incentives for city workers who save tax dollars
• The creation of the Tempe Community Corps to increase volunteerism, and aid Tempe neighborhoods Partnerships with ASU and the business community to bring more jobs to Tempe
• The creation of a public swimming beach at Tempe Town Lake, paid for by the private sector
• Partnerships with the ASU College of Nursing to aid Tempe seniors
• Encouraging businesses to embrace eco-friendly projects such as the Blink Car Charging Stations at Monti’s La Casa Vieja
• A ban on texting while driving in Tempe
• Gift bans and strict reporting requirements

Arizona leaders and organizations that have endorsed Michael Monti include:

• Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman
• Tempe Council Member Onnie Shekerjian
• Tempe’s first elected Mayor, Rudy Campbell
• The Tempe Chamber of Commerce
• Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne
• Congressman David Schweikert
• Former Tempe City Council Member ‘Hut’ Hutson
• Former State Rep. Laura Knaperek
• Tempe Democrat Carl Hayden
• Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery

To visit the Monti4 Mayor Website click here or log on to www.monti4mayor.com (@monti4mayor).

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Distributed by C O M M O N  S E N S E , in Arizona

Maricopa County manager David Smith proposing to settle million dollar lawsuits of cronies       Greedy county officials should be forced to litigate their claims fully to reveal how worthless they are, instead of receiving million dollar settlements

Maricopa County manager David Smith, the hatchet man for the County Supervisors, is proposing that the county settle the million dollar lawsuits filed by the Supervisors’ cronies against Maricopa County and its taxpayers for amounts of several hundred thousand dollars up to $15 million each. This is a bad, bad idea that will end up very costly to taxpayers. The greedy county bureacrats, who are suing the county over nothing more than “stress” from being prosecuted by Sheriff Arpaio and former County Attorney Andrew Thomas, should be forced to plead their cases in a court of law, so taxpayers can see how sketchy their lawsuits are. The Supervisors better do the right thing and not award their cronies million dollar settlements. Two of the lawsuits are from their fellow Supervisors Mary Rose Wilcox and Don Stapley! This is a blatant conflict of interest for them to award them huge amounts of money. The Supervisors have already paid Judge Fields $100,000 of your taxpayer dollars for his lawsuit against the county. He received that money for his claims that he was stressed over Arpaio and Thomas attempting to prosecute him. That prosecution went nowhere since he was able to thwart it.  None of his assertions of stress were ever heard and tried in a court of law, the county simply $100,000 at him in a settlement. Next, Judge Baca received a $100,00 settlement for her stress over being sued by Arpaio and Thomas. Stephen Wetzel, the county director of IT, received an undisclosed settlement amount. This is not right. These officials should be forced to go through the regular court system like the rest of us. They should not be awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars for “stress” based on their claims that they were wrongly prosecuted. We will never know if they were wrongly prosecuted, because they were able to successfully thwart Arpaio’s and Thomas’s attempts to prosecute them. It is despicable that they they are being awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars for successfully avoiding prosecution!!! David Smith claims that the county is saving money by settling the claims, but the claims are so groundless the county would end up not paying any money if they were fully litigated. He knows this but wants to guarantee his cronies are vindicated, which in turn vindicates his legal attacks against Arpaio and Thomas. This sets a bad, bad precedent for future bureaucrats down the road to sue over “stress” and receive millions of dollars too. If the greedy bureaucrats are awarded these lavish amounts of money, taxpayers will consider a citizens’ lawsuit against them. Tea Parties and organizations like the Goldwater Institute and Americans for Prosperity have grounds to sue them based on abuse of our tax dollars.  The Arizona Republic has coverage. ACTION ITEM: Contact the Supervisors who will be deciding whether or not to award these outrageous settlements and let them know that you disapprove of them awarding large settlements to the other two supervisors and their cronies. Tell them these speculative claims need to be heard in a court of law where they will inevitably be DISMISSED. Supervisor Andrew Kunasek (602) 506-7562 akunasek@mail.maricopa.gov Supervisor Max Wilson (602) 506-7642 mwwilson@mail.maricopa.gov Supervisor Fulton Brock (602) 506-1776 fbrock@mail.maricopa.gov

Movie Presentation: AGENDA: Grinding America Down

 Date: Friday, January 13, 2012
Location:  Goldwater Institute Auditorium
Address: 500 E. Coronado Road, Phoenix,  AZ

Showtime: 6:00 pm (doors open at 5:30)

Cost:  $10.00 per person

Popcorn and beverages will be served

Idaho legislator Curtis Bowers has produced a fascinating film uncovering the people and groups that have successfully targeted America’s morality and freedom in their effort to grind America down. Mr. Bowers looks at the subversion of America, the systematic “grinding down” of American culture and values over several decades – a process nearing its climax today. AGENDA is the most powerful expose of the communist, socialist, progressive attempt to take over the United States of America.

Dr. David A. Noebel, who is featured in this award winning documentary film, will be in attendance and available for questions from the audience. Dr. Noebel recently retired and moved to Prescott after serving 50 years as the founder and head of The Summit Ministries. He remains as President of the organization founded by Dr. Fred C. Schwarz (CACC), and continues to publish The Schwarz Report on a monthly basis, www.schwarzreport.org. His Book, “You Can Still Trust the Communists to be Communists” will be available for purchase.

Payment can be made by mail, on our website, or at the door

Please contact Honey Marques for additional information and to RSVP if you are planning on paying at the door.  honey@arizonamainstreamproject.org  / 480-659-4232.  

www.ArizonaMainstreamProject.org

If you are having trouble downloading “Silverlight” to access our website, please email our webmaster at webmaster@arizonamainstreamproject.org

The history of civilized man has seen a never-ending evolution of what we call a “system of  justice.”  It was not until well after Christ that the concept of a judge and jury was born to enable the accused in criminal matters to be judged by a group of his/her peers.  As a matter of fact; in ancient Rome there was no such thing as a “criminal court.”   If a person were to have been criminally wronged it was his/her responsibility to pursue a civil claim against the accused.  The government took no interest in prosecuting any crimes unless they were against the government itself.  Essentially; a person with no immediate family could be robbed and killed in the middle of the street in broad daylight and there would be no prosecution because no-one had standing to pursue the claim.

My; how things have changed.  In today’s world we are all judges, juries and prosecutioners who look only to the daily news and commentaries to reach judgment.  We assume that everything we see and hear; especially from any source of reasonably reliable information; such as the news media, is the gospel truth.  We feel no responsibility to question the conclusion reached by a public figure.  The problem is; if we are all guilty of everything we are accused of; Satan’s waiting area would simply not be large enough to process all of the new admittees.

Case in point: I enjoy listening to Barry Young every morning on KFYI but I am consistently baffled by his attacks on former Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce.  Mind you; Senator Pearce is a friend of mine and that may appear to suggest bias; but with or without any predilection of opinion concerning anyone’s character I am frustrated by Mr. Young’s assumption that Senator Pearce participated in some sort of conspiracy to plant Olivia Cortes on the ballot for Senator Pearce’s seat in the senate.  Let’s look at the facts:

1. Senator Pearce is; in no uncertain terms, the “father” of SB 1070; the legislation that adopted already existing federal law into a much less stringent set of Arizona statutes.  This made Senator Pearce a target for the liberal media to effectively “take him down.”
2. The media fueled a recall effort that was; in no uncertain terms, baseless.
3. Certain members of a tea party conspired to plant a sham candidate on the ballot in order to dilute Jerry Lewis’ support.
4. Certain members of Senator Pearce’s political panel; including some of his own relatives, perceived the benefits of this independent candidate without any knowledge or understanding of the basis for her political support and actually assisted in the effort.
5. Only after it became known that Ms. Cortes was not an actual candidate was any assistance and support withdrawn from her campaign.

Under no circumstances is there any shred of evidence that Senator Pearce, his campaign staff, or his relatives had any knowledge of the sham while they were taking advantage of it.  Nevertheless; they are duly tried, prosecuted, and convicted by Mr. Young and the rest of the media for a crime they did not commit.  The sad truth of this is that the State of Arizona has now been robbed of a man of unblemished character who has served us in law enforcement for many years, has been shot and wounded by criminals, and has almost lost his own son in the same fashion.  Yet he is a very happy man when he observes large groups of newly naturalized citizens of the United States; primarily Hispanics, as they are sworn in near the State’s Capital.  I have yet to see any of the liberal media; or even Barry Young, comment on this.  I must assume that this revelation of the actual truth may serve to confuse and mislead the propagandized readers and electorate and it therefore would be nonsensical to acknowledge this reality.  It is therefore best that the media let the sleeping dog lie and allow the general public to have grossly distorted opinions of one of their greatest heroes.  Sounds fair to me.

Senator Pearce; as I am certain we are all aware is not the only victim of the distortion of the truth.  I do not personally know former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas any more than occasional meetings and I therefore can make no comment concerning his matters before the Court.  I am nevertheless honored to claim that Rachel Alexander is a close friend who is also the victim of; sadly enough, malicious prosecution simply because she was doing her job.  Unfortunately; when doing one’s job may interfere with the goals of someone in power, somebody has to take the fall.

Let me put this in perspective:  Ms. Alexander has not discussed with me any of the behind-the-scenes details of what led to her being accused of these compromises in ethical duties.  She was working at her post as Assistant Maricopa County Prosecutor.  Her boss; Mr. Thomas, assigned to her the prosecution of certain elected officials.  She was presented with facts and evidence that clearly raised reasonable suspicion concerning wrongs committed by these individuals.  It was therefore her duty to proceed with levying charges against them.  UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE DID SHE DO ANYTHING WRONG.  Nevertheless; exposure of these facts concerning these elected officials meant that they needed to fight back.  Please notice that there has never been a shred of allegation that Ms. Alexander did anything unethical in the rest of her life.  The ONLY claim that can be made may be that she was working very hard to do her job.

Ms. Alexander’s need to answer her accusers is entirely political.  It is work to take the attention off of the accused and shift it to the accuser.  It has thus far been successful; which raises the point, why continue to accuse Ms. Alexander of any wrong-doing when there is no shred of evidence that she was not simply doing her job? . . . . . Because somebody has to take the fall to save these politicos from personal humiliation.

It is an unfortunate circumstance of life that we are all wrongly accused of indiscretions throughout our existence.  It began in childhood with finger pointing at our siblings and even the family pet.  Even I must confess to having been prosecuted by the State Bar Association in the early 90’s similarly to Ms. Alexander.  I therefore understand the burden that she will carry whether she is completely acquitted or whether they determine that she deserves the least available public admonishment of a censure; which is a published reprimand without any suspension of her license.

Let me tell you why I was censured.  The facts are that I never did anything wrong but I nevertheless failed to oversee what my employees were doing and therefore my trust account didn’t balance.  The reason I didn’t see what was wrong with the account was that certain employees were scheming to embezzle money from the firm.  They put up smoke screens and hid from me what they were doing.  I nevertheless confessed to this and I simply made sure that the final reports specifically stated that I did nothing wrong, but that the errors were based on“negligence.”

The problem with this is that most people who see that I was censured ASSUME that I did something dastardly wrong and that I am a hardened criminal.  The worse problem is that I am in fact responsible for the errors made by my employees but that Senator Pearce and Ms. Alexander did absolutely nothing wrong.  They never had ill intent, they never consciously acted to wrong anyone.  They were simply doing their jobs and they were doing them quite well; only to be dragged into “politically necessary” damage control by their opponents fueled by the almighty left-wing media.

I beg of any who read this: do not rush to conclusions until you know and understand the facts.  That is a patent expression of “innocent until proven guilty” but it is painfully obvious that the media do not grasp the significance of those words.  Let me put it this way: Senator Pearce and Rachel Alexander both knew by virtue of considerable experience with politics and the media that any misstep would be attacked without mercy.  Do you really believe that either of them would have even contemplated doing anything like what they accused of?  If so; they are not the real victims of medial prosecution, you the general public are.  You are hypnotized into believing trumped up exaggerations produced by those who resist the good of what these people are doing for justice.  It is a baffling quandary that the very system we fight to defend is the very same thing that fights to defeat us.

Justice will begin to be served when Senator Pearce is back in office and when all charges against Rachel Alexander are summarily dropped.  That service will only end when every person acknowledges that these dedicated individuals are in fact innocent of any wrongdoing.

Please tell Satan to cancel the remodeling.

• Bill Ponath’s blog
• Bill Ponath’s bankruptcy law practice

Distributed by C O M M O N  S E N S E , in Arizona

Sheriff Arpaio and County Attorney Thomas “were on to something with all their talk of county corruption”       Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts changes her mind on county corruption by the Supervisors

We were pleasantly surprised to see that Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts has finally seen the light and realizes that yes, there was corruption going on at the county under the Supervisors and in the construction of the Taj Mahal court tower. Contractors were giving employees kickbacks in exchange for favorable treatment getting contracts to work on the court tower. 11 employees have now been fired or suspended. We’ve known all along there was something funny about a $347 million  court tower being build in the middle of a recession, paid for immediately with CASH from us taxpayers, not bonding, with some of the priciest materials on the market – travertine, porcelain, wooden floors, penthouse quarters for the judges with private robing rooms. We wonder how far up the chain the corruption goes. County Supervisor Don “The Don” Stapley spent $70,000 received in campaign contributions for a race where he had no opponent on personal luxury items for himself and his family, including three family vacations, massages, and $4000 in expensive stereo equipment. Would not surprise us if he received some pretty sweet kickbacks. Some excerpts from Roberts’ article, entitled County is proving corruption to be true: After reading the report on how things work in the county’s Facilities Management Department, I’m thinking maybe Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his sidekick, former County Attorney Andrew Thomas, were on to something with all their talk of county corruption. Eleven county employees have now been put on paid leave, the result of an internal investigation that started when one of the workers began having second thoughts about taking freebies after seeing so many of his concert-going colleagues in the skybox of a company that makes millions off its county contracts. Meanwhile, Assistant City Manager Kenny Harris, who oversees Facilities, was fired this week. Though Harris was reportedly fired over an unrelated matter, the investigation found that he played in several golf tournaments as the guest of county vendors, including both the project manager and the builder of the county’s $340 million court tower — a construction project that he was supervising. Yeah, that would be the court-tower construction project that Arpaio and Thomas were nosing around. The investigative report outlines a culture in which freebies were routinely handed out to county employees who thought nothing of settling themselves into the luxury suites of the companies whose contracts they played a role in overseeing. The king of the freebies was Dick Carr, who manages county construction projects. According to the report, Carr was treated to roughly 20 concerts over three years and a $4,000 trip in which he was helicoptered in to British Columbia, courtesy of a vendor. No doubt he was the biggest catch of the trip. What they should do is simply outlaw all gifts to public employees. Period. Nobody would be happier than the lobbyists, who tell me they are routinely hit up for freebies. At the Capitol and, apparently, at the county. Where just a few months ago, we were scoffing at the idea of corruption. Arizona Republic article

The somber anniversary of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s death, murdered in the line of duty in Arizona, the weapon used to murder him was provided to the criminals through the illegal cross-border networks by the Obama Administration’s Department of Justice through their  heinous FAST and FURIOUS scheme.

Brian Terry: SEMPER FI:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0jTJq_VfS8

Distributed by C O M M O N  S E N S E , in Arizona

Suspicious circumstances surrounding firing of high-level Assistant County Manager      What does the terminated employee know about the court tower?

The Arizona Republic reported today that Kenny Harris, a top engineer and assistant county manager assigned to supervising the court tower project, has been fired by the Supervisors’ hatchet man, county manager David Smith. The circumstances surrounding the firing are extremely suspicious. Harris was fired over using county funds to pay membership dues to his fraternity. Harris’s finance manager had APPROVED the payments, and his previous employers had paid the dues. When Smith told Harris he disapproved of the county paying the dues, Harris reimbursed the county for the full cost. Smith still went and fired Harris, didn’t even offer him a suspension or lesser penalty. Harris was not one of the employees disciplined for accepting expensive gifts from contractors working on the court tower. However, he likely knows what really went on since his name shows up in reports. Harris is now filing a lawsuit against the county for wrongful termination. Sources tell us that he will expose a lot of the corruption that took place within the court tower construction. We’ve also heard that there may have been some racism involved, which wouldn’t be surprising since his punishment was so draconian. We also hear that anyone who does not bow down to hatchet man David Smith risks losing their job. It’s about time this all comes out. The Supervisors have been able to stop Sheriff Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas from investigating their corruption. It is unfair what has been done to this man in order to protect the corrupt Supervisors. How much do county taxpayers have to shell out to pay for the Supervisors fighting everyone in order to protect themselves from investigation? Arizona Republic article

For Arizonans who want to follow the latest in the on-going investigation of the FAST and FURIOUS Obama Administration’s Justice Department’s appalling scheme to provide U.S. weapons to Mexican drug cartels.

Committee on Oversight & Government Reform

http://issues.oversight.house.gov/fastandfurious/

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Distributed by C O M M O N  S E N S E , in Arizona

County employees suspended and terminated over illegal activity     Arpaio and Thomas gradually being vindicated for investigation of corrupt Court Tower project

The Arizona Republic is reporting that 11 Maricopa County employees have been caught accepting bribes from county contractors in exchange for sweet contracting deals. Employees who gave business to contractors like Evans Overhead Door received expensive gifts like concert and sports event tickets in return. It got so bad that Rob Evans, a partner with Evans Overhead Door, said county employees would pressure him for gifts. “Once they knew you were in possession of a suite … they would come and ask you for tickets — that’s the way it’s always been,” he said. “You feel like you’re put on the spot. You almost feel like you’re obligated to do it because they hire you to work. They’d run into you, call you. You feel like you get taken advantage of. It’s kind of a catch-22. In your mind, you feel if you don’t, there are so many politics downtown, you’re always trying to do the right thing so people don’t get upset.” The Republic writes this about the Court Tower bribe, “In another, an employee accepted gratuities from companies that were awarded tens of millions of dollars in public money for construction of the new court tower in downtown Phoenix.” We wonder how far up the chain this will go. Knowing the long history of unethical behavior by the Supervisors and their hatchet man County Manager David Smith, we suspect they have received free tickets too. At a minimum, how could they have let this corruption go on for years? They squelched the Court Tower investigation and are now trying to disbar Andrew Thomas over his attempt to investigate it. We smell a rat. We will keep you updated. Full Arizona Republic article

Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal Announces Initiative to Promote Civic Literacy for Arizona Students
ADE to Spearhead New “American Heritage – Arizona Centennial Initiative”

Phoenix, AZ, December 7, 2011– Today, on the 70th anniversary of the attack on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal announced a new Arizona Department of Education Initiative designed to help Arizona’s children learn about their rights, roles and responsibilities as American citizens. The new “American Heritage – Arizona Centennial Initiative” will help strengthen our students’ civic literacy as American citizens and learn about Arizona’s unique heritage and the important role that our veterans have played in securing our precious freedoms.

“As Americans, we enjoy our freedom and the rule of law through the visionary documents that our Founding Fathers created,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal. “As educators, we play a special role in helping our children learn about their rights, roles and responsibilities as American citizens. This is critical to helping each generation sustain and strengthen these values that define the United States.”

This new initiative of the Superintendent’s Office will launch in 2012 in conjunction with Arizona’s Centennial and will bring the tools and resources together for our state’s teachers and schools to highlight important historical and civic concepts during their normal course lessons and will help bring the unique perspectives of our nation’s veterans into the classroom.

In support of the Superintendent’s “American Heritage – Arizona Centennial Initiative,” the Arizona Department of Education will:

• Create a dedicated page on its website to host partner information and resources that schools can use for lesson plans, curriculum and veteran classroom or assembly visits
• Design and distribute via electronic media materials for schools to use in conjunction with the Centennial celebration
• Produce and host on the website video messages from the Superintendent, veterans and historians that can be shown in schools and classrooms
• Identify opportunities for veterans to be brought into schools and classrooms to speak to students

Opportunities to Participate in the American Heritage – Arizona Centennial Initiative:

February 14 – Arizona’s Centennial
February 20 – Presidents Day
May 1 – Loyalty Day
May 28 – Memorial Day
September 17 – Constitution Day
November 11 – Veterans Day
December 7 – Pearl Harbor Day
December 15 – Bill of Rights Day 

“The Joe Foss Institute is proud to be a part of this initiative,” declared Arizona based Joe Foss Institute (JFI) CEO Lucian Spataro, Jr., Ph. D. “JFI offers a living ‘history’ experience by sending Veterans into schools to interact with students, share their stories, teach about public service and each students’ responsibility to be good citizens. Our goal through this program and our online curriculum is to assist educators in teaching the basic foundation of how our government works and an appreciation for the uniqueness of our freedoms.”

“One of the primary reasons for Arizonans to commemorate our state’s centennial is to provide an opportunity for all to reflect on those who tirelessly gave of their time and service to help Arizona become the 48th state,” said Karen Churchard, executive director of the Arizona Centennial 2012 Foundation. “This exciting American Heritage – Arizona Centennial Initiative is a tremendous opportunity to create civic pride in our young people – and teach them the valuable lesson of giving back since they are the future! I applaud Superintendent Huppenthal for this initiative, which furthers our educational efforts for the Arizona Centennial.”

“I strongly encourage all Arizona schools to view 2012, and those days identified, as an opportunity for their students to learn more about the United State’s great heritage, Arizona’s wonderful history, and the brave legacy of the men and women who have served in our military,” concluded Superintendent Huppenthal.

John Huppenthal was sworn in as Arizona’s 19th Superintendent of Public Instruction on January 4, 2011. During his 26 years in public service, he has established himself as one of Arizona’s leading education reformers. As a state legislator, he successfully authored and passed over 200 bills, more bills than any other legislator in state history. A substantial number of those bills focused on improving education. For each of his 18 years in the state legislature, Huppenthal either served on or chaired education committees, most recently as the Chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

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INVITES YOU TO ATTEND

Sharia Law:  What We Need To Know

PRESENTED BY AL FADI

Date: Saturday, December 3, 2011
Time: 10:00 am – 12:00 noon
Location: The Scottsdale Bible Church  Room E-210
Address: 7601 E. Shea Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ

Al Fadi is a former Wahabbi Muslim from Saudi Arabia.  He is the researcher, editor, writer, and translator for numerous ministries, including “Answering Islam” and runs an outreach center called; the Center for Islamic Research & Awareness. The center focus is to bring awareness regarding Islam, to build bridges with Muslims, and to provide expert input on issues related to Sharia Law and Democracy.

Al is the editor, co-author and contributor of “The Qur’an Dilemma” (both English & Arabic versions) – a critical analysis book of the Qur’an. He is also the director of TheQuran.com Group (www.theQuran.com) which desires to assist both Muslims and non-Muslims who seek to learn more about the main source of Islamic teachings, the Qur’an, to research it, to critically analyze it, and to better comprehend its contents without the traditional religious and cultural barriers designed to indoctrinate and encapsulate the minds of many truth seekers.

Al has a Masters in Engineering and is currently working on completing his M.Div. in Biblical Communications. He is an invited teacher/lecturer on Islam and related Islamic study topics. He is an invited guest speaker and trainer at numerous churches and mission agencies on the topic of Islam & Evangelism to Muslims. As a former devout Muslim, he is an expert on the teaching and challenges of Islam. In addition, Al is an invited guest/expert on numerous Arabic evangelical Satellite TV and Radio shows on the topics of Islam and the Middle East.

Refreshments will be served

Cost: $10 per person

Go to www.arizonamainstreamproject.org to make payment by credit card.  If making payment at the door, please RSVP to Susan Leeper at 480-998-5022 or susan@arizonamainstreamproject.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 19, 2011
CONTACT:  Walt Opaska

GLENDALE, ARIZ (November 17, 2011)- City of Glendale mayoral candidate Walt Opaska today calls on Glendale’s city council and mayor to fire their lobbyist Gary Husk, due to his involvement in the Fiesta Bowl scandal.

On Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office indicted Natalie Wisneski, the former Fiesta Bowl Chief Operating Officer, for filing false financial statements and illegally reimbursing Fiesta Bowl employees and their family members for campaign contributions. The Wisneki indictment details Husk’s involvement in the scandal. In addition, Husk played an extensive role in the cover-up, according to the Fiesta Bowl Special Committee’s report on the scandal.

“In light of the indictment of Wisneski, it is outrageous that Glendale continues to pay Husk $10,000 a month. He has failed to live up to the ethical standards that Glendale’s citizens deserve, and I call on the city of Glendale to immediately terminate their contract with Husk,” said Walt Opaska. “He cannot be an effective advocate for the city’s needs while under an ethical black cloud.”

Gary Husk has worked as a lobbyist for the Fiesta Bowl since 2003. In addition to being a lobbyist for the Fiesta Bowl, Husk lobbies for the city of Glendale. Glendale pays Husk $120,000 a year for his services.

To learn more about Walt Opaska, please visit www.opaskaformayor.com.

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Distributed by C O M M O N  S E N S E , in Arizona

We were pretty disgusted to see how much the Maricopa County Supervisors are paying their favorite county employees. While other county agencies are laying off employees and haven’t given out raises in years, the County Supervisors continue to give their overpaid pet employees raises. YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK! You know what to do, vote them OUT in 2012 when they are all up for reelection. David Smith, the Supervisors’ hired gun who is behind a lot of the Supervisors’ attacks on Sheriff Arpaio and other county agencies, is THE HIGHEST PAID EMPLOYEE IN THE COUNTY. We are paying this skunk an exorbitant salary during a recession to go after Sheriff Arpaio??? Wade Swanson is a young attorney the Supervisors appointed to take over civil legal work when they stole the County Attorney’s Office away from Andrew Thomas. The Supervisors were ordered by the court to return it. Why is Wade Swanson still employed? And why is his salary higher than the County Attorney, who only makes $123,678? He also makes more than a Superior Court judge. Several of the other highest-paid attorneys, below, were lured away from the County Attorney’s Office to the Supervisors by offering them higher salaries. Why are they still there? They make more than almost every single employee at the County Attorney’s Office. It is brutally unfair to the hard working attorneys at the County Attorney’s Office that they are paid less money than those Supervisor cronies listed below. All of the following employees are under the Supervisors and were put there by them and report directly or indirectly to them. These are some of the top paid employees in the county: David Smith, County Manager $227,198 Stephen Wetzel, Director of Office of Enterprise Tech $194,480 Sandy Wilson, Deputy County Manager $193,440 Welton Harris, Assistant County Manager $175,240 Wade Swanson, Director of General Litigation $174,990 Augustin Alvarez, IT Consultant $138,694 Maria Brandon, Special Litigation $134,243 Christopher Bradley, Deputy Director of Budget $131,789 Brian Hushek, Deputy Director of Budget $131,144 Richard Stewart, Special Litigation $130,000 Thomas Gendron, IT consultant $129,501 Mary Cronin, General Litigation $124,821 Sherle Flaggman, General Litigation $124,821 Randall Garczynski, General Litigation $124,821 Brad Keogh, General Litigation $124,821 The Supervisors know how to pay off their cronies for loyalty using YOUR tax dollars. Remember this when election time rolls around next year!

Click here to view the embedded video.

STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX (Nov. 18, 2011) – Speaker Andy Tobin released the following statement today in response to the Arizona Supreme Court’s Reinstatement of the Independent Redistricting Commission chairwoman:

“I am extremely disappointed that the Court has chosen to reinstate a biased czar to the Independent Redistricting Commission. By placing Ms. Mathis back at the helm of the Commission, the Court has substituted its opinion for the voice of the people through those they have actually elected to represent them. The Court has removed the last remaining check and balance on an unelected and unaccountable body that has spent months blatantly and proudly violating open meeting laws, meeting in secret, ignoring voter mandates and placating the Democrat Party and the Obama administration. If this Commission is not put to a stop, the Court’s decision means more secrecy and more gerrymandering from a body that has shown a disdain for the Constitution. Moving forward, I am putting all options on the table in an effort to protect our state from being hijacked by a partisan ploy to demolish the democratic process.”

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