Recently it has come to the attention of many Arizona conservative activists and tea party members that there are a number of Teachers Union candidates posing as Republicans in our legislative races — make no mistake about it, these are Trojan Horse candidates…also known as “Democrats in Disguise”, or “DID’s” for short.  They are supported by the Arizona Educational Association, Teach for America, the ASU bureaucracy and most administrative organizations.

Parents who choose Christian schooling, online education, charters, secular private schools and home schooling should be particularly alarmed because these DID candidates are instinctively opposed to expanding school choice.

These chameleon candidates have been emboldened by the passage of a $3 Billion tax hike; also known as Proposition 100. Their plan is to cross the tax hike threshold by planting DIDs in a few heavily Republican districts.  Voters will be fooled into thinking they are voting for a fiscally Republican conservative, but they aren’t, and by the time they’d find out who these candidates really are – the damages will have already been done. The Arizona Republic and Citizens for Tax Justice (www.CTJ.org) claimed that Arizonans want to pay higher taxes, but the elected representatives in the legislature weren’t listening. So, this is their plan to implore candidates to vote for higher taxes for public education.

Their website (www.ExpectMoreArizona.org) says nothing about better education, just higher taxes. In fact here is a snipit from a “blogger” on their  ”Expect More Blog” by a supposed small buisiness owner:

“As a small business owner I believe we, the taxpayers of Arizona, should invest heavily in our public education system.  In fact, I am willing to step up and pay more in personal and business taxes so that we can hire the best teachers, build modern infrastructure and attract the most innovative and brilliant leaders…”

If successful, this group will turn the Arizona Legislature into a tax hike playground.  Most of the DIDs are teachers and school board members who are registered as Republicans but carry the platform of the teachers union and the Democratic Party. Make no mistake, these are NOT TRUE REPUBLICANS!

The Vote 4 Education DIDs generally file their petition signatures close to the deadline, and are running as traditionally funded candidates. Most have had no prior visible involvement in Republican Party politics and many are unknown to local Republican activists. Contrary to Conservative Republican views, they are proud supporters of government run education.  Many of these fake Republicans have endorsements from the infrastructure spending lobby, and have received significant PAC donations after the campaign finance filing deadlines so as to delay full disclosure to potential voters.

Take, for example, Heather Carter, Clinical Associate Professor at Arizona State University in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and now Republican House candidate in Legislative District 7 that touts she is registered Republican since 1988 and is a “A REPUBLICAN EDUCATOR WHO IS PRO BUSINESS” on her website.  Carter has stated she was for Prop 100, against tax limiting Prop 13 Arizona, and for more taxpayer money for schools.  She talks about balancing the state budget and fiscal responsibility, but no where can we see that she is about lowering taxes. More taxpayer funds (meaning increased taxes) and pro-business are two phrases that just don’t go hand-in-hand on a Republican ticket. She claims to have more than $20,000 in PAC donations and has teachers and union members working on her campaign, going door to door on her behalf.

Carter is currently involved with Teach for America in the education department at ASU.  She is closely linked with the education lobby. Her website shows endorsements from the Arizona Education Association teachers union, the Professional Firefighters of Arizona PAC, and the big government advocates at the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Craig Barton, former Professor at Ottawa University and University of Phoenix and now Republican House candidate in LD 7, is also a Vote 4 Education supporter.  Barton operates charter schools which depend on tax revenue to operate.  If elected, Barton will be able to vote more money to his and other charter schools.  Barton says he supports Prop 100 yet signed Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform (www.ATR.org) pledge not to raise taxes.

Note: LD7 Heather Carter and LD6′s David Braswell have teamed up for a fundraiser sponsored by the teacher’s union, on 22 July.   This needs to be exposed.  Quickly.  Voters need to know what they stand for, and who they really are.

Legislative Districts 6, 8, 10, 11, 21 and 22 all have known DIDs running for legislative seats.  The following candidates should be heavily scrutinized before the primary elections as all of them are suspected DID’s. Each one can potentially hold up a conservative reform agenda; not just educational reform, but tax and budget cuts.

• David Braswell, LD6 Senate
• Karen Fann, LD1 House
• Venessa Whitener, LD21 House
• Paul Howell, LD22 House
• Steve Urie, LD22 House
• Wade McLean, LD26 House
• Doug Sposito, LD30 House

The Arizona Education Association claims 81% of its members believe the State Legislature is the biggest obstacle to achieving success in our schools.  All they need is more of your hard earned money. They say the legislature is standing in the way of their “success”. If you vote for one of their candidates you are moving us one step closer to a 2/3 majority in the legislature required to raise your taxes. Vote 4 Education is nothing more than a Vote 4 Higher Taxes plain and simple, and these candidates are aware of this. They are fooling the Arizona public into thinking that they are fiscal Republicans only because they know they would have no chance at winning an election as a Democrat in these districts. Do not be fooled. Please spread the word.

“What does the future hold for Arizona? I envision a vibrant economic community, where people are employed, businesses are thriving and children are well-educated. I want a safe Arizona with a secure national border.”

(NOTE: The Republic makes it pretty clear to candidates that they will not be editing or proof-reading any candidate statements. All “My Turn” articles are published as-is and it is up to the candidate to make sure they submit only their best work. Fair enough, since the Republic interns are busy writing the news for the next day…)

“I am running for office to do the job that needs to get done – create a plan for Arizona that enables us to balance the budget, set a course for the future and focus on strong schools, strong economy and a safe community. I think part of the problem at the capital is people lose sight of the core mission…”

Now, I’m not sure what subject Mrs. Carter taught our LD7 children in school, but she must have had at least one dictionary in her classroom… Or maybe not, since she doesn’t know the difference between, “capital: as in, financial capital” and “capitol: as in the buildings making up our state capitol which Mrs. Carter wishes to serve in”. Let’s just hope she’s never taught civics/government/economics or any of the reading/English classes available to our kids.

“…get caught up in special-interest agenda items that take time and energy away from what we should be doing…”

Wait a second. I remember reading something about this… Oh yeah: Heather Carter was endorsed by the liberal AEA Union. This liberal union has been responsible for threatening legislators, protesting on the capitol lawn, holding back the budget process, as well as encouraging teachers to push Prop 100 using our kids. We’d like to know if Heather Carter was following her union boss in the picket lines last Spring. Seems like the only way the AEA union would endorse a Republican is if they knew they had her in their special-interest pocket…

Let’s make sure we support real conservatives, this August and November. Not union lackeys.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Observe the two styles of leadership exhibited here. Treasurer Martin is calm cool and collective but definitely firm in his warning to Governor Napolitano that the State of Arizona is going broke. Napolitano is clearly shaken, grabs her things and storms off.

Shortly thereafter, Governor Napolitano departed the State of Arizona leaving Secretary of State Jan Brewer to succeed her. With a Republican Governor at the helm, one would think that Brewer would have taken the Chris Christie approach to the state budget and cut, cut, cut spending. Instead we got a Governor who hiked, hiked, hiked the sales tax 18%. (Incidentally, the last Governor to do this was another Republican, Jane Hull.)

Now the State still finds itself in a budget crisis with no sign of closing the deficit and a recession that will likely double-dip.

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

Tomorrow Arizonans head to the polls to vote up or down an on 18% sales tax increase. Proponents have been running television ads on TV claiming that our schoolchildren will be hurt if it does not pass. Really? One out of every nine children in Arizona’s schools came here illegally, and that is considered a conservative estimate. $430 million from Prop. 100 is designated to go to K-12 education. 1/9th of that equals $47 million. And even that is a conservative estimate, because the state is required to give more money to schools in poor neighborhoods – which have more illegal immigrants. Do the schools really need this additional money? SB1070 has resulted in thousands of illegals fleeing the state. There will be less children in the schools so less money is needed to teach them. In reality, the schools don’t need more money, they need to be better managed. For example, “While cutting teacher pay, laying off teachers, and pleading poverty, Paradise  Valley Unified School District was busy spending $49 MILLION on no bid contracts to ‘green’ some offices, expand the Benefits Office, buy sustainable green recycled carpet at 31 sites and sustainable roofs at 16 locations.” Click here to read the full outrageous story. If the state is really broke, there are other areas that can be cut instead of raising taxes, like cutting off the millions of tax dollars given to private lobbyists for government agencies each year. Government agencies shouldn’t be paying expensive outside lobbyists to grow and perpetuate their bureaucracies. If Prop. 100 passes, you can fully expect to see millions more of your money going for non-educational purposes like “greening” the schools, and more than $47 million to illegal immigrants. Please forward to everyone you know.

I can’t urge voters enough to go to the polls on Tuesday and vote NO on Prop. 100.  The election was purposefully held on an odd date (Tuesday, May 18) and was intended to be the only issue on the ballot so that a low voter turnout and voter disinterest would allow highly organized constituencies to confiscate more of your money so they can waste it.  Teachers unions, school administrators, police unions, fire unions, the brainwashed parents of public school students, local government workers, construction contractors that build schools and their associated trade unions, etc. will all turn out on Tuesday if they haven’t already sent in their early ballots to force those least able to afford higher taxes to pay more for their purchases.  Arizonans should know well that the lottery was supposed to fund education, and we have repeatedly voted for bonds and overrides and we have thrown money at education time and again all to no avail.  No matter how much money we throw at education, greedy administrators and entrenched special interests will ensure Arizona’s students remain at the back of the pack.  It’s time to send state government a loud and clear message that it’s time to trim the fat.

Mr. Trichel, I strongly urge you to press charges against the student.  It will teach him that the First Amendment still means something and it will convince future tyrants who hate liberty and the free exchange of ideas to think twice before trampling on the rights of others.  Would this tool or his ilk have mercy for any anti-Prop 100 individuals who were caught tearing down Yes on Prop. 100 signs?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Calculating how much he can spend

According to his campaign brochure, “Konopnicki opposes bigger government and party politics at taxpayer expenses” … Bill has “listened to your concerns … represented YOU and your issues…”  And finally, Bill Supports “… solving the budget problem.” [that he helped create]

The following oldie but goodie from the vault clearly illustrates where this term limited House member’s heart is – and just when Arizona’s economy was beginning to show signs of what was to come.

No wonder your county officials love him, they’re underpaid.

Az House-Senate panel clears way for county officials’ pay
Arizona Capitol Times, May 18, 2007 | by Luige del Puerto

A group of Arizona lawmakers stripped off an amendment to a proposal that would have required elected county officials to vote to accept a pay hike.

The current version of H2102, sponsored by Rep. William Konopnicki, R-5, seeks to raise the annual salary of seven county officials by approximately 13 percent. Affected officials include the county
attorney, assessor, recorder, sheriff, superintendent of schools, supervisors and treasurer.

In the original bill, the county attorney, for example, is guaranteed an increase to $123,678 from $109,450, and the sheriff, an increase to $100,824 from $89,225, beginning January 2009.
On May 15, six lawmakers – three members from each chamber – met in a conference committee and
adopted the House version of H2102. That version, which contains the sponsor’s original intent, now

goes back to the Senate and the House for final votes.
Konopnicki was opposed to the Senate amendment, offered by Sen. Ron Gould, R-3. His intent was to
remove the amendment in the conference.

Gould, who represented the Senate side together with Senators Jake Flake, R-5, and Rebecca Rios, D-23, anticipated the move.  Immediately after the House side voted to adopt the House version, Gould offered a verbal amendment to the Senate version of the bill.  The gist of his verbal motion was to require the county board of supervisors to take a majority vote to accept all or part of the proposed pay raise.

Unfortunately, the video recorders on the highways only represent 10% of all photo radar on the streets in Arizona.  Therefore, their ballot initiative is actively continuing to collect signatures in order to ensure that the remaining 90% of these streaming video surveillance devices and revenue generators (which actually increase accident rates) get taken down permanently.

In other words, by ending the contract, the state has effectively done next to nothing for Arizona citizens.  A big THANK YOU to camerafraud.com and Arizona Citizens Against Photo Radar for continuing the fight to bring down the 90% of video recording cameras that will remain on Arizona’s streets after the Reflex cameras on the highways come down in July.

These new estimates highlight the fact that Prop. 100 fails to address the state’s long-term structural deficit brought on by too much spending. Past spending and new programs were not adequately funded when they were signed into law. But the damage this caused to the state’s financial stability wasn’t clear for a few years because tax revenues spiked during the real estate bubble. JLBC’s deficit projections assume the state maintains current eligibility requirements for taxpayer-funded health care, which is likely given the new mandates passed under the federal health care bill.

Prop. 100 is, at best, a partial, short-term fix to a long-term problem. Projected deficits in 2014 markedly worsen with the proposition’s passage for one simple reason: The tax increase is supposed to be temporary. This will allow the government to keep spending more than it would otherwise bring in through regular tax collections. In contrast, if Prop.100 is rejected, the state will have to adjust its spending priorities and get spending back in line with the normal tax revenues coming in the door.

Increasing taxes “temporarily” now just assures that we will have this debate again in three years. The only way to permanently solve an over-spending problem is to stop over-spending. That means we must take on the challenge of weeding out ineffective programs and waste and stop asking families to sacrifice so the government doesn’t have to.

Dr. Byron Schlomach is an economist and the director of the Center for Economic Prosperity at the Goldwater Institute.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I tried to find the Yes on 100 video the governor appears on TV on to include in this post.

But after watching this, I’m amazed.  Who does she really work for?

Well, if you are stumping for left wing unions and PACs, who are the major funders for this effort, well then, you’re working for left wing unions and PACs.

The ads are clever and list the most inane sounding unions and PACs as “major donors”, like the fire union and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, but dig into the donor list and see who you find.  The ultra-left wing AEA, among other more notorious liberals.

Does Jan Brewer believe that one of these left wingers will EVER vote for her?  They wont.  Not until heck freezes over.

Jan Brewer and those Republicans who support her, in the true spirit of Orwellian doublethink and doublespeak, purport to be Reagan conservatives while simultaneously proclaiming that prosperity will only come via a tax increase.

They attempt to provide themselves with political cover by saying that Reagan raised taxes to close deficits.  Did he?  Arguable.  What is unarguable is that Reagan NEVER argued that you can tax yourself into prosperity.  But that is precisely the type of “leadership” Ms. Brewer would have us believe is Republican leadership.

It’s a farce.  They are trying to turn the world upsidedown and then say it’s right side up.  They are being left wing liberals and supporting left wing liberal agendas while trying to claim to be conservative Republicans and doing so in the midst of the TeaParty revolution.

Could the governor do anything MORE to hurt the Arizona Republican Party at this point in time?  I don’t think so.

This little gem is the best though.  See this video below, in it you will hear the standard tax and spend mantra:

Unless you vote to increase taxes, the prison doors will open, the school doors will close, children will die and ambulances will stop running.

Anytime you hear that, you are hearing a tax-and-spend liberal speaking about their issue. 

If the governor had any shame whatsoever, she would be embarassed by this.  I’m sorry, Governor, you cannot tax yourself into prosperity, no matter how you spin it.  Also, conservatives don’t advocate for tax increases, no matter how you spin it. 

If you’re going to argue that she’s pro-life, therefore she’s conservative?  Well there are pro-life democrats too.  Just being pro-life does not a conservative make.

Anyway, here goes…..  Jan Brewer: People are Going to Die Unless Prop 100 Passes

Click here to view the embedded video.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.  But I’m mad.

In two weeks, Arizona voters will decide if we should raise the state sales tax by 18 percent. We’re being told this money will “protect education.” We’ve been down this road before and it didn’t work out the way we were promised.

Ten years ago, we voted to raise our sales tax and dedicate the extra money to classroom spending. This year, the Arizona auditor general did an investigation and found that just over half of that money actually makes it to the classroom.

Click here to watch a 30-second video explaining this issue.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For every teacher in Arizona, there is almost one “non-teacher” on the payroll. Tucson Unified School District, for example, has hundreds of employees who work at the school district headquarters. Those folks aren’t in the schools teaching children.

Beyond excessive numbers of “non-teachers,” money is spent on all sorts of other non-classroom related items. TUSD’s website proudly highlights its wellness program that “aids in developing physical activity, healthy nutrition, stress and disease management and self care lifestyles.” But this wellness program isn’t for children. It’s for the adults who work for the district. Tax dollars that should be helping children learn instead are going to programs to help teachers lose weight.

One more note on TUSD. This headline in yesterday’s Arizona Daily Star caught my eye: “TUSD board rejects cutting own staff.”

Multiply Tucson’s excesses across the state’s 165 school districts and it might be easier to forgive me for being skeptical when I hear that the only choice we have is to raise our taxes or fire a bunch of teachers. If politicians were serious about protecting education, they would reduce the amount of money going to the massive education bureaucracy and stop funding programs that don’t help children learn.

We have already raised our taxes with the promise that the money would get to the classroom. If the government hasn’t kept that promise, why would they keep this one?

Starlee Rhoades is Vice President of External Affairs at the Goldwater Institute.

PHOENIX – Arizona state government has become a victim of the boom-and-bust economic cycle. Policymakers ramp up state spending when tax revenues are rising, then they must rush to cut back programs when the economy contracts and tax revenues fall. Voters expected to stop such yo-yo spending when they amended the Arizona Constitution 30 years ago by capping the annual amount of money the state can spend.

A new study from the Goldwater Institute reports that reform of the spending limit could prevent financial problems like those Arizona is facing today from happening in the future. “Put Arizona on a Real Budget: New Spending Limit Can Restore State’s Fiscal Health” outlines why the state should use population growth and inflation to set the spending limit, instead of the current measure of personal income.

“Arizona needs an effective spending limit that prevents the budget rollercoaster and allows core government services to keep pace with our growing state,” said Byron Schlomach, Ph.D., author of the study and director of the Goldwater Institute’s Center for Economic Prosperity.

Colorado adopted this type of spending limit in 1994. That state has had the greatest reduction in poverty since then and has weathered the current recession better than most states. Colorado voters did suspend the spending limit in 2005 for five years, largely because the limit adopted there prompted state spending growth to fall below population growth and inflation during recessions.

A new Arizona spending limit could prevent that situation by directly tying the limit to the historical sum of population growth and inflation, by allowing voters to circumvent the limit for specific purposes, and by including provisions for a fully funded budget cash reserve and for an emergency fund, the study says.

Arizona’s current spending limit based on the total personal income of everyone in the state has been ineffective, allowing spending to rise and fall rapidly with the economy without ever reaching the annual cap. As a result, Arizona is now in the midst of one of the worst fiscal crises in the country. The state budget expanded by 17 percent in 2006 and just two years later faced a $1.5 billion deficit.

“If a limit based on population growth and inflation had been in place since 2001, the state could have had a $500 million budget surplus instead of a billion dollar deficit when the recession hit in 2007, which would have meant fewer budget reductions now,” Dr. Schlomach said.

Read “Put Arizona on a Real Budget: New Spending Limit Can Restore State’s Fiscal Health” here.

The Goldwater Institute is an independent government watchdog supported by people who are committed to expanding free enterprise and liberty.

Let’s think about this. If the state economists are right, it means the more we tax and let government spend, the more jobs we’ll have. Well, let me get on that bandwagon! Let’s not stop at an 18 percent tax hike; let’s double the tax rate and government spending along with it. We’d get a whole lot more economic growth.

The absurdity of this tortured economic reasoning, based on a popular Depression-era theory, can be illustrated by looking at a photo of earth taken at night. If the state economists were right, North Korea would be more than a big, dark blot. North Korea and Cuba would outshine the world with their prosperity.

Last year the Goldwater Institute asked the independent Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University to estimate the economic impact if the state raised the sales tax. They found the state will lose 14,000 private sector jobs. 

So which should you believe, the models of the university economists or the Beacon Hill model?

Beacon Hill’s model is consistent with real world evidence, like North Korea and Cuba. New research based on real-world experience in the United States by eminent Harvard University economist Robert Barro indicates that reducing government spending does not hurt the economy but tax increases do. Current research highlighted by the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank comes to a similar conclusion.

Arizonans have a choice. They can choose to believe Beacon Hill’s economic estimates, which is consistent with real world evidence, or they can choose to believe a prediction based on a theory that evidence contradicts. Modern empirical results make it clear that a tax increase will damage our economic growth.

Dr. Byron Schlomach is an economist and the director of the Center for Economic Prosperity at the Goldwater Institute.

Tax Day is here, and even after everyone has finished paying Uncle Sam, the people of Arizona will be asked to pay even more.

Early voting starts in one week for the proposed 18 percent increase in the state sales tax. Champions of this tax hike claim the state budget has been cut to the bone. But did policymakers really get rid of all of the fat before asking for another $400 per family each year?

The Goldwater Institute has been explaining since January 2009 that the state of Arizona should fix its spending priorities first, instead of demanding that taxpayers sacrifice even more. This video illustrates how the state budget still has plenty of places to cut:

Click here to watch video

Le Templar is Communications Director for the Goldwater Institute