Citizens United endorses Jesse Kelly in AZ-08 special

Phoenix taxpayers recently paid almost a half a million dollars for a report that looked at city-employee compensation. The report reveals that some types of workers get paid more than the market average; some get paid less. But when you include benefits, the report found that all government workers in Phoenix are vastly better off than private sector workers.

These findings could have been obtained for a fraction of the cost, simply by surveying existing academic literature. Unlike the Goldwater Institute’s own research, which has revealed that public sector collective bargaining costs taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, there is little in the way of actual “news” in the new Phoenix report. In fact, the report missed an opportunity to uncover the real differences in pay and benefits between government and private workers in the City of Phoenix.

The Phoenix report omits any comparison of the hourly compensation of government versus private sector workers. It’s a big omission, particularly since the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported state and local government workers receive average hourly compensation that is 44 percent higher than private sector workers.

This failure to compare hourly compensation, despite abundant resources to do so, demonstrates that the city-funded report doesn’t present an accurate picture of the local differences in compensation between government and private sector workers. It also calls into question whether this omission was inadvertent or by design — such an analysis may have revealed that government employees receive dramatically more hourly compensation than private sector workers.

Nick Dranias holds the Clarence J. and Katherine P. Duncan Chair for Constitutional Government and is director of the Joseph and Dorothy Donnelly Moller Center for Constitutional Government at the Goldwater Institute.

Stephen Slivinski is the Senior Economist with the Goldwater Institute.

Learn more:

Goldwater Institute: Save Taxpayers Tens of Billions of Dollars

City of Phoenix: Balancing Competitive Employment and Stewardship of Public Funds

The information is repeated below in text format to make it easier to copy into your calendar:

Location:
Rock Bottom Brewery at Desert Ridge Marketplace
21001 N Tatum Blvd, Phoenix, AZ 85050
(Near intersection of N Tatum and Hwy 101)
Date: Wednesday,Feb.8, 2012. (2nd Wed of Month)
Time: Dinner (order from menu) available at 6 pm.
Meeting from 7-8:30 pm

Contact Information:
Howard Levine,
NE Valley Chapter Chairman
Howard_Levine@rocketmail.com , www.pachydermcoalition.com
480-577-4168

Campaigns can continue to send press releases for publication which will be posted as time allows but we will also be glad to post event invitations and fundraising messages for a reasonable rate. That means if a campaign has a unique link that will raise money or collect voter or donor information, we will offer space on Sonoran Alliance but it will cost you.

Sonoran Alliance has been a labor of love for many years and we have put more hours into this project than we can count. It’s time for the site to finally pay for itself and compensate those who have given their time and energies to its development and success.

If you are interested in getting your message out, please email us at sonoranalliance [at] gmail.com to get started.

Conservatives, represented mostly by those in the Tea Party Movement, are largely responsible for the Republican Party re-capture of the House of Representatives in 2010.  The Establishment folks sort of know that and sometimes mutter a few grudging words of acknowledgment, but they are loathe to raise the subject or deal with it in any serious way.  Nor do the Establishment types see themselves as any kind of “faction” within the party.  To them, they are the party.

Take for example the nominally conservative Jeb Bush, who seems to scoff at the notion of a party “establishment”.  Says Jeb:

I don’t know what the Republican establishment is. I haven’t learned the secret handshake, and I don’t know where to go for a membership card.

Should we be surprised at Jeb Bush for his seeming blind spot? After all, are fish aware of the water they swim in?

Senik defines the Establishment types as:

… long-time denizens of Washington or other loci of power. They are institutionalized elected officials, money men, party leaders, or grandees of business, consultancies or advocacy groups. And they are often made suspect by the duration of their power, a trait that gives pause to Conservatives who believe that a dedication to limited government entails a devotion to not assimilating to the ways of the Beltway.

These include, of course, the very same Republicans who were present when the House and Senate voted for entitlement programs that any competent accountant could have shown to be impossible to pay for — ever.  With their “old friends across the aisle” (a favorite John McCain phrase), they have effectively signed our children and grandchildren into debt bondage. Did they try to warn us?  Did they try to stop the growth of these programs?  Shame on them.  Recently, they had a chance to make at least a show of repentance by voting for term limits.  Alas, even that token gesture was too much for Senators like McCain and Jon Kyl.  They voted against term limits.  Double shame on them.

Senik concludes with the following observations and a call to Conservatives to prepare for a long-term struggle with the Establishment as well as the Democrats.

The establishment had its turn at the wheel over the last decade and the conservative movement reaped a whirlwind as a result. Federal spending and deficits increased; regulation proliferated; entitlements expanded; embarrassing pork projects passed through Congress as part of a gentleman’s agreement in which both parties agreed to gorge their special interest benefactors; bailouts were given to the financial and automotive industries, and, in the end, the Republican Party was rebuked at the ballot box.

Conservatives should not delude themselves into thinking this is a passing trend. Over the past century, only three men – Calvin Coolidge, Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan – were able to beat back establishment pretensions and earn the party’s presidential nomination. As of this writing, it looks unlikely that a similarly situated candidate will earn the nomination in 2012.

Many Tea Partiers and their sympathists will undoubtedly interpret this as a source of grief. But their demoralization is premature. A short-term focus on beating the establishment has not yielded fruit. That calls not for sorrow, but for a long-term focus on replacing it outright.

To that last line, I can only add amen.

When I first heard Governor Brewer’s proposal to retire debt on the state’s capitol buildings, I thought it was a bad idea. The main reason: early-payoff penalties. There just was no good reason to bear such costs.

It turns out that early payoff penalties are not an issue. The state has to deposit a lump-sum of $106 million into an account that is held by a third party, over which ownership is exercised by the creditors who lent the state the $81 million secured by the capitol buildings. The cash substitutes for the buildings as collateral and we get back the deeds, free and clear.

The $106 million accounts for all the interest and principal we were going to have to spend to pay off the loan over the next 20 years. There is no pre-payment penalty.

Some might say that getting back the capitol buildings’ paper is just symbolic nonsense for the sake of the state’s centennial. And sentiment is a bad reason to pursue any policy. But this is more than a feel-good idea.

The biggest advantage to this early payoff, though, is that it avoids the temptation to spend temporary money on ongoing programs – the ones that it looks like we can afford now, but that we might not be able to afford later. We did that for several years before the recession, and look where that got us.

It’s not safe to assume we’ve entered into a long-term, steady economic expansion with steady government revenues to accompany it. So, while we have a temporary surplus, let’s pay down the state’s debt.

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

Learn more:

Office of the Governor: The Facts about a Capitol Buy-Back

Goldwater Institute: Living Debt Free: Restoring Arizona’s Commitment to its Constitutional Debt Limit

For Immediate Release: February 7, 2012
Contact: Joshua W. Jones

PHOENIX – Today, Save Our Secret Ballot (SOS Ballot) announced that Gov. Jeb Bush will keynote an event in Scottsdale, Az., on Monday, Feb. 13, 2012, to highlight the continued need for a secret ballot wherever state or federal law requires an election.

Chaired by the Hon. Ken Blackwell, SOS Ballot appeared on the 2010 ballot in four states, including Arizona, where it passed with 60 percent of the vote—sending a firm statement that the majority of Arizonans want to protect workers’ rights to a secret ballot.

“Big Labor is demanding to change the way unions are organized: namely, to end an employee’s right to a secret-ballot when deciding whether or not to join a union,” said Blackwell. “Eliminating the secret-ballot requirement opens the process up to widespread intimidation,” he continued.

“If unions get their way, a business could be unionized virtually overnight—no campaign, no election and certainly no secret ballot,” said Blackwell.

Shortly after passing SOS Ballot, the union-controlled National Labor Relations Board threatened to file legal suit against each of the four states SOS Ballot passed if the states recognized the provisions approved by voters.

In April, the NLRB initiated suits against Arizona and South Carolina, reserving the right to initiate a suit against the other two states.

To the NLRB lawsuit, Joshua W. Jones, a spokesman for SOS Ballot says, “Bring it on.”

“The radical progressives in the Obama Administration have made it clear that they do not want to respect workers’ rights,” said Jones.

“Unions spent $171 million during the 2010 congressional elections and more than $400 million to elect Obama,” said Jones. “While Obama continues to represent well-funded-union-interests, SOS Ballot will continue fighting to represent the average American worker,” he continued.

The event on Feb. 13 has already drawn the support of dozens of Arizona legislators and all four attorney generals where SOS Ballot was passed in 2010.

“We are enthusiastic to have Gov. Bush joining us at our event on Monday,” said Blackwell. “At SOS Ballot, we are gearing up for an aggressive fight in front of the United States Supreme Court, the venue where this issue will ultimately be decided,” he continued.

###

Chaired by the Hon. Ken Blackwell, SOS Ballot, Inc. (Save Our Secret Ballot) is a 501(c)(4) organization dedicated to educating the American public on the continued need for a secret ballot wherever state or federal law requires elections. To continue to protect this inalienable right, SOS Ballot will file and place on the ballot in various states a Constitutional Amendment to protect this right. SOS Ballot and our supporters believe that a voter’s right to a secret ballot is an essential and fundamental principle in our society and offers opportunities for broader voter participation. Without the ability to vote secretly, individual political freedom will decline and be subject to threats and intimidation by those who want voters to pursue a specific course of action or ideology.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 7, 2012
CONTACT: Sen. Russell Pearce

Ban Amnesty Now president says America’s highest court will not turn back on states’ rights

PHOENIX—Senator Russell Pearce, the author of SB1070 and newly-appointed president of America’s largest grassroots anti-illegal immigration organization, said today the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear arguments on Arizona’s contested SB1070 legislation was great news for every legal U.S. citizen.

“When the activist judges in lower federal courts bowed to Barack Obama’s whims and put illegal aliens ahead of American citizens, undermined the Rule of Law, they followed in the president’s footsteps in perpetrating a great injustice against our nation, our citizens Constitutional rights and the state of Arizona,” said Pearce.

“We are a nation of fifty sovereign U.S. states, not a nation of 50 subservient states to be dictated to by a Big Brother leviathan. When the Supreme Court rules, I expect that Washington will learn an important lesson in its proper role, not just on immigration but in its role in governance,” Pearce said.

“We send far too much money to Washington for this to be the treatment we get in return. Sovereign U.S. states and legal U.S. citizens were never meant by our Founding Fathers to become penniless orphans in some Twilight Zone version of a Charles Dickens story, begging for scraps from an all-powerful, dictatorial federal government which waves full ladles of nourishment above our heads but never pours anything into our bowls,” said Pearce.

“When the Court rules, I expect power to return to the states, and Ban Amnesty Now by then will be working diligently to pass SB1070-style legislation in all 50 states, like Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia already have” he said. “The president can sue every state if he pleases, or he can get out of the way while we do the job Washington won’t in protecting our great nation from illegal aliens.

“I fully expect we, the legal citizens of Arizona and America, will win in the Supreme Court on SB1070, just as we did with Arizona’s Employers Sanction Law, the toughest in the nation, which goes after illegal employers and protects American jobs and was upheld five-to-three in the Supreme Court,” said Pearce.

While 6 of the 10 provisions of SB1070 were upheld, four main provisions of the contested SB1070 were blocked from implementation by lower courts, including:

(1) requiring law enforcement officers to make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, detained or arrested if there is reasonable suspicion that person is an illegal alien;

(2) creating a crime of failure to apply for or carry “alien-registration papers”;

(3) permitting the arrest of an illegal alien in which there is probable cause to believe the individual committed a public offense that makes him or her removable from the U.S.; and,

(4) making it a crime for illegal aliens to solicit, apply for or perform work.

“America is greater than any one man, than any one president,” said Pearce. “I believe the court will rule on the side of law, our Constitution, and states’ rights, and that we will prove our nation can indeed work again. This will be an important ruling, an important milestone, in a long road ahead to restoring the rule of law, America’s economy, political and national security.”

# # #

PHOENIX, AZ: Representative Ben Quayle issued the following statement regarding his decision to seek reelection to the House of Representatives. Quayle announced today that he will be running in Congressional District 6, where more than two-thirds of his current constituents live:

“The House of Representatives was conceived and designed to provide local representation of the diverse communities of America. The work of Arizona’s redistricting commission has placed many people in difficult positions, but at the end of the day my choice is to continue representing the people I represent today. The large majority of them are in District 6, and their values are my values.

“It has been a privilege to get to know my constituents, both as a candidate and as their Congressman. In my initial year in Congress I have focused on maintaining my connection to them. The interactions I’ve had with them and the relationships we’ve built have enabled me to be an effective advocate and voice for the community.

“As this primary moves forward I sincerely hope we will see a campaign focused on the critical issues facing Arizona and our country. This should be a substantive race with a tone that honors our party, our nation and the voters of the 6th District.

“I ran for Congress because Washington needs real reform. We need to simplify the tax code, end unnecessary regulations and free America’s creative spirit. I believe that members of Congress need to give up their gold-plated pensions and perks and share in the same sacrifice as all Americans. I believe we need to end the complacent career culture of politics in Washington and shake up the system. I believe we have a president who fundamentally misunderstands America, and an administration that has serially abused Arizona. I want to go back to Washington to fight for the state I love and the values I believe in. With the continued support of my fellow Arizonans, that’s what I will do.”

###

OBAMACARE:  Join us for this informative panel discussion

Phoenix, AZ – On Wednesday, February 8, 2012, Arizona Mainstream Project (AMP) will bring to the public a panel discussion on Obamacare.  Speaking on this panel will be Goldwater Institute’s Senior Attorney Diane Cohen and Director – Center for Economic Prosperity Byron Schlomach, Dr. Jeff Singer, and former AZ Congressman John Shadegg.  550 KFYI Talk Host Terry Gilberg will be the moderator for the discussion.

Each panel member will share their personal expertise and direct involvement with uncovering the facts about The Affordable Care Act and how it has begun and will continue to negatively impact the lives of ALL Americans.  You will gain a better understanding of this law and how it applies to your access to health care, the current legal battles, and how you can help stop this anti-American and socialistic agenda.

 Date: Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Location:  Goldwater Institute Auditorium
Address: 500 E. Coronado Road, Phoenix,  AZ

Time: 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm (doors open at 5:30)

Light snacks and beverages will be served

Cost:  $10.00 per person

To reserve your seat we encourage you to RSVP and purchase tickets in advance

Go to: http://www.arizonamainstreamproject.org/#q=Seminars-18

or send payment to:

Arizona Mainstream Project
15029 N. Thompson Peak Parkway
Suite B-111 Box 589
Scottsdale, AZ 85260

This panel discussion will be STREAMED LIVE from AMP’s website.

A “Live Stream” button will be available on our homepage www.ArizonaMainstreamProject.org on the day of the event.  Follow the instructions to access the live video stream.

Contact: Honey Marques, Executive Director, at 808-283-3661 or honey@arizonamainstreamproject.org

Arizona Mainstream Project is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit charitable grassroots organization whose mission is to attract, educate, and mobilize the people of Arizona around America’s founding principles and leadership. AMP believes in the principles of a constitutionally limited government, free markets, fiscal responsibility, and individual liberty to promote the common good and prosperity for the people of Arizona.

In the first episode of The Cosby Show, Cliff Huxtable explains to Theo how to keep track of a budget. Using Monopoly money, they wrestle over the costs of living on your own. Finally, Theo pledges to survive with only the bare necessities and has $200 left over for the month. As Theo beams with pride, Cliff asks, “Are you going to have a girlfriend?” and then plucks the remaining bills out of Theo’s hand.

Two weeks ago, the real Bill Cosby offered a lesson in school finance in preparation for National School Choice Week: “[E]ducation is not a thing that big bucks happens to be the answer [to].” He says, “We have a moral and societal obligation to give our children the opportunity to succeed in school, at work, and in life. We cannot meet that obligation unless parents are empowered to select the best schools of their children.”

Shortly after Cosby made his comments, families around Arizona cheered Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Maria Del Mar Verdin’s ruling upholding the state’s one-of-a-kind education savings account program. Judge Del Mar Verdin wrote in her opinion, “The exercise of parental choice among educational options makes the program constitutional.”

For students with special needs, like Nathan Howard, the decision couldn’t have been better. His mother, Amanda, says that since Nathan started at his new school, a move made possible by the savings account, she has seen “such a huge difference.” For the first time he can almost speak in full sentences.

HB 2626, sponsored by Rep. Debbie Lesko and Sens. Gould, Klein, Melvin, Murphy, and Yarborough, would extend the opportunity for a brighter future to the 94,000 students in Arizona’s lowest-performing schools. The bill also offers hope to Arizona’s intellectually gifted students, another underserved population, as well as to students in military families.

HB 2626 is a tremendous step toward providing all students the best opportunity to succeed.

Jonathan Butcher is the Education Director for the Goldwater Institute.

Learn more:

Education Next: Challenging the Gifted

Goldwater Institute: Superior Court Upholds Education Savings Accounts

The Cosby Show: Season 1, Episode 1

National School Choice Week: Bill Cosby is IN for National School Choice Week

The Daily Caller: Bill Cosby on Education: More funding is not the answer

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

Dear Arizona Taxpayer,

Today in the Senate Government Reform Committee, the majority members voted in favor of four important bills that would reform powerful government-worker unions:

SB 1484 — Paycheck Protection for Government Employees — Prohibits government employers from taking money from employee’s paychecks for union activities without express annual authorization.

SB 1485 — Prohibition on Government Collective Bargaining — Prohibits government employers from engaging in collective bargaining (including “meet and confer”) with government unions.

SB 1486 — Prohibition on Government Union Release Time — Prohibits government employers from paying employees to do union activities on the taxpayer dime.

SB 1487 — Prohibition on Withholding of Dues for Government Unions — Prohibits government employers from withholding any portion of public employee wages to pay for labor organization dues.

To send quick thank-you emails to the members of the Committee, click here. For Goldwater Institute fact sheets on the above bills, click on the bold bill titles, above.

TAKE ACTION! 

Senate Bills 1484, 1485, 1486 and 1487 will be heading soon to floor votes in the full Senate. Please help us rein in Arizona’s powerful government unions by sending an email to your state Senator in support of these bills.

To take action, simply REPLY to this email and click SEND. It will automatically send an email to your State Senator! You can also customize your message and take action by clicking here. 

To learn more about AFP-Arizona’s 2012 Legislative Agenda, click here.

Please forward this alert to your friends and family members!

For Liberty,

Tom Jenney
Arizona Director
Americans for Prosperity

The information is repeated below in text format to make it easier to copy into your calendar:

Location:
Rock Bottom Brewery at Desert Ridge Marketplace
21001 N Tatum Blvd, Phoenix, AZ 85050
(Near intersection of N Tatum and Hwy 101)
Date: Wednesday,Feb.8, 2012. (2nd Wed of Month)
Time: Dinner (order from menu) available at 6 pm.
Meeting from 7-8:30 pm

Contact Information:
Howard Levine,
NE Valley Chapter Chairman
Howard_Levine@rocketmail.com , www.pachydermcoalition.com
480-577-4168