… state Rep. Bill Konopnicki and others have introduced a bill that would add $9 to the vehicle license fees to fund state parks.  The surcharge on license fees would also give state drivers free entrance to the state park system, prevent the Legislature from diverting entrance fees and provide enough money to keep the state parks system operating.

Konopnicki’s vehicle license fee charge could provide a long-term solution to the problems of the whole system, if it makes it through the Legislature.  “The parks system is currently operating on about $21 million,” said Konopnicki, “but they really need about $30 million. This should generate better than that.”  Konopnicki said it would be foolish to shut down the state parks system for lack of operating funds, considering the economic benefits the system yields —

So were local public and private solutions entertained by the State Parks Administration?  What do you think?  Payson offered to take over operation of the local state park and were shut down when the counter offer from Parks included an up front charge of over $1,000,000.

Imagine the economic boost locally if a state park was partially privatized and partially operated locally?  Guess they’ll never find out.

Bottom Line?  The state agency wasn’t interested in finding solutions and used the “scare and squeeze” tradition preached by Representative Konopnicki as a ploy to increase fee revenues to continue spending.

Scare and Squeeze … just what the Phoenix Police Union is doing to get the 2% tax on your food, and Mr. Konopnicki is the King of Welfare for failing local governments and state agencies.

Brahm Resnik hosts this weekly show which is always fast-paced and quick thinking. My two co-guests were Katie Hobbs from the liberal blog, Democratic Diva as well as a Democratic candidate in LD-15, and Casey Newton from the Arizona Republic. The show will actually not show tomorrow morning because it is being pre-empted by another show but you can view it online right here on Sonoran Alliance.

In case you missed the debut of JD Hayworth’s official campaign website, we have the link right here (www.JDforSenate.com). The site went public yesterday and already, we’re being told the traffic is high.

You can also visit his Twitter page and Facebook fan page.

(Thanks to KAET’s Horizon)

In a year when taxes ARE a dirty word, Konopnicki’s campaign against Conservative Senator Sylvia Allen is doomed before it even gets started. Here’s a little refresher to you BillKo, raising taxes punishes productivity AND crimps revenues.

PHOENIX, AZ – Feb. 2, 2010:  The Arizona Energy Forum (www.azenergyforum.com) praised Governor Jan Brewer this week for opposing President Obama’s attempt to regulate green house gasses (GHG) through the Environmental Protection Agency.

In a letter written January 27th to the EPA, Governor Brewer points out that “in the face of this gauntlet of regulatory activity conducted in one calendar year, Arizona is compelled to make its position clear and unequivocal: it is poor public policy for the US EPA to regulate GHGs using the blunt instrument of the Clean Air Act.”

The Arizona Energy Forum was formed to achieve energy security for the United States and hold the elected officials accountable for shaping energy policies.

Arizona Energy Forum Chairman Troy Hyde said, “We appreciate Governor Brewer’s opposition to the Obama administration’s effort to achieve more control and regulatory powers by using the EPA to regulate green house gasses.”

“Since the Cap & Trade bill has no future, it is a back-door approach to make rules through regulation instead of legislation.  At a time when the focus is on the economy, there could be no worse time to add costly, time-consuming and unfair regulations on Arizona business. Since this issue receives so little media attention, it would have been easy for the Governor to forego comment, so we applaud her courage on this subject.”

The Arizona Energy Forum encourages all who share their interest in energy security to contact their website www.azenergyforum.com

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STATEMENT BY JOHN MUNGER ON THE LEGISLATURE’S REFERRAL OF GOVERNOR JAN BREWER’S SALES TAX INCREASE PROPOSAL

(PHOENIX, AZ) February 4, 2010 – Republican Gubernatorial candidate John Munger released the following statement:

“Ignoring the basic laws of economics, the Arizona Legislature has referred Governor Brewer’s sales tax increase to the May ballot in a misguided effort to solve our State’s fiscal problems.  Fortunately, the voters will have a chance to stop this madness from becoming reality.”

“Raising taxes will kill thousands of jobs at a time when we need them most.  Another tax increase will also help ensure that Arizona remains one of the least competitive places to do business.  With real leadership, we could be using this crisis to reset our budgetary priorities, restart our economic engine and reduce the size of our government to one we can afford.”

For more information on John Munger’s recent budget proposal Leading Arizona, which includes various non-tax revenue enhancements and other specific budgetary alternatives, please visit www.johnmunger.com or click here.

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The Arizona Republic reported on Dec. 16, 2009, that Phoenix was  offering sizeable tax breaks to the Wyndham through a sale-lease back arrangement that Phoenix has used frequently in deals with favored developers. The Wyndham would use the tax incentive to complete $10 million in construction remodeling, the Republic reported.

On Jan. 5, the Goldwater Institute asked to see the development agreement, and any other public records related to the proposed sale-lease back arrangement. The City responded that no agreement has been reached. The City also said it won’t release any records related to the negotiations until a “development agreement is executed,” claiming this would protect the City’s interests and is allowed under state law.

A Goldwater Institute attorney says this stance is alarming because Phoenix residents won’t have any idea what tax breaks might be involved until after the City has signed a contract, which means residents won’t be able to raise objections or determine if the City is complying with Arizona law until it is too late.

“The public has a right to know if Phoenix will obtain real, tangible benefits in this development agreement and not just give tax breaks to a business that should pay for its own remodeling work,” said Carrie Ann Sitren, an attorney with the Goldwater Institute. 

The City of Glendale tried to claim a similar exception to the state public records law during its negotiations with new potential owners of the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team. But in response to a separate Goldwater Institute public records lawsuit, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Edward O. Burke ruled that Glendale was violating the law, and that the public was entitled to review at least some documents even as talks with the Coyotes continue.

While Glendale initially complied with Judge Burke’s order, the City has refused to release any new documents for months. The Goldwater Institute has asked the judge to hold Glendale in contempt of court, and a hearing is scheduled for Feb. 12, 2010.

By filing this lawsuit, the Goldwater Institute Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation seeks to uphold transparency in government policy-making that enables citizens to understand the plans of public officials and to voice any concerns. The complaint is available here.

Read more about this and other Goldwater lawsuits to protect individual rights and keep government within its constitutional limits at www.goldwaterinstitute.org/litigation. The Goldwater Institute is an independent government watchdog supported by people who are committed to expanding free enterprise and liberty.

I have to hand it to Californians for creative political ads. This ad was released by the Carly for California campaign attacking Tom Campbell. The voiceover was done by actor Robert Davi. Sound familiar? He’s the same voice heard in John McCain’s ads.

Carly Fiorina was one of several high profile spokeswomen and advisors for the McCain Presidential campaign. Now she’s running for US Senate in California in a primary along with several high profile Republicans including, Tom Campbell, Al Ramirez and Chuck DeVore.

What makes me uncomfortable about Ms. Fiorina is her close ties to John McCain. The fact that she is using the same actor (Robert Davi) to cut the voiceover signals that McCain is involved in much more than his own Senate re-election campaign.

But what is really disturbing is that Fiorina is using the same tactic to attack someone like Tom Campbell who has been a frequent guest on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show and is introduced as a fiscal and social conservative. It’s the same tactic being employed against JD Hayworth here in Arizona. Paint your opponent as a big spender and not fiscal conservative while trying to cover your own fiscally miserable record.

Last week, Red State’s Brian Faughnan wrote a piece entitled, “Arguments I Never Expected: Hayworth Is No More Conservative than McCain.” In that piece, Faughnan reminded us that McCain’s rating from Citizens Against Government Waste was 88% compared to Hayworth’s 89%.  That’s not quite the huge chasm that McCain claims over Hayworth. (Incidentally, McCain’s lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union is a mediocre 81% compared to Hayworth’s 98%.)

Read perceptively between the lines. McCain and his allies are laying down fire on their opponents in order to distract the voters from their real record or position.

Obviously, I don’t live in California so I won’t vote there. (If I did, I’d vote for Chuck DeVore.)

But I can smell a political rat (FCino) and I think the infestation is more widespread than we realize.

From Amir Iljazi on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 9:01 AM

Businessman Jim Ward became the first candidate to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge in his 2010 bid to represent Arizona’s 5th Congressional district.

Ward is a GOP Primary candidate looking to take on incumbent, Harry Mitchell, who was elected in 2006 after defeating J.D. Hayworth. The seat is rated by Cook Political Report as R+5 on their PVI index, and Hayworth had held the seat for more than a decade prior to Mitchell’s win. Arizona’s 5th Congressional district is just one of a slew of seats where pledge signing challengers are taking on non-pledge signing incumbents from vulnerable districts.

Ward, the first pledge signer in the race, has made a commitment to the taxpayers in the 5th Congressional District in Arizona that he will fight to stop massive tax increases imposed by a reckless Congress. We here at ATR encourage all candidates seeking Federal office to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and let the taxpayers in this country know that they stand with them; against higher taxes, higher spending, and higher deficits.

Here’s ATR’s official statement on Jim Ward signing the Pledge:

Jim Ward(R-Ariz.) signs the Taxpayer Protection Pledge
Congressional candidate promises to protect taxpayers’ wallets

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Jim Ward, a Republican running in Arizona’s 5th Congressional district, recently signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). The Pledge commits signers to “oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses … and oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.”

ATR has offered the Pledge to all candidates for federal office since 1987. To date, 33 U.S. senators and 172 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed the Pledge. Additionally, seven Governors and over 1,100 state legislators have signed the Pledge.

“After the passage of the so-called “Stimulus Package,” better known as the Pelosi-Obama-Reid Spending Give-Away, Americans are desperately searching for candidates and politicians that will protect their livelihoods and put their wallets ahead of the federal government’s coffers,” said Grover Norquist, president of ATR.

“By signing the Pledge, Jim Ward demonstrates that he understands the problems of hard-working taxpayers nationwide, but especially the taxpayers in Arizona’s 5th Congressional district.”

“I challenge all candidates for federal office to make the same commitment to taxpayers by signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge today,” Norquist continued.

Copies of the Pledge are available at www.atr.org or by calling (202) 785-0266.

To see ATR’s official statement on Jim Ward, click here.

for State Senate in District 5

(Eastern Arizona Courier) Published on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 2:00 PM MST

www.eacourier.com/articles/2010/02/04/news/breaking_news/doc4b69e48d62f77071282043.txt

Contributed Article

Arizona Legislative District 5 Representative and long-time voice for rural Arizona, Bill Konopnicki released the following statement today regarding his intention to run for the State Senate seat in LD 5:

“Over the last several months, I have been approached by constituents, friends and supporters from every part of Legislative District 5 to consider a run for the State Senate seat. I am heartened that so many folks think I am the right choice to represent our district’s diverse needs in the Arizona State Senate.

“From working to solve Arizona’s serious budget problems with a sound businesslike approach, to protecting rural healthcare, to keeping both K-12 and Higher Education funded at necessary levels, and helping local governments deal with the proposed state shift of costs to counties and cities, I have the experience necessary to serve in the State Senate.

“I have lived in the district for over 40 years and know our residents want leaders who aren’t simply followers; they want leaders who will rise above partisanship to do what is best for our state – no matter the political risk. It is time to change the way the Arizona Capitol functions, and I owe it to my constituents to run for the State Senate and begin to make these changes. We need new leadership and new direction, with a special focus on jobs and unemployment in rural Arizona. I can no longer allow misguided ideological decision making to override common sense.

“For these reasons and many others, I am announcing, today, the beginning of my campaign for the State Senate seat in LD 5. I look forward to spending time visiting with the many friends I have in the district and to carrying my message to voters throughout rural Arizona.”

Konopnicki has a history of developing solutions for issues affecting rural Arizona families, ranchers, hospitals, farmers, education and small businesses. He is a business owner, a former educator and community leader who understands the many challenges of the diverse constituency of District 5. These are very difficult times for Arizona and District 5 needs a strong rural voice in the Senate.

http://www.eacourier.com/articles/2010/02/04/news/breaking_news/doc4b69e48d62f77071282043.txt

The link to the original article in his hometown newspaper is provided to allow readers to view local comments … or share sage insights.  Veritas would like to thank his friends out in Pima for this contribution from their side of the state.

PHOENIX (AP) – An ambitious, $6.7 billion government project to secure nearly the entire Mexican border with a “virtual fence” of cameras, ground sensors and radar is in jeopardy after a string of technical glitches and delays.

Having spent $672 million so far with little to show for it, Washington has ordered a reassessment of the whole idea. The outlook became gloomier this week when President Barack Obama proposed cutting $189 million from the venture.

Ultimately, the project could be scaled back dramatically, with the government installing virtual fences along a few segments of the nation’s 2,000-mile southern boundary but dropping plans for any further expansion, officials said.

“The worst that happens is that we have a system which gives us some value but we conclude that it’s not worth buying any more of it,” said Mark Borkowski, the government’s director of the project at U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Here in America, we get government contracts, budget over-runs, cool high-tech cameras and many press conferences and photo-ops.  And years later, we are stuck with a system that does not work.

Too bad we aren’t as smart as Israel.  They know how to build a fence.

According to the reports, we have spent $670 million dollars to end up with another government project that doesn’t work.  Israel has projected their fence costs at $3.5 million per mile.  My calculator says we would have gotten 191 miles of Israeli-style fence for that same $670 million.  I haven’t seen all the stats, but I bet that Israeli fence works really, really well.

Via BreitBart.

For all Americans, 2010 is starting off as a watershed year for free speech. In the landmark Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled corporations, labor unions, and other groups can spend money on political campaigns as part of their free speech rights. The Court struck down a law that threatened criminal charges if a corporation publicly presented a documentary about Hillary Clinton during an election cycle.  The Court’s majority opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, declares “under our law and our tradition it seems stranger than fiction for our government to make…political speech a crime.”

In his opinion, Justice Kennedy attacked every doctrine that has ever attempted to belittle the importance of various aspects of free speech. He rejected the idea that less effective means of communication can be more intensely regulated than more effective means of communication, such as blocking a little-known documentary film but allowing newspapers and bloggers to freely endorse candidates at any time. He also rejected the notion that only viewpoint discrimination is bad and discrimination against specific speakers is okay, underscoring the reality that the same danger of censorship exists whether the government discriminates against disfavored speakers or disfavored ideas.

Justice Kennedy clarified what the First Amendment is and what it’s not. He explained that it is fundamentally about preserving freedom from government restraint, favoritism and censorship, and the unfettered ability to communicate one’s thoughts. The First Amendment is not about promoting equal time for all to speak.

Justice Kennedy also spelled out what “compelling state interest” justifies regulating free speech, and it is only the goal of preventing corruption or the appearance of corruption. Kennedy specifically said preventing “distortion” or excessive influence by wealthy or powerful factions is not a compelling reason for the government to regulate campaign speech.

Finally, Justice Kennedy underscored that the least restrictive means of regulation must be used when it comes to free speech. This conclusion is significant because there has been a movement away from this concept in other lawsuits towards a more vague definition of regulations being “narrowly tailored” to create a regulatory structure for each specific instance brought before a court.

In my opinion, there has not been a more important U.S. Supreme Court decision since Brown v. Board of Education.

Nick Dranias holds the Goldwater Institute Clarence J. and Katherine P. Duncan chair for constitutional government and is the director of the Institute’s Dorothy D. and Joseph A. Moller Center for Constitutional Government.