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Rep. Daniel Patterson In His Own Words

March 30, 2012 By 4 Comments

Daniel PattersonSonoran Alliance intercepted the following email message from Arizona State Representative Daniel Patterson to his Democrat colleagues:

Colleagues — The allegations against me are lies. I have not been arrested, charged, served or invoked immunity.

It seems I am being blackmailed by a person with bad mental health problems and a violent criminal history I only recently realized the severity of. When I asked this person to please consider moving out of my house, to protect my daughter, she went in to [sic] a rage. She attacked me, but I never hit her.

The truth will come out. You should not rush to judgment, please.

Members, I ask you please to call me to discuss my side of the story, the truth.

Then there is this little tidbit from The Yellow Sheet Report:

ETHICS COMPLAINT ‘POLITICALLY MOTIVATED’

Patterson also struck back at his caucus for calling for his resignation and filing an ethics complaint – moves that Patterson said were politically motivated. “Sometimes, they have a lynch mob mentality in politics. People want to elevate themselves by throwing someone else under the bus,” he said. Although he said on multiple occasions that he doesn’t hold anything against his colleagues and that he likes and respects Campbell and Hobbs, he said that he suspects they are trying to bolster their own political image at his expense. Campbell’s call for him to step down, he said, was driven by the fact that he was “one of the more independent members of the Democratic caucus, and some of the Democratic Party bosses in Phoenix don’t like that. Maybe they’re hoping to replace me with a yes-man who will toe the party line.” Hobbs, meanwhile, was seeking a cause to build her Senate campaign around: “Katie has always been a crusader on these types of issues. Maybe this is something she thinks will help her in her Senate campaign.” But, ultimately, he said, he works for his constituents, not his party leaders. Patterson attended the floor session today, but was only present to record his attendance. During the multiple COW calendars, he was not on the floor, but he returned for the third reading of bills.

 

Filed Under: Crime and Punishment, Liberals, Political Correctness, Political Parties, State Government Tagged With: , ,

Transformers aren’t just for kids…

July 21, 2010 By 50 Comments
Have You Seen Me?

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.

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections, Education, State Budget, State Government, Taxation Tagged With: , ,

Obama Law Firm Targets John Huppenthal

June 24, 2010 By 11 Comments

Obama Law Firm Targets John Huppenthal

Democrats Appeal To Arizona Supreme Court To Take Conservative Candidate Name Off Arizona Ballot

PHOENIX, ARIZONA. JUNE 23, 2010.  Perkins Coie Brown & Bain, an international law firm that represented the Presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and John Kerry, has set its litigation gun sights on stopping the people of Arizona from having the opportunity to vote for John Huppenthal in the Republican Primary Election for Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Last week,  Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Robert Oberbillig dismissed a Democratic Party lawsuit that sought to have Huppenthal’s name removed from the ballot based on claims the signatures were collected too early.  Judge Oberbillig stated it would be an “extreme remedy” to throw out signatures that everyone agreed were not collected in a fraudulent or irregular way.

Yesterday, the law firm of Perkins Coie Brown & Bain filed an appeal with the Arizona Supreme Court, again seeking to have Huppenthal’s name removed from the Republican Primary Election Ballot.

According to the Wikipedia article on Perkins Coie:

“Perkins Coie is an international law firm based in Seattle, Washington.   …The firm is counsel of record for the Democratic National Committee, and other political clients include nearly all Democratic members of the United States Congress, as well as several Presidential campaigns, including those of John Kerry and Barack Obama. …With its main office located in Seattle, Perkins Coie is the oldest and largest law firm headquartered in the Pacific Northwest.

…In 2009, President Obama appointed Robert Bauer, the Chair of the firm’s Political Law Group, to become his White House Counsel.  … The firm also represents the Democratic Leadership Council, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.”

Democratic party has a long history of unsuccessful attacks on Huppenthal

The attempt by the Democratic Party to have Huppenthal’s name removed from the ballot by litigation is just the latest in a long history of attacks.

Recently, the Democratic Party attempted to smear Huppenthal by promoting a doctored video that purported to show Huppenthal walking out of an interview with a high school student.  The political dirty trick was exposed when the student journalist spoke out to set the record straight.  An editorial in the Arizona Republic condemned the Democrat’s doctored video in strong language, stating “Sometimes, a lie really is just a lie.“

In 2008, the Arizona Democratic Party spent tens of thousands of dollars on independent expenditures that made wild claims about Huppenthal and implied he was responsible for child abductions, cancer-causing toxins, internet sex crimes and the release of violent criminals.  The Democrat’s spending on attack ads failed to produce results,  and Huppenthal went on to defeat the Democratic candidate by more than 15%.

About John Huppenthal

John Huppenthal is one of Arizona’s leading authorities on education issues. In addition to being the current Senate Education Chairman, Huppenthal has served for 17 consecutive years on the State House and State Senate education committees.

Huppenthal’s reputation for making policy based on the best research available is well established. A September 2008 editorial in The Arizona Republic stated:

“…Huppenthal is a veteran of the Legislature, having chaired five committees and being as knowledgeable about the bill-making process as any of his colleagues. He’s a pragmatic conservative who bases his positions on exhaustive research and works across party lines to get worthwhile bills passed. Huppenthal insists that legislation be based on best practices from around the country, and he’s prone to arcane dissertations based on stacks of studies he has compiled as he delves into state and district problems. It’s not sexy stuff but it’s necessary to guide a legislative process too often led astray by raw politics and emotion.”

Senator Huppenthal played a key role in helping create school choice for parents. In 1995, as Senate Education Chairman, his legislation took the caps off charter schools. This legislation moved Arizona to first in the nation in school choice (ALEC rankings). In addition, Congressman Trent Franks named Senator Huppenthal one of three legislators most responsible for creating and expanding tuition tax credits in Arizona.

During Huppenthal’s legislative career he successfully developed and passed over 200 bills – the most of any legislator in Arizona history. A substantial number of those bills were education related. Huppenthal’s efforts resulted in the creation of the Career Ladder program for teachers, improved measures of academic progress, and higher graduation standards. Huppenthal also worked closely with the disabled community to improve opportunities for children with special challenges, including creating a model summer school for children with autism, increasing resources for the blind and deaf, expanding textbook formats to accommodate children with disabilities and reducing mandates on teachers.

Huppenthal has been a leader in adopting performance pay in education. After reviewing over 700 studies and creating new concepts in performance pay, Arizona’s career ladder program has become the only performance pay system in the country resulting in statistically-verifiable academic gains. His legislation resulted in enabling Arizona to be the only state nationally where every teacher has a significant portion of pay dependent upon performance measures (Prop 301 Classroom Site Fund).

In 2010, Senator Huppenthal sponsored and helped pass major education reform legislation. Known as the “Truth in Advertising” bill, SB 1286 improves accountability by requiring the Arizona Department of Education to rate the performance of schools with easily understood letter grades (A, B, C, D or F). The grades will be based upon overall performance and academic gains over time. The “Truth in Advertising” law is modeled after similar reforms in Florida which significantly improved academic achievement.

For more information, please visit www.JohnHuppenthal.com or contact Emily Graham.

Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections Tagged With: , , , , , ,