The rest of the story: Sen. Verschoor fights tax increases

Friends:

This morning is the second time in recent months that I have been personally attacked by Senate President Bob Burns for stopping TAX INCREASES to my fellow Arizonans.

SB 1003 was written with enacting language to give unchecked authority for unelected appointees of the governor to raise taxes in the form of fees across a broad spectrum of our everyday lives.

It has never been good policy to give the governor and her appointees this absolute unchecked authority. Our Constitution is clear that taxing and appropriation authority rests solely with the legislature. SB1003 would not even have given the legislature minimal oversight over the increases OR the use of the funds raised.

I have made my position known for many weeks IN WRITING to the Senate leadership that I would not support any legislation that ceded this constitutional authority to the governor and her appointees. For example, if the governor wants to give 1 million dollars to his /her favorite cause, all he /she would have to do is raise the price of a duplicate driver’s license by “only” one dollar. The legislature could do little more than complain about it.

It is important to emphasize that once this authority is granted, it would be nearly impossible to return the authority to its proper place. All the Governor would have to do is veto the legislation.

Senate leadership complains about the Governor having authority to appropriate twenty BILLION DOLLARS in federal funds that come to the state without any legislative over sight and they complain about the abuse of Executive orders. Now, they have decided through SB1003 to expand the power of the Governor to raise and distribute funds without approval or oversight of the legislature. Their actions beg the question whether they have the will to either pass the increases themselves or cut the spending to deal with this budget deficit.

Finally, President Burns knows that SB1003 skirts around the intent of Proposition 108 which was passed by the voters. He knows that Prop 108 requires the legislature to get 2/3^rd of the vote in both houses of the legislature to increase taxes and fees.

I find it disheartening that the President feels the need to attack me personally by misrepresenting the facts and timetables of what happened on this occasion. Please call (602) 926-5999 or email your Senator and Representatives. Ask them to Vote NO on SB1003 that would give fee (tax) setting authority to the governor and his/her appointed, unelected agency heads

Senator Thayer Verschoor, District 22

This letter was sent out yesterday. For those with access to AZ Capitol Times, more information is available here.

McCain’s Swan Song: The sound of music to our ears

Rasmussen Reports polling figures released today indicate that in a hypothetical match-up between former Congressman J.D. Hayworth and Arizona’s senior senator John McCain, McCain holds a measly 2 percent lead.  This is remarkable given that he has a mega-million dollar campaign war chest, was most recently the GOP presidential standard-bearer and, of even greater importance –  Hayworth is not even a declared candidate.  Many Arizonans are hoping that status is temporary.

We smell the scent of blood in the water.

The Left: Desirous of remaking Arizona in its own image

The daily is pounding its drum again. If you are new to Arizona and unacquainted with the technique, the newspaper often resembles a nagging ex-wife. The editorial staff can’t offer an opinion. They harp. They badger. They stridently repeat.  And often they rewrite the same thoughts with a slightly different skew.

Today’s editorial, Let’s energize Arizonans to push for changes, is a case in point.

The latest mission of the daily is government reform — which they want to accomplish from the top down.

Like lovesick swains, they have fallen hook, line and sinker for Sandra O’Connor ‘s namesake effort, the O’Connor House Project which is teamed up with the liberal Morrison Institute and the Center for the Future of Arizona. These groups and their overreaching concepts were represented at the recent Arizona Town Hall, which issued a report calling for a state Constitutional Convention to — among other things – allow these elites to revamp state government, raise taxes, and alter the methods of voting for elected officers by removing the citizen’s ballot component and replacing it with appointments by other elected officials.

The report also points to impediments to raising revenue and suggests the Constitutional Convention implement these major changes. The full report and its recommendations can be found here.

Designed to appear benign they nonetheless conclude these “barriers to effective government” need their wisdom and oversight. A clue that all is not as presented  is contained in these words deprecating the current system, which they say “encourages extremist candidates” and the practice of ballot initiatives which they opine “has created dedicated funding streams that cannot be touched, even in times of severe need.” That translates to limits on taxation which the people support and the Town Hallites want lifted.

Don’t be fooled by the high-sounding rhetoric.  This is a fundamental takeover of state government by a liberal cabal, with the blessing of the left-wing Arizona Republic.

They don’t intend to tarry. We can’t afford to ignore the massive power-grab they envision and intend to implement.

Mark your calendars: EAST VALLEY PAChyderm Coalition meeting, Thurs. Nov. 19

Where:  Freddy’s Frozen Custards and Steak Burgers

2065 Baseline Road
Gilbert, AZ 85234

When:  Thursday, November 19,  6:00 PM

Special Guest:
Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett

Check out the PAChyderm Coalition’s fact-filled website for additional information regarding the meeting.

Seating is limited, so please contact Jeff Dial at jd@jeffdial.com to reserve your seat. Dinner meeting starts at 6:00 P.M.

Duel in the Desert Rematch: Sat. Nov. 21, 2009

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Maricopa County Attorney Andy Thomas will face off in a rematch of their famous 2008 Duel in the Desert quick draw to determine the fastest lawman in the West.

Master of Ceremonies: J.D. Hayworth

Pinnacle Peak Patio Steakhouse

10426 E Jomax Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85262

November 21, 2009

Social Hour – 6 pm     Dinner Begins – 7 pm

For reservations, please contact: The Maricopa County Republican Committee:

Phone: (623) 977-4532     Email:  mcrced@gmail.com

More information here.

Mark your calendars: PAChyderm Coalition meeting, Wed. Nov. 18

 

Where:  Marie Callender’s Restaurant (NOTE: NEW LOCATION)

 4930 West Bell Road, Glendale, AZ 85308

 When:  Wednesday, November 18, 6:00 PM

Special Guest:
Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett

Check out the PAChyderm Coalition’s fact-filled website for additional information regarding the meeting.

Seating is limited, so please contact Diane Douglas at azpatsfan@cox.net  to reserve your seat. Dinner meeting starts at 6:00 P.M.

Fascinating reading: The Goldwater Institute Legislative Report Card

The 7^th annual Goldwater Institute Legislative Report Card considers how well Arizona legislators are fulfilling their constitutional obligation to uphold liberty. The report scores legislators on 305 votes across four categories: education, constitutional government, regulation, and tax and budget. The primary criterion is whether a vote for or against each bill expands or restricts liberty.

The Executive Summary and Report Card link can be read here.

Individual legislators can also be located by zip code, district, and last name.

The Arizona Legislature considers nearly 1,500 bills each session.

AZ Town Hall conclusion: “State needs an enema”

The Republic’s new heroine, Sandra Day O’Connor, never the conservative Reagan assumed when he appointed her as the first female on the U.S. Supreme Court, is now poised to save the state with her masterful wizardry.

Pairing her O’Connor House Project (referred to as a “civic group”) with the ASU’s left-leaning Morrison Institute (called a “think tank”), they are radically planning a constitutional convention — the first since statehood — to right what’s wrong with Arizona.  These overreaches were the conclusion of the members of the Arizona Town Hall who have determined that the state’s escalating budget deficits are a solid indication that fundamental changes are needed to set Arizona on the left leaning course with the wide-ranging proposals they have decreed will benefit us.

Among the group’s recommendations:

- The Legislature should pass a temporary sales-tax increase, rather than refer it to the voters.

- Continue to search for other short-term revenue sources, such as increases in income or property taxes, or increased revenue from Indian gaming.

- Broaden the sales tax base while lowering the tax rate.

- Reinstate the state property tax.

- Expand the application of user and impact fees.

- Evaluate tax credits and sunset or eliminate tax exemptions.

- Increase efforts to obtain a larger share of federal funds.

- Increase the cap on the rainy day fund to at least 20% of state general fund expenditures of the prior year and add restrictions on withdrawal tied to measurable reductions in economic activity.

- Increase excise taxes on gasoline for transportation uses.

- Critically evaluate expenditures and tie expenditures to revenues.

-  Consider general obligation bonding, severance taxes, exit taxes, visa taxes, and inheritance taxes.

The entire report can be read here.

The daily quotes an unnamed Town Hall participant as saying, “The state needs an enema,” to cleanse its system and start over.  How many of you willing to grab your ankles for these “doctors?”

Here comes another explorer: Samuel Pearson Goddard, III

Leif Erickson, Ferdinand Magellan, Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus? 

Nope.  This one is Samuel Pearson Goddard, III. In case that elite name doesn’t ring a bell, you might recall him better as “Terry,” the more informal moniker for his family nickname of “Trey,” meaning The Third in continental-speak.

The Harvard graduate, who as a lad attended the toney Phillips Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, is the son of former Arizona Gov. Sam Goddard. Like the Babbitt’s and DiConcini’s, the Goddard family is an Arizona Democrat political dynasty.

Terry, a one-time Phoenix mayor, is currently the term-limited Arizona Attorney General. He has nursed long-standing aspirations to put another Goddard in the ninth floor governor’s office, trying and losing to Fife Symington twice.

Apparently the Brewer announcement last evening was too much for him to handle, causing him to impertinently leap into the fray today. He opened his gubernatorial exploratory campaign — within hours of hearing that Gov. Jan Brewer jumped the gun on him.  Apparently those Eastern schooled folks don’t know about the time honored Western concepts of keepin’ your powder dry, coolin’ your heels or Waiting for Godot.

His nearly 87-year-old campaign chairman is former Democrat Gov. Rose Mofford, who as Secretary of State inherited the office when Gov. Evan Mecham was impeached.  Mofford was a short-timer who did not run for her own term.

Say what, Gov. Brewer?

Gov. Jan Brewer, a longtime Republican officeholder who has never previously lost an election, tosses her hat in the ring again this evening in her hometown of Glendale where she is poised to make her public announcement — officially indicating her intent to seek a full, four-year term in 2010. She filed her campaign committee documents with the Secretary of State’s office this morning confirming her candidacy.

Although Brewer has gotten crossways with her own Republican party over her determined efforts to impose a one-cent sales tax hike to lift the state from the budgetary morass she inherited, she will find that insignificant when compared to the questions that will be raised by her selection of former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods as her campaign chairman. Woods, a sometime Republican, actually toyed with the idea of re-registering as a Democrat after he left office in 1998. Kate Fassett of HighGround Public Affairs Consultants will serve as Brewer’s campaign treasurer.

Woods lavished accolades and praise on liberal Democrat and former Gov. Janet Napolitano when she was selected as Obama’s secretary of Homeland Security, as reported by the Washington Post.

Brewer’s political career spans nearly three decades, beginning in the state legislature — with stints in both the House and Senate.  She was then elected to the Board of Supervisors and later as Secretary of State, before moving to the governor’s office last January. Brewer assumed office Napolitano‘s departure.

Several others potential candidates are eyeing the race. Currently, Tucson lawyer John Munger is the only officially announced Republican seeking the governor‘s office.