AZ Conservative Coalition: Updated legislative ratings

The Arizona Conservative Coalition’s (ACC) most recent legislator ratings, reflecting legislative actions as of 5/05/2013 is now available. Click here for the updated report.

Legislators are assigned to a group based on their latest rating. Bills used in the evaluation along with the summary of criteria used to weight bills can be seen here. There is also an excellent, concise analysis of each bill considered.

Be sure to take time to review Howard Levine’s informative weekly narrative, which provides invaluable background on the tracking process.

The folks at ACC provide individual grades for Arizona’s Republican Representatives and Senators. There is quite a variation. This week the Senate ratings range from a high of 90.2 down to a bottom-dragging 48.4. In the House of Representatives the top scorer received a 95.0 with the bottom of the list rating a weak 48.1.

Check in and find out where your district’s legislative members stand. Thank the high scorers and ask those with the abysmal ratings why they are voting with the Democrats.

The ego has landed: Andrew Thomas’ bid for AZ Gov

Former Maricopa County Attorney, now disbarred by the Arizona Supreme Court after a lengthy investigation into charges of abuse of power and unethical behavior,* has launched his campaign for Arizona governor.

Here he is with his supporters Friday as he filed his intent to run with the office of the Arizona Secretary of State.

 

For a memory refresher, these Democrats and RINOs were Thomas’ supporters during his 2004 campaign. It remains to be seen if they will be onboard as advisors during his latest endeavor.

From left to right:

Rick Romley, Grant Woods, Thomas, Billy Shields and Phil Gordon.

*The Presiding Judge’s 247-page Disciplinary Opinion and Order Imposing Sanctions can be read here.

AZ Conservative Coalition: Updated legislator ratings

The Arizona Conservative Coalition’s (ACC) most recent legislator ratings, reflecting legislative actions as of 4/16/2013 is now available. Click here for the updated report.

Legislators are assigned to a group based on their latest rating. Bills used in the evaluation along with the summary of criteria used to weight bills can be seen here. There is also an excellent, concise analysis of each bill considered.

Be sure to take time to review Howard Levine’s informative weekly narrative, which provides background on the tracking process.

The folks at ACC provide individual grades for Arizona’s Republican Representatives and Senators. There is quite a variation. This week the Senate ratings range from a high of 89.0 down to a bottom-dragging 44.9. In the House of Representatives the top scorer received a 96.3 with the bottom of the list rating a weak 48.7.

Check out your elected members and hold them accountable with facts.

Arizona Republic exposes its foul, radical core

In a single issue — Sunday’s edition — The Periódico de la República de Arizona (Arizona Republic), bawdily bared itself in a fashion befitting a porn star. 

The Viewpoints section opened with illegal immigration hustler, Linda Valdez, spewing seemingly endless bile at recently deceased British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as she links her to conservative icon Ronald Reagan, hurling insults at both. Her abhorrence of the pair is palpable from the headline “Maggie, Ronnie cast dark shadows,” through the vicious conclusion of her commentary in which she characteristically berates what she calls hard-line conservatives and blames the ills on both sides of the Atlantic — and oddly Arizona — on the Tory and Conservative who contributed mightily to their nation’s progress.

Following Valdez’s vitriol is a lone editorial. It is a paean to Arizona’s senators and their key roles in extending the gift of amnesty to lawbreakers, noting that both John McCain and Jeff Flake “have a history of supporting reform,” though “both forgot that for a while.” The missing words are “while campaigning.” The editorial welcomes them both back to leadership roles in undercutting our national sovereignty and adherence to the rule of law. In 2011, the Republic denounced Flake as a mere “politician” — no longer a “statesman” — for emulating John McCain’s border transformation during his last senatorial campaign. Editorialist Doug MacEachern called Flake’s change of heart on legalizing millions of illegal aliens “jarring.”  (click on the links for a reminder of their campaign duplicity.)

Dragging bottom of the same page are My Turn columns by ASU President Michael Crow and Daniel Ortega, the former chairman of the racist La Raza, which the newspaper terms a “the nation’s largest and most influential Latino advocacy group.”  La Raza’s motto — “For The Race everything. Outside The Race, nothing” — is chilling to any sane person who values equality.

Crow uses his space to once again push for foreign ‘STEM’ (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students — those he claims are the best and brightest — to bypass our nation’s “antiquated immigration laws” and compete with our own American citizens for a place in university classes and in today’s tough job market.

Ortega rails about the “stain” on Arizona caused by the passage of SB 1070, and the imperative of “fixing” our immigration system by adopting a “sensible, humane, federal immigration-reform bill” that will “set our state and national economy on a road to greater prosperity.”

Stir in a photo of demonstrators rallying for amnesty — this time waving American, rather than Mexican, flags as John McCain helpfully advised them — along with a vicious cartoon lampooning Sheriff Joe Arpaio who was recently the target of an intercepted package bomb that officials say was capable of killing a person opening the box.

It’s all in the fish-wrapper so worthy of the name: The Periódico de la República de Arizona. No wonder it’s dying.

GOP lawmakers tank supporting OBrewerCare

Republican voters strongly oppose Gov. Brewer’s Medicaid expansion

Magellan Strategies has released further information from its previously reported survey.  GOP voters in six Republican-dominated legislative districts: 13, 17, 18, 20, 25 and 28 have little patience with their Republican state legislators who break ranks and endorse Gov. Jan Brewer’s support of Medicaid expansion.

In a telephone survey of 718 self-identified Republican voters who plan to vote in next year’s primary election, 51% said they oppose Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposed Medicaid expansion, while only 30% said they support the plan. The remaining 19% were unsure or had no opinion on the matter.

Fifty-three percent of respondents said they would be less likely to reelect a legislator who voted to expand Medicaid coverage, with only 22 % saying they’d be more likely to vote for a pro-expansion legislator.

Sixty-eight percent said they would be less likely to re-elect a legislator who voted to fund expansion with a new hospital tax — which is a major component of Gov. Brewer’s scheme.

The numbers are especially dismal for GOP lawmakers in Legislative Districts 13, 17; and 18, where a whopping 78% percent of Republican voters in LD 13 and LD 18 said they were less likely to reelect pro-expansion lawmakers. Running close behind, 76 percent in LD 17 express little tolerance for Republican legislators who would stray so far afield of conservative principles.

Sen. Bob Worsley (LD 25) and Rep. Kate Brophy McGee (LD 28) remain staunch supporters of Brewer’s plan — even standing with her during her press conference in March. Although Rep. Paul Boyer (LD 20) also stood alongside Brewer and endorsed her Obama-like socialized plan, he has since had a change of heart. Taking the pulse of your district can have that affect.

The results of the survey released earlier in the week can be viewed here.

AZ Conservative Coalition: Newest legislator rankings

The Arizona Conservative Coalition’s (ACC) most recent legislator ratings, reflecting legislative actions as of 4/5/2013 is now available. Click here for the updated report.

Legislators are assigned to a group based on their latest rating. Bills used in the evaluation along with the summary of criteria used to weight bills can be seen here. There is also an excellent, concise analysis of each bill considered.

Be sure to take time to review Howard Levine’s informative weekly narrative, which provides background on the tracking process.

The folks at ACC provide individual grades for Arizona’s Republican Representatives and Senators. There is quite a variation. The Senate ratings range from a high of 90.3 down to a slim 46.8.

In the House of Representatives the top scorers received a 95.9 with the bottom of the list rating a weak 46.2.

Check out your elected members and hold them accountable with facts.

Kirkpatrick, Barber: Will gun control backfire in rural AZ?

Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick (CD1) is increasing her vulnerability as the midterm elections approach. Previously ousted by district voters, she was given another bite at the congressional apple after redistricting changed the parameters. Now taking the Obama administration’s hard-line on curtailing gun ownership by way of imposition of increasingly rigid regulations, Kirkpatrick risks alienating rural Arizona voters who comprise solid portions of the First Congressional District. Many rural voters — even Democrats — tend to be supportive of Second Amendment rights.

Ron Barber’s CD 2 covers part of Tucson and extends to the border, with vast rural areas dotted with ranching communities, similar to Kirkpatrick’s. Democrat Barber also has the added complication of proximity to the U.S.- Mexico border, where crime is rampant and Arizona citizens want the ability to defend their families and property.

All of Arizona’s Democrat Congressional delegation now support restrictive gun-control proposals. Before being co-opted by Obama on this highly charged issue, Kirkpatrick previously touted her credentials as the only Arizona Democrat in Congress with an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association.

Don’t look for that to be the case in 2014.

This article in the daily gives insight into the voters who comprise these congressional districts.

US Citizens suffer high joblessness in Gang of 8 states

Senate gangsters deceive on “labor shortages” to promote guest-worker/amnesty

In a well researched report that shines a bright light on the hypocrisy of the notorious amnesty hustling Gang of 8, The Center for Immigration Studies details the high rate of citizen unemployment in the home states of the senators who are pushing a deal bestowing legal status on illegal aliens.

Both nationally and in the states represented by the Gof8, unemployment is chronically high among American citizens, especially less-educated citizens (those with no more than a high school education), who are the most likely to compete with illegal workers.

In the seven states represented by the Gang of Eight, the unemployment rate for less educated U.S. citizens averaged 12.6 percent in 2012 — compared to an average of 10.2 percent across the other 43 states.

The broader measure of unemployment (referred to as U-6), which includes discouraged workers who have not sought work recently, shows unemployment averaged 21.7 percent for less-educated citizens in the Gof8 states for 2012 — significantly higher than the 18.3 percent average in the other 43 states.

In the Gof8 states, U-6 unemployment was among the highest in the country for less-educated citizens in 2012:

24.4 percent in Arizona, fourth-highest in the country (John McCain, Jeff Flake)

22.1 percent in South Carolina, eighth-highest in the country (Lindsey Graham)

22.0 percent in Illinois, ninth-highest in the country (Dick Durbin)

21.9 percent in New Jersey, 11th-highest in the country (Robert Menendez)

20.6 percent in Florida, 15th-highest in the country (Marco Rubio)

20.5 percent in New York, 18th-highest in the country (Chuck Schumer)

20.1 percent in Colorado, 19th-highest in the country (Michael Bennet)

This past November, Seeing Red AZ pointed out that unemployment in Yuma, Arizona topped the national list with a whopping 29.8 percent of residents out of work. Arizona Sens. McCain and Flake, too busy rolling out the red carpet for a greater influx of illegals whom they can legitimatize to compete with American citizens for jobs, must have missed the alarming statistics.

This must read article, titled, “A Bleak Picture,” was written by Steven A. Camarota, Director of Research and demographer Karen Zeigler at the Center for Immigration Studies. Check out the four tables which provide supporting data. Be sure to  read the “Conclusion” near the end of the well documented analysis

Today’s edition of the pro-amnesty Periódico de la República de Arizona (Arizona Republic) editorially applauds what it terms a “guest worker compromise” between the AFL-CIO unionists and the illegal labor profiteers in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The newspaper’s concern is “worker exploitation” and the fact that the number of “W-Visas” being granted is too low. The W-Visa is not a temporary visa. Workers will have the ability to self-petition for permanent status after a year and they are not tied to a single employer.

Jeff Flake has become a nimble contortionist on the issue, after his brief epiphany as a pro-border security senate candidate. The same local newspaper that now heaps him with adulation chastised him as a “mere politician.”

The República did glom onto the AP’s Stylebook’s newly reworked language and refers to the illegals as those “entering the country without permission.”

What a surprise.

AZ Conservative Coalition: Newest legislative ratings

The Arizona Conservative Coalition’s (ACC) most recent legislator ratings, reflecting legislative actions as of 4/2/2013 is now available. Click here for the updated report.

Legislators are assigned to a group based on their latest rating. Bills used in the evaluation along with the summary of criteria used to weight bills can be seen here. There is also an excellent, concise analysis of each bill considered.

 Be sure to take time to review Howard Levine’s informative weekly narrative, “Behind the Scenes at the ACC Legislator Report.”  

The folks at ACC provide individual grades for Arizona’s Republican Representatives and Senators. Check out your elected members and hold them accountable with facts.

Jeff Flake: Why is only 1 bridge “too far?”

Inconsistent positions on mega issues of guns and amnesty

While colluding with Democrats and his mentor John McCain to throw open our nation’s southern border to illegal aliens, Jeff McFlake demonstrated his political savvy Sunday on NBC’s ”Meet the Press”— doing a great impression of an equivocator.  Aware that he has alienated a good segment of Republican grassroots activists with his longstanding allegiance to amnesty, he scurries to take a tougher position on universal background checks on gun sales, hoping to solidify his eroding support.

“We do need to strengthen the background check system, but universal background checks, I think, is a bridge too far for most of us. The paperwork requirements alone would be significant,” said the Flakester.

Flake, using McCain toady Lindsey Graham (SC) as a prop, teamed with Democrat Sens. Mark Begich (AK) and Mark L. Pryor (AR) to introduce legislation intended to determine the mysteries surrounding mental illness and which people are legally barred from buying or owning a firearm.

Liberal Sen. Charles Schumer (NY), has introduced a bill that would require near-universal background checks for all gun sales, an issue he‘s long supported. His bill passed Senate Judiciary along a party-line vote after talks broke down over the issue of record-keeping on gun sales. McCain continues to infuriate conservatives as he positions himself as a key player aiding senate Democrat efforts to pass legislation to expand background checks for private sales of firearms.

A nimble student, Flake is already playing McCain’s “bi-partisanship” game like a pro. Democrat Schumer is one of his “Gang of Eight” amnesty partners, as is Lindsey Graham.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a party switching multi-billionaire, recently launched a privately funded $12 million massive ad campaign targeting senators of both parties on gun control. Schumer said he greatly respects Bloomberg’s passion on the issue, while disingenuously contending the ads are pro-gun.

And guess who is being targeted by Bloomberg’s ad to restrict Second Amendment rights?  None other than Jeff the Flake. Proof that having the convictions of a waffle isn’t a winning position.