Calls for Helen Purcell’s head hides far different agenda

The few remaining readers of the Arizona Republic can be forgiven for having the misconception that there is a clamor for Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell’s head on a platter.

Whenever its target is a Republican, the liberal newspaper shifts into high gear, engaging in the multi-pronged, gang-like, drive-by it has honed to an art form. Biased articles passing as news, are followed by more skew at the hands of the two looney left columnists Roberts and Montini and inky deceit by cartoonist Steve Benson.  At issue are the long lines and inadequate number of polling places available for voters, some of whom waited for hours to participate in Arizona’s presidential preference election. Statewide, Republican and Democrat voters ultimately supported Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Most used mail in ballots.

Purcell has held the office that maintains voter registration for nearly 2,000,000 registered voters and administers the Elections Department for 28 years. When the snafu occurred, she faced angry mobs calling for her resignation. Purcell apologized and took “full responsibility,“ but that wasn’t nearly good enough.  They wanted far more.

“We certainly made bad decisions, and having only 60 polling places, didn’t anticipate there would be that many people going to the polling places,” she said. “We were obviously wrong — that’s my fault.” 

The left was not placated. The identity throng began its racket, claiming Purcell purposely engaged in minority voter suppression — and as if on cue in today’s hooligan environment, began calling for her resignation or recall. In Soros-like fashion, angry mobs sprung up in legislative chambers and on valley streets.

Purcell rightly dug in her heels as protesters congregated outside her Phoenix office. “I’m not going to resign,” she stated. “The electorate is free to do whatever they want to do.”

Phoenix’ leftist Mayor Greg Stanton, hopped onboard this political gravy train, issuing a request for a  U.S. Department of Justice investigation, alleging Anglo communities had more polling sites per resident.

On the heels of that absurdity, a bizarre rumor erupted, claiming Republican Purcell was secretly working for Hillary Clinton since her late husband Joe Purcell was Bill Clinton’s former Arkansas Lt. Governor. The entire story turned out to be preposterous fabrication.

The woman who has won numerous awards for her professionalism is now facing challengers, including one with no experience in the field who calls her an “epic failure.”

The actual issue that drives the rabble is they see this as the opportunity to seize the primary elections from the parties that actually field candidates.  This was Robert Robb, showing some spine on the open primary in July 2012. He called it “another disappointing attempt to change election outcomes by changing the rules,” adding, “The purpose …should be stated plainly and bluntly: It is to reduce the influence of conservative Republicans in Arizona.”  By Feb. 2016, Robb had developed job security linked amnesia.

 

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John McCain’s liberal friend turns on him

Leftist Harry Reid and RINO John McCain have been longtime senate associates, even working in concert on deals including pushing amnesty and restricting Second Amendment rights. McCain became the Republican Reid trusts more than any other according to Politico, which headlined this 2013 article “Reid’s favorite Republican: McCain.”

“We have a long history,” McCain was quoted as saying of his relationship with Reid. “We have had our clashes and our words that we wish we hadn’t [said] about each other. But there’s a bond that’s very deep and long between us.”

Now it appears that “bond” has been irretrievably broken. In a desperate plea for campaign contributions, McCain, calls us “friends,” and claims his good buddy Harry Reid, whom he now refers to as “Nevada’s least favorite son,” and “his liberal cronies” are working to support McCain’s Democrat opponent. McCain, who conveniently forgets to mention his exceptional primary challenger Dr. Kelli Ward, whines, “I need your immediate help to fight back.”

“But,” McCain wheedles, “he doesn’t know that I have a secret weapon: YOU.” It is with our support McCain claims he will win reelection and stay fighting for our “shared conservative values in Washington.”

Few Arizona Republicans share values with John McCain.  In fact, he has spent his decades in Washington working against conservative values, which is why he was censured by elected Arizona Republican leaders. Senate terms are six long years. John McCain will be 80 by Election Day. You do the math.

Arizonans can do better.

Why Justice Scalia mattered

On Tuesday we witnessed the full impact of the unexpected loss of Justice Antonin Scalia who died February 13. The U.S. Supreme Court rendered a 4-4 decision on a challenge to organized labor, giving unions a major victory in a case they had previously seemed certain to lose.

The deadlocked decision in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association upheld a lower court ruling dealing with union fees and is a substantial setback for union foes. Lyle Denniston writing for SCOTUS blog provides an opinion analysis.

A decision in favor of the petitioners would have eliminated what’s known as agency fees –– money paid to unions by non-union members.

Plaintiffs in the case argued that agency fees presented a “significant impingement” on their First Amendment rights of free speech and free association, since collective bargaining is unarguably political. In negotiating with school boards, for example, unions can take positions on issues such as tenure that nonmembers may not support, so teachers who decide not to join the local union should not have to contribute to those costs.

The California Teachers Association and its parent union, the NEA, argued that the fees are not a violation of First Amendment rights because a portion is reimbursed annually, claiming the money covers things that benefit non-union members.

In 1977, the Supreme Court’s decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, held that no one can be forced to join a union or contribute to its political activities, but that teachers unions can charge nonmembers a fee to cover the costs of nonpolitical activities, oddly including collective bargaining.

In recent years, public sector unions have experienced numerous setbacks, with Republican governors and state legislatures successfully challenging collective bargaining — even in Michigan and Wisconsin, regarded as longtime labor strongholds.

The Friedrichs case was not the first to challenge union fees. Last year, in Harris v. Quinn, the justices ruled 5-4, that Medicaid home health workers were not full public employees and therefore could not be compelled to pay collective bargaining union fees –– a  decision that many Supreme Court watchers viewed as a sign the court seemed poised to overturn the precedent set by Abood.

Open Secrets (Center for Responsive Politics) reveals the $19.2 million the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, teachers unions contributed in the 2012 elections and their continuing donations in 2016. Democrats and liberal groups are their favored beneficiaries. Since 1989, the NEA has been the fourth biggest donor out of all organizations tracked by CRP.

McCain: Cutting edge on technology

John McCain: I don’t use email so I won’t write things I later regret

 Amidst the controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton’s exclusive use of a personal email address and server during her time as secretary of state, Sen. John McCain, who will be 80 by Election Day, confirms that he has opted out of using email altogether:

“Well, you know that from time to time I get a little emotional. I’m afraid that if I was emailing, given my solid, always calm temperament that I might email something that I might regret,” he continued, adding that he prefers to use the phone and Twitter. “You could send out an email that you would regret later on and would be maybe taken out of context,” McCain said. “And frankly, I don’t have any trouble communicating with my constituents without it.”

Of course, it’s also possible to say things on Twitter that you later regret, like, perhaps this tweet McCain sent out back in 2012:”Good pic of my son Jimmy’s bulldog, Apollo — I’m sorry Mr. President, he’s not on the menu!” [@SenJohnMcCain 19 Apr 2012]

Source: Mediaite.com “Use Email,” on 2016 Arizona Senate race Mar 5, 2015

H/T On the Issues

The “Religion of Peace” has struck again

Unfathomable atrocity: Today we read that Islamic terrorists have crucified a Catholic priest in Yemen over Easter weekend

Former Republican Congressman and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo is among the few to credit with bringing the issue of illegal immigration to the forefront back when it was barely a blip on the national radar. Hearing him passionately address the invasion a couple of decades ago provided the prominence needed to thrust it into public consciousness and ultimately drive the 2016 presidential debate.

Placement of the word “former” is not in error. Last October the onetime Republican Congressman had his fill of the Grand Old Party under whose banner he had run and been elected from 1999 to 2009. His rationale for leaving was posted on Breitbart.  Tancredo summed up his decision with these thoughts although his complete commentary is exceedingly enlightening.

1. The Republican establishment does not want to control spending.
2. It does not want to secure the borders or enforce immigration laws.
3. It does not care about American sovereignty.
4. It has no interest in ending the unaccountable and corrupt culture that has become a hallmark of official Washington.

As a presidential candidate Tom Tancredo, who built his campaign on stopping illegal immigration, boycotted the Dec. 9, 2007 Univision televised debate at the University of Miami because it was being broadcast in Spanish. The rest of the pack attended, including John McCain.

Now Tom Tancredo has written a blunt commentary, which we highly recommend,  titled, The ISIS Barbarians Are Already Inside our Gates.  

Tancredo states:

“ It is Islam’s basic worldview that inspires hatred of the West, not grievances against U.S. foreign policy or lack of economic opportunity in Muslim societies. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928, not 1988, decades before any American soldier set foot in Kuwait. Why then is it “Islamophobic” to speak the truth about Islam’s hostility to Western values?” Tancredo asks. “Self-censorship is the main obstacle to effective steps to halt ISIS in its tracks, and people who preach such nonsense — and the Quislings who tolerate it — are aiding ISIS and need to be called out for it.”

Tom Tancredo effectively calls them out  —  loud and clear.

Lunacy reigns supreme: Obama welcomes more “refugees”

Worldwide carnage doesn’t dissuade Obama from bringing more fanatical Islamists into US

Amid multiple reports that Jihadi-bent, radical Islamic terrorists have been thwarted in their plans to cause increasingly extreme havoc throughout Europe, including exploding the iconic Eiffel Tower, Barack Obama remains committed to allowing a continued flow of impossible-to-vet Muslim “refugees” into the United States.

In Belgium, where this past week cowardly ISIS attackers once again struck, killing at least 31, and wounding nearly 230 civilians — including Americans — organizers of a “March Against Fear” planned for today cancelled the event after a request by authorities citing continued security concerns.

Acknowledging these terrorists pose a threat to the entire civilized world, Obama vowed to decimate what is known as the Islamic State, but said the United States will do so by offering “an example of freedom, tolerance and open society” which in Obamaspeak translates to irrationally opening the floodgates to 100,000 more Syrian and Iraqi Muslims he portrays as “asylum seekers.”

The British Telegraph shows some of the victims of the vicious murderers in Belgium.

Joyous Easter wishes

We send our sincere best wishes for a joyful Easter…

Your friends at Seeing Red AZ

Paul Ryan: Ambition trumps honor

Trust Paul Ryan at your own peril

With a contested Republican convention appearing ever more likely, and the specter of House speaker Paul Ryan ominously beginning to suck the air out of the room, today is as good a time as any to review exactly what Ryan brings to the political table.

Let’s begin with the premise that Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan says he’s not interested in running for president. He was equally adamant about being disinterested in the position of House speaker, stating unequivocally in Sept. 2015, “I don’t want to be speaker,” after John Boehner’s unexpected resignation.  The Oct. edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel covers Ryan being sworn in as speaker.

Then the man touted as a fiscal and budget issues wonk, with a spending plan that would overhaul entitlement programs — when selected as Mitt Romney’s running mate in 2012 — ended up giving away the store as he shepherded through Barack Obama’s massive $1.149 trillion omnibus funding bill that Rush Limbaugh exposed as funding sanctuary cities and “all Middle East immigration programs” including the ones that have been “exploited by terrorists.” The much ballyhooed defunding of Planned Parenthood never happened.

In secretive negations, the text of the 2,009-page spending bill was released at 2 a.m. while the separate 233-page tax-extension bill was released just before midnight, ensuring no one read them. Ryan whitewashed his despicable deed by saying “Congress can now move into 2016 with a fresh start.” 

If you’re interested in more on what could be the brokered fill-in GOP candidate and his lawyer and former lobbyist wife with roots in a prominent liberal family? Here ‘tiz.

Then thank John Kasich who has purposely stayed in the race with no chance of winning any state other than his native Ohio. And congratulate the manipulative Mitt Romney who made robo calls for both Kasich and Marco Rubio, despite which the Florida senator suffered a decisive defeat. Romney engineered  the schemes to subvert the votes of the American people who were voting for Trump.

AZ GOP chair Graham imposes “poll tax” on delegates

There are occasions when something is so well articulated that there is no point in veering from the original wording.  Today we take our readers directly to Frosty Taylor’s March 24, 2016 Republican Briefs for the latest on the illicit $50 per delegate “poll tax” being levied against Republican delegates attending the State Convention by AZ GOP Chairman Robert Graham and his establishment cronies. The allegation is this “brazen attempt is being imposed in a concerted effort to dissuade participation, rig the proceedings and the election of the delegates to the RNC National Convention.”

We urge you to read the fact filed post, citing legal opinions, with a link to a detailed analysis and contact information.

Obama takes on his “top priority”

In view of the savagely murderous terrorist acts we have recently witnessed in Paris, San Bernardino and this past Tuesday in Brussels, it’s reassuring to hear (video clip) Barack Obama unequivocally state that defeating ISIS — which he alone refers to as ISIL — is his top priority, especially with all he’s got “on his plate.”