AZ Republic views ethnicity as top attribute in Gov’s race

Although Arizona’s newspaper of record is still in the thrall of mourning over the passing of John McCain, it has found room on Page One to gear up for Nov. General Election. In the Sunday edition, the Periódico de la República de Arizona  (Arizona Republic) briefly cast aside its grief and all but gave an early endorsement to David Garcia, the Democrat gubernatorial candidate, in an zealous paean that filled a third of the jump page.

There was the cursory, ‘He’s good on education,’ spew that pales in comparison to Gov. Doug Ducey falling on his sword and ponying up the 20% pay hike demanded by the teachers who walked off their jobs for a week. They deserved to be fired rather than rewarded for abandoning over 800,000 students statewide in violation of their contractual agreements.

The teacher’s unions — whose members work 8½ months a year — should consider Ducey their hero.  Instead, they’re enraged that their latest extortionist ploy — #InvestInEd, an irreversible constitutional amendment slated to be on the ballot as Prop. 207, a Marxist redistribution of wealth ‘tax the rich’ scheme — was deep-sixed by the Arizona Supreme Court. They hold Ducey, not the justices responsible. That these educrats who lack a basic grasp of the three distinct branches of government, are teaching Arizona’s students, should concern us all.

What sets Garcia apart isn’t his choice in food or drink, described in minute detail, including his refusal to drink milk at someone else’s home, as his campaign bus hit the political trail. His major accomplishment, over which he has no control, is his ethnicity.  Being a Hispanic running for governor appears to be his major attribute, according to reporter Richard Ruelas. The headline topping his report reads: “Aiming for historic win, Garcia gets on the bus— Democrat would be 2^nd Latino governor of Arizona.”

We’ve already had four women governors so gender politics has lost its panache.  In over his head, after serving less than half of his four year term, Arizona Gov. Raul Castro eagerly accepted the offer of President Jimmy Carter to take the post of ambassador to Argentina and was gone in a flash.

Garcia lost his 2014 bid for Superintendent of Public Instruction and now is now focusing his gubernatorial campaign on recklessly abolishing ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) leaving our southern border even more vulnerable to criminals. Garcia is also opposed to constructing the much needed wall along our southern border.

His extreme views mirror those of the left-wing, Hillary-endorsing Arizona Republic, but not the voters of the state of Arizona who overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump in 2016. Divisive identity politics is all David Garcia has.  Running the state requires far more than he offers.

The differences couldn’t be more clear. The wise votes will go to Gov. Ducey. Even Mario Diaz agrees.

AZ Gov poll: Unreliable data given nod by leftist AZ Republic

This sample of the skewed polls conducted by the left-of-center Public Policy Polling (PPP) should give anyone paying attention a solid basis for doubting the veracity of the company’s conclusions. The liberal, Hillary-endorsing Arizona Republic newspaper, however, engaging in wishful thinking, runs with the survey’s findings.

 The newspaper headlines its report, “Doug Ducey, David Garcia neck-and-neck in governor’s race, according to post-primary poll.” Omitted is the fact that it editorially endorsed Democrat David Garcia in the primary election — though admitting PPP did not clarify whether those surveyed were “likely voters,” which is a defining element of such polls.

Seeing Red AZ has not always been on-board with Gov. Ducey. His pandering to Arizona striking teachers demanding a 20% pay hike as they abandoned over 800,000 students in a week-long #RedsForEd*protest and in violation of their contractual agreements, was infuriating. Ducey likely thought his acquiesce would pull the satisfied teachers into his corner.

In fact, just the opposite was true.  They were emboldened by the pay raise, rather than satisfied. Their next effort was #InvestInEd, an extortionist Marxist redistribution of wealth initiative— an irrevocable constitutional amendment —– recently removed from the November ballot by the Arizona Supreme Court, for not accurately representing key elements of the “increased tax burden on the affected classes of taxpayers.” It was slated to appear as Prop. 207. The unionist teachers, who obviously confuse the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government, are misdirecting their ire on Ducey.

 The permanent funding stream would have been in addition to other subsidies already in place. Passage of ballot propositions — 301 in 2000 increasing the state sales tax and 123 in 2016 a grab from the state land trust — guaranteed more money for education, which apparently is never enough for the teachers who work 8½ months a year. School districts routinely hold budget overrides and bond elections to “get more money into the classroom” —- eduspeak for bolstering teacher’s salaries. A major premise of passing the Arizona Lottery in 1980 was that money from ticket sales would fund schools.

Despite our differences with Gov. Doug Ducey, he is a far superior November General Election candidate than reckless, radical open border supporting David Garcia, who has made getting rid of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a top priority of his campaign. He’s a liberal DACA proponent, who also opposes construction of a border wall. Garcia is a single issue candidate whose focus is not Arizona citizens.

 *SRAZ added the “s” on Red since the teachers are led by a 24-year-old hip-hop music teacher and self identified socialist — acclaimed by the Socialist Worker publication, who coordinated Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in Arizona.

AZ Guv Ducey dogged by dicey problems

When Arizona teachers marched off the job following a self-identified socialist pied piper as they abandoned 800,000 students statewide this past Spring, they were demanding higher pay.  Though they work approximately 8 1/2 months a year, they wanted salaries commensurate with other jobs where employees are expected to work in the summer and are only allowed Thanksgiving Day off, having to be back at their post the following day. Winter and Spring breaks, previously referred to as Christmas and Easter before the educrat PC Police neutered the holidays are two full weeks. Days off for “Fall Break” are in October. A weeklong “Spring Break” is separate from “Spring Holiday.” A week for “Fall Break” is separate from Thanksgiving.

Do you get an early release from work so you can “collaborate” with your colleagues? Bet not. Twenty-one days in the school year are so designated. How about those half days off for “planning“? This school district calendar was randomly selected.

Still, the teachers whined, threatened and left. Had Ducey possessed the cajones of Ronald Reagan when the demanding PATCO union air traffic controllers walked out, canceling over 7,000 flights, the outcome would have been much different. Reagan fired 11,345 unionists (1 min. video), who refused to return to work. The world continued to spin on its axis and flights flew with senior management taking the reins.

Following his acquiescence to the RedsForEd 20% pay hike, during which he claimed there would be no accompanying tax increase, Ducey is being vilified by the same marauding teachers, who now blame him that their latest money stream scheme InvestInEd (Prop. 207) — an irrevocable constitutional amendment funneling an additional $700 million yearly to further pad salaries — failed to qualify for the Nov. ballot. It wasn’t Ducey, but the AZ Supreme Court which declared the sponsors misrepresented its actual intent in the proposition‘s ballot description. In fact, it is a Marxist redistribution of wealth scheme based on placing onerous tax burdens on small business owners, other job creators and many two salaried professional families, the teachers view as “the rich.”

Now Ducey is also charged with the duty of replacing a newly constructed deity, albeit a perpetually deceptive one, with feet of clay. Ducey, up for reelection on the Nov. ballot is being challenged by reckless, radical Democrat David Garcia, who will win the support of the far-left unionist teachers.

And now, with John McCain buried after numerous funerals, it falls on Ducey to name his successor. That could be dicey for Ducey. He needs to be mindful of the conservatives, so despised by McCain, but whose votes he desperately needs in November.

Marxist InvestInEd Prop 207 off Nov. ballot

Arizona’s Supreme Court has acted in the interest of the state’s taxpaying citizens by rejecting the latest curare arrow in the quiver of the educrat unionists. The Invest in Education Act, was a redistribution of wealth measure, that would have made Karl Marx proud.  It was crafted specifically to “tax the rich” — who already pay the highest tax rates. In its sights were job creators, often small business owners, dual-earner families, and even some retirees who made smart investments while living slim during their working years.

This is the order, reversing a trial court’s judgment, and signed by Chief Justice Scott Bales.  He wrote, “The description did not accurately represent the increased tax burden on the affected classes of taxpayers” and “failed to reference the elimination of bracket inflation indexing.”  All of the previous actions going back to the trial court case can be seen here.

This extortionist measure was endorsed by the same RedsforEd* public school teachers who abandoned their students for a week in April, violating their contractual agreements, while striking for a 20% pay increase. They marched in lockstep following pied piper Noah Karvelis, 24, a hip-hop music teacher and self described socialist, who was Bernie Sanders 2016 Arizona presidential campaign organizer.

Gov. Ducey, initially asserting he would not meet their demands,  rashly acquiesced to the teachers, providing the launching pad for the newly titled, Prop. 207. As a constitutional amendment, its tax penalties amounting to around $700 million annually would have been unalterable. But that wasn’t enough for the teachers. They are now protesting against Ducey.

The permanent funding stream would have been in addition to other subsidies already in place. Passage of ballot propositions — 301 in 2000 increasing the state sales tax and 123 in 2016 a grab from the state land trust — guaranteed more money for education, which apparently is never enough for the teachers who work 8½ months a year. School districts routinely hold budget overrides and bond elections to “get more money into the classroom” —- eduspeak for bolstering teacher’s salaries. A major premise of passing the Arizona Lottery in 1980 was that money from ticket sales would fund schools.

Arizona’s Supreme Court Justices deserve accolades for seeing through this deceptive con and acting in the interest of taxpayers.

* SRAZ added the “s” on Red for a more accurate description.

UofA pays radical Hezbollah-supporting Noam Chomsky, 89, $750k to teach “politics”

This preposterous story is factual and happening right here in Arizona.  And guess what?  You’re paying for it with your tax dollars.  Judicial Watch reports that the University of Arizona — a public university — hired 89-year-old radical leftist Noam Chomsky at an outrageous salary of $750,000 a year. Chomsky, who supports Hezbollah, will teach his famously leftist brand of politics.

The information was obtained by Judicial Watch after a months-long battle with the taxpayer-funded institution for access to its records.

Judicial Watch launched an investigation after the University of Arizona (UA), located in Tucson with an enrollment of about 40,000, announced that it hired Noam Chomsky to teach a general education course for undergraduates titled “What is Politics?” In the announcement UA describes Chomsky as a “world-renowned linguist” and one of the “most cited scholars in modern history.”

The reality is Chomsky is an extreme left-wing propagandist who defends communist regimes — including those in Vietnam and Cuba — and openly supports the anti-Israel and anti-U.S. terrorist organization Hezbollah. In fact, Chomsky met with Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon even though the State Department lists the group as a terrorist organization and the elderly professor has publicly supported the militant group’s right to be armed.

At the time Chomsky was a professor of linguistics at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a private institution that can hire whoever it wants with no public accountability. However, UA is funded with taxpayer dollars and must comply with public-records laws meant to keep government transparent. It still took UA four months to provide Judicial Watch with the records of Chomsky’s outrageous deal.

The records show that the university’s relationship with the decrepit academic began several years ago while he was still teaching at MIT. Chomsky delivered guest lectures at UA, mostly in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and the university eventually hired him as a “consultant” for $65,000. His consultant duties were to show up only six times for a politics class with only 38 students, which means he received north of $10,000 a lecture.

The class met for 7½ weeks and Chomsky was to attend only on Thursdays for a total of six sessions, the contract obtained by Judicial Watch shows. UA subsequently hired Chomsky to teach for three years — from 2017 to 2020 — at an annual salary of $250,000. The money comes from tuition dollars, grants, contracts and other funds generated by the public institution, the records show.

Pouring salt on the wound, UA lost nearly $25,000 hosting lectures (“THE HAURY CONVERSATION: NOAM CHOMSKY TALKS WITH TONI MASSARO”) featuring Chomsky. The school promoted one of them as an event in which Chomsky would speak on “a range of topics that could include the refugee crisis, political conflict, democracy, capitalism, climate change and social inequality.”

The records show that the outlay expenses by UA for both lectures totaled $17,007.01. An invoice for $12,687.16 dated April 30, 2018, appears to be a payment to Eventbrite from the university for the second of the two Chomsky lectures. Ticket sales came in at $12,385 and ticket costs totaled $7,683.24. When combined with the original outlays, UA lost $24,992.41 on both of the Chomsky events. It should be noted that UA has not hosted similar events for any other academic in the past 24 years, making the Chomsky fiasco a unique, one-time production at a loss to taxpayers for a radical leftist political activist.

The university’s arrangement with Chomsky has outraged many, especially those with connections to the school. Bevan Olyphant, a former Green Berets who taught a leadership class in the honors program at UA, got paid $1,500 a semester and says a full engineering professor at UA receives an average annual salary of $80,000.

This is enraging considering the university is paying Chomsky an astounding quarter of a million dollars a year. Olyphant, who owns a ranch in southern Arizona, said this is the response he got from the president of UA when he requested that the university bring in conservative speakers: “We can’t do that! We would have a riot,” Olyphant told Judicial Watch. As part of the investigation into Chomsky’s egregious deal, Judicial Watch requested records of UA’s contracts with other speakers and lecturers and none were conservative.

Harassment claims lobbed, $$ demanded: Who are the victims?

Claims of sexual harassment rock a Valley charter school

The facts of the case are obscured by “she said” allegations in this age of #MeTooism, but the report in the daily newspaper raises red flags on several fronts.

Charter schools have been in the newspaper’s sights editorially, in contrived news reports and gnawed on by the toady columnists, seeking job security, awaiting their retirement and Social Security checks to kick in.  Parental choice in the education of their children is deemed risky and inappropriate.

Charters, which frequently outperform government schools, (US News and World Report clearly shows AZ Charter high schools topping the national list) are the go-to, reliable whipping boys when there is no actual news. Those in charge of the schools earn “too much,” a mantra never sung about the overpaid university presidents at ASU, UofA or NAU.

Now a lengthy headline blasts this accusation, “Glendale charter school teachers accuse principal, vice principal of sexual harassment.”

Despite the headline, the report makes it clear that these two women, now issuing a multi-page demand letter for $200,000 each, were less than victims. One went out for drinks with the man she now accuses of drugging and sexually harassing her. The other engaged in a consensual sexual relationship, only complaining after the ongoing liaison concluded. They were so damaged that only a couple of hundred thousand dollars and the firing of the principal and vice principal, effectively destroying their careers, will make the women whole again.

The two men and the school are named in the second sentence of the news report. The women are referred to as “the women.” As is too often the case, allegations carry the same heft as guilt.

Cold cash and retribution appear to be the most soothing balms.

The school’s superintendent said she received no complaints of harassment from school employees, including from the two teachers, who have since left their jobs.

An attorney for the school says an investigation of the women’s claims in underway, but added that they have “serious credibility problems” and the school “disputes nearly all of the factual allegations” in the demand letter.

The actual facts of the case have yet to be established. But the principal and vice principal are already guilty as charged by “the women.” They are toxic men, after all.

Watch AZ GOP debates: AZ Corp Comm & Ed Supe

Foremost among its many duties, the Arizona Corporation Commission regulates utility rates. Integrity, which has been lacking in this key commission, is the paramount consideration. Candidates Rodney Glassman, Justin Olson, Jim O’Connor, and Eric Sloan join in the debate.

The Republican Corporation Commission candidates debate can be viewed HERE.

Olson is a former state legislator who lost a 2016 primary challenge to Congressman Andy Biggs. In 2017, he was appointed to the ACC by Gov. Ducey to fill a vacancy, and is currently running for a complete term.

Be sure to read the revealing link under duplicitous party switcher Glassman’s name. Glassman is an opportunistic chameleon, who will quickly slip into whatever political affiliation he thinks will benefit him. Jim O’Connor is the knowledgeable and reliable conservative in the race.

The debate involving Republican candidates running for Superintendent of Public Instruction debate can be viewed HERE.

Incumbent Diane Douglas squares off with Republican challengers Robert Branch, Jonathan Gelbart, Tracy Livingston and Frank Riggs. Douglas strongly asserts Common Core has been eradicated in Arizona Schools, though others say it’s merely been renamed.

The candidates were asked if they supported the recent week-long teachers’ strike in which 840,000 Arizona students were abandoned in violation of contractual agreements. Although each candidate said they did not support the walk out, Livingston, who touts her credentials as a teacher, was the sole equivocator, adding the strike was “the teachers’ voice.” Her voice spoke loud and clear.

Branch asserted “dollars should follow the student,” regardless of which school their parents choose — a concept few taxpaying parents would disagree with.

Gelbart has made an interesting selection of former Congressman Jim Kolbe heading up his list of endorsements. But then again, he has no historical memory. The congressional page scandal occurred when Gelbart was just 8-years-old.

SRAZ calls it a toss-up between Branch and Riggs — leaning Branch.

 The debates, hosted by Ted Simons, are sponsored by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission.

AZ Republic pushes more liberal lunacy

Chamber of Commerce calls out Marxist agenda of teacher’s Socialist Pied Piper and gets hammered

When you’re an unrepentant liberal like the Arizona Republic’s editorialist Linda Valdez, playing games with words comes naturally. She advocates on behalf of physician assisted suicide, calling it, “a medically prescribed exit.” According to Valdez, denying this right is religion-based discrimination. “Suicide,” she claims, “is a loaded word that should be replaced with something less emotionally charged.” Most of the rest of us find it difficult to separate death from emotion. Another of her anti-faith offerings is, “Will the God Squad tale away your right to die.” Abortion on demand becomes “women’s health care.” There is nothing healthy about abortion — especially for the pre-born baby, who feels pain as he’s burned by chemicals or has his spinal cord severed and skull collapsed.  No wonder we need fabricated terminology to describe this horror.

Taxes?  “What’s wrong with Phoenix raising taxes?” is actually a headline topping one of her loads of drivel passing for a column.  Valdez is a staunch cradle to grave believer. With liberals, having the government provide for you throughout your lifetime is a belief comparable to the religious fervor she so disdains.

Valdez rails about illegals dying in the scorching desert heat, but places no blame on them for making unwise choices. They invade. They die. America is to blame.

She typifies the left-wing slant of the newspaper, which spews its outrage on Page One over what it apparently finds to be a slur in today’s edition. The leader of the striking teachers who abandoned their students for a week while violating their contractual agreements marching for a 20% pay increase is Noah Karvelis, 23, a self described Socialist, who was Bernie Sanders 2016 Arizona presidential campaign organizer. Sanders has no problem referring to himself as a Socialist. But when the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry issued this press release calling Karvelis out for addressing the 2018 Socialist convention in Chicago, that’s beyond the bounds of propriety. The leftist newspaper huffily declares it “offers a glimpse into the opposition strategy,”

After Gov. Ducey recklessly acquiesced to the teacher’s demands, they have come up with a Marxist redistribution of wealth scheme of placing hefty additional taxes on job creators they derisively call, “the rich.” It will be a ballot initiative in the form of an unalterable, permanent Constitutional Amendment with a permanent funding stream in addition to the others they already have 

Passage of ballot propositions — 301 in 2000 increasing the state sales tax and 123 in 2016 a grab from the state land trust — guaranteed more money for education, which apparently is never enough for the teachers who work 8½ months a year. School districts routinely hold budget overrides and bond elections to “get more money into the classroom” —- eduspeak for bolstering teacher’s salaries. A major premise of passing the Arizona Lottery in 1980 was that money from ticket sales would fund schools.

Don’t fall for the educrat extortionists latest ploy. This time the AZ Chamber of Commerce — an organization we’ve disagreed with on illegal immigration — is right on the money. 

NEA educrats give kneeling Kaepernick civic award

Highest earning AZ taxpayers get shafted by teachers’ union honoring football anthem protester

Upon reflection, what appears at first glance to be a bizarre news item is actually par for the course. The course being the leftist National Education Association (NEA). The teachers’ organization has awarded Colin Kaepernick a human and civil rights award.

Kaepernick, who refused to stand during the pre-game playing of the National Anthem, was given the NEA’s President’s Award in recognition of “his work to fight racial oppression through education and social justice activism” through his ‘Know Your Rights Camp.’

“The human and civil rights champions we honor tonight are the epitome of the fierce urgency of now, that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke about in his ‘I Have a Dream speech,'” opined NEA President Lily Eskelsen García. “Through their deeds and actions, they have demonstrated remarkable courage and conviction to stand up for racial and social justice. They have shown an unrelenting resolve and ferocity to make a real difference for public education, students and our nation’s future. They are shining examples of social justice activism, fighting against injustices every day, and making sure that our great nation lives up to its promise.”‘

Read the NEA tweet here, Then as you remind yourself about the harsh realities of the National Educational Association, remember that these are the people who spend more time with America’s children than most parents do. Propaganda works, as evidenced by the millennium turnout for Socialist presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

In pressing her leftwing agenda of ferocious separatism, Eskelsen García seems to have forgotten the words of Dr. King that still resound in the speech she alludes to.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Kaepernick disrespects the flag and anthem that represent our county and afforded him the opportunity to earn what most of us can only dream about.

And here in Arizona the #RedsforEd teachers who walked out on the state’s over 800,000 public school students for a week, breaking their contractual agreements, have submitted in excess of the 150,642 required petition signatures for #InvestinEd, their Marxist-based class warfare initiative, qualifying for the General Election ballot. The astronomical taxes imposed by the irrevocable Constitutional Amendment would impact those who already pay the highest tax rates and are job creators. But the extortionist educrats, not content with the 20% pay hike Gov. Ducey generously doled out— “without raising taxes” — he claims, still want more.

When the words “getting more money into the classroom,” are uttered by the teachers who work on average 8 1/2 months a year, remember that 60% of the new funds extracted by an in-perpetuity tax, would go toward teacher salaries. That’s In addition to the 20% pay increases gifted to the striking teachers by Ducey.

They should have been fired, as President Reagan did with the striking unionist air traffic controllers. The earth didn’t stop rotating on is axis, supervisors filled in, new controllers were hired, and flights resumed.

This brief video is nearly a decade old, but listen to the words of then-NEA legal counsel Bob Chanin as he admits what is first and foremost on the teacher’s agenda. It’s not the students. (This video link replaces the non-functioning one previously here, most likely removed from YouTube by the NEA.)

Report: Gov. Ducey poised to appoint Cindy McCain to U.S. Senate

It’s no surprise Ducey is faring badly in two new polls. A newly released NBC/Marist survey of AZ voters shows only 26% say he deserves to be reelected. Emerson College polling has Ducey’s approval at 31%.

The Santa Monica Observer’s Sunday edition has scooped Arizona’s newspaper of record with a uniquely Arizona news item. The article is headlined, “John McCain To Resign Senate Seat on the 4th of July, Says Aide. Cindy McCain Offered his Seat.”

The rumor mill has been rife with suggestions that McCain ally Gov. Doug Ducey, whose first job when moving to Arizona to attend college was working at Cindy Hensley McCain’s Anheuser-Busch beer distributorship. Ducey developed a close bond with the McCain’s that exists to this day. He and his wife recently visited the ailing McCain at his Cornville, Arizona retreat.

Speculation has intensified on Ducey appointing his friend and former employer Cindy to the senate, which the governor’s spokesman quickly tamped down, calling the discussion, “disgraceful.” The actual disgrace would be appointing her, ensuring the continuation of a McCain colluding with the most liberal Democrats and lying about securing our southern border.

On June 5, SRAZ posted Ken Bennett can and will be AZ’s next governor. Arizonans can count on the fact that Bennett would never appoint Cindy McCain to the U.S. Senate.

A Ducey campaign operative derides conservative Bennett, the former AZ Senate President and Secretary of State — the next in line of succession to the governor’s office —  as a “fringe candidate.” In doing so, Team Ducey is violating a cardinal campaign rule as it relates to adversaries: “Never let them see you sweat.”

Also telling is the fact that Ducey refuses to debate the well-qualified and experienced Bennett. No doubt Ducey doesn’t want to defend himself for acquiescing to the demands of Arizona’s striking teachers who violated their contractual agreements as they followed a 23-year-old Bernie Sanders-supporting socialist, abandoning hundreds of thousands of Arizona students for a week. Ducey rewarded them with a 20 percent pay increase.  They weren’t satisfied and are now moving forward with a ballot imitative to permanently “tax the rich” to enhance their salaries.

Ken Bennett states his case unambiguously:

“I am running because the truth matters and we are not being told the truth in critical areas.  My primary opponent, Governor Ducey, has forgotten that this is a Republican state and is caving to outside interest groups on gun control, outrageous budget spending, NAFTA, DACA, and Obamacare.”

As a Clean Elections candidate Ken Bennett needs to amass thousands of $5 campaign donations to become eligible for matching funds. Help him qualify. Time is short.