Educrat thugs promise “Armageddon”

AEA Pres. Joe Thomas threatens another strike, as teachers resemble thugs pulling a heist

Emboldened by Gov. Ducey’s capitulation to their 20% salary demands, the #RedsforEd unionist teachers are planning more walkouts.

Even after Ducey caved to their demands after vowing he would not, the unionists still endorsed radical Leftist open border proponent David Garcia for governor.  He was trounced 56% to 41%. And the new money for the teacher’s raises which Ducey said he would not increase taxes to provide? He’s instituted a new “public safety fee” to cover the pay hikes.

During the strike Joe Thomas, president of the Arizona Education Association (AEA) was front and center issuing statements about the need for more money for the teachers —- who care so much for their students that last year they abandoned 800,000 of them for over a week in violation of their contractual agreements.

Paid by the union, Joe Thomas received in excess of $400,000 in compensation each year from 2011 through 2016. That swank sum has no doubt been upgraded in the past three years. Thomas and his teacher wife are Democrats. Following the Nov. General Election, we posted, “If you like AZ’s leftist election results, thank a teacher.”

The striking teachers chose Noah Karvelis as the leader they mindlessly followed. The 23-year-old hip hop music teacher and Socialist Bernie Sander’s AZ campaign coordinator,  urged his colleagues on Twitter to teach political activism to their students and advance the concepts of gun control, white privilege, and anti-capitalism.

Never forget the “underpaid” teachers, who work 81/2 months a year, are able to support the far left teacher’s unions to the tune of $millions a year, earmarked for Democrat candidates and liberal causes.

We are geared to think that teachers care about the students entrusted to them, but walking out on them proves otherwise. So do the words of then-retiring NEA legal counsel Bob Chanin. Listen to his admission carefully.(brief video.) He admits that the unions are about money, power, and a leftist agenda —- clearly stating “It’s not because we care about children.”

Teachers have staged walkouts in West Virginia, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arizona, and now in the Los Angeles School District, where they are  promising “Armageddon.” To most of them, that’s a word with mystic allure.  What it really promises is catastrophic calamity of biblical proportions.

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. 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.

Falling prey to the teacher’s demands was foolishness personified. It’s like attempting to bribe a mobster. No amount will ever be enough.

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Ducey swears in Dems: Proof of AZ GOP ineptitude

This morning at 10:00 Gov. Doug Ducey will preside over the inauguration of newly elected state officers. The spiffy invitation is topped by a copper-toned replica of the state seal. The text is embossed on high quality, ivory card stock. To the untutored eye, it looks elegantly celebratory.  But the hard truth is, of the five state officers being sworn in, two are Democrats, newly elected to formerly Republican-held posts.

Republican Mark Brnovich was reelected attorney general as was Joe Hart, state mine inspector. Former state senator Kimberly Yee was victorious in her bid for state treasurer.

The debate can rage over what caused the upsets. The striking  #REDSforEd unionist teachers, who abandoned approximately 840,000 students in over 1,000 Arizona public schools for more than a week, claim credit for the eminently unqualified Democrat Kathy Hoffman winning the Superintendent of Public Instruction and Katie Hobbs now a heartbeat away from the Governor’s office. Republicans also lost a seat on the utilities’ rate-setting corporation commission. Five of Arizona’s nine congressional district seats are now in the Dem column.

There’s plenty of blame to be spread around, but as the sign on Pres. Harry Truman’s desk spelled out, “The buck stops here,” meaning with him, since he was in charge. The same analogy can be made with Jonathan Lines, the Republican state chairman. He lives approximately 200 miles away in Yuma, with his wife and 11 children, runs a business in the area and rarely shows his face at Republican headquarters. He is the marionette to string-pulling Robert Graham’s puppeteer. Arizona Republicans need leadership, not someone taking orders from the representative of the Republican syndicate. Frank Thorwald, the backup candidate, conveniently works with Graham.  And Graham?  He’s been censured, barred and fined $15,000 for alleged violations of Massachusetts  securities laws, according to a consent order from the state’s securities regulator.

Dr. Kelli Ward, a former two-term state senator is challenging the bungling Lines. She’s knowledgeable and familiar with the process. We have the rare occasion to elect a Trump-supporting conservative who speaks our language and is not beholden to the establishment. The statewide GOP Statutory Meeting is Sat. January 26, 2019. If you are an elected state delegate, be sure to cast your ballot for Dr. Kelli Ward.

How will Ducey handle non-striking state workers seeking raises?

Sixteen state agencies* are reported to be “requesting” pay increases for their employees. Though merit based raises have provided some pay boosts, across-the-board pay hikes haven’t been given in nearly 20 years.

Unlike the left-wing, unionist public school teachers who abandoned 840,000 Arizona students as they walked off the job in the final weeks of last school year —- in violation of their contractual agreements —- the approximately 27,000 state employees have not followed a Socialist Pied Piper or made demands.

This randomly selected school calendar clearly shows the vacation days, half days for teacher planning and teacher collaboration, lengthy Spring break, and Spring holiday (once known as Easter), Winter break and Winter holiday (previously called Christmas) —- before being neutered by liberal educrats —- including months of summer vacation time.

State workers typically get two weeks of vacation and national holidays off. They work full days and don’t get paid time off to collaborate with co-workers.

Gov. Doug Ducey initially said he would not be held hostage to the teacher’s 20% salary increase demands, then quickly acquiesced. He should have emulated President Ronald Reagan (brief video) when the PATCO union air traffic controllers walked off the job in 1981. He ultimately fired 11,345 strikers who refused to return to work, and banned them from ever holding a federal job again.

Ducey appeased educrats again by putting a liberal Dem on the Arizona Board of Regents. This action came after they showed their gratitude with a unified take-down of Republicans during the Nov. 6 General Election.

*  Departments of Child Safety; Corrections; Economic Security; Health Services; Industrial Commission; Insurance; Liquor Licensing and Control; Public Safety; Real Estate; Registrar of Contractors; Revenue; School Facilities Board; State Parks and Trails; Transportation; Veterans Services; and Water Resources.

AZ Gov. Ducey appoints U.S. Rep. McSally to Senate

Gov. Doug Ducey’s predictable announcement, which can be read in this press release, was made this morning.

 

Ducey movin’ fast filling AZ’s senate seat

With this letter — dated Dec. 12, 2018, and hand-delivered to the Ninth Floor Governor’s office — Jon Kyl, back for a second senate stint, this time as a temporary seat holder, notified Gov. Doug Ducey that he would be leaving at the witching hour on Dec. 31. This move gives Ducey the ability to fill the senate seat for two years, until the next election cycle.

Following his retirement in 2013, Kyl returned to lobbying at the influential Washington D.C. law and lobbying firm Covington & Burling, a much more lucrative gig than the U.S. Senate. The firm has offices worldwide from Beijing to D.C.

Among the Republicans whose names are being bandied about as potential replacements for the open GOP senate seat are: Rep. Martha McSally, who lost a campaign for Arizona’s other Senate seat earlier this year by just 2.25%; Kirk Adams, who recently resigned as Ducey’s chief of staff, previously lost the GOP congressional primary to Matt Salmon in 2012; and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, in office since winning a special election in 2010.  Others, such as state Treasurer Eileen Klein, with less name ID have been mentioned. Klein, the former president of the Arizona Board of Regents, was appointed by Ducey to fill the post after Treasurer Jeff DeWit resigned to become CFO of NASA.

One thing is certain, appointing his former boss, Cindy Hensley McCain, to fill the seat held by her now-deceased husband, would not play out well for Ducey.  When Doug Ducey initially arrived in Arizona in 1983 to attend ASU, he worked at Hensley & Co., the Anheuser-Busch distributorship owned by Cindy Lou Hensley McCain. The Ducey and McCain families have remained close.

In a news release, Ducey announced he will appoint a replacement “in the near future.”  SRAZ’s readers are invited to contribute better choices for this critically important seat. John McCain, first elected in 1982, spent over three decades colluding with Democrats and stabbing Republicans in the back.

Gov. Ducey’s magical “fee” is actually a tax

Teacher pay hikes that “wouldn’t raise taxes,” find their funding source: YOU

Remember when Gov. Doug Ducey, vowed he would not be held hostage to teachers’ demands for a 20% pay hike, and then acquiesced, though promising no tax increases would be needed to fund their excessive demands for their part-time jobs?

Surprise!

Beginning Jan. 1, 2019 there will be a new, deceptively named “public safety fee“(notice it’s not called a tax) that will be tacked on to vehicle registrations. The newspaper headline says it takes effect Jan. 1, but the ADOT press release declares Dec. 1.  Which one of these charlatans to believe?

ADOT’s website is full service, providing a choice among 103 languages from Afrikaans to Zulu, and even has a readily accessible Civil Rights Division, in case your feelings were bruised during your work day. If that isn’t enough, it also hawks specialty license plates, “for that person who’s impossible to shop for.”

The $32 fee/scam, originally touted as $18, was projected to raise either $149 or $185 million yearly. The numbers fluctuate wildly depending on the “fee” and who made the projections.  When the word “stakeholders” is used, your suspicion antenna should be on high alert. ADOT itself announced it would actually be $265.6 million! Good luck in finding that news release now. This is the enabling legislation, signed by Gov. Ducey. The purpose of this “fee” is to free up highway safety money tapped into for educrats, according to this revealing news report.

On July 13, 2018 leftist editorialist Linda Valdez wrote, “What’s wrong with Phoenix raising taxes?” one of her loads of drivel passing for a column.  Valdez is a staunch cradle-to-grave advocate. With liberals, having the government provide for you throughout your lifetime is a core belief comparable to the religious fervor she so disdains. Of course, “the government” is us.

The rest of us hold the belief that taxes are our money, necessary for maintaining infrastructure (pipelines, utilities, roadways, bridges, and military preparedness), but often misspent. President Trump’s tax cuts have, in fact, spurred economic growth. Tax cuts, not tax increases, are the means of energizing the economy and empowering Americans.

Tell that to da Dems and da Ducey.

Ducey still appeasing educrats with Dem ABOR app’t

After backtracking on his pledge not to reward Arizona’s striking #REDS for ED public school teachers who disregarded their contractual agreements as they abandoned over 840,000  students for a week, Gov. Doug Ducey caved in to their demands for a 20% salary increase for their part-time jobs. His acquiescence emboldened the unionists further as they wielded their new-found influence in the recent Nov. 6, election, turning previously red Arizona a deep purple.

Now easily reelected to his final term as governor by his teacher comrades, Ducey with no further constraints, has appointed Democrat Fred DuVal, his former 2014 gubernatorial rival, to the Arizona Board of Regents. This is the second, non-consecutive, term for retread DuVal, who was initially appointed by Janet Napolitano. His liberal bona fides are exactly what would be expected. During his previous tenure he was a reliable university tuition hike advocate. DuVal was previously an aide to Democrat Gov. Bruce Babbitt and worked as Bill Clinton’s White House Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs.

This is the enthusiastic welcome leftist DuVal received from the Board of Regents. Not to be outdone, Ducey heaped even more praise (via linked press release) on his former foe, then derided as an “arrogant Washington insider and career influence peddler.” It’s easy to be gracious after emerging victorious 53.4% to 41.6% but do you have to be foolish?  Are there no worthy Republicans to appoint to the Arizona Board of Regents?

DuVal is a darling of the educrats, whose gratitude for their taxpayer-funded raise was demonstrated by a colossal slap in the face to Arizona parents. With the support of the increasingly radical, Hillary-endorsing Arizona Republic newspaper, public school teachers led the vote against Prop. 305, which would have expanded eligibility for education empowerment scholarship accounts. The liberal educrats organized to deny parental choice in education. They also united to elect leftist Democrat Kathy Hoffman as Superintendent of Public Instruction. Her background? She was a preschool teacher for less than two years and a school speech therapist for five. Her sole qualification that mattered to them is a “D” after her name.