Year: 2018

FLYING SOLO? McSally ONLY Major Senate Candidate With No Employees, Paying No Payroll Taxes; IRS/State Violation?

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Last year, Arizona Rep. Martha McSally (R-CD2) voted against permitting Congress to review the tax returns of President Donald Trump (as part of tax reform legislation). This year – as McSally has become a frequent defender of the President – her Senatorial campaign committee has taken the unusual position that there are NO (taxable) employees working on her campaign.

By classifying 13 apparently-full-time persons as independent contractors, McSally has avoided paying the employer’s share of payroll taxes, Social Security and Medicare withholding, unemployment taxes, benefits, etc.

Arizona’s Politics reviewed the campaign filings of the Republican and Democratic candidates running in the 10 highest-spending Senate campaigns and found that McSally is the only one who decided to classify her top staff as independent contractors.  Democratic Senator Bill Nelson’s (D-FL) campaign previously was set up the same way until the Washington Free Beacon publicized the questionable workaround in July.

(Last week, Arizona’s Politics reported on the FEC’s concern about the McSally For Senate committee not disclosing necessary contributor information, despite previous assurances.)

Based on our review of the most recent, 3rd quarter filing, McSally has 13 people receiving monthly payments ranging from between $1,445 and $7,000, and at least that many receiving smaller bi-weekly payments. All of them list “field

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Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley (right) and Republican challenger Ana Henderson.

LD9 Debate Reveals Stark Contrasts between Democrat & Republican Candidates (video)

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Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley (right) and Republican challenger Ana Henderson.
Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley (right) and Republican challenger Ana Henderson.

Can’t decide how to vote in the November 6 election? If you live in Legislative District 9, check out the LD9 debate before casting your vote.

The debate video below reveals clear differences between the candidates on key issues such as the minimum wage, food security, the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), climate change, abortion, gun violence, and more.

Five people are running for the three LD9 Legislative seats: incumbent Democrats Reps. Randy Friese and Pamela Powers Hannley (me), Republican challenger Ana Henderson, and Senate candidates former Democratic representative Victoria Steele and Republican write-in candidate Randy Fleenor.

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) conducts candidate debates, videotapes them, and stores them on their website and YouTube channel. If you live in a district other than LD9, check out the CCEC archive for the other 2018 debate videos. For Southern Arizona Legislative Districts, here are links to debates for LD2, LD3, LD10, LD11, LD8, and LD14. (The LD9 debate is embedded below.

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Countdown: What Are the Most Effective Things To Do?

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Did you know that ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ was a slogan of the British in 1939?  And we are not even being bombed here, so surely we can do the same. This post is of the no-frills variety.  I know almost all readers of this post are already doing a lot – thank you … Read more

GOP sabotage policy undermines GOP lies about protecting people with pre-existing conditions

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To hear Republican candidates tell it, they are fully on board with the Affordable Care Act’s protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions. Donald Trump, in particular, tells his Nuremberg-style campaign rallies that Republicans will always protect people with pre-existing conditions, but the evidence doesn’t support his message.

Steve Benen makes a good catch on a little-reported news item from Monday that undermines this Big Lie. On pre-existing protections, watch what the GOP does (not what it says):

By any sane measure, the argument is indefensible. Not only have these GOP politicians spent years trying to tear them down, they’re also championing a lawsuit that would strip millions of families of the protections Republicans now pretend to support.

As Benen has previously noted:

There’s currently a Republican lawsuit pending in federal court that’s trying to tear down the ACA’s existing protections for those with pre-existing conditions. Trump not only refused to defend the current law in court, he also endorsed the litigation that would undermine Americans’ health security.

But the lie runs deeper. Trump’s agenda includes pushing short-term plans, which not only undermine the marketplace, they also allow insurers to sell plans that – you guessed it – don’t fully protect Americans with pre-existing conditions.

This comes on the heels of multiple Republican legislative proposals – each of which enjoyed the White House’s support – which featured the same unpopular flaw.

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Voting for the Planet

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I probably don’t have to remind you how important it is to vote this year. But it is especially vital to safeguarding our remaining environmental protections. This year Rep. McSally completely disregarded our requests to protect our waterways. In fact, she used her clout with the President to urge him to sign a bill allowing … Read more