Featured Stories
Ducey: Roads are a special interest
October 5, 2012
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by David Safier The Goldwater Institute thinks when construction workers are paid to build and maintain roads, they're getting government money for nothing. Roads? Who needs 'em? Strengthened bridges? What are the chance you'll be on that bridge when it collapses? Doug Ducey, who is heading the push against Prop 204, the renewal of the … Read more
Fact Checking the mendacity of ‘Mittens’
October 5, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Time once again for Steve Benen's weekly fact check of the shameless shapeshifter and pathological liar, Willard "Mittens" Romney, a new record of 50 items this week. Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XXXVII: Joe Conason watched the presidential candidates' debate this week, and had a reaction I could relate to. "'It's not easy … Read more
Dr. Richard Carmona to host Maricopa County town halls Saturday
October 5, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Press release from the Dr. Richard Carmona for U.S. Senate campaign: Carmona to host Maricopa County town halls Saturday Tomorrow, Rich Carmona will meet with voters throughout Maricipa County at a series of town halls. All events are open to the public and credentialed media. WHAT: Phoenix town hall WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 6, … Read more
Carmona for U.S. Senate campaign ad: ‘Life’s Work’
October 5, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Press release from the Dr. Richard Carmona for U.S. Seante campaign:
Carmona made saving lives "Life's Work," new campaign ad shows
Congressman Flake will end traditional Medicare
The Carmona for Arizona campaign launched a new statewide television ad today. "Life's Work" showcases Dr. Richard Carmona's career history of saving lives and deflecting partisanship — in distinct contrast to career politician and former lobbyist Congressman Jeff Flake.
The combat-decorated Special Forces veteran, Pima County Deputy Sheriff and the 17th Surgeon General of the United States will protect and strenghthen Medicare while six-term Congressman Flake wants to slash Medicare benefits, which will end traditional Medicare.
Video below the fold.
The trouble with ‘E.Orr’
October 5, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I have told you about The troubling Tyler Mott, the Tea-Publican running for state senate in LD 9, but what about his running mate for the LD 9 House, the equally troubling Tea-Publican Ethan Orr aka "E.Orr," the former Young Democrat?
The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports House contest in Tucson pits 2 Democrats against a former Democrat:
Republican Ethan Orr spent the first half of his life as a Democrat, volunteering for the party on political campaigns, including Bill Clinton’s first presidential run in 1992 and Eddie Basha’s run for Arizona governor in 1994.
So it’s no surprise that when he’s on the campaign trail for a House seat in north Tucson’s new Legislative District 9, one of the state’s most competitive districts, he can talk the talk that the moderate voters there want to hear.
* * *
Orr says he fashions himself after moderate Tucson Republicans like former Reps. Pete Hershberger and Toni Hellon, and he hopes to work with the southern Arizona Democratic delegation to pass legislation that can help the people and Tucson.
Yeah, not hardly. Hellon and Hershberger were not culture warriors for the far-right social agenda. And aren't they dismissed today as RINOs by the Tea-Publican Party?
Orr’s Democratic opponents, Victoria Steele and Mohur Sidhwa, say Orr’s moderate rhetoric is false advertising.
Orr takes a strong stance on several social issues, including abortion, saying it should be illegal in all cases except when the mother’s life is at risk. He said he doesn’t support making gay marriage legal, but doesn’t support a constitutional amendment against it either.
[Note: Arizona voters already enacted a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman, Prop. 102 in 2008. Someone should ask him in upcoming debates how he voted on Prop. 102.]
Though he said he wouldn’t sponsor social bills himself, he said when it comes time to vote, he would vote with his party and his conscience.
E.Orr's stance on abortion means that he supports requiring forced birth for victims of rape and incest — the life of the mother is his only exception. Someone should ask him in upcoming debates whether he believes in Rep. Todd Akin's (R-MO) "legitimate rape" theory which is prevalent among the anti-choice Christian right.
E.Orr says he will vote with his party on social issues. Well, the 20 week restrictions on abortion, waiting periods and forced ultra-sound, the defunding of Planned Parenthood, and permitting employers religious institutions to opt-out of contraceptive coverage in employer-sponsored health insurance plans — all bills advanced by Cathi Herrod and her Center for Arizona Policy — were passed with near unanimous Tea-Publican support in the past legislature.
The New York Times catches up to Arizona’s own GOP voter suppression specialist, Nathan Sproul
October 5, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
On Thursday, the New York Times finally caught up to Arizona's own GOP voter suppression specialist, Nathan Sproul. File this one under "reporting you will never see in the pages of the Arizona Daily Star." Nathan Sproul, Long Trailed by Voter Fraud Claims:
Republicans are now playing defense over the role of a well-paid operative, Nathan Sproul, in a voter registration scandal that emerged in Florida and has spread to other states.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said it was reviewing “numerous” claims involving a company that Mr. Sproul runs to determine if a criminal investigation is warranted. Complaints have surfaced in 10 Florida counties, among them allegations that registrations had similar signatures or false addresses, or were filed under the names of dead people. In other cases, party affiliations appeared to have been changed.
In recent days, similar claims against Mr. Sproul have arisen in Nevada and Colorado.
Mr. Sproul, 40, a former executive director of the Arizona Christian Coalition and the Republican Party in Arizona, is well known in political circles there. Since 2004, Mr. Sproul’s companies — he has operated under several corporate names — have collected more than $17.6 million from Republican committees, candidates and the “super PAC” American Crossroads, mostly for voter registration operations, according to campaign finance records.
The Republican Party, which paid Mr. Sproul about $3 million this year for work in five states, has severed its ties with him, saying it has no tolerance for voter registration fraud.
But questions about Mr. Sproul’s methods first emerged in 2004, when one of his companies, Sproul & Associates, was paid nearly $8 million during the election cycle. The payouts made the company the seventh-biggest recipient of campaign expenditures by the committee, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.
* * *
Mike Hellon, a former chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, said that Mr. Sproul had been considered “very controversial” in Arizona Republican circles before the recent allegations, partly because of past voter registration investigations. “There are questions among a lot of people in the party about how he gets these contracts and why he gets contracts,” Mr. Hellon said.
As a political operative in Arizona, Mr. Sproul is known for a no-holds-barred approach. He was criticized for dredging up 28-year-old domestic abuse claims against an incumbent State Senate candidate in 2008.
That same year, he promoted a ballot initiative that would have made it more difficult to impose additional taxes or increase spending in the state. The measure failed, despite considerable financial backing from the liquor industry and from Jim Click, a Tucson car dealer and a large Republican donor who has worked closely with Mr. Sproul on local elections.
‘Don’t make me angry’ Frank Antenori is scaring the villagers again
October 5, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The realization of his impending defeat is starting to get to Sen. "Don't make angry" Frank Antenori. He has become unhinged and is scaring the villagers again.
The political gossip rag The Yellow Sheet (subscription required) has two items on Frank(enstein) Antenori unhinged.
The first item is "The following item is rated 'R' for language":
Antenori told our reporter today that those in the political chattering class who are declaring his re-election bid DOA don’t know what they’re talking about.
“Who the f**k is Bert Coleman? I’m going to have to track this guy down,” Antenori told our reporter, referring to yesterday’s report in which Coleman accused Antenori of being out of touch with voters for hosting a border town hall in Tucson.
* * *
“I know exactly what the voters of this district want and I’m giving it to them… The guy who is out of touch is Bert Coleman,” Antenori said.
That kinda sounds like "threatening and intimidating," Frank. You may want to reconsider your intemperate words in light of A.R.S. § 13-1202. Just sayin'.
The second item is "At least he didn't call them the 'Chamber of Commies'":
Antenori also told our reporter that Coleman’s proclamations that his campaign isn’t getting any business support are foolish, and reflect only the view of the “establishment” business community in Tucson led by auto dealer Jim Click and developer Don Diamond.
That group expects Southern Arizona legislators to do its bidding, he said, something he isn’t willing to do. “That’s why I have a hard time raising money – because I don’t do tit-for-tat. They know I cannot be bought, and they don’t like that. I’m not their little butt-boy,” he said.
Hmmm, is that gay innuendo, Frank?
NRSC ad buy: ‘Save the Flake’
October 5, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The bedwetters at the National Republican Senatorial Committee are so worried that the billionaire hedge fund owners of Club for Growth and the billionaire bastard Koch brothers' front group Freedom Works are not enough to get the job done to save Rep. Jeff Flake from impending defeat that the NRSC is making … Read more
