Will Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's Pals Profit From SB1070? (VIDEO)
Posted on 07/30/2010 @ 09:41 PM
Since signing SB1070, Jan Brewer has done untold damage to Arizona's reputation, tourism industry and overall economy.
But now there may be more to the story.
This recent TV news report by Phoenix-based KPHO exposes Brewer's connections to Corrections Corporation of America, the private prison company that could make money imprisoning illegal immigrants.
Big weekend for Democrats
Posted on 07/14/2010 @ 10:30 PM
Dear Fellow Democrat,
An exciting weekend is upon us and we need your help! Saturday and Sunday will feature four office openings, 14 phone banks, and 24 voter registration drives. With these openings, our statewide field operations are in full swing. Field organizers are on the ground and volunteers just like you are signing up to help!
The importance of our field efforts across the state cannot be overstated. Extremist Republicans continue to push a far-right agenda that doesn’t address what Arizonans truly need: more jobs, economic recovery and quality schools. Every volunteer knocking on doors, making phone calls or writing letters to the editor makes a huge difference toward electing responsible leadership in November.
The four new campaign offices will host activities like voter registration, phone banks, canvasses and other activities aimed at electing Democrats. Please stop by to meet fellow Democrats from your community and sign up to volunteer!
Office openings:
Saturday 17th
LD 8: 7835 E Redfield Ste 104, Scottsdale, 85260
5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Grand Opening Celebration
Congressman Harry Mitchell, LD 8 candidates and other candidates
Bring an appetizer to share
LD 10: 9040 N 19th Ave, Phoenix, 85021
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Light refreshments will be served
Meet local candidates
Voter registration training
Street teams will be going to Montebello & 19th Avenue Metro stop to do voter registration and PEVL
Sunday 18th
So. Phoenix: 1717 W Southern Ave, Phoenix, 85041
5 to 8 p.m.
Grand Opening Celebration
Meet your local candidates
Street team voter registration 6 to 8 p.m.
There will be free food!
LD 11: 3241 E Shea, Phoenix, 85028
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Light refreshments will be served
Meet your local candidates
Voter registration training
Rapid response phone banks
Canvass for Vote by Mail
Phone Banks, Canvasses and Voter Registration Drives:
There are too many to list, so click here to see these events on Organizing for America’s site.
See you this weekend!
Hulburd Garnering National Attention
Posted on 07/13/2010 @ 07:27 PM
July 13, 2010
Dear Democrats,
We thought you’d like to know that Jon Hulburd, the only Democrat running for Congress in Arizona’s 3rd District, is getting some well-deserved media attention for his fundraising success. But Hulburd is also impressing voters with his efforts to do what more politicians should actually be doing: working to improve our community.
On Friday, Hulburd announced substantial fundraising numbers, having raised $750,000 since beginning his campaign and over $250,000 in the last quarter alone. The political press took notice of this impressive haul. In case you missed it, check out these articles and video:
ABC 15's Inside Arizona Politics: Democrat Shakes Up Race for Shadegg's Congressional Seat
Daily Kos - Polling and Political Wrap
Hulburd also recently unveiled Community Comes First – a series of service projects to benefit neighbors in the district.
The first project is this Saturday, July 17 at 9 a.m. Volunteers will clean apartments for new families arriving at the Central Arizona Shelter Services' Vista Colina Center. This is an emergency shelter committed to providing families with a safe place to stay when they fall on hard times. The center is at 1050 W Mountain View Road in Phoenix. If you’d like to volunteer for this or other Community Comes First projects, contact Gabi Porter at (480) 252-5719 or sign up online at www.hulburdforcongress.com/community.
Top-quality Democratic candidates like Jon Hulburd are critical in this election cycle. Let’s show them our support and get involved today!
Yours in the fight,
Luis Heredia
Executive Director, Arizona Democratic Party
Support your Corp Comm candidates!
Posted on 07/07/2010 @ 09:23 PM
This election will determine which party controls the Arizona Corporation Commission, the state agency that determines what you pay for electricity, water, phones and natural gas, and sets energy policy for our state. Two seats on the five-member Commission are open this year.
The Republican incumbent Gary Pierce is seeking to return to his seat. This is the same man who suggested Arizona cut off electricity to Los Angeles and was celebrated on Fox News as a result.
Republican candidate Brenda Burns presided over the Senate during one of the most embarrassing periods in state history, highlighted by the alt-fuels fiasco that cost taxpayers around $150 million.
Just last week Republican candidate Barry Wong told The Arizona Republic that, if elected, he would require regulated utilities to check the immigration status of customers.
Fortunately, the Arizona Democratic Party has three tested, proven candidates in our primary. All three candidates are running under the state's clean elections system. Competing for the two open seats are State Representative David Bradley, Democratic Minority Leader and State Senator Jorge Luis Garcia and former Corporation Commissioner Renz Jennings.
Our Corporation Commission candidates can join sitting Democratic Commissioners Sandra Kennedy and Paul Newman in a Democratic majority to promote solar energy, create local jobs and protect consumers from volatile utility bills.
The Republican Legislature actually sponsored a bill this year (HB 2701) that would have killed solar energy development and killed jobs in Arizona! It would have stripped the Corporation Commission of its Constitutional authority to set energy policy and given that authority to the Legislature.
Please watch the televised Clean Elections debate featuring all three of our candidates airing on KAET-8 (PBS) Wednesday, July 21st at 7:00 p.m. The debate can be viewed afterward on the Clean Elections website.
Let’s show the Republicans that we support our Democratic candidates for the Corporation Commission. Democrats know how to protect consumers, encourage solar energy development and create local jobs in the growing clean energy industries.
Brewer on Immigration Reform: The longest non-answer in history
Posted on 07/02/2010 @ 06:06 PM
Brewer on Immigration Reform: The longest non-answer in history
Brewer’s “Jobs Plan”
Posted on 07/01/2010 @ 11:00 AM
Brewer's truthteller strategy hits a snag: The truth
Posted on 06/23/2010 @ 11:52 PM
Campaign co-chair claims governor has created 'thousands of jobs'
Gov. Brewer's "I'm a truthteller" strategy hit a big snag over the weekend when her campaign co-chair, Mary Peters, made a head-scratching claim at a GOP event in Ahwatukee. Speaking on behalf of the governor, Peters said that Brewer "has already created thousands of jobs and will continue to work on that.''
Huh?
Peters, who was Transportation Secretary in the job-killing Bush administration, needs to be briefed about Brewer's true record on job creation:
In May, Arizona lost another 4,300 private-sector jobs and the unemployment rate here increased to 9.6 percent, according to the state Commerce Department. Arizona's only job gains in May were due to federal Census worker hires. Arizona has a net loss of 98,900 jobs since Brewer took the reins as governor in January 2009. [Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov/schedule/archives/laus_nr.htm]
In February, Brewer signed off on massive cuts to AHCCCS and KidsCare. According to a study commissioned by the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, these cuts could eliminate 42,000 Arizona jobs, devastating a sector of the economy that is actually growing in our state.
Gov. Jan Brewer's proposed cuts to health care would drain an estimated $2.7 billion in state and federal funding from Arizona's economy and result in the loss of 42,000 jobs, according to an analysis by economists at Arizona State University... The Governor's Office did not dispute the analysis. [Analysis conducted by Seidman Research Institute at ASU's W.P. Carey School of Business. -- AZ Republic, 2/25/10]
"Jan Brewer has wasted almost 18 months in office without any meaningful effort to create jobs," said Luis Heredia, Arizona Democratic Party executive director. "Her campaign shouldn't use funny numbers to trick Arizona voters into believing otherwise. Just saying you're a truthteller doesn't make it so."
Brewer has also unveiled several "jobs plans," but so far they've only generated publicity - no actual jobs. Examples:
Plan #1: Create a stimulus plan of her own [Source: 2009 inaugural address http://bit.ly/1zj5h2]
Result: Nothing.
Background: Brewer initially knocked the federal Recovery Act and announced that she would be creating a stimulus plan of her own. Since then, however, she has eagerly accepted federal stimulus money and taken credit in official press releases. So much for a plan of her own.
During her inaugural address, Brewer said Arizona will move ahead with its own stimulus program, rather than wait for federal money to trickle down. But she offered no details on what that plan will include. [Arizona Daily Star, 1/22/09]
Plan #2: Offer tax breaks for businesses [Source: Brewer's "Five Point Plan" for Arizona - 2009]
Result: Abandoned.
Background: Brewer's initial idea for job growth was to offer a friendly "tax code" starting in 2012. This idea was offered during her 'Five Point Plan' speech upon taking office. But while the state was losing thousands of jobs, Brewer's idea wouldn't take effect until three years later. She has since abandoned her major "tax reforms." Here's an excerpt from her Five Point Plan:
4) Reform and modernization of Arizona's state tax structure
The Governor's 4th point calls for a state tax reduction that would begin in 2012 and progressively build a more friendly tax code to create high wage, sustainable jobs in the state and attract investment capital. [Governor's Office Press Release, 3/4/09]
Plan #3: Eliminate the state Department of Commerce and replace it with a Commerce Advisory Council; create enterprise zones; and accelerate depreciation of corporate property.
Result: Not implemented.
Background: Before her 2010 State of the State address, Brewer created a 'Commerce Advisory Council,' the first step in her reform of the Arizona Department of Commerce. They were tasked with conducting a report to be delivered to the Governor in three months. In April, the advisory council returned with their recommendations. Brewer promised that this would not become "another one of those grandiose plans that ends up ... collecting dust on someone's shelf." [AZ Capitol Times, 4/14/10]. But those recommendations were embedded in Brewer's own "Job's Bill," which was never heard by the Legislature and is, indeed, collecting dust.
"Arizona is hurting," Heredia said, "and that means we need real leaders who are laser-focused on creating jobs."
Is Brewer replacing Palin as Fox News darling?
Posted on 06/18/2010 @ 02:00 PM
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer seems to be replacing Sarah Palin as Fox News’ right-wing darling du jour. Brewer was just interviewed -- again -- for Fox News, making this at least the 5th time Fox has pitched softball questions at Brewer since she signed SB1070.
Maybe it was inevitable. After all, Brewer and Palin have a lot in common, and not just the faux border security website they launched together in May that features singing sock puppets. Brewer and Palin also share a knack for extreme rhetoric. And a gift for ignoring the facts.
Case in point: On June 16, Brewer told interviewer Greta Van Susteren that SB1070 is “another tool for us to be able to use in order to get our borders under control.” (Fact check: In April, Brewer admitted on TV that SB1070 “has nothing to do with securing the border.” See for yourself.)
Fortunately for Brewer, her interviews are a cake walk on Fox. Van Susteren sounds less like an interviewer and more like a practice buddy to help Brewer deliver talking points. Check out these “fair and balanced” comments from Van Susteren to Brewer:
- June 2: “You seem pretty tough. You don't seem -- you seem pretty tough. You don't seem very afraid.”
- June 3: “You sound like you're pretty tough.”
- June 16: “You're tough!”
Toughness fixation aside, Van Susteren is also cozy enough with Brewer to share a laugh or inside joke. Here’s an exchange on June 3:
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, you understand, from my perspective, here we have the two principals, we have the governor of the state and we have the president of the United States sitting across from each other in the Oval Office, and the president says, ‘We're going to send a staff to do all the talking to your staff,’ instead of the two of you talking together.
BREWER: That's correct.
VAN SUSTEREN: OK. So you must -- I take it by your silence or your pause that you have sort of a little of the same thought of mine, ‘Why not do it now?’
BREWER: Right.
VAN SUSTEREN: OK.
BREWER: And you know -- yes, I'll leave it at that.
(LAUGHTER)
VAN SUSTEREN: OK, leave it at that.
And so will we.
Help us fight back this November by electing Arizona Democrats. Visit arizonafightsback.com to sign our petition and learn more.Truthteller in chief? Not exactly
Posted on 06/17/2010 @ 12:17 AM
In last night's GOP gubernatorial debate, Gov. Brewer repeatedly said, "I'm a truthteller," as if saying it would somehow make it so. But the truth is harder to find in what Brewer says than in what she does. Here's a comparison of the two:
Brewer says: "I will NOT give up on education." (Brewer statement, 9/4/09)
Brewer does: Cuts more than $1 billion from education. (HB2001, signed 3/18/10; SB1002, signed 11/23/09; SB1006, signed 1/31/09)
Brewer says: The federal government is "the largest external threat to Arizona's budget." (Brewer's State of the State address, Jan. 11, 2010)
Brewer does: Asks the federal government for stimulus funds and then touts Arizona's share of the funds 23 times in official press releases. (http://azgovernor.gov/media/PressReleases.asp)
Brewer says: Vows to "protect our children and our families" (ironically, by opposing health reform that would extend them coverage). (http://azgovernor.gov/dms/upload/PR_032210_StatementByGovernorBrewer.pdf)
Brewer does: Signs a bill making Arizona the only state to eliminate its children's insurance program. (HB2001 cuts KidsCare, AHCCCS, signed 3/18/10)
Brewer says: "I have no greater focus than to grow jobs in Arizona" (Brewer on 3/4/09: http://azgovernor.gov/dms/upload/NR_030409_Address49thLegislature.pdf)
Brewer does: (nothing)
The hard truth is that Brewer is avoiding the elephant in the room: our state's economic crisis. Her budget proposal and rhetoric have done absolutely nothing to create jobs and put Arizona on track for a stable economic foundation. Arizona needs real leadership now more than ever - it's time to replace rhetoric with bold action.
