THE WHOPPER

AND IT IS NOT FROM BURGER KING

IT IS TIME FOR THE TEACHERS TO DISCOVER THAT THEIR PROBLEM IS NOT AT THE LEGISLATURE, BUT WITH THE SUPERINTENDENTS AND ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES.

IN ADDITION, THEIR UNION, THE AEA, IS COMPLICIT IN THE MISREPRESENTATIONS.

Any educational funds from this tax will go to districts ONLY.

The brochure we received from the YES people states there are 140,000 more enrolled than in 2004. THAT IS A BLATANT LIE.

The fact is that in the district system there were 887,489 TOTAL ADMs in 2004 and the current district TOTAL ADMs are 931,844. These numbers are straight from the Superintendents AnnualFinancial Report, prepared and submitted by the district business offices to Department of Ed. That is an INCREASE of only 44,345 more children, NOT 140,000 during the years the YES people chose, and that is only a 4.9% increase.

Now to look at tax load: According to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee report on Expenditures to the Districts Maintenance and Operations Budgets, in FY2004 the state General Fund appropriated $3,349,554,200 to the districts while in FY2009, the state General Fund appropriated $5,079,427,900 to the districts. That is a 51.64% increase.

Let me repeat that, because it is a startling set of figures - - the average daily membership increased by a mere 4.9% since 2004 - the time span they chose - while appropriations increased by a whopping 51.64%.

Teachers say that they have not had pay increases for seven years, or they have had pay cuts the last three years. If that is true, they need to be asking their administration where the dollars went. The funds were appropriated from the state General Fund and if they did not receive those funds there is only one stop from the legislature to them - the district offices.

There are also comments about how many teachers have lost their position. Some teachers have been let go, but lets look at why that is happening.

In 2008, the number of district pupils was 950,815, however, as stated above, the current number has decreased to 931,844 - a loss of 18,971. If you figure the average class size is 30, that is a loss of 632 classrooms and subsequently a lack of need for 632 teachers. Teacher reductions are NOT because of low appropriations, but a lack of pupils. That pupil count, by the way, is continuing to decline every month and will for the foreseeable future.

Any government agency that has a 4.9% growth in caseload and has received a 51.64% increase in funding has too much taxpayer money, not too little. These figures are readily available and published on the JLBC and ADE websites, so you can use them with comfort to inform your friends and neighbors about the real education story.

Vote NO on Prop 100!!

It is a scam, it is unnecessary, it will harm seniors on fixed incomes and it will further damage our economy by costing the Arizona job market 24,000 to 40,000 jobs.

National Guard 4 Crime Suppression

Good for Chicago - Bad for Arizona

Talk about a double standard.

Go to this revealing story and learn how it is viewed in Obamaland.

The new face of Educators

We have a crisis around the world that has caused the deepest downturn since the 1930's. Arizona Tax receipts are DOWN more than 40%. The k-12 piece of the state tax revenue pie has grown from 43% to nearly 90% in the last decade - - - AND THEY WANT MORE.

Student SAT scores are DOWN, teacher pay UP, % of revenues to the classroom is DOWN, the number of Administrators is UP.

WHY ARE WE IN THIS SPOT? GREED, plain and simple.

Watch the video from the teachers in Chicago. At least they have honesty on their side as opposed to the junk being sold here.

http://biggovernment.com/publius/2010/04/22/chicago-teacher-on-tax-hike-give-up-the-bucks/

We have found the enemy

and it's Barry Hess and the Hessians

We went to a Tea Party last night and were energized once again by the patriotic fervor of ten thousand patriots that was facilitated by Tom Jenney and AFP, Thayer Verschoor and Ax-the-Tax, and NO on 100. It was so hot and yet so cool to see new passionate activists that have decided to join the fight against a socialist takeover of our country and state.

It was all wonderful, that is, until we ventured into the nether world created by Barry and the Bumpkins. Never forget, this is the self-centered hippopotamus that gave us Janet Napolitano. Now this narcissistic waster of good oxygen wants to take the opportunity to give us Terry Goddard. If he truly cared about Arizona and the return to a Constitutional government, he would take a lesson from history but the only way he can get any visibility is to serve his Kool-Aid to the uninformed.

That is bad enough, but this crazy, psycho-babble spouting, cracked head has decided that the one person to be singled out for attack by his rabid band of wolves should be Russell Pearce. That's right Russell Pearce. Not Kyrsten Sinema, Not Daniel Patterson, Not Paula Aboud or even Not Rich Crandall, Russ Jones or Bill Konopnicki - but Russell Pearce. Last week, he even went out and recruited a Hessian lackey to run against Russell Pearce.

We couldn't even leave the event without enduring a loud-mouth confrontational Hessian attacking Sen. Pearce. Russell Pearce has faults like everyone else, but the objects of such personal attacks should be those who are working every day to kill our system of government. We firmly believe that Hess would have found fault with George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and he would have led a motor-mouthed attack on their lack of purity according to the Book of Barry.

Go away, Barry, and take the toadies who cannot recognize who is on our side and who is destroying America and Arizona with you. Whatever service you might have been able to provide is lost in your egomanic duplicity. Serve your Kool-Aid at Progressive, Democrat functions. If you are going to kill people, let it be the enemy.

We can only say WOW!

Governor Jan Brewer names CEO of a failed bank as the next AZ financial institutions chief

Gov. Jan Brewer yesterday named former Valley Capital Bank CEO Lauren Kingry as the next Superintendent of the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions.

Mr. Kingry was the CEO of the failed bank that went into receivership with federal officials in December. Now, he will be Arizona's next top banking regulator. How does making decisions that led to a bank failure qualify a person to be the top banking regulator?

Just a thought, wouldn't it be better to have someone with a successful track record to represent the state during these perilous times?

More Senate Shenanigans

Under the "leadership" of Bobby Burns, the House passed 'Jobs Bill' is being emasculated in the Senate.

Using static finance projections as a cover, the 'Jobs Bill' will produce no new jobs at a time when the Arizona economy desperately needs it.

The strike-everything amendment would remove a 5 percent individual income tax cut in H2250 as passed by the House.

The state equalization tax that was to be eliminated last year in the budget package that two conservative legislators sunk, will now BEGIN going away in 2014 - maybe.

A two-percentage-point cut to corporate income tax rates beginning in 2011, lowering the corporate income tax rate to 5 percent from about 7 percent by 2014. is now stretched to five years, with smaller reductions during the first two years than during the final three.

Adams needs to oppose this farce. The House actually passed a Jobs Bill, but the only thing remotely resembling a Jobs Bill in this senate mutation will be the name.

We refer you back to an excellent article in the WSJ that should be the blueprint for state lawmakers. "We almost made it that time" will be the mournful song of Arizona taxpayers for decades to come.

The Socialist Media gets the news

CBS News released polling about the health care law.

It found that 32% were for it, while 53% opposed it.

Only 27% of Independents approve of the bill;

Only 17% of Americans believe the bill will help them personally.

Majorities of Americans believe that the law will increase their premiums;

3/4 believe their health care quality will get worse or stay the same;

2/3 believe the bill will increase the budget deficit.

Gibbs can't say this a right wing conspiracy, Mr. President!

If your friends say this, you are left with no one else to blame

WHO DO YOU TRUST?

Rasmussen's “which party do you trust” polling shows pretty consistent movement toward the GOP, with the GOP opening up large leads on just about every issue. The biggest net shifts of 13% and 11% came on health care and abortion, respectively. The results from the Rasmussen poll:

Economy: 37% Dem, 49% GOP

National Security: 36% Dem, 51% GOP

Iraq: 39% Dem, 47% GOP

Health Care: 37% Dem, 53% GOP

Education: 40% Dem, 43% GOP

Immigration: 34% Dem, 47% GOP

Social Security: 36% Dem, 48% GOP

Taxes: 34% Dem, 52% GOP

Abortion: 32% Dem, 47% GOP

Rasmussen also finds that 54% of the public still favors the repeal of the health care law, while 42% oppose repeal.

The AEA does it again!

The Arizona Education Association fought against the Arizona application to the federal government for a special grant from the "Race to the Top" program. In fact, the AEA refused to sign on in support of the plan. That is not necessarily surprising, considering the continual self-centered greedy AEA position is "We know everything and everyone else is stupid."

Well, an important point is that the support of the teachers union is one of the high point-value areas in the application. So the AEA refused to participate in the application, refused to sign off on the particulars of the application, and is now making hysterical press releases about the fact that Arizona did not win a grant. They go on to blame Republicans for the fact that we did not get a grant. SOP!

BHO BS

Toward the end of a question-and-answer session with workers at an advanced battery technology manufacturer, a woman named Doris stood to ask the president whether it was a "wise decision to add more taxes to us with the health care" package.

"We are over-taxed as it is," Doris said bluntly.

Obama started out feisty. "Well, let's talk about that, because this is an area where there's been just a whole lot of misinformation, and I'm going to have to work hard over the next several months to clean up a lot of the misapprehensions that people have," the president said.

He then spent the next 17 minutes and 12 seconds lulling the crowd into a daze. His discursive answer - more than 2,500 words long -- wandered from topic to topic.

We'll bet Doris has been beaten about the head and shoulders by her co-workers and will never ask a question again.

Obama breaks the mold again!

Hard as it may seem to believe, Obama and his policies have once again defied established truths. In this month's employment picture update, the Department of Labor has a little gem underscoring his prescience.

The demographic group consisting of high school dropouts had the best job growth in America. College graduates, on the other hand, had the worst job growth in America. In fact, the high school dropouts rate of job growth was thirty-five times higher than that for college graduates.

I guess that the uneducated, ill-informed Obama voters are being rewarded for their blind (and dumb) support that carried him to the Presidency. BHO's recognition of stupidity is a first.

JD wins 1st Qtr. $$$ Race

This is hard for many people to believe - especially the McCainiacs and AZ Republic writers (oops, they're the same group) - but JD is beating John McCain in fundraising. McCain raised 2.2 million in three months while JD raised more than 1 million in about five weeks.

The surprising bottom line? Arizona individuals and other concerned American conservatives are contributing 50% more money on a daily basis to JD than all of the contributors to McCain - even when you count the banks, brokerage houses and insurance companies that benefitted from the TARP money supported by McCain.

In fact, most of McCain's money has come from fat cat executives in national corporations that are on the government dole who overwhelmingly support big government, open borders and amnesty.

If you haven't contributed to JD yet because you did not know if he was going to be viable, this should eliminate your concerns. Go to JDforSenate.com to improve the quality of our representation in the Senate.

PS: If current trends continue, JD's vote in the Senate will be the swing vote that will determine whether policy decisions will be liberal or conservative.

Newspeak continues

The headline reads,

"New Jobless Claims Fall"

The Obama 'Good News' continues for 11 paragraphs.

"Initial claims fell slightly",

"The four-week average fell",

"The economy created the most new jobs in three years",

"People claiming UI benefits dropped 4.66 million last week."

The real facts are in paragraphs 12 - 14.

Most of the jobs 'created by the economy' are federal government workers, especially temporary Census workers.

Private employers cut 23,000 jobs in March, well below forecasts of a 40,000 gain.

Millions of people are receiving extended benefits for up to 73 extra weeks, paid for by the federal government [THE TAXPAYERS], on top of the 26 customarily provided by the states.

More than 6 million people are on the extended benefit rolls.

That is about 270,000 higher than the previous week. All told, 11.4 million people are claiming unemployment benefits, the department said.

A robust economic recovery - NOT!

What do schools really need?

For most educrats, the answer is simple: money, money and more money. Over the last eight years, their demands have been met. The amount of revenue to the k-12 system has more than doubled over that span, while student population has increased at less than one-seventh that number.

What we need is professional fiscal restraint from conservative school boards. Unfortunately, there are very few conservative school boards because most conservatives do not want to run for an unpaid, local political office that provides little public recognition and many headaches. Conservatives have abandoned the schools to the liberals, who see it as a bastion for creating more liberals and running the type of government control of citizens they want. As a result, most of the volunteers in our schools that could/would run for the school boards don't have the fiscal or social responsibility to recognize the limits of government spending that must be in place for education.

We all wonder why so many different local taxes for school districts. Bonds, budget overrides, K-3 overrides, adjacent ways taxes, capital overrides, CTE taxes, career ladder taxes, desegregation taxes, and, until recently, excess utility taxes. Add on fees for band, art, music, drama, debate, science labs, and sports, plus a student activity "fee" for every kid, and before long, it is a lot of additional money out of the pockets for taxpayers beyond the State of Arizona taxes for education.

It is time to tighten our belts in education. We can no longer afford $200,000 a year for a superintendent. We cannot afford four or five associate superintendents. We certainly should not be spending an additional $20,000 a year for "supplemental" retirement for the highest paid employees in the school district (they already get funding for a liberal state retirement program). Why are we spending a $1,000 or more per month as a car allowance for selected school district employees? We would be better off just paying mileage rates for use of their cars for company business like everyone in the private sector does.

If you are thinking you may want to run for political office, consider the one office that daily directly affects more people than any other elected office - the governing board of your local school district. Get down to your local school and/or school district and get involved. Volunteer your services and prepare yourself to bring fiscal and social responsibility to our schools.

Stop the mad dash to spend more and more and create an academic atmosphere that encourages student achievement for all of our children.

For Crist's Sake

The events in Arizona this week point out the destructive and deadly results of the policies supported by Florida Governor Charlie Crist. Good Ol' Boy Charlie is a supporter of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, John McCain, and Barack Hussein Obama.

He appeared on Fox News Sunday that is hosted by Chris Wallace for the purposes of 'debating' with Marco Rubio. The 'debate' came down to Good Ol' Boy Charlie complaining that Rubio is not a conservative because of how much he pays for his haircut and them tries to prove his point by harping on some vote on some city board in another decade.

This was bad enough, but the Good Ol' Boy McObama supporter went from the ridiculous to the sublime by drawing some weird conclusion that the illegal immigrants in our country are somehow the same as his own grandparents who entered America legally through Ellis Island.

For Crist's sake, Charlie. That is somewhat akin to comparing a Circle K armed robber as being the same as the shoppers at Costco or Macy's. Your political philosophy is so far left that Johnny Mac does not have you on his list of out-of-state stars. Of course, that lack of loyalty speaks more about Johnny Mac than you. He expects loyalty from others, but gives none in return.

Charlie, more than a third of the felons in our state come from the "freedom loving undocumented workers who only came here to provide a good living for their families." HOGWASH! Law breakers continue to be law breakers and breed law breakers. Friendly, loving and patriotic citizens like Robert Krentz should be able to expect protection from this invasion.

PS: Do not expect Johnny to come to Tallahassee - for Crist's sake.

This Date in History


"Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" --Patrick Henry, to the Virginia Convention, March 23, 1775

This Date for History

"Is Party Loyalty so dear or political power so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Giving a personal endorsement to those who advocate positions contrary to the Constitution and give no value to our sovereignty will bring dire consequences to the very existence of our Republic. I do not know what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty and honor or give me death!" -- Growing Our Party, Blogosphere, March 23, 2010

Endorse synonyms:

advocate, approve, attest, certify, give one's word, guarantee, lend one's name to, praise, recommend, stand behind, vouch for

"FAST EDDIE" WANTS TO PLAY - AGAIN

According the an article in The Capitol Times, "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth misses playing around down at the Capitol. That is his right, of course.

Growing Our Party hopes that if he is elected, he will bring a new, more mature attitude to the Capitol that recognizes the fact that he did not build the playing field and he is not the player, umpire and scorekeeper.

Pragmatic Constitutional conservatives will be desperately needed in the next legislature. With the number of representatives leaving for one reason or another, Arizona will need legislators who have the business expertise as well as the knowledge of how the "system" works at 1700 W Washington.

We need conservatives who can build a consensus of 31 to improve life for Arizonans, not just lead the Parking Lot Caucus. "Fast Eddie" could make an enormous positive impact on what happens at the Capitol, but if he returns as Chief Obstructionist, he will do more harm than good.

We hope that the last two years have helped him gain a new perspective and, if so, we welcome him.

Idaho Health Freedom Act
Comes to Arizona

On February 9, the Idaho House passed H0391, The Idaho Health Freedom Act, on a 52-18 vote. On March 11, the Idaho Senate passed this landmark legislation by a 24-10 vote and sent the bill to the Governor. On St. Patrick's Day, Idaho Governor Butch Otter signed the bill thus making Idaho the first state to make this protection of individual freedom state law. While Idaho became the first to pass the legislation into law, there are 37 other states that have similar legislation in the pipeline.

NEWS FLASH TO THE PROs (Pelosi, Reed & Obama): That is enough states to call a Constitutional Convention.

Today, Representative Judy Burges (R-LD4) announced that the provisions in the Idaho Health Freedom Act will become a keystone piece of legislation here in Arizona next week. "The threat to Arizonans with the attempt to nationalize health care by the Obama Administration cannot be stressed too strongly," stated Rep. Burges. "I will be sponsoring a strike-everything amendment to my HB2001 'I Didn't Pay Enough' bill that has already passed the House. I have been assured by leadership that the amended bill will be placed on the next Wednesday's Agenda the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Sen. Jack Harper."

We think it is somehow appropriate that the bill is being struck on HB2001 - the first bill number for this session.

H0391 - Idaho Health Freedom Act can be read by clicking here. Growing Our Party is proud that Arizona has patriots like Rep. Burges, who are continually fighting for our freedoms.

“AxTheTax” and Stop Prop 100 are proud to announce:

"Joe The Plumber" To Headline Rally

Phoenix, Arizona—March 18, 2010—A coalition of pro-taxpayer and small business organizations have asked Joe Wurzelbacher to headline a rally to be held on Friday, March 26th, at 11 am, on the lawn of the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, Arizona.

The rally is being held in response to the proposed 18% increase in the state sales tax that will be on the ballot for a vote on May 18th, 2010. The coalition has come together to fight an increase in taxes during this long and difficult recession.

The coalition is composed of various groups including: Ax The Tax – No on 100, the Arizona Chapter of Americans for Prosperity, National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, the 2010 Project, the North Phoenix Tea Party, Mesa Tea Party, East Valley Tea Party Patriots and the PAChyderm Coalition.

With Arizona’s economy already in trouble, unemployment at critical levels, and consumer spending down from a few years ago, raising the sales tax during this recession is an unwise choice that will only make things worse. Arizona’s budget solution should be to restore the size of the budget to a prudent and responsible amount.

Along with Joe the Plumber, the rally will feature prominent speakers from the sponsoring groups. This event is free and open to the public.

And the McStain goes on

Today's news that 31 of our 53 Republican state legislators have endorsed John McCain is very disturbing to all conservative Arizona Republicans. Most of the names on the list do not raise eyebrows as this endorsement is consistent with their voting records.

However, the list includes many who portray themselves as conservatives. Some on the list rank at the top of the PAChyderm ratings and their endorsement of the senior senator is especially disappointing. Following are the names as listed on the McCain website:

Senate
President Pro Tempore Barbara Leff (LD11), Majority Whip Steve Pierce (LD1), Carolyn Allen (LD8), David Braswell (LD6), Linda Gray (LD10), John Nelson (LD12), Jay Tibshraeny (LD21), Frank Antenori (LD30), Ed Bunch (LD7).
Also listed are former Senators Jonathan Paton, Jim Waring, Robert Blendu, and Toni Hellon.

House
Speaker Kirk Adams (LD19), Majority Leader John McComish (LD20), Majority Whip Andy Tobin (LD1), Nancy Barto (LD7), Tom Boone (LD4), Steve Court (LD18), Rich Crandall (LD19), Adam Driggs (LD11), Doris Goodale (LD3), Laurin Hendrix (LD22), Russ Jones (LD24), Bill Konopnicki (LD5), Debbie Lesko (LD9), Lucy Mason (LD1), Steve Montenegro (LD12), Warde Nichols (LD21), Frank Pratt (LD23), Michele Reagan (LD8), Jerry Weiers (LD12), Vic Williams (LD26), Amanda Reeve (LD6), and Ted Vogt (LD30).

Many of these endorsements came before a viable alternative to McCain was in the race, but that justification does not excuse their endorsements of McCain. Staying neutral during that time was the better alternative.

It is time for them to show courage and withdraw their endorsement. To do less will leave their conservative records McStained for years to come.

Pachyderm Endorsements

Last night, the PAChyderm Coalition announced their first listing of endorsements for 2010. This is a partial list, and the organization will have additional endorsements announced in coming meetings.

The current list of endorsees are:

STATEWIDE:
Treasurer: Thayer Verschoor

Senate:
LD4 Scott Bundgaard
LD5 Sylvia Allen
LD6 Lori Klein
LD18 Russell Pearce
LD 19 James Molina

House:
LD4 Judy Burges; Jack Harper
LD6 Carl Seel
LD9 Diane Douglas
LD10 Jim Weiers
LD22 Laurin Hendrix

Cato Institute - REAL K-12 Spending

We want to thank one of our anonymous commenters for pointing us to this important study just released last week.

The following conclusions come the report by Adam B. Schaeffer who is a policy analyst with Cato's Center for Educational Freedom.

In Phoenix, the average real per-pupil spending figure of $11,800 is 27 percent higher than the average $9,300 the Phoenix districts claim to spend. In addition, real public school spending is more than 75 percent higher than the estimated median private school spending of just $6,770.

Paradise Valley ($12,231) and Cave Creek ($13,929) real spending per pupil are 82% and 106% higher than the average real spending for private schools in our area. There are real unethical - if not illegal - discrepancies from the annual report figures provided to the Department of Education and their own internal reports.

This blatant under-reporting by the school districts to the Department of Education should be looked at by the Auditor General, the legislature and, possibly, the County Attorney. In the meantime, it is important that you refer your friends, neighbors, family and co-workers to this report.

Lets look at PVUSD, for example.

Published pre-K–12 per-pupil spending is 2009 All Funds Expenditure per Pupil, from “Summary of School District Annual Financial Report,” provided by e-mail from Vanessa Shapiro, Paradise Valley Unified School District, November 13, 2009, http://cmweb.pvschools.net/siteweb/pdfs/BudgetSummary0910.pdf.
$9,883 Per Pupil Spending

Real FY2009 budgeted pre-K–12 expenditures calculated as the sum of all accounting funds from “Summary of School District Proposed Expenditure Budget,” p. 2, http://cmweb.pvschools.net/siteweb/pdfs/BudgetSummary0910.pdf.
$12,312 Per Pupil Spending

Vote NO on the 18% sales tax increase.
The governor says 75% of this tax increase will go to public schools already over-funded and under-reporting how much the taxpayers are being gouged.

Vote NO on Prop 100.

"Missed me yet" - Part Two

You've seen the billboard of George Bush smiling asking the question "Missed Me Yet?". Well, here is one that brings back pleasant memories of days long ago when there was no NCLB, no KidsCare and no FOURTEEN TRILLION dollar debt.

BHO has just released his plan to change 'No Child Left Behind', the federal government's unconstitutional intervention in the education of our children. BHO would eliminate the NCLB requirement that every child reach proficiency in reading and math as "too Utopian".

BHO's replacement: that every child should graduate from high school ready for college and a career. That is not only Utopian, it is certifiably crazy.

Education Secretary puts it this way. "For the mass of schools we want to get rid of prescriptive interventions. We'll leave it up to them to figure out how to make progress."

Leaving it up to the administrators in district schools - whose only intent is in finding new ways to confiscate money from the parents of our students - to determine the definition of progress is absurd. To now say that we are not even going to try to hold them accountable for teaching basic skills but only require them to graduate the students will create a steroid effect on social advancement from one grade to the next. Remember, these are the people who have been given a 100% increase in funding over the last six years in order to turn out a worse product.

Maybe this is BHO's response to Joe the Plumber and all the other tradesmen who use their common sense to oppose his policies - Kill the skilled professionals who make our society run. I don't know about you, but when my sewer line is blocked, I am not looking for a Doctorate in Juris Prudence to clear the line with a legal brief.

"Missed Me Yet?" - George W.

What is a Republican?

A Republican is a citizen legally entitled to vote who checks a box on a registration form that is designated "Republican". That is all it takes to become a Republican.

The bigger question is what is the Republican Party and what does it stand for. That question is answered every four years at the National Convention when the delegates enact the Party Platform. These delegates are elected in a bottom-up process. Republicans in every voting precinct elect delegates to the county convention. Each county convention elects delegates to the state convention where the delegates to the national convention are selected. The national delegates write and approve the Party Platform that sets the standards for the Party principles.

Just as within your church or within your neighborhood or community service organization, there are those who do not abide by the agreed creed, manual or rules. The Republican Party has many who have agreed to join the organization for selfish reasons - mostly to get the benefits of being in the majority party. Their actions many times run counter to the interests of the Party as a whole and their actions are used by outsiders to ridicule the party as being hypocritical.

In fact, a majority of the Republican Party has maintained the Reagan Constitutional, conservative, free enterprise, American sovereignty, states rights, smaller government tenets clearly detailed within the current Repubican Party Platform.

Controversy becomes the rule when people who have identified themselved as Republicans rise in the political system to be "leaders" within the Party and then govern in complete violation of the very principles they said they believed in when checking the box "Republican." Growing Our Party is ashamed to admit that the last three large tax increases have been foisted on Arizonans by Republican governors - Hull and Brewer. Their actions are Democratic.

Let us be clear, the controversy within the Republican Party does not come from upholding the party principles, it comes from those who want to violate those principles with impunity. Their continued efforts to destroy those who support the Platform are the same blame-game tactics used in every other area of society by those who don't want to follow the rules.

When Republican presidents, governors, congressmen and legislators push for Kids Care, All Day Kindergarten, Amnesty, No Child Left Behind, Sales Tax Increases, Budget Overrides, Career Ladders, and Science Foundation programs and fight against unbridled First Amendment and Second Amendment protections, parental choice in education, smaller government and lower taxes, they place themselves in a special category. That category is Repubican In Name Only (RINO).

Their complaints that they are being treated badly by Republicans who believe in and uphold the Party Platform principles are unjustified and speaks to their lack of character. If they do not want to be referred to as RINOs they should come into compliance with the principles in the Platform and they will no longer carry the stigma of being a RINO. Until then . . .

You're judged by your friends

This simple truth has been passed down by parents to their children since the beginning of time. Now, however, Shawna Bolick wants everyone to believe that applies to everyone in the world - except her. That is not only ridiculous, it is so crazy as to question her qualifications to serve in any elected office.

Mrs. Bolick's fundraiser contains the names of power brokers that have made millions using illegal workers in their companies. Her list contains the names of illegal immigration sympathizers who supported Tony Bouie two years ago. Also listed are those who believe in open borders and fought Prop. 200, the Sanctuary City bill and contributed funds used for personal attacks on both Sen. Russell Pearce and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

These people do not host fundraisers and make large contributions to candidates who fight to protect American lives and American jobs with strong anti-illegal immigration legislation. We think that Mrs. Bolick protests too much in another blog.

Shawna, if you don't like the perception, change your friends.