So this is what's come down to now to run for Governor of Arizona:
http://wonkette.com/...
Frank Riggs, one of several candidates for governor in Arizona’s Republican primary, is trying something unusual for a Republican campaign ad: He’s not shooting anything. But he includes a gun show anyway, explaining, as he pumps iron, that he’s a strong candidate. Oh, we get it — “strong” can mean both in good physical condition, and politically resolute! That is quite clever and everyone should give this clever shirtless man money.
Riggs is also an Army veteran and a former congresscritter from California, though of course that state is not mentioned in his excellent ad, in which he also strongly promises to strongly repeal Common Core, strongly stop Medicaid expansion so that the poors won’t be burdened with health insurance (if they want to be healthy, they should pump iron), and strongly secure the U.S.-Mexico border, which is apparently something governors can do because Frank Riggs lives in campaign-ad fantasy camp. - Wonkette, 7/17/14
Riggs is just one of many clowns jam packed into the clown car known as the GOP primary. There's also this joker:
http://www.paysonroundup.com/...
Arizona should accelerate growth by replacing the income tax with a much broader version of the sales tax a Republican candidate for governor told the Payson Tea Party last week. The 3-5 percent tax on services and products would also replace the current, exemption-riddled sales tax, Secretary of State Ken Bennett said.
The former state senate president delighted the crowd with an overview of the state’s $30 billion budget, which includes a $10 billion general fund from state sales and income taxes. The total budget also includes about $5 billion from local property taxes that goes to school districts and about $15 billion from the federal government, which goes mostly to health and welfare programs.
He said the Legislature’s failure to trim state spending as rapidly as revenues dropped during the recession created a $3 billion deficit. Instead of borrowing money, delaying payments to schools and sweeping money from special funds like state parks and others, the Legislature should have cut spending more, said Bennett.
The Arizona native and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints started out in the family gasoline station business and has served on school boards and the state Legislature and was ultimately appointed and then elected secretary of state.
He’s trying to work his way to the front of a crowded Republican primary field. Millions of dollars in undisclosed “dark money” have financed a flood of negative ads, but none of the candidates have established a commanding lead. The Republican primary candidates include Bennett, State Treasurer Doug Ducey, Mesa Mayor Scott Smith, former Go Daddy executive Christine Jones, former Congressman Frank Riggs and former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas.
Asked why lawmakers didn’t cut spending more deeply, Bennett observed, “when you’re one of the 91 people who get to make these decisions — you suddenly become very popular. People who want more spending for whatever they want more spending for are down there every day telling you how deadly important it is to get more money next year than they got last year. They can’t say no to this person and can’t say no to that person — and say, I’ll vote for it all.” - Payson Roundup, 7/16/14
And then there's this bozo:
http://www.azcentral.com/...
Republican gubernatorial candidate Andrew Thomas is taking his campaign to rid Arizona of the "gay lobby," "liberal judges" and illegal immigrants to the airwaves.
Thomas' 30-second ad began airing today. The ad says Thomas is "the only candidate who has stopped illegal immigration, stood up to the gay lobby, and opposed liberal judges."
"When I enforced the law, illegal immigrants fled this state," Thomas says. "Now, they stay -- and protest!. Other candidates say they'll secure the border, but talk is cheap."
He continues, "I stopped illegal immigration before. As governor, I'll do it again -- this time, for good."
Thomas served as Maricopa County's top prosecutor from 2005 through 2010. He was disbarred two years later after a panel determined he acted unethically when he pressed failed investigations into judges and county officials. He has qualified for more than $750,000 in public funding for his gubernatorial bid. - AZ Central, 7/17/14
But right now the top two contenders are this nut job:
http://www.prescottenews.com/...
As the Border situation continues to deteriorate, politicians and government leaders debate on the best solution. Tuesday night, a politician and an elected government leader are teaming up to present a Border Security update and a plan to get the situation under control.
Christine Jones says she has done her research, and has developed a plan, which includes Troops, Technology and Zero Tolerance legislation.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu endorses Jones and her Border Security Plan. He sent out a message on June 23 explaining,
"[Jones'] plan to secure the border and fight Drug & Human Traffickers as Arizona's next Governor is bold. As Governor, Christine will deploy National Guard troops to the border, build fencing in key smuggling areas and provide monies for Sheriffs and Prosecutors to enforce ALL of the laws.
"Sheriff Babeu said, 'All the candidates have personally asked for my endorsement, yet Christine asked for my input and advice. We need to secure the border and we need the soldier’s Christine is proposing to do it.'
"Sheriff Babeu continued, 'President Obama has failed to secure the border or enforce our laws, so Christine will use state money to pay for her plan, thus making our safety her top priority.'" - Prescott News, 7/15/14
And this doofus:
http://www.azcentral.com/...
Voters lined up for mini containers of Cold Stone Creamery ice cream at a makeshift counter inside Doug Ducey's campaign headquarters.
They weren't offered the mix-ins that made the company's ubiquitous franchises famous. But with flavors like "Cake Batter Batter Batter" and "Dark Chocolate Devotion," those gathered to hear Ducey, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, weren't complaining.
The ice cream was more than dessert. For the campaign, it's their pitch to voters, topped with politics and served up with one-on-one time with Ducey.
Ducey rarely talks about his job as state treasurer, the only public office he's ever held. Instead, he plays up his time at the helm of Cold Stone — a hometown company that started small and made it big in the franchise business and, during its boom years, drew comparisons to Starbucks.
Ducey uses that experience as CEO, a job he left seven years ago, to establish his qualifications to run a $9 billion state government still recovering from the Great Recession. He asks voters to judge him based on their experience with Cold Stone. One campaign ad calls him "the conservative ice-cream guy."
"I want you to look at me and evaluate me from your personal experience at Cold Stone Creamery," Ducey said at a June candidate forum. - AZ Central, 7/16/14
And this guy won't win the nominee, even though he might be the GOP's best candidate:
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/...
Former Mesa Mayor Scott Smith recently sat down to talk about his campaign for governor. Smith is facing five other Republicans in the race for governor: Arizona Treasurer Doug Ducey, Secretary of State Ken Bennett, attorney Christine Jones, former California congressman Frank Riggs and disbarred former Maricopa County attorney Andrew Thomas. Here are some edited excerpts from that conversation.
You set yourself apart from the other Republican candidates in the race by supporting Gov. Brewer's Medicaid expansion. Why do you think that was important for the state?
Look at the facts. To me, this is not a political argument; it's a reality check. It's nice to sit up there and rail against Washington and it's another thing to really sit down with the hard facts. I think the governor did that. When you look at Medicaid expansion, you just have to ask yourself two questions: "What is the program with it" and "What is the program without it?" Strip the politics out. I can't change the politics. I can't change the fact of the voters of Arizona mandated a certain level of coverage. I can't change the fact that Obamacare mandated a certain program. What I can do as a leader is say, "That's the hand I'm dealt. What's the best for Arizona?" And when you look in Arizona without Medicaid extension, it's a sad picture, because we still have to cover a certain level and we simply don't have the money to do it. We would have to pay out of the rainy day fund to cover that. And that only covers it for about a year and a half or two years. You look at the facts and you say, "If we do Medicaid restoration, we get a three-year respite, we keep our tax dollars here, rural hospitals are shored up and protected, and we don't have to draw down on the rainy day fund and immediately put ourselves in a budget crunch. Three years now we have no guarantees. But we'll deal with that three years from now. We'll know it's coming up. The governor looked at those facts, I looked those facts. It was the right thing to do for Arizona. - Tucson Weekly, 7/17/14
Polling shows it's down between Ducey and Jones:
http://www.azcentral.com/...
A new survey by Conservative Leadership for Arizona -- the group run by political operative Sean Noble -- found the race for governor is between state Treasurer Doug Ducey and former GoDaddy counsel Christine Jones.
Many political observers have dismissed the group's polling because of Noble's strong support of Ducey. However, increasingly, outside observers and pollsters have also declared the governor's race a two-way showdown between Ducey and Jones.
The poll of likely Republican voters shows Ducey leading the governor's race at 26 percent with Jones within striking distance at 22 percent. Former Mesa Mayor Scott Smith has 14 percent, followed by Secretary of State Ken Bennett at 11 percent, former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas at 6 percent, and former California Congressman Frank Riggs at 2 percent.
Nineteen percent of those surveyed said they were undecided. - AZ Central, 7/11/14
They're both spewing the type of bull shit to get GOP voters riled up:
http://www.azcentral.com/...
All the Republican candidates for governor are beating the stuffing out of President Barack Obama about immigration. Some of them, however, are really criticizing Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer.
Christine Jones is riding the immigration horse the hardest. She's received the endorsement of Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, a noted immigration hardliner. And she's assiduously courted Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the ultimate get-tough endorsement prize. (She did, however, lose the Russell Pearce primary, as the former Senate president threw whatever remains of his weight behind dark horse Frank Riggs.)
According to Jones, Arizona can secure the border on our own, and she has the plan to do it: 1,200 National Guard troops on the border, a state-built fence and technological surveillance system, and big state bucks to local sheriffs and prosecutors.
Doug Ducey echoes the sentiment if not the specificity in a recent commercial. He pledges to do whatever it takes with fencing, satellites, guard troops and police and prosecutors. "We'll get this done," Ducey intones. "If Barack Obama won't do the job, Arizonans will."
If Arizonans can secure the border on our own, why haven't we? More particularly, why hasn't Brewer, after her usual breakfast of scorpions, not proposed it? Is she a finger-wagging impostor? Is the Arizona Legislature controlled by open-border, amnesty-loving wimps?
If Arizona can secure the border on our own and hasn't, that's not Obama's fault. That blame lies with Brewer and the state Legislature, not previously known as slackers on the subject. - AZ Central, 7/8/14
And they're both hitting each other hard:
http://www.azcentral.com/...
The number of outside groups trying to influence the Republican gubernatorial primary continued to climb last week, with the arrival of an attack ad targeting Doug Ducey.
The ad, titled "Ducey for Governor?" and funded by allies of candidate Christine Jones, accuses the state treasurer and former Cold Stone Creamery executive of failing to appear in court for traffic citations, paying property taxes years late, allowing nearly one-third of Cold Stone's franchises to fail and coordinating attacks, financed by anonymous donors, on other candidates.
But the group behind the new ad, Better Leaders for Arizona, isn't disclosing the source of the $775,000 it spent on the ad. At least not yet.
Virginia Simpson, treasurer of Better Leaders for Arizona, said the group will disclose the source of its money on Aug. 22, when the next reporting deadline arrives. However, it will come only four days before the primary, and after early voters have cast their ballots. - AZ Central, 7/14/14
And suing each other:
http://www.azcentral.com/...
Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Ducey is fighting back against a group's attack ads on him, saying the group failed to properly notify Ducey's campaign that the ad was going to air.
Better Leaders for Arizona has mounted a $775,000 ad blitz, lambasting Ducey for the money from unknown sources spent to presumably help him this election cycle, saying he "uses front groups to smear his opponents." The TV ad also blames him for a 31 percent failure rate among Cold Stone Creamery franchises while he "got rich" running the company. It says that he had 13 traffic citations, failed to appear in court 16 times and that he didn't pay delinquent property taxes in 2008 and 2009.
Ducey's attorney Mike Liburdi threatened to sue TV stations last week for airing the ad, but has not heard from them. He wrote in a letter to the stations that Ducey was never charged with "failure to appear" in court for his photo radar tickets, that he wasn't responsible for failed Cold Stone franchises because they were operated by independent business owners and that his property taxes are now fully paid.
In a complaint filed Thursday with the Secretary of State, Liburdi wrote that political committee Better Leaders for Arizona failed to send a copy of the TV ad to Ducey's campaign by certified mail "within 24 hours after submitting it to a telecommunications system for broadcast," as required by state statute.
Liburdi cites the penalty for the violation, which is three times the cost of the distributed advertisement — in this case, $2.3 million. Liburdi asks elections officials to consider the $775,000 ad an in-kind contribution to candidate Christine Jones' campaign, which violates contribution limits. - AZ Central, 7/17/14
So while these clowns beat each other with Super PAC dark money, we have the only sane candidate in the race:
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/...
A Maricopa County judge ruled that the legislature has to add over $300 million to Arizona's education funding immediately and as much as $2.9 billion over the next 5 years. No surprise, Republicans are balking. "We don't have the money!" "We don't owe that much!" And their old favorite from awhile back: "We're not paying! If you don't like it, kick us out of office."
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Fred DuVal has challenged Republican candidates for governor to join him in supporting the immediate implementation of the court order.
For nearly five years, Jan Brewer, Doug Ducey, and the Legislature have deliberately and illegally underfunded our kids’ schools. On Friday, the courts gave us clear direction for how to fix this moving forward.
I ask the Republican candidates for governor - Doug Ducey, Christine Jones, Scott Smith, Ken Bennett, Frank Riggs, and Andy Thomas - to join me in supporting immediate implementation of this court order so our children can begin benefitting from these resources as quickly as possible.
When I’m governor, there’ll be no more cuts to our children’s schools - not another dime, not another nickel, not another penny! I will work with teachers and parents to make Arizona’s education system the fastest improving in the country.
Together, we’ll give our children the education they deserve and move Arizona forward. - Tucson Weekly, 7/14/14
DuVal is out campaigning with his fellow Democrats and if you live in Arizona, you can meet him at this event:
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/...
Democratic Party groups from Santa Cruz County and Green Valley will host a meet-and-greet event with Democratic candidates on Sunday, Aug. 10 in Amado.
Confirmed attendees include Fred DuVal (governor); U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (CD3); U.S. Rep. Ron Barber (CD2); Felicia Roetillini (attorney general); Terry Goddard (secretary of state); Jim Holway and Sendra Kennedy (Arizona Corporation Commission); David Garcia (superintendent of public instruction); State Sen. Andrea Dalessandro (LD2); and State Reps. Rosanna Gabaldon and Demion Clinco (LD2).
The event is set to run 4-7:30 p.m. at the Amado Territorial Complex, with dinner served starting at 5:30 p.m. Kristofer’s Bristo will serve a Mexican buffet at a cost of $15. RSVP required. Call Eduardo Delci (520) 730-8376 to confirm.
The event is sponsored by the central committee of the Santa Cruz County Democrats, Arizona Borderland Democrats (from Patagonia, Patagonia Lake, Sonoita, Tubac and Elgin), Southern Arizona Democrats (from Green Valley), Santa Rita Area Democratic Party (Green Valley and Quail Creek) and the Tubac Liberal Democrats. - The Weekly Bulletin, 7/16/14
PPP showed that DuVal can be competitive against Ducey and beat Jones. So lets let the GOP beat each other up. In the mean time, click here to donate and get involved with DuVal's campaign:
http://www.fred2014.com/