Posts Tagged ‘Randy Pullen’

Wow!

The Arizona budget battle is about to go nuclear.   Various news outlets are reporting on a strategy memo prepared by Gov. Brewer confidant Chuck Coughlin at Highground that lays out a $225K campaign to target 18 legislative districts to pressure legislators to support a yet to be released budget from Gov. Brewer.

Team,

Attached is the legislative strategy docs that were handed out and discussed briefly at the meeting. This strategy is based on the launching of a budget next week that the coalition would be able to support. We would like your input on the strategy as well as the targeted legislators who should be part of our outreach efforts. If you have any questions, please let us know.

As we near the end of the fiscal year (June 30) the pressure is ramping up to get a budget done to fix the structural deficit that has become the legacy of former Gov. Janet Napolitano. The rub is that Brewer wants a billion dollar tax hike and the legislature wants to balance the budget without raising taxes.

There are two fascinating points.  One, it’s obvious that Gov. Brewer and her team do not expect a serious primary opponent.  (The only other explanation for her to target fellow Republicans is that she is not running for election in 2010, but that is dismissed by nearly everyone in town).  This may change that dynamic.

Two, look at the folks who are a part of this pro-Brewer, anti-legislator effort.  The name that jumps out the most is Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen.  It is stunning that Pullen is participating in a campaign that literally goes after incumbent Republican legislators when we are going into an election year that is critical to maintaining Republican majorities in the House and Senate.

How does the party, on one hand, support the effort to criticize and pressure Republican members, while on the other hand claim to be the vehicle for legislators to help them get re-elected?

It makes reason stare.

My guess is that the legislature is not going to take this laying down.  They will fight back, and the irony is that many of the legislators closest to Pullen are on the target list.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more strange…

Brett Mecam is getting the kind of attention most people pay a lot of money to get.  Unfortunately, it’s not the right kind of attention.  Particularly embarrassing is his mug shot, which screams “fashion nightmare.” Who wears a white collared colored shirt without a tie?  Gives a whole new meaning to “white collar crime.” Good grief.  I’m a hick from Show Low, AZ and even I know better.

On a less humorous note, why exactly did Phoenix PD and DPS show up at GOP HQ to arrest Mecum on a couple traffic misdemeanors?  For a violation almost a month ago?  Something does not add up, or I don’t understand criminal prosecution (which is very possible).

So, will GOP State Party Chairman Randy Pullen jettison Mecum?

UPDATE: Sources say that Mecum was going 109 MPH when the camera flashed.  That begins to explain the arrest at work – that’s downright scary fast on an in-town freeway.

Arizona GOP Party Chairman Randy Pullen announced his support for Arizona Governor Brewer’s budget reform, including a call to consider, if necessary, a $1 billion tax increase:

Governor Brewer has called for a public vote on temporary tax increases, if necessary, to bridge the gap, but only after all other avenues of budget reductions have been exhausted.”

Most of the reaction to the Governor’s speech is that she specifically called for a tax increase.  I read the speech, and I didn’t see an explicit call for a tax increase.

But as a very last resort, after considering every other option, and after doing a truthful and honest assessment of our economic situation, we must be willing to consider the passage of a temporary tax increase – approved by you and signed by me – or approved by the voters at a special election, of roughly $1 billion dollars per year.

I’m going to give her the benefit of a doubt that she will find a way to deal with the mess she inherited from Janet Napolitano without abandoning the most basic of Republican principles.  Unless I’m missing something, I don’t see a proposal to raise taxes.  I see a challenge from her to the legislature to find ways to avoid raising taxes.  I hope, for the sake of our economy and for our future, she doesn’t raise taxes.

I’m also giving her the benefit of a doubt because I can’t believe a state Republican Party Chairman would support a $1 billion tax increase – which would be the largest tax increase in state history.  I don’t believe a Chairman would do that, especially when that Chairman considers himself a “platform Republican.”  In order to pass the largest tax increase in state history, the Governor would have to have some Democrats vote for a budget, (since there are lots of Republican legislators who would honor their “no tax increase” pledge) and I don’t think she wants to become a mini-version of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.   At the end of the day, I could be wrong.  Time will tell.

So there is no ambiguity, here is the most recent Republican Platform on taxes:

Republican Tax Policy: Protecting Hardworking Americans

The most important distinction between Republicans and the leadership of today’s Democratic Party concerning taxes is not just that we believe you should keep more of what you earn. That’s true, but there is a more fundamental distinction. It concerns the purpose of taxation. We believe government should tax only to raise money for its essential functions.

Today’s Democratic Party views the tax code as a tool for social engineering. They use it to control our behavior, steer our choices, and change the way we live our lives. The Republican Party will put a stop to both social engineering and corporate handouts by simplifying tax policy, eliminating special deals, and putting those saved dollars back into the taxpayers’ pockets.

The Republican Agenda: Using Tax Relief to Grow the Economy

Sound tax policy alone may not ensure economic success, but terrible tax policy does guarantee economic failure. Along with making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent so American families will not face a large tax hike, Republicans will advance tax policies to support American families, promote savings and innovation, and put us on a path to fundamental tax reform.

Lower Taxes on Families and Individuals

• American families with children are the hardest hit during any economic downturn. Republicans will lower their tax burden by doubling the exemption for dependents.
• New technology should not occasion more taxation. We will permanently ban internet access taxes and stop all new cell phone taxes.
• For the sake of family farms and small businesses, we will continue our fight against the federal death tax.
• The Alternative Minimum Tax, a stealth levy on the middle-class that unduly targets large families, must be repealed.
• Republicans support tax credits for health care and medical expenses.

 

The Democrats Plan to Raise Your Taxes

The last thing Americans need right now is tax hikes. On the federal level, Republicans lowered taxes in 2001 and 2003 in order to encourage economic growth, put more money in the pockets of every taxpayer, and make the system fairer. It worked. If Congress had then controlled its spending, we could have done even more.

Ever since those tax cuts were enacted, the Democratic Party has been clear about its goals: It wants to raise taxes by eliminating those Republican tax reductions. The impact on American families would be disastrous:

• Marginal tax rates would rise. This is in addition to their proposal to target millions of taxpayers with even higher rates.
• The “marriage penalty” would return for two-earner couples.
• The child tax credit would fall to half its current value.
• Small businesses would lose their tax relief.
• The federal death tax would be enormously increased.
• Investment income – the seed money for new jobs – would be eaten away by higher rates for dividend and capital gain income.

All that and more would amount to an annual tax hike upwards of $250 billion – almost $700 per taxpayer every year, for a total of $1.1 trillion in additional taxes over the next decade. That is what today’s Democratic Party calls “tax fairness.” We call it an unconscionable assault on the paychecks and pocketbooks of every hard-working American household. Their promises to aim their tax hikes at families with high incomes is a smokescreen; history shows that when Democrats want more money, they raise taxes on everyone.

Last Friday, the Yellow Sheet Report, which is the equivalent of an “inside the beltway publication” for the Arizona capital, reported that Arizona GOP Chairman Randy Pullen claimed that the Arizona Delegation was “neutral” in his race against Lisa James for Chairman.  Huh?

I’ve known Randy for a number of years, and we have a cordial relationship, and, just as I have said to newly-elected Maricopa County GOP Chairman, Rob Haney, if Pullen is reelected, I’ll work on finding common ground.  In the meantime, I strongly support Lisa James.

But even as a James partisan, I’m taken aback by Pullen’s comment.  It’s a whopper so big that it isn’t even remotely believable.  Usually, if you are going to push the envelope, you at least have an envelope to push.   What mystifies me is why Pullen would say something so demonstrably inaccurate.

McCain, Kyl, Shadegg and Flake have been open about their support for Lisa James, and Trent Franks is officially neutral.  So maybe Pullen believes that Franks is the entire delegation.

Yesterday, Lisa James put out a statement from Kyl:

“I support Lisa James for Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party because she will provide the leadership to increase Republican voter registration, raise funds, recruit candidates and execute a successful get out the vote effort.”

I second Senator Kyl’s comments.  I have seen Lisa in action, and know her capabilities. I’ve done enough major get-out-the-vote efforts, fundraising, grassroots organizing and messaging to recognize who gets it and who doesn’t. 

Lisa James gets it, and would be a great asset as GOP Chairman going into the 2010 election.