Phoenix, AZ – Today the Arizona Free Enterprise Club announced their third slate of endorsements for the 2022 election.
The endorsed candidates represent individuals who align with the organization’s principles and key policy goals. Club President Scot Mussi stated, “It is critical Arizona has leaders and policy makers who are able to articulate and stand up for individual liberties, free market principles, and conservatie values. This slate of candidates has proven they can and will.”
Arizona State Legislature
LD 4
LD 10
LD 23
House: Vera Gebran
Senate: David Farnsworth
Senate: Gary Snyder
House: Maria Syms
House: Michele Pena (Write-in)
LD 9
LD 13
House: Kathy Pearce
House: Julie Willoughby
House: Mary Ann Mendoza
Local City and Town Council
Chandler
Payson
Fountain Hills
Darla Gonzalez
Tom Morrissey (Mayor)
Brenda Kalivianakis
Farhana Shifa
Allen Skillicorn
Hannah Toth
Peoria
Gilbert
Queen Creek
Jason Beck (Mayor)
Jim Torgeson
Travis Padilla
Mario Chicas
Bobbi Buchli
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
Every American should be free to peacefully support causes they believe in without being harassed or intimidated.
Someone should tell that to Terry Goddard. For years, the former Attorney General of Arizona has been leading a campaign to “Stop Dark Money” in our state. Although the name sounds nefarious, it’s nothing more than clever messaging aimed to scare the average person.
But now Goddard’s new donor harassment initiative is set to file signatures in the coming days. And if it makes it onto the ballot and becomes law, it would be a devastating blow to donor privacy and free speech.
Known as the Voters’ Right to Know Act, the proposed ballot measure attempts to require any group or entity that spends over $50,000 in a statewide race (or $25,000 in any other race) to not only disclose their donors, but also the “original source” of any funds received. That applies to both candidate expenditures and ballot measures. While on the surface, that may not concern someone who doesn’t give to election races, this is just the start.
To say that this is a poorly drafted measure would be a severe understatement. Just take a look for yourself at the ballot language right here. There isn’t a nonprofit, PAC, or any other entity that spends funds supporting or opposing a candidate or ballot measure that could ever comply with this absurd initiative. But that’s just one of the many issues.
The Voters’ Right to Know Act is another attempt to silence free speech—and to target, harass, and dox private citizens. If you don’t think it will do just that, think again. You can ask former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich about his experience. Back in 2010, California’s then-Attorney General Kamala Harris began ordering nonprofits that fundraised in the state to disclose the information of their major donors. And Eich was forced to step down from his position amid a flurry of backlash when it was made public that he donated money in support of California’s Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that aimed to define marriage as between one man and one woman. But the harassment didn’t stop with Eich.
Organizations like Thomas More Law Center and Americans for Prosperity Foundation faced similar intimidation. And some Thomas More Law Center donors, employees, and clients even faced death threats, hate mail, and an assassination plot from those who opposed them.
The Voters’ Right to Know Act in Arizona will only make it worse. But just to be sure you know exactly who this initiative is targeting, consider this. Corporate media, big tech, and other liberal institutions are exempt from the measure. And the way it is drafted would also exempt most labor unions. That means the disclosure requirements of this measure would disproportionately impact conservatives. They’re not even trying to hide it! They want to dox conservatives, intimidate them, and harass anyone who doesn’t believe what the Left wants them to believe or say what the Left wants them to say.
And if the ballot language isn’t proof enough, take a look and see if the Voters’ Right to Know Committee is even willing to follow its own advice. Here’s the group’s campaign finance report from Quarter 2 of 2021, and here’s their campaign finance report from Quarter 1 of 2022. Do you see the hypocrisy? They have received money from corporations and out-of-state PACs and have not disclosed the “original source” of the funds!
This isn’t about “stopping dark money.” It’s about scaring people—especially conservatives—into complete submission to the liberal agenda.
But before Goddard and his group go any further with this measure, they may want to review the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Americans for Prosperity v. Bonta from last year. The high court struck down the California law we mentioned earlier because the First Amendment protects the freedom to support organizations and nonprofits anonymously. That means this initiative is likely unconstitutional and would probably get struck down as well. And if it gets that far, it should. Because donors deserve privacy, and not protecting that right is dangerous.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
Voted for taxpayer subsidized in-state tuition for illegals (2021, SCR1044.). David Cook was only 1 of 4 Republicans in the House that voted for this bill.
Sponsored a bill supported by Democrats to protect sanctuary cities and incentivize illegals to stay in Arizona by forcing governments to accept foreign IDs. (2021, HB2458). A Democrat in the House introduced the same bill as HB2685.
Increasing Taxes
Voted for a statewide sales tax increase. SCR1049, 2022
Sponsored a bill to increase taxes on small businesses’ employee wages in the middle of a pandemic. (2021, HB2805)
Voted with Democrats to impose a new tax on small businesses (2021, HB2161)
Infringing on the 2nd Amendment
Opposed a bill that would allow students and faculty members at universities to carry a firearm to protect themselves and others on campus. (2022, HB2447).
View David Cook’s comments in House Republican caucus. Cook argues that because foreign students attend our universities and are not familiar with our 2nd Amendment rights, that is a reason not to allow CCW holders carry weapons on campus.
Pay Raises for Politicians & Bureaucrats
Voted to give salary increases to Maricopa County politicians, the same people opposing the Maricopa County election audit. (2021, HB2700)
Voted to give himself and fellow lawmakers a pay raise. (2021, HB2053)
Sponsored a bill to protect career politicians by allowing them to pay a fee to be on the ballot to avoid collecting signatures from voters. (2022, HB2581)
Subsidies for the Swamp
Sponsored a bill to give hundreds of millions in taxpayer subsidies to Hollywood liberals to make woke movies and relocate thousands of California Democrats to Arizona. (2022, SB1708)
Paid for by The Arizona Free Enterprise Club. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate campaign committee. 602-385-0757
State taxpayers should not be bailing out a broken Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) plan. But that’s exactly what lawmakers are doing in the recently enacted Arizona state budget. That’s right. Your elected leaders just passed a budget that includes hundreds of millions of dollars for road projects—all being paid for with your tax dollars. (You can see for yourself on pages 9-11 right here.)
At first glance, that probably doesn’t seem like a big deal. After all, it makes sense for tax dollars to go toward necessary road projects. But the problem is that these road projects are supposed to be paid for by the Maricopa County Prop 400 regional plan that was assembled by MAG.
In 1985, Maricopa County approved a 20-year transportation tax increase that was designated exclusively to build new roads and freeways in the region. And the plan was actually successful because it built that essential infrastructure. But over the decades, the plan shifted from roads and freeways to “transit,” despite a steep, increasing decline in its use.
In 2004, the tax was extended for the first time as Proposition 400 and began to migrate away from its purpose. It created three funding buckets: 33.3% for transit (with 14% earmarked for light rail), 56.2% for freeways and highways, and 10.5% for arterial streets and intersections. But now, MAG has proposed a new “Momentum” plan to extend Prop 400 that is being debated again. And it’s such a gross departure from the original purpose of the tax that it cannot seriously be called a regional transportation plan.
HB2685/SB1356 spends very little on freeways, and instead diverts most of the money to light rail, street trollies, bike paths, trails, complete streets, and a “regional program” slush fund that will result in increased traffic congestion.
In short, we are now considering a tax that’s supposed to be used for freeways and roadways that is no longer going toward freeways and roadways! That’s exactly why lawmakers slipped those line items into this year’s Arizona state budget. Prop 400 wastes billions of dollars on Green New Deal transit projects, so taxpayers throughout the state are forced to subsidize infrastructure projects in the budget for Maricopa County! What a joke.
This is nothing more than a $70 billion boondoggle for cities and towns. And it will likely lead to even more future tax hikes. If you’re not mad yet (which is hard to imagine at this point), maybe you will be when you’re stuck in even more traffic on a 110-degree June day watching an empty light rail zooming past your car. Because with such low ridership, light rails and street cars are known for only making traffic congestion worse. And MAG expects as much by 2050 despite this $70 billion in planned spending.
But today, your lawmakers don’t care about that. Instead, they’re having a jolly good time patting themselves on the back for their new budget. Of course, what they probably don’t realize, is that they simply proved that MAG’s proposed “Momentum” plan is a complete failure.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
We often hear that over 90% of Maricopa county voters voted early in 2020. While this is true, it can be misleading – leading individuals to think that 90% voted early by mail. In reality, less than half actually returned their ballot by mail – 993,000 to be exact. The next largest group, 714,000, were early ballot drop offs. Of those, more than 200,000 were dropped off on election day alone.
This means that an individual went to a polling location on election day, but instead of showing ID and signing the poll book, they dropped their ballot into a drop box. These are often referred to as “late earlies” even though they are received by the election day deadline, and they are a major cause for the post-election days long tabulation process in Arizona.
The county begins processing these after the polling locations have closed. They have to be scanned, “signature verified,” cured, removed from the envelope, and finally tabulated with some going on to be adjudicated. This takes time, which reduces confidence. It also increases the likelihood of invalid or fraudulent ballots being counted.
That’s where SB1362 comes in. Sponsored by Senator Mesnard and signed by the Governor on June 6, SB1362 establishes the framework for tabulating these ballots on-site.
Instead of dropping the ballot off, the voter, if they choose, can show their ID, have the poll worker check the envelope to verify it is their ballot, sign the poll book, and then remove the ballot and tabulate it themselves.
This means more voters casting their ballot at a polling location on election day, showing ID, and signing the poll book. It also means that their ballot is immediately tabulated, preventing electronic adjudication – where election officials decide how a voter intended to mark their ballot out of sight and knowledge of the voter.
With on-site tabulation, if there is an issue with their ballot they will know then and there when they tabulate it, just like in-person voters, providing confidence that their votes are being recorded as intended.
SB1362 is the example of making it easy to vote and hard to cheat. It introduces a new option for voters, providing more access, with strong front-end safeguards like requiring ID and back-end auditability by requiring the county to reconcile the number of ballots tabulated with the number of voters who signed the poll book and the number of ballot envelopes deposited.
However, the process setup by SB1362 is optional for the counties as well. They are not mandated to do it, but they should and we strongly encourage them to do so.
Not all counties currently tabulate on-site even for in-person voters, instead transporting them from the polling location to a central count facility. These counties should move to on-site tabulation – for both election day in-person voters and for election day early ballot tabulation established by SB1362.
Other counties, Maricopa being one, do currently tabulate in-person election day ballots on-site. SB1362 provides these counties, who already have the necessary equipment, an opportunity this November to simultaneously increase access to voters and increase confidence, security, and transparency. They should enthusiastically do so.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
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