The Left says it isn’t happening. And they’re quick to run to their allies in traditional corporate media to further the lie that voter fraud is a made-up problem. But then maybe they would like to explain the guilty plea from last week.
On Thursday, Guillermina Fuentes of San Luis pleaded guilty to one count of Ballot Abuse for her role in a ballot harvesting scheme from the August 2020 Primary Election. And she wasn’t the first one to do so. Back in March, Alma Juarez, also of San Luis, entered the same plea. Both women admitted that they knowingly collected ballots from another person, and those early ballots belonged to individuals for whom they were not a family member, household member, or caregiver.
It’s this sort of ballot harvesting that provides too much opportunity for fraud and tampering. And that’s exactly why our state passed legislation in 2016 that banned this practice. Of course, the Left couldn’t handle it, filing a lawsuit that claimed the law was enacted with discriminatory intent. But that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. After all, “racism” has become the Left’s battle cry to gaslight the American public anytime a conservative merely suggests an election integrity reform.
Thankfully, the U.S. Supreme Court didn’t buy into their argument. The high court ruled in favor of Arizona’s ballot harvesting ban last year and found that “Arizona law generally makes it very easy to vote.” (Hmmm… Easy to vote and hard to cheat. Stop us if you’ve heard that somewhere before.)
Now, imagine if this law had never been enacted. These women would’ve never been indicted. They would’ve never pleaded guilty. And they would’ve never been held accountable for committing voter fraud. That’s why we need laws like this. But ballot harvesting isn’t the only issue that jeopardizes the integrity of our elections.
Just look at the some of the recent convictions related to voter fraud:
Marcia Johnson of Lake Havasu City was sentenced to one year of probation for casting her dead father’s ballot in the 2018 election.
Joseph John Marak of Surprise was sentenced to 30 months of supervised probation for voting as a felon six times since 2016.
Tracey Kay McKee of Scottsdale was sentenced to two years of probation for voting for her dead mother in the 2020 election.
Krista Michelle Conner of Cochise County was sentenced to three years of supervised probation, had her voter registration revoked, and was ordered to pay $890 in fines and serve 100 hours of community service for voting for her dead mother in the 2020 election.
These are just four examples…from just the state of Arizona…in just this current year. But along with the ballot harvesting violations, they illustrate why good election integrity reforms are so important.
Cases like the ones above show why it was crucial to pass a bill like SB1485 last year, which removes a voter from the Early Voting List if they fail to cast a ballot in at least one of four consecutive elections and do not respond to messages from their county recorder to remain on the list.
They show why passing HB2492 this past March—which safeguards our state’s voter rolls and ensures that only U.S. citizens are voting in our elections—was such a big win.
And they demonstrate why it’s critical for voters to pass the Arizonans for Voter ID Act in this November’s election. This ballot initiative would help secure our state’s future elections by:
Improving existing in-person voter ID requirements.
Establishing voter ID for mail-in ballots.
Deterring ballot harvesting by enhancing voter ID requirements for in-person ballot drop off.
Providing a free voter ID option to lawfully registered Arizona voters who need it for voting.
As you can imagine, the Left doesn’t like it, but then again, they refuse to admit that voter fraud is a real problem. Instead, they’d rather push an election initiative that makes it easy to cheat and hard to catch. But the people of Arizona deserve an election system where it is easy to vote and hard to cheat. That’s why it’s important to take the next step to fight the reality of voter fraud by protecting the ballot of every qualified Arizona voter with a new reality: universal ID.
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With Bidenflation guzzling through the pockets of all Americans, especially at the gas station, we have heard more and more politicians promoting the idea of a gas tax holiday. Regardless of how popular the idea has become or how good it sounds among Republicans and Democrats alike, it’s still nothing more than a gimmick and talking point for campaigns.
A tax holiday isn’t a new idea. Several states have permanent sales tax holidays, commonly occurring for a week or two each year around the time kids return to school and parents are busy shopping for clothes and classroom items. But these permanent recurring tax holidays don’t accomplish what they seek to accomplish. Instead, they complicate the tax code, create instability, and mislead consumers about savings.
As a temporary response to rising gas prices and increasing inflation, it’s even worse. The reality is that permanent, long-term policy decisions are driving up fuel costs. These destructive ideas are a big part of the Green New Deal platform that has been pushed by the environmental left for decades. Add on an increase in demand, historic inflation from out-of-control federal spending, and no longer being an energy independent net-exporter of oil, it’s no wonder gas prices are higher than anyone can remember.
Temporarily suspending an 18 cents per gallon tax for a few months will provide little relief at the pump. If anything, it will only cause a cost shift and be used for campaign talking points. A permanent reduction in the tax may provide more long-term certainty and lower prices but would be limited in impact given that the state gas tax currently makes up around 3% of the current price per gallon.
Additionally, Arizona’s gas tax is constitutionally required to fund highway and street projects, so when the revenue drops to zero, funds from other sources will be tapped to fill in the gap. This will place pressure on politicians to consider tax shifts—raising taxes elsewhere to fund the revenue reduction from the tax holiday.
Nevertheless, some Arizona lawmakers may be tempted to promote a temporary gas tax holiday in exchange for other permanent spending and other gimmicks in the budget. After all, it’s June, and the legislature still has not figured out how to corral the necessary votes on a budget deal before we hit the end of the fiscal year on June 30th.
Simply put, a temporary tax holiday should not be traded for other bad policies, like permanent spending or tax shifts. Conservatives should push for real, permanent tax relief and reform, and let the gamesmanship stay in DC.
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Since the 2020 election, the left has been accusing conservatives of spreading the “Big Lie”—a label attached to anyone who believes that voter fraud does occur and that there are legitimate election integrity reforms that require legislative attention. Every reform that lawmakers have introduced has been labelled “Jim Crow 2.0,” and the left has rallied hundreds of organizations to prevent them from becoming law.
Yet while decrying legitimate election reforms from conservatives, liberals have been busy pushing their own election bills, such as HR1, which would have federalized our entire election process and completely changed the way we vote. It was a radical bill that fortunately stalled in the U.S. Senate due to a lack of votes.
But their defeat in Washington hasn’t stopped the left in their quest to undermine the security of our elections and chill our speech rights. A coalition of liberal organizations have decided to bring HR1 to Arizona with a new ballot measure called “Arizonans for Free and Fair Elections.” Suffice to say, there is nothing free or fair about it.
For example, their proposed initiative would raise taxes on small businesses to increase public funding for politicians running for office. While it isn’t surprising that Democrats want taxpayer dollars to subsidize their campaigns going into an election with gas prices higher than ever and families struggling to deal with record inflation, Arizonans don’t want their hard-earned dollars paying for yard signs, political mailers, and campaign advertisements.
Additionally, successful efforts were made in numerous states last year, Arizona included, to prohibit the private funding of the administration of elections. Their measure guts that safeguard, allowing billionaires and special interests to directly finance or sponsor election operations.
Next, while poll after poll shows that an overwhelming majority of voters support common-sense reforms like voter ID, their initiative completely guts existing voter ID requirements for in-person voters and forbids the state from requiring voter ID for mail-in ballots, which the popular Arizonans for Voter ID Act would do.
Recently, the Governor signed HB2492 which strengthens proof of citizenship requirements for registering to vote, ensuring only eligible citizens are registered and voting in our elections. Their proposed initiative would undo this reform, allowing individuals who do not provide proof of citizenship to vote in all federal elections and making it easier for illegals to vote.
And as voters are becoming alarmed at potentially massive ballot harvesting operations in several states in 2020 and actual grand jury ballot trafficking indictments in Arizona, their 25-page election overhaul would expose voters to ballot trafficking by operatives and campaigns who can go door to door collecting ballots directly from voters, even when the voter has not asked for help casting their ballot.
Contrary to the liberals HR1 wish list of election reforms, Arizonans want an election system where it is easy to vote and hard to cheat. But measures like this make it easy to cheat and hard to catch. Most of the nearly 60 provisions of the initiative ranging from tax hikes to gutting wildly popular reforms like voter ID are not what Arizona voters want—Republicans and Democrats alike.
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The overwhelming majority of people are done with COVID restrictions. Just look at the reaction when mask mandates were put to an end on airplanes last month. Cheering. Celebration. Throwing masks away. There’s nothing surprising about this—unless of course you’re a member of the liberal media.
With a desire to tackle COVID overreach head on, our own state lawmakers got to work last year. And through a series of Budget Reconciliation Bills, they took important steps to protect Arizonans from more COVID mandates.
But then in November, some of the protections were thrown out in court on procedural grounds. Thankfully, the Arizona legislature didn’t ignore the problem and got back to work this year. Now, they have passed several significant bills that are officially signed into law to protect against future COVID and government overreach.
Vaccines should always be voluntary and never be forced. That’s why Representative Jake Hoffman introduced HB2498. This bill prohibits governments from mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for any Arizonan, and it was signed into law by Governor Ducey late last month.
During the early part of the pandemic, many churches and religious services were shut down and considered non-essential. But the U.S. Constitution protects the free exercise of religion, including the right to hold beliefs inwardly as well as the right to act on those beliefs publicly. That’s why House Republican Majority Leader Ben Toma sponsored HB2507.
This critical piece of legislation defines a religious service as an essential service during a declared state of emergency. And it protects the fundamental right of the people of Arizona to exercise their religion freely during a time of crisis. Finally, it also protects religious organizations from discrimination when they seek to operate during a state of emergency. HB2507 was signed into law by Governor Ducey in April.
One of the most heartbreaking parts of the pandemic was watching children be forced to wear masks with no study to back this up. That’s why Representative Joseph Chaplik sponsored HB2616. This bill puts the final say on masks in the hands of parents rather than school officials or other bureaucrats. Just like with the bills above, Governor Ducey signed it into law last month.
Wearing a mask shouldn’t be a prerequisite for having access to the government. That’s why Representative Neal Carter introduced HB2453. This bill prohibits government properties from requiring masks, with the exception of areas with workplace safety and infection control measures that are unrelated to COVID-19. Governor Ducey signed HB2453 into law earlier this month.
As you may recall, at times it felt like that the state of emergency due to COVID would last forever. It was only until this past March that Governor Ducey ended it—over two years after he originally issued it.
That’s why Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita introduced SB1009. This bill ensures that governors only have the authority to issue a state of emergency for public health emergencies for 30 days. After that, the governor is limited to extending that state of emergency for 30 days at a time with a limit of 120 days. From there, the state legislature has to consent to any new state of emergency.
Governor Ducey signed SB1009 into law at the beginning of May.
In addition to signing each of these bills into law, Governor Ducey also took immediate action at the beginning of January to protect students and parents from more school shutdowns. As students headed back to school after their winter break, he made up to $7,000 available for families who may face financial or educational barriers due to unexpected school closures. This was a step in the right direction to make sure that families who met the income requirements had access to funds for childcare, school-coordinated transportation, online tutoring, and school tuition if their school was shutdown.
It’s certainly too bad that it ever came to this. While there’s no doubt that COVID was an issue that warranted some action, it never should have included trampling on the rights of the people—especially children. Thankfully, state lawmakers didn’t waste any time after last November’s court decision. And now, the people of Arizona are protected by law against schools, mayors, governors, and more who want to further restrict our freedoms due to COVID.
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Phoenix, AZ – Today the Arizona Free Enterprise Club announced its first slate of endorsements for the 2022 election.
The endorsed candidates represent individuals that share our values and commitment to a free and prosperous Arizona. Club President Scot Mussi stated, “It is critical that Arizona elects leaders and policymakers who are able to articulate and stand up for individual liberties, free market policies, and conservative values. We believe that these candidates are up to the challenge.”
Arizona State Legislature
LD 1
LD 10
LD 17
Senate: Steve Zipperman
House: Barbara Parker
House: Cory McGarr
House: Judy Burges
House: Rachel Jones
LD 2
LD 13
LD 19
House: Pierce Waychoff
Senate: JD Mesnard
House: Gail Griffin
House: Christian Lamar
House: Lupe Diaz
LD 3
LD 14
LD 28
House: Joseph Chaplik
Senate: Warren Petersen
House: Beverly Pingerelli
House: Travis Grantham
House: Susan Black
House: Laurin Hendrix
LD 4
LD 15
LD 29
Senate: Nancy Barto
Senate: Jake Hoffman
House: Steve Montenegro
House: Jacqueline Parker
House: Austin Smith
House: Neal Carter
LD7
House: John Fillmore
House: David Marshall
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
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Push a sympathetic message. Drum up a bunch of misguided support. And then aim for a ridiculous tax increase. That was the strategy from Red4ED after it launched a little over four years ago.
In that spring of 2018, the color red was popping up all over the place—from Facebook profile pictures to protests at the state Capitol. And it was supposedly all about increasing teacher salaries and funding for K-12 education. It was a movement that had great momentum, a sycophant media, and a political class that was terrified to stand up to them. Yet they figured out how to, in four short years, go from a political juggernaut to one of the largest and most expensive failures in Arizona political history.
Of course, defeating this multiyear assault on Arizona by Invest in Ed was a huge win for taxpayers, job creators, and the future prosperity of our state. And it would not have been possible without a combination of political miscalculations and blunders by the Red4ED decision makers and a consistent, sustained opposition from key organizations and elected officials willing to stand up to the bullies behind the movement.
A Massive Legal Blunder
While the story of Red4ED began with a protest at the Capitol and demands for higher teacher pay, the movement was quickly hijacked by the teachers’ unions and other out-of-state special interest groups. It didn’t take long for the mission to morph from one about helping teachers into a singular quest to double the state income tax through a ballot initiative.
Soon after the first protests, a consortium of liberal organizations launched Invest in Ed version one, a poorly drafted initiative that proposed to double Arizona’s income tax. After receiving over $2 million from the National Teachers Union, Red4ED was successful in submitting enough signatures for their tax increase initiative to qualify for the 2018 ballot. But there was a problem. The organization’s 100-word summary of its ballot measure was grossly misleading. The Arizona Chamber of Commerce sued, and the Arizona Supreme Court ruled against it, saying that the description “did not accurately represent the increased tax burden on the affected classes of taxpayers.”
Whether it was an intentional effort to mislead the public or just a complete drafting blunder on their part, Red4ED’s tax increase initiative was removed from the ballot. And a $2 million lesson was learned. Or was it?
Their Litigation Woes Continue
Red4ED regrouped after its embarrassing court loss and put all its effort—along with more than $23 million—toward passing Invest in Ed version 2.0, also known as Prop 208. After an ugly campaign that involved deceiving voters once again, the initiative barely passed with 51% of the vote.
Yet just like the first initiative, Prop 208 was taken back to court, this time by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club and Goldwater Institute. And once again, the measure was struck down by the Arizona Supreme Court.
The court determined that the initiative violated the constitutional expenditure limitation. Here is the craziest part of the story—the drafters of the initiative knew that it violated the constitutional expenditure limitation. That’s right, the people that put Prop 208 on the ballot were fully aware that their measure had a constitutional defect. Yet their lawyers thought they could address the problem by including language that would “exempt” their statutory measure from the constitutional spending cap. As you would expect, this didn’t work, and the court struck down the measure in its entirety. But instead of cutting their losses and figuring out how to stop burning money that they said teachers desperately needed, Red4ED found a new way to target Arizona taxpayers.
A Futile Effort
In the midst of a brutal year for many, the Arizona legislature delivered historic tax cuts in June 2021. You would think this would be a cause for celebration for everyone, but Red4ED refused to join the party. Instead, the group spent over $5 million to hire an army of paid circulators to put a referendum on the ballot to block the tax cuts from going into effect.
They thought they finally scored a big win, but it turns out the only thing they scored was more legal headaches. Immediately after the referendum was submitted, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club filed a lawsuit, challenging the constitutionality of ballot referral. It was our belief that the measure did not comply with the “support and maintenance” clause in the constitution, and therefore the tax cuts were not referrable.
Nine months after our lawsuit was filed, the Arizona Supreme Court agreed with our position and ruled against the referendum, issuing a big win for taxpayers throughout the state.
If you’re doing the math, that’s more than $30 million spent in just over four years, and what does Red4ED have to show for it? Two legally flawed initiatives and a legally flawed referendum that all failed miserably. Plus, they took a movement that had sympathetic support for increased teacher salaries and turned it into a radical left/teacher union effort that destroyed any credibility they had with voters.
Adding insult to injury, they also had to endure watching the Arizona legislature and Governor Ducey implement the anti-Red4ED plan by slashing income tax rates in half to a flat 2.5%. In other words, a plan hatched by Invest in ED seeking to double the state income tax resulted in income tax rates that were slashed in half. What a disaster for them! But maybe they can at least celebrate the possibility that Red4ED may be the largest, most expensive failure in Arizona political history.
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!
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