Category Archives: Governor
29 Arizonans Selected Delegates to Republican National Convention
Arizona Republican Party Chairman Tom Morrissey today announced the list of Arizonans who will represent the state at the Republican National Convention this August. They were elected at Saturday’s Quadrennial Convention:
Governor Jan Brewer – Glendale
Governor Gregory Mendoza – Gila River Indian Community
Secretary of State Ken Bennett – Phoenix
Arizona Treasurer Doug Ducey – Paradise Valley
Senate President Steve Pierce – Prescott
Speaker of the House Andy Tobin – Paulden
Joseph Abate – Phoenix
Donna Alu – Tucson
Kim Beneli – Concho
Jose Borrajero – Phoenix
Pamela Burruel – Roosevelt
Carolyn Cox – Tucson
Kevin DeMenna – Phoenix
Marla Festenese – Prescott
Debra Jean Forrest – Mesa
Elaine Gangluff – Phoenix
Paul Gilbert – Paradise Valley
Alberto Gutier – Phoenix
Kip Kempton – Safford
Laura Knaperek – Tempe
Kory Langhoffer – Phoenix
John Laurie – Gilbert
Jonathan Lines – Yuma
Lorraine Pellegrino – Phoenix
Randall Pullen – Phoenix
Constantin Querard – Avondale
Heather Sandstrom – Mesa
Parralee Schneider – Tucson
Jill Skayfel – Concho
Arizona Celebrates New Religious Freedom Law
PHOENIX – Governor Jan Brewer today signed into law HB 2625, legislation that authorizes religiously-affiliated employers to exempt contraceptive services from their employees’ health insurance plans. The new law will apply exclusively to those entities whose religious beliefs are central to their operating principles, and for whom providing coverage for contraception could pose a moral conflict or religious objection.
“In its final form, this bill is about nothing more than preserving the religious freedom to which we are all Constitutionally-entitled,” said Governor Brewer. “Mandating that a religious institution provide a service in direct contradiction with its faith would represent an obvious encroachment upon the 1st Amendment.
Currently, state law allows a narrow scope of nonprofit, faith-based institutions to opt out of contraceptive coverage, provided that the institution primarily employs and serves individuals who share the religious tenets of the institution.
HB 2625 moderately expands the definition of a “religiously-affiliated employer” to include any organization whose articles of incorporation explicitly state a religiously-motivated purpose, and whose religious beliefs play a fundamental role in its function. It is anticipated that there are few employers who will qualify for this exemption under the bill.
Arizona is among 20 states that allow certain employers to cite a religious-exemption in refusing to offer contraception coverage.
“Let’s not forget why we’re having this discussion: It’s ObamaCare that created this issue by forcing church-affiliated employers and non-profits to offer services in violation of their religious faith,” said Governor Brewer. “With this common sense bill, we can ensure that Arizona women have access to the health services they need and religious institutions have their faith and freedom protected.”
Governor Signs Pro-Woman Measure Restricting Abortionists from Accessing Taxpayer Funds
PHOENIX – Governor Jan Brewer this evening signed into law HB 2800, known as the Whole Woman’s Health Funding Priority Act. The Governor signed the measure while speaking at a reception for the Susan B. Anthony List, a group devoted to helping elect pro-life officials to public office.
HB 2800 prioritizes the distribution of public family-planning funds to health care entities that provide comprehensive care for women. The measure also prohibits the state or any political subdivision from contracting with a person or facility where non-federally qualified abortions are performed for the provision of family planning services.
“This is a common sense law that tightens existing state regulations and closes loopholes in order to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used to fund abortions, whether directly or indirectly,” said Governor Brewer. “By signing this measure into law, I stand with the majority of Americans who oppose the use of taxpayer funds for abortion.”
Kansas, North Carolina and Texas have already enacted legislation similar to the Whole Woman’s Health Funding Priority Act. Indiana, New Jersey and Wisconsin have used their budget processes to bar public funding for abortion providers.
Supreme Court Argument on 1070 Goes Well for Arizona, Badly for Obama
You know President Obama’s on shaky ground when the left-stream media’s champion, the New York Times, says Supreme Court justices seem sympathetic toArizona’s border enforcement law, SB 1070.
NYT’s Adam Liptak wrote after today’s oral arguments on SB 1070 at the U.S. Supreme Court: “Justices across the ideological spectrum appeared inclined to uphold a controversial part of Arizona’s aggressive 2010 immigration law, based on their questions on Wednesday at a Supreme Court argument.
To arrive at that conclusion, Liptak only had to listen to one of Obama’s left-wing Court appointees:
“You can see it’s not selling very well,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said of a central part of the argument made by Obama’s Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. ““Why don’t you try to come up with something else?”
The Drudge Report posted a huge headline Mr. Verrilli will not be saving for his scrapbook. It declared Obama’s lawyer had laid another egg in the Supreme Court, as he did last month arguing for Obamacare: “Obama’s Lawyer Chokes Again.”
The Washington Times’ Stephen Dinan reported: “Supreme Cour” justices took a dim view of the Obama Administration’s claim that it can stopArizona from enforcing immigration laws, telling government lawyers during oral argument Wednesday that the state appears to want to push federal officials, not conflict with them.”
The bias showed in the reporting by left-stream media Associated Press: “Verrilli did not mention Wednesday that the administration has deported nearly 400,000 people a year, far more than previous administrations, although the information was included in written submissions to the court.” Perhaps the AP regrets not assisting Verrilli prepare for orals.
Chief Justice John Roberts joined with colleagues who took issue with Verrilli’s remarks on theArizonalaw, noting the state only wants to inform federal authorities when it apprehends illegal aliens. “It seems to me that the federal government just doesn’t want to know who’s here illegally and who’s not,” Roberts said.
Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed SB 1070 into law, released this statement today:
“Today, more than two years after I signed SB 1070 into law, the State of Arizona had its opportunity to defend this measure before the United States Supreme Court. Many people never gave us a chance to get this far, and it is only due to the continuing support and encouragement of the American people that it was possible.
“Of course, we likely will not know the Court’s decision for weeks. But I am filled with optimism – the kind that comes with knowing thatArizona’s cause is just and its course is true.
“On the day I signed SB 1070, I called it ‘another tool for our state to use as we work to solve a crisis we did not create and the federal government has refused to fix.’ Those words still hold true – as I was reminded last week when I returned to the border to visit law enforcement and ranchers who live and work in southeasternArizona.
”Their message: The job of securing the border is not done, not so long as drugs and humans continue to be smuggled north in large numbers at the direction of violent cartels and armed gangs. As Governor, I have a duty to uphold the Constitution and a responsibility to protect the people ofArizona. With SB 1070, I am confident we can do both.”
Unbelievably, left-wing JusticeElena Kagan recused herself from the case. She refused to demonstrate the same integrity last month in the Obamacare oral arguments.
Thank you for reading! Tell your friends to bookmark The Arizona Conservative. We’re scooping other blogs and providing the best coverage on 1070, Obamacare, elections and other top-of-mind topics to Arizonans.
Governor Brewer: Invite Schumer down here for a debate on border invasion
Radical left-winger Chuck Schumer, Democrat senator from New York is trying to bait Arizona Gov. Jan Brewerget to testify on why our state passed Senate Bill 1070. He claims Congress has already acted sufficiently. Here’s our response.
Gov. Brewer, don’t go! Don’t take the bait!
Invite him down here on our turf to explain why Congress has done next to nothing protecting our border and our citizens from the border invasion and easy influx of harmful drugs. Senator Schumer’s baiting you for a public roasting. He and his friends will pile on and try to make you look bad. They will interrupt you and not give you a fair hearing. It’s a set-up. Don’t fall for it!
Turn it around on him and invite him to Arizona. Put him on the hot seat for doing NOTHING the entire time he’s been in Congress. Take him down to the border he’s never seen. And if he won’t come down here, gov, call a press conference and give a state of the border invasion speech. Expose Congress’s failure to act!
Please take our advice.
10 Points about the Brewer-Obama Dust-up
Regarding yesterday’s brouhaha between the president and Arizona’s governor at a Mesa airport yesterday, here are 10 key points to remember:
1. President Obama has repeatedly shown that he is a temperamental man.
2. Obama has a history of treating Republicans, military officers, congressmen, and others with disdain and a common lack of respect.
3. Gov. Brewer acted with decorum and respect.
4. Brewer also stood up for herself and deserves respect for that.
5. The Arizona Democrat Party is distorting the incident by demonizing Brewer — without foundation — and trying to raise money off the incident.
6. Obama talks a good game about civility and open-mindedness, but the truth is he is closed-minded and unwilling to listen to opposing points of view.
7. Obama has a history of grandstanding to show up Republicans who are polite and respectful in return.
8. Many left-wingers do not wish to actually debate topics and briskly walk away to avoid confrontation.
9. Obama is the most polarizing president in U.S. history.
10. Democrats, like Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder in particular, are known for judging things — like Brewer’s book, Senate Bill 1070, conservative talk radio, the actions of a Cambridge, Mass. police officer, and others — without reading them or looking into the situation. They use fall-back knee-jerk reactions that make them look bad.
Gov. Brewer Gives Obama a Piece of Her Mind on Airport Tarmac
Arizona Tea Party reports …
Longstanding tension between Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and Democratic President Barack Obama flared into the public spotlight today just after Air Force One touched down in Phoenix.
Brewer, who was on the tarmac to greet Obama, hand-delivered a letter before engaging the president “intensely” for several minutes, including pointing her finger directly at him, according to Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown, acting as a pool reporter for other media outlets.
Accounts from both camps later said the terse talk focused on Brewer’s book— “Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media and Cynical Politicos to Secure America’s Border.”
The book, which was released in November, describes a June 2010 Oval Office meeting between Obama and Brewer aimed at diffusing conflicts surrounding Arizona’s controversial state immigration law and the administration’s immigration policy.
At the time, the White House called it a “good meeting,” while Brewer’s staff said it was “cordial.”
But Brewer paints a much different picture in her book.
Brewer complains in “Scorpions for Breakfast” that she and her staff were treated coldly by White House aides, prevented from taking pictures in the holding room outside the Oval Office and that their cell phones and cameras were “confiscated” by Secret Service.
“Too bad we weren’t illegal aliens, or we could have sued them,” she writes.
During her meeting with the president, Brewer said Obama was “condescending” and professorial, “lecturing” on his efforts to promote comprehensive immigration reform.
“It wasn’t long before I realized I was hearing the president’s stump speech,” she said. “Only I was supposed to listen without talking. Did he care to hear the view from the actual scene at the border? Did the opinions and observations of the people of Arizona mean anything to him? I didn’t think so.”
“He was patronizing,” she said. “Then it dawned on me: He’s treating me like the cop he had over for a beer after he bad-mouthed the Cambridge police, I thought. He thinks he can humor me and then get rid of me.”
Obama raised his objections to Brewer’s account face-to-face with the governor today.
“He was a little disturbed about my book,” Brewer told reporters after the meeting broke. “I said to him that I have all the respect in the world for the office of the president. The book is what the book is. I asked him if he read the book. He said he read the excerpt.”
Obama told Brewer ”that he didn’t feel that I had treated him cordially,” Brewer said. “I said I was sorry he felt that way but I didn’t get my sentence finished.
“Anyway, we’re glad he’s here. I’ll regroup,” she added.
A senior administration official later told reporters that Obama’s comments were in response to Brewer’s request for another one-on-one meeting.
“The governor handed the president a letter and said she was inviting him to meet with her. The president said he’d be glad to meet with her again, but did note that after their last meeting, a cordial discussion in the Oval Office, the governor inaccurately described the meeting in her book,” the official told reporters, on condition of anonymity.
Brewer, who said in her letter to Obama that she wants to discuss “Arizona’s comeback” with him, did not attend the presidential event at a Phoenix factory today. But she did make several subsequent media appearances to talk about her tarmac encounter.
In an interview with KFYI radio in Phoenix, Brewer said Obama was “somewhat thin-skinned and a little tense, to say the least.”
“I was very surprised. I was taken aback. I really was,” she said. “I was shocked by the sternness of it all.”
ABC News’ Steven Portnoy contributed to this report.
The Most Conservative Gubernatorial Candidate to Date
In these troubling times, it’s refreshing to read that a man like Tim Willis is running for governor of the Grand Canyon State of Arizona. Tim is a man who truly walks the walk. Unlike some candidates who suddenly get real interested in “serving” the community only when they decide to run for public office, Tim has been serving for years … before running for office.
Willis, who now lives in Wickenburg, is a tried and true conservative and a full-fledged supporter of the Republican Party Platform who isn’t cutting Gov. Jan Brewer or the GOP-led Arizona Legislature any slack. Here’s a recent sampling from his website that indicates his view of what’s happening among state leaders:
Arizonans are four months into the Republican-controlled State Government and nothing has come of it! No pro-life legislation. No help on border issues. No family issues even being considered. We’ve only been witness to a firestorm of “Brewering” around the budget and tax situation. Everybody is angry.
Our new Republican government, from the Governor, to the House and the Senate are busy with pocket knives whittling away at the redwood-forrest-sized budget, while at the same time cutting into our toothpick-sized income with a chainsaw!
Brewer also reaped criticism from Willis for holding up pro-life bills while the budgeting process slumbered on. The political outsider also took Brewer to task, in his blog, for being lukewarm on Republican issues and for befriending Democrats in the legislature.
Willis will undoubtedly have a problem with name recognition, but he believes in: the sanctity of human life, religious liberty, border enforcement, marriage, the evils of gambling and other forces undermining the family. He is clearly not afraid of speaking the truth about social ills on the campaign trail, as so many politicians are. None of these topics are above his “pay grade.”
