Tag: Elections

Kari Lake Team Blowing Through Her Campaign Cash #AZGOV

On By AZ ConservativeIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

The Arizona Republican Gubernatorial candidates filed their first fundraising paperwork last week and there’s been a lot of discussion about what they mean to the race.

Table Credit: Dillon Rosenblatt @dillonreedrose

The most shocking numbers were Kari Lake’s and not in a good way. While the Trump endorsed candidate did raise just over $1.4 million she already burned through $1 million of it and not on the things people would expect them to. The campaign team which Kari says she is running herself (see below) but also seems to include Arizona Republican Party official Tyler Bowyer and political new comer Adel Belgaied, who despite registering to vote in 2008 will be voting in a primary for the first time ever this year, spent almost all of their campaign cash on consultants. The other $150,000 was spent on merchandise, mostly shirts and hats, $50,000 on eating out and another $52,000 at Trump’s Mar A Lago resort. Conservatives don’t normally react well to mismanaged finances in campaigns and these facts are going to create some doubt about this team’s ability to sustain a campaign.

Steve Gaynor and Karrin Taylor Robson came in with big sums; Gaynor with $ 5 million and Karrin with $3.7 million and $3 million cash on hand.

Kimberly Yee, a strong candidate normally, recently dropped out of the race to run for reelection as Arizona State Treasurer.

Matt Salmon, who now has more cash on hand than Kari Lake, isn’t inspiring many but has spent the last thirty years as either a lobbyist, a candidate or an elected official and is still a formidable candidate for people to watch out for.

Dr. Ben Carson: Current Border Fence ‘Certainly Wouldn’t Keep Me Out’

On By AZ ConservativeIn America, Arizona, Borders, CultureLeave a comment

NACO, Arizona — As a motorcade carrying GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson down to a service road behind part of the border fence that was built here, there were no Border Patrol agents in sight.

The fence—which local law enforcement from the Cochise County sheriff’s office confirms could easily be cut through with a blow-torch, something illegal aliens do quite frequently—ends a few miles up the road.

“This is a nice small impediment that certainly wouldn’t keep anybody out,” Carson told reporters as both Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels and Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu and several local deputies and ranchers showed Carson, his wife Candy, his staff and a handful of media around. “You need to have agents. This [a fence] will slow them down, agents will stop them. A wall or a fence is a good thing, but not in isolation.”

Dannels, speaking to Carson and the group about 10 minutes after arriving at the border, explained “we haven’t seen an agent all the way down here—and they knew we were coming today.”

“Not a single one,” rancher John Ladd, on which whose property the border tour took place, added.

It wasn’t until after the whole group was out here for half an hour that a handful of Border Patrol vehicles—seemingly coming out in response to a large motorcade coalescing on the border—showed up. In that timeframe, an illegal alien or drug smuggler could have cut through the fence and been well into one of the ranchers’ properties here on their way to freedom.

The fence that’s there—which agents explained illegal aliens cut through with blow torches while other gaps and holes exist throughout, while showing one such hole in the fence that’s since been patched over with a few rungs of barbed wire—“certainly wouldn’t keep me out” Carson added. When one reporter asked if Carson could scale either the 10-foot fence, or the 14-foot fence—there are areas where both types of fences are interspersed—Carson said he definitely could do it.

“It’d be a piece of cake,” he replied.

Carson said if he were trying to sneak into America illegally he’d throw a rope with a hook on it onto the top rung of the 14-foot fence “and climb up” and over into the United States.

“All you have to do is take a rope with a hook on it and hook it on that bar up there and climb up,” Carson said. “It’s no big deal.”

“I thought it would be more of an impediment than this,” Carson said when asked what he expected versus what he was seeing.

The barbed wire in the hole in the fence cut through previously with a torch was so ineffective a patch that two of the news photographers accompanying the Carson-led delegation to the border actually hopped through it to the other side to take photographs of the group. They were technically still in America because the fence doesn’t begin until three feet or so into this country, Sheriff Dannels informed the group, joking that he was “keeping on eye” on the photographers to make sure they didn’t accidentally enter Mexico a few steps away.

Carson said he wants to build a wall but doesn’t think that’s the only thing that should happen. He wants more people patrolling from the Border Patrol and the military, and tons of technology to back them up.

“I think there are ways to have physical barriers like this, but people are smart,” Carson said. “Given time and isolation, they will manage to get through that. But they will have a much harder time getting through it if you have other people trying to stop them from getting through.”

“I think the border wall is a good start,” Carson added. “But in and of itself it’s not going to be that effective. It’s going to require human beings to be involved and we have human beings who can do this job.”

“How easy would it be just to have a few drones flying through here?” Carson asked Dannels.

“A fence is only as good as the people behind it, and that’s the key,” Dannels replied. “You can put in all the infrastructure you want but you need good people behind it.

Ladd explained to Carson that since his ranch doesn’t have “severe terrain,” it makes it easy for illegal aliens, international criminals and drug smugglers to sneak through his property to the highway three miles away. “That’s why we’re so busy,” Ladd said. “The trails in the low spots, the cameras can’t see.

Ladd noted that while there is a radar system set up by Border Patrol at the highway, it’s only as good as its operator. And the Border Patrol frequently, nearly daily, rotates whoever is operating it—so sometimes the most talented operators of the radar system aren’t on that job—and people slip through undetected frequently.

“Sounds like bureaucrats in charge,” Carson replied to that comment from Ladd.

Carson’s trip to the border here on Wednesday came after an earlier helicopter tour in Pinal County–where 70 miles inside the border, Babeu explained, the drug cartels run free and the United States does not have operational control of American territory. Breitbart News accompanied Carson to the border and on the helicopter tour; more reporting from this trip and the tour are forthcoming, including an exclusive with Carson on how he’d secure the border.

Sen. Ward Exposes McCain’s Many Failings

On By AZ ConservativeIn Elections, McCain, The LeftLeave a comment

By Michelle Moons, Breitbart

LAKE HAVASU CITY, Arizona — Hundreds of enthusiastic Arizonans packed into a Lake Havasu City banquet room Tuesday evening to watch State Senator Kelli Ward officially announce, “I, Dr. Kelli Ward, A Proud Mom, A Physician, A Military Wife And Yes, I Am Running for the United States Senate.”

The announcement has been much anticipated after earlier this year she launched an exploratory committee to consider a primary challenge against Sen. John McCain, who’s been entrenched in Washington since 1983, in 2016.

“So much of Washington is broken, it is not working and we all know that. It cannot innovate, it can’t get out of it’s own way,” Ward said. “I’m running to change Washington’s way, but we can’t do that without changing the people that we send there.”

She expressed she is “well aware” of the task before her, but that she is ready for the challenge.

“Thirty years in Washington has changed Senator McCain,” Ward said.

Expressing great appreciation for McCain’s military service to the country and for some of his service in the Senate, Ward said, “but, like many career politicians, but, like many career politicians, has dug in, he’s entrenched himself in the beltway.”

She reminded the audience of the time McCain called senators Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul “wacko birds.”

Ward touched on illegal immigration and the inhibiting forces of federal regulations.

“I believe we have to secure our borders now,” she said.

“Respectfully, it’s time for a change. It’s time to retire McCain,” she added to raucous cheering.

Ward hammered on McCain’s record as well.

“In just the last few years Senator McCain has voted for tax hikes, for bailouts, for amnesty, for massive spending and for liberal judges,” Ward said. “He’s mocked conservatives for trying to stop Obamacare. He’s voted 14 times to raise the debt ceiling. He’s opposed efforts to stop warrantless wiretapping and spying and the list just goes on and on and on.”

“What’s most telling is this, Senator McCain was recently singled out by Hillary Clinton as her favorite Republican,” she continued, before promising: “Send me to the U.S. Senate and Hillary Clinton will never say that of me.”

“I am jumping into this knowing full well that this is a David and Goliath battle, but remember, David won that one,” Ward said.

Ward, who’s a family practice physician, shared some of her experience as a doctor.

“As a physician I’ve seen first hand what Obamacare has done to ravage our healthcare system. Premiums and deductibles are up and the emergency departments where I work are overwhelmed,” Ward said, before shifting to her record in the Arizona State Senate as a conservative.

“As a state Senator, I fought endless spending, I’ve worked to reform welfare and I said no, no to higher taxes and bloated budgets even when it wasn’t popular,” she said.

She also focused on the importance of securing the border, taking care of military veterans and securing liberty and freedom for the children of America.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

43%
Liberty Score™
Voting Record
F
43%
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
She took it to him on the difference between words and actions saying: “He always manages to be a part of the problem by keeping business as usual in the beltway. And definitely one thing he does not want to see change, leaving the Senate.”

“We need someone new. We need a strong conservative voice. We need somebody who’s energetic and fully charged and ready to go,” Ward said, adding: “You deserve more than broken promises and Washington speak. Together we can remake Washington into something that’s working for you. Something that stays out of your way. Something that you don’t have to fight against every single day.”

“Changing Washington starts with you. It starts with you. Join me and thousands of your fellow Arizonans to send a fresh new voice to the U.S. Senate. I am Kelli Ward and I am running for the United States Senate. Join me!”

Various attendees of Ward’s announcement event repeatedly said things like they respect what McCain has done for the country, but he’s been in Washington too long and it’s time for him to go. Over and over those who came answered the same when asked. Still some elaborated further.

“You need people in government that are in touch with today’s problems and I just don’t think McCain is in touch with today’s problems,” said local business owner Jerad Pennington, Pennington’s Pub. “Kelli just raised kids, if anyone’s going to understand the needs of kids in school it’s Kelli. My nieces are a product of the public school and the average parent is concerned about the state of the schools, it makes people want to leave Arizona. I choose Kelli.”

Arizona Senator Kelli Ward Running for U.S. Senate

On By AZ ConservativeIn America, Arizona, Elections, McCain, U.S. Senate2 Comments

UPDATE: Dr. Kelli Ward is bravely taking on the deeply entrenched Senator McCain in next year’s Republican Primary. Today she announced:

 “I’m running for the U.S. Senate to give you a real choice! Arizonans deserve a Senator who will fight for their values, and not just go along with the Beltway crowd.”

***

Lake Havasu City, AZ – State Senator Kelli Ward will announce her future political plans in her hometown of Lake Havasu City this Tuesday, July 14th, at Shugrue’s Bridgeview Room, 1425 McCulloch Blvd, Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403. The event will begin at 5:00 PM AST.

Dr. was first elected to the Arizona State Senate in 2012 and re-elected in 2014. She is standing tall on crucial issues such as border security, economic freedom, Second Amendment rights, and healthcare freedom. She has formed an exploratory committee and is considering a primary challenge to Republican Senator John McCain, who is losing popularity for his further distancing from the GOP’s base. McCain’s supporters are already in full and vicious attack mode against Dr. Ward, indicating his contempt for any would-be challenger.

Next year McCain really needs a voter-induced retirement.

Conservative Coalition Eliminates Huckabee, Santorum, Perry, Among Others

On By AZ ConservativeIn America, ElectionsLeave a comment

Editor’s Note: The following is a satire written for the purpose of providing a concrete strategy for the conservative movement to assure that the Republican Party not only does not field another lackluster, losing candidate in the 2016 presidential election, but instead nominates a highly electable candidate with the right qualifications:

October 1, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Conservative Coalition

Today the Conservative Coalition trimmed a current governor and two former governors, a former senator and a billionaire from the Republican presidential nominee sweepstakes.

Gone from contention for the GOP’s presidential nomination are ex-governors Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former New York Cong. Peter King and Donald Trump.

A still badly overcrowded Republican field remains in contention amidst plans to steadily pare it down in the months to come.

Remaining Conservative Coalition candidates are Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Marco Rubio, Dr. Benjamin Carson, Carly Fiorina, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush, current New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, and former New York Gov. George Pataki did not meet, nor did they express any interest in, participating in the Conservative Coalition competition.

U.S. Senator Rand Paul chose not to participate in the Conservative Coalition.

Now in its first go-round, the Conservative Coalition is an effort to narrow down the conservative field of candidates in time to ward off growing strength by a candidate who turns off the GOP’s conservative base. This is the plan to prevent another losing candidacy in the mold of weak candidates Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney, all of whom failed to ignite the party base in their losing and unimpressive campaigns.

Conservative Coalition participants agreed to the winnowing down process in the interests of allowing a competition within the greater competition to assure the emergence of one strong conservative candidate with the best chance of winning the party nomination and ultimately the presidential election.

The next elimination date is December 1, 2015, when the coalition field will be cut down to four. After that, any candidate generating single digits in a state primary agrees to drop out.

The final decision to narrow down to one conservative candidate will occur March 1, 2016. Criteria will include a weighted combination of reputable national polling results, primary victories, and fundraising.

Some 40 additional GOP candidates, largely unknown, were also eliminated in today’s Conservative Coalition announcement.

The Conservative Coalition will issue the results of the next cut-down on December 1. Please consider supporting the Conservative Coalition and participating in the strategy to select a winning, conservative candidate with the right values and plans for America.

McSally Apparently Wins Round One; Recount Imminent

On By AZ ConservativeIn Congress, Conservatism, McSally, The LeftLeave a comment

In the never-ending saga of Congressional District 2 vote counting, Freedom’s candidate Martha McSally stubbornly clings to the lead. She is now 133 votes ahead of CONTROL party incumbent Rob Barber, and that appears to be enough after the first vote count.

Pima County election officials counted 4.700 votes today, and just 200 provisional ballots remain uncounted. That makes it highly unlikely Barber could gain the needed 134 votes to pass McSally. And not all of the 200 ballots may even be from citizens residing within Congressional District 2.

So it appears McSally wins the original election. And now the recount will begin, since the election was so close.

CONTROL candidates now know how many votes they need to manipulate to steal this election. They’ve done it before — many times — and they’ll try every trick in the book. Pray that McSally has good lawyers!

McSally just released this statement:

“No doubt this has been a long process for everyone involved and we are grateful for all the support and encouragement we’ve seen. There are still ballots left to count, but we are confident that when all ballots are in, our lead will hold. We will continue to provide oversight of the process until then. ”

If McSally’s lead withstands the recount, she would give the party of Freedom a 5-4 lead over the CONTROL your life party among Congressmen in Arizona.

McSally’s Lead Shriveling Up

On By AZ ConservativeIn Big Government, Congress, McSally, The LeftLeave a comment

Freedom candidate Martha McSally still leads in the ongoing vote counting for Arizona’s second congressional district, but her lead is shrinking by the day.

The conservative now leads incumbent Ron Barber, representing the party that wants to CONTROL as much of our lives as possible, by just 179 votes. That represents a net loss of 162 votes for McSally in today’s counting.

And this is pretty much the scenario of the 2012 election between the same two candidates, when McSally led the leftist Barber on election night and then he edged ahead and emerged victorious in the days following the end of the voting season.

This district has not been in conservative hands in a long, long time — decades in fact.

Earlier today, McSally’s campaign asked a court to stop the counting of provisional ballots that were not correctly filed These are  provisional ballots submitted with a missing election official signature. A judge denied the request, even though the McSally campaign said Pima County election officials are not properly following state law. Who would imagine that? Wow, shocking! Democrats almost always seem to prevail in these post-election circuses.

Douglas Officially Wins State Superintendent of Public Instruction Race; Counting Continues in McSally’s Race

On By AZ ConservativeIn Arizona, Congress, Education1 Comment

Developing …

In her quest to remove Common Core curriculum, Freedom party candidate for state superintendent of public instruction Diane Douglas has officially defeated CONTROL candidate David Garcia. The final margin was just under 18,000 votes.

Freedom party congressional candidate Martha McSally is still leading CONTROL party incumbent Ron Barber — by 341 votes.

The Arizona Daily Star, a left-stream newspaper in Tucson, just filed a story about controversy in this ongoing Congressional District 2 election.

The attorney representing Republican Congressional candidate Martha McSally is threatening legal action to stop Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez from processing some provisional ballots.

Rodriguez has already refused, saying her office will continue to process the ballots so they may be counted by the County Elections Department as early as Monday.

An attorney representing the McSally campaign and the Republican Party, Eric Spencer, objects to the verification of any provisional ballot that lacks a signature from an election official on the provisional ballot form.

In his letter to county officials, Spencer demanded that the recorder’s office “cease transmitting any previously-verified provisional ballots to the elections department, pending a review of the provisional ballot forms for missing election official signatures.”

Spencer cites the Arizona Secretary of State’s Election Procedures Manual, noting it states the election official must sign the provisional ballot form when a voter turns in a sealed envelope.

He said the campaign is formally challenging the validity of all provisional ballots that have a provisional ballot form with a missing election official signature. There is no indication how many ballots could be involved.

Two hours ago, the McSally campaign posted this message on her Facebook page:

We estimate another 6000 or so Pima County provisional ballots are left to verify and count in CD2 (10,000 for all of Pima County). This will be very very close!