LD7 Republicans Hear Sheriff Arpaio and State Rep. Kavanaugh

On Tuesday, September 20 at its regular meeting, LD7 Republicans heard from Sheriff Joe Arpaio and State Representative John Kavanaugh (R-LD8), the Appropriations Committee Chairman.


Sheriff Arpaio told us how he has talked to many of the Presidential candidates: Michele Bachman, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Herman Cain. He has not endorsed anyone for the 2012 Presidential race; in 2008 Arpaio endorsed Romney.

Arpaio also mentioned that he has been visiting Republican groups across the country including Iowa, Chicago, and New Hampshire. He joked about people speculating about his travel as a precursor to a Presidential campaign. Politicians talking to and listening the people of this country, he said, is essential for them understanding the concerns and interests of citizens. Arpaio said he finds it refreshing and educational to find out the differing priorities of people in different parts of the country. He said that the Republican Presidential candidates are doing this and, whoever wins the nomination, will benefit from this experience by being able to better connect to the voters based on getting to know them better.

The Sheriff said that he loves his job and has done well at it. Applauding LD7 Republicans showed their agreement with their applause. In spite of criticism by some people that he is simply focusing on illegal immigration and is not doing his job, he said that his department caught the “Rock Burglar,” actively participated in breaking up a drug syndicate, and goes after deadbeat parents who don’t pay child support. In addition, he said that he strongly enforces laws against animal abuse. Arpaio also said that his crime suppression sweeps find many people committing identity theft, and that identity theft is a serious problem in Arizona. In addition, the Sheriff said he does his job cost effectively and usually returns money to the county at the end of the fiscal year. He said that some people were spreading slanderous allegations about him, but, since he has been investigated by the Federal Justice Department and they have never found a problem, Arpaio said that allegations of improper or criminal behavior against him are totally unsubstantiated and untrue. Sheriff Arpaio did not name his critics, but it is likely that one he was referring to is Mike Stauffer who is running against him in the Republican primary for Sheriff next year. Stauffer is a former Republican PC and LD7 Rep. Secretary who is a Scottsdale Police Lieutenant that thinks enforcing laws against illegal aliens being in our county should not be a high priority for the Sheriff’s office.

Sheriff Arpaio made a special point of telling LD7 Republican PCs that we need to take care of Senator Russell Pearce, the Senate President, who is being targeted by Democrats and open border Republicans for his leadership in creating legislation to facilitate enforcement of laws against illegal aliens. Arpaio urged everyone to do what they can to help Russell Pearce keep his state senate seat and demonstrate the resolve of conservative Republicans to support these policies and the politicians who create and enforce them.

When asked about Fast and Furious, the Federal gun running program that supplied Mexican gangs with weapons under the pretense of trying to track gangs with them, he said that it was a disastrous program. Arpaio believes that the bad decisions made go all the way to the top of the Federal government; he does not think this is just a local problem. He also commented on the lack of attention given this scandal in local media even though Arizona is at the center of the scandal.

Queried about whether he would endorse any candidates in the County Supervisor races, Arpaio joked that someone was asking about those races and not asking him who he will endorse for President. He skillfully side stepped the question. Given the conflicts between the County Supervisors and Arpaio over the last several years, Arpaio probably is trying to avoid opening old wounds. If any viable candidates are running against the incumbents, though, I suspect our Sheriff will endorse them if he thinks his endorsement can win them the Republican nomination.

State Representative John Kavanaugh, the House Appropriations Chairman, talked about a variety of issues including the state budget, redistricting, and taxes. He said the state now has a balanced budget. The state government has a steep decline in tax collections due to the recession, and collections are slowly recovering. Kavanaugh said the tax collections should be up $300M next year, then $700M the following year, and $1.5B the year after that. This does not include the extra 1% temporary sales tax that will expire. These revenues will more than cover the $600M reduction in state tax collections when the temporary sales tax expires. He and other Republicans want to use extra tax collections to reduce the state debt which is about $6B dollars. Democrats, he said, already are coming up with more government programs to spend the “extra” money that is available. Republican legislators, he said, will not let that happen. He lamented that Democrats never seem to learn lessons of fiscal responsibility. Kavanaugh did day that his projections were based on a slow recovery not interrupted by an economic shock such as the collapse of Greece’s economy.

The Fast and Furious program, Kavanaugh said, show that Democrats are willing to cover up incompetence and illegal activities. Part of the fallout from this is that Dennis Burke, the US Attorney for Arizona, resigned in disgrace. He was considered a likely Democrat candidate for Governor in 2014, but this scandal had eliminated him as a serious candidate.

He mentioned that there is a proposal to have a hospital bed tax of $280 per day per person to support hospitals providing care to ACCESS (Arizona’s Medicaid) patients. This legislation, according to Kavanaugh, will not pass the legislature. It would financially drain hospitals providing care to privately insured patients and threaten their financial viability. Some people in the audience were whispering about how a resort is cheaper than just the proposed tax; the PCs were very happy that there are solid Republican majorities in the legislature to keep taxes like that from being imposed.

Kavanaugh said redistricting would probably proceed with the same members of the commission, but they were on notice to avoid any more improper activities. He said the redistricting is complicated because Justice Department approvals are needed; Tom Horne seeking to eliminate that requirement is a good thing. This means that some districts need to be over packed with Democrats to assure minority representation in legislative bodies. This generally works to the advantage of Republicans because it makes more districts with Republican majorities. The concerns he has are that the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) will try to pack Republicans into districts to reduce the number of districts they have an advantage in and will actively work to put Republican incumbents in the same new districts which would force them to run against one another and leave open seats in other districts.

After our scheduled speakers, our legislators spoke. Nancy Barto was unable to be at the meeting, so it was our two representatives David Smith and Heather Carter.

David Smith mentioned that he was recognized as a top legislator by the Liberty Project, that legislators should investigate Fast and Furious, and that he will be sponsoring legislation to change the size of petitions to letter size paper instead of legal size paper (which will be more convenient for most people to print and handle).

Heather Carter said she is working on a project to identify burdensome regulations on businesses and homeowners – including municipal regulations. She said this was to prevent harassment such as allowing Maricopa County building inspectors to review all building activities on a property for the past 30 years when a new permit is applied for instead of just reviewing items specific to approving that permit.

When asked about the Cave Creek School District override, David Smith said he was against it and Heather Carter said she supports it. Smith thinks the school district should control its costs during the recession instead of further burdening already financially strapped taxpayers. Carter thinks they need more money to pay for failing air conditioning units in schools like Desert Willow. It’s interesting to me that administration buildings don’t seem to have the same air conditioning problems as the schools; I guess that reflects the priorities of the school board and school administrators.

This brought up the subject of school funding. David Smith said that he would be introducing legislation to create something like school vouchers that would be used not just for K-12 education but for college as well. Instead of funding schools and colleges through direct appropriations, even government schools and colleges would have to finance their operations only through tuition (which parents and students could pay with refundable tax credits). Heather Carter said that was unconstitutional while ignoring that refundable tax credits rather than vouchers could be used to bypass the state constitutional issues. Carter is more interested in trying to change how schools are managed through state regulations and collective choices rather than allowing market forces to create schools people want at a price they are willing to pay based on individual decisions by parents and students.

At the next LD7 Republican meeting, the speaker will be Bill Gates, the Phoenix City Councilman from District 3.