Pullen for the Party

PULLEN: State Veterans Deserve Better

Phoenix, AZ—Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen today said the Napolitano Administration owed Arizona veterans an apology for the ongoing neglect and allegations of abuse continuing to come from the Arizona State Veterans’ Home.

“In February, the annual audit uncovered a terrible state of affairs in which Arizona’s veterans were living in conditions I can’t bear to imagine,” Pullen said. “Governor Napolitano promised to fix the problems, and to help her along, the Republican state legislature even appropriated several million dollars to assist with the otherwise self-funded facility’s improvement.

The governor took the money, but the problems didn’t get solved,” said Pullen. “If anything, they seem to have gotten worse.”

Pullen cited a December 7, 2007, Arizona Republic article concerning a new oversight report of the veterans’ home. It documented cases of untreated bed sores, neglected wounds and unchanged bandages, untrained and unqualified staff, residents who have fallen and even broken bones dozens of times, and allegations of abuse and other incidents which the Veterans’ home failed to report in the manner or time required.

“On behalf of Arizona’s 700,000 veterans, as well as those who are involved in our growing Veterans Coalition project here at the Arizona Republican Party, I can safely say that enough is enough,” Pullen said. “Men and women who put their lives on the line to defend our great state and nation shouldn’t be neglected here at home.

“Ten months after the governor learned about the problems our Arizona veterans face, she either doesn’t care or can’t do the job – there’s no other possible excuse for this incompetence,” Pullen said. “And clearly she’s never had a loved one lying in the hospital with bed sores or infected wounds or she wouldn’t be so flippant as to worry about ‘holiday trees’ when veterans were suffering with much more dire problems.”

“Governor, you wanted the job – now it’s time for you to do the job,” Pullen said.

CLICK HERE for the original news release!

Gov’s budget fixes would put state in a fix

By Sen. Thayer Verschoor and Sen. Bob Burns

Like the rest of the nation, the people of Arizona are trying to come to terms with the fact that recent years of economic expansion are being challenged by a downturn in the housing and financial markets. How long that downturn will last and the impact it will have on Arizona households and various business sectors is being debated by economists.

We were glad to see Gov. Janet Napolitano acknowledge Wednesday that current economic conditions are creating a projected budget shortfall of at least $600 million. We were also glad to see her put forward a proposal and begin a dialogue with the Legislature on how best to address this problem.

How the state responds to this shortfall is crucial. If our response creates a fiscally unsustainable budget, taxpayers will be in jeopardy. We want to be perfectly clear that, whatever we do, we cannot increase the burdens on taxpayers who are already struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments and other household expenses.

Being a good steward of the state’s fiscal system means recognizing problems associated with overburdening the revenue producers as well as needs of government. We will only worsen the economic situation by increasing taxes.

Recognizing the impact of skyrocketing property values and local government property tax increases, the Legislature enacted a $235 million property tax reduction that expires, by the governor’s insistence, in the tax year of 2009. The Democrats have opposed efforts to make that rate reduction permanent, meaning it will reappear on your property tax bills.

We are concerned that Napolitano’s proposed response to the budget shortfall could put the state’s finances in a precarious and unsustainable position. Most worrisome is her continued advocacy for the state budget to become addicted to a series of long-term, interest-bearing, debt obligations to finance costs for school construction we will face each and every year for decades into the future. At some point, the debt service payments for that accumulated debt will exceed the annual amount of cash needed. This is like taking out multiple mortgages to pay for utilities.

The governor also proposes using the state’s “rainy day fund,” a onetime cash source, to keep ongoing programs afloat. She apparently is counting on some yet-to-be determined revenue increase to occur at some yet-to-be determined time in the future. This is like taking out a payday loan to cover spending based on the hope that your boss will suddenly decide to double your salary.

These responses to a financial problem do not, in our view, represent wise fiscal management. We suspect that most families and businesses understand the dangers of going into debt for ongoing spending demands. That is why we were glad to see the governor include recognition that some degree of belt-tightening should be part of the solution.

The current revenue situation requires decisive action to examine the state’s financial management and look for areas where we might be able to improve. Much of our budgeted expenditures are driven by statutory formulas that basically run on automatic.

Budget shortfalls provide a good opportunity to retain, eliminate or modify government programs and the formulas that drive their funding. The executive and legislative branches and the people of Arizona are all in this together. We have a better chance of responding appropriately if we work cooperatively, as we have in the past.

Sen. Thayer Verschoor is the Arizona Senate majority leader from District 22 in Gilbert.
Sen. Bob Burns is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and represents District 9 in Peoria.

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Originally published in the East Valley Tribune, September 23, 2007

PULLEN CHALLENGES GOV TO ENFORCE IMMIGRATION LAWS

PHOENIX, AZ – Randy Pullen, chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, challenged Governor Napolitano to enforce the new immigration legislation that was signed into law today.

“It’s interesting to me that if Governor Napolitano had enforced propositions 100 and 200 after they had been overwhelmingly approved by Arizona’s voters, there would have been no need for the state legislature to act,” said Pullen. “The Governor is clearly maneuvering to find political relevancy and ensure some form of political longevity for herself.”

HB 2779 requires employers to identify the legal status of their employees, HB 1265 requires the courts to deny bail to illegal aliens, and HB 2467 requires proof of identification for access to state administered services.

“Previously, Governor Napolitano had taken no action on the immigration question other than to blame the federal government and weaken the enforcement of Propositions 100 and 200.

“The real test is to see if Governor Napolitano chooses to actually enforce the new legislation she just signed into to law. To the Governor, all I can say is: do your job,” concluded Pullen.

For more information, please contact Brett Mecum at 601.957.7770 or at bemecum@azgop.org.

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And the other shoe has dropped...

It looks like CPS is in trouble again. This time Laurie Roberts did an expose of CPS and detailed a case of abuse in the Arizona Republic in which the CPS agent investigating the case ultimately began a romantic relationship with the absuive father under investigation.  Here is an excerpt from the column:

Instead, confidential documents suggest that Amy Gile actually helped an abusive father hang onto his kids, and later ignored the oldest child's plea for help. By then, she had become the abusive father's girlfriend.

So what, you might ask, did CPS do about it when one of the children showed up at day care in 2004 covered with welts and the story of Gile's romantic relationship became known?

Nothing.

We're waiting for the Napolitano spin cycle to ramp up on this one.  This comes on the heels of Patrick Chorpennings testimony at the House-Senate Select Committee on the Arizona Veterans Home where Chorpenning pointed to the Governor as setting him up to be the fall guy for the fiasco surronding the scandal.

"It was a feeding frenzy and my one-legged butt went under the train, and I don't appreciate it."

We'd like to ask the Governor: Who's fault is the CPS situation and who's career is going to be ruined this time to protect yourself?

Represenattive Jonathan Paton (R-Tucson) has an equally important question for the Governor to answer. Yesterday, on the floor of the House, Representative Paton delivered an impassioned speech regarding the situation at CPS. In closing his remarks, he asked the Governor to answer the following:

"My question for the governor is this: What does it take to be fired from this agency? What do you have to do? How far does it have to go?"

Please Governor, take your time on the answers to these questions, it's not like the lives of children are at stake or anything.

Posted by Brett

Welcome

Today’s quote: “The purpose of government is to rein in the rights of people.” President Clinton, 1993

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Welcome

I would like to welcome you all to my “official” Arizona Republican Party BLOG site. One of the issues I raised during my recent election as chairman was party leadership’s need to communicate with party activists on a more regular basis. There are many ways to communicate your message, disseminate important information and to receive feedback from members of ones party. We currently do this through our website; email blasts; our newsletter, The Tusk Times; and now, blogging.

I will cover a wide range of local and national topics and issues in my attempt to keep you informed and ready to take on all comers from left of center. This is not any easy task as the Democrats, led by Governor Napolitano, have a cheering section in the form of the mainstream print and broadcast media. Individually, a reporter will tell you very sincerely that they have no bias and they just report it as they see it (just the facts), and there in lies the problem. How something actually happens and as one sees it varies in the eyes of the beholder.

I pledge to you to make the record right by pointing out each Friday the most egregiously reported media story of the week. I welcome your input during each week as to which article you think represents the worst reporting. At the end of the year, I will give an award to the one local reporter who has demonstrated the least amount of professionalism by incorrectly reporting the facts, editorializing and generally presenting a bias in his or her stories. Whoever wins this prize will have a job, no doubt, waiting for them at the New York Times or Washington Post.

Lets start out by giving the Worst Journalist of the Year award a name. Please email me your ideas.

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CPS

As has been made so sadly clear over the years, Child Protective Services is an oxymoron. Their latest tragedies were pointed out by Laurie Roberts in the Arizona Republic on the front page of the Valley & State section this past Wednesday. Over the past few years, stories keep emerging from the Governor’s favorite state agency of incompetence and heavy-handed actions. Nowhere is this more painfully obvious than in the recent deaths of 4-year-old Ariana Payne, 5-year-old Tyler Payne and Brandon Williams. In each case, CPS was in charge and apparently failed to properly protect these children, resulted in their deaths.

Although it is difficult to know for sure what CPS was doing, as pointed out by Ms. Roberts, CPS actions are shrouded in secrecy in order to “protect the children”. I think we can all agree that we do not need any more examples of incompetence from CPS and it is way past time that this agency is fully investigated. We should all welcome the investigation that is planned this summer by representatives Jonathon Paton and Kirk Adams into CPS.

CPS has been the favorite child of the Governor. She has showered it with money over the past few years. Beginning with a budget of $150 million when she came into office, the Governor promised to turn CPS into a model agency if she was given the funds to act. Will, she got her wish and the budget has almost doubled to $274 million by this year. On average, this is almost a 20% a year increase. The amount of money spent by the agency on a per child placed in an out-of-home-care basis has increased from $19,900 to $27,900. This is a scandal waiting to come out of hiding, let’s hope this agency is outed for the sake of our children.

In closing, CPS is just another example of the lack of executive competence displayed on the part of this Governor. When you add CPS to the recent Veterans Home fiasco, the on-going illegal immigration fiasco, gas line fiasco, prison break stand off fiasco and Piestewa Peak naming fiasco you begin to get the picture. In each case it is someone else’s fault and not hers. She is very good at passing the buck. Unfortunately for us, she and Harry Truman have very little in common.

RANDY