Scottsdale Politics: Bill Crawford Fights Back
After The Dirty Scottsdale web site posted a character assassination hit piece on Bill Crawford: Bill went snooping. What did he find? A connection between Congressional Representative Ben Quail (who allegedly wrote filthy postings to the web site under an assumedname) and a conflicted Scottsdale Police Commander (Maricopa County Sheriff Candidate) Mike Stauffer. Mr.Stauffer has gone after Crawford with a vengeance. When Bill posted the connection, Mr. Stauffer went on the offensive. He charged Bill with a class 5 Felony and posted this information on his campaign web site knowing the charges were false and without merit. Is this normal procedure for a law enforcement professional.
Bill Crawford has responded to the malicious false charges filed against him by Lt. Mike Stauffer by filing a complaint against Lt. Stauffer with the Scottsdale Police Department. You can see why in the video posted below:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhjF0d4WtNA (YouTube - Scottsdale Police Lt. Mike Stauffer Attempts to Frame Adversary with False Criminal Charges)
In the downtown bar district we have addressed serious issues (Lt. Stauffer was quoted as saying the bar issues are a ruse and a campaign stunt for Sheriff Arpaio by Crawford) and attacked Crawford, who has been complaining about noise in downtown since 2008:
www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/10/30/20081030Wnoise1030.html (Neighbors upset by noise from hotel rooftop)
Lt. Stauffer seems to be out of touch with downtown problems even though he is a commander of law enforcement in Scottsdale.
www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2011/06/09/20110609maricopa-county-sheriff-race-scottsdale-candidate.html (Maricopa County sheriff candidate calls noise complaints a ruse)
This is difficult to explain when 200 people showed up at Crawford's Gym to discuss the problems with Sheriff Arpaio:
www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/2011/06/10/20110610scottsdale-residents-join-crusade-stop-noise-trash-from-downtown.html (Scottsdale residents join crusade to stop noise, trash)
The is an inconvenient distraction from the main issues downtown. But it must be dealt with. We need to keep on track in finding solutions to the problems in downtown Scottsdale's bar district. Despite deliberate distractions, we have been making progress and have seen positive changes. The city and the bar owners have been commended for their efforts. Mr. Stauffer has deliberately attempted to hijack these efforts and turn them into a publicity stunt for his campaign, regardless of the consequences to downtown Scottsdale, the residents, the police department or myself. The mutual goal is for us all to work together to preserve the quality of life in downtown Scottsdale.
Your volunteer for a better Scottsdale,
Bill Crawford | Scottsdale
Back
New 60 Plus ad praises Paul Ryan Medicare reforms
Conservative seniors group airs national television ad supporting Republican Medicare proposal
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The 60 Plus Association, nationally recognized as the conservative alternative to the liberal AARP, today launched a television ad featuring Congressman Paul Ryan and defending the Republican plan to reform Medicare. The seniors-interest advocacy organization is spending $1.4 million to run the ad nationally.
"The Democrats and Obama are destroying Medicare," said Jim Martin, chairman of the 60 Plus Association. "It's time to put an end to their 'mediscare' tactics. The reality is that Medicare in its current form is going to bankrupt our nation - we must either reform the program or watch it die. The 2011 Medicare Trustees Report indicates that under current conditions, Medicare funding will evaporate by the next decade.
"We need an alternative for ourselves and our children, and Paul Ryan and House Republicans are on the right track. With their plan, current seniors will be able to maintain their healthcare coverage, and quality medical care will be guaranteed for future generations. 60 Plus is proud to support the Republican reform proposal."
The 30-second television ad will begin airing on June 17 on national cable channels. In addition to the national cable buy, the ads will also run in broadcast markets in Florida and Ohio. To see the television ad, please visit www.youtube.com/60PlusAssociation#p/a/u/0/NLsoVuwesmk.
Transcript
PAUL RYAN: Washington has not been honest with you about Medicare ... If we do nothing, Medicare spending will nearly double over the next decade, exhausting its remaining funds.
ANNOUNCER: Republicans wrote the plan that makes needed Medicare reforms - and protects seniors.
PAUL RYAN: No change occurs to Medicare for anybody who's on Medicare or ten years away from retiring.
ANNOUNCER: And future seniors get guaranteed health care choices ... like Members of Congress. Learn more: only one plan reforms Medicare and protects seniors.
The 60 Plus Association is an 19-year-old nonpartisan organization working for death tax repeal, saving Social Security, affordable prescription drugs, lowering energy costs and other issues featuring a less government, less taxes approach as well as a strict adherence to the Constitution. 60 Plus calls on support from 7.1 million citizen activists. 60 Plus publishes a magazine, SENIOR VOICE, and a Scorecard, bestowing awards on lawmakers of both parties who vote "pro-senior." 60 Plus has been called, "an increasingly influential senior citizen's group" and since 1992 "the conservative alternative to the AARP."
Back
Carefree’s finances require serious reform
The Town of Carefree’s annual report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010 shows audited figures for the town’s disturbing financial condition. There is a WIFA loan balance of $2.6 million maturing in July 2023 and $2.6 million in Water Company revenue bonds due in July 2018. Additional liabilities bring long-term debt to a total of $6.3 million. That figure exceeds reported investments in the State’s Investment pool plus USA Treasury investments of $5.5 million by about $0.8 million. Thus if all the town’s investment funds were used to pay off long-term debt, even if possible, the town would still owe $0.8 million.
Unfortunately, due to a decision in 1998 by Mayor Stevens to issue non-callable water bonds, the town is still burdened with $2.6 million in 7 percent debt that cannot be refunded. That is why customers of the Carefree Water Co. are paying outrageously high water prices for which they don’t even get a tax deduction.
Beginning July 1, 2010 payments of almost $110,000 monthly for a shocking fiscal year total of $1.3 million - $587 per (occupied + vacant) housing unit - are being paid to Rural/Metro! In addition, the town even provides the fire station and truck! That contract ends December 31, 2011. The public shouldn’t be surprised that local firefighters campaigned for Mayor Schwan in the 2011 election.
On April 1, 2005 Carefree council increased the local sales tax rate from 2 to 3 percent except for construction contracting (that jumped to 4 percent) and "retail sales of food" that stayed at 2 percent. The 50 percent jump to 3 percent was supposed to cover the R/M contract. Instead the extra 1 percent will cover less than 70 percent of the cost for the year ended June 30, 2011. The highest local sales tax rate (10.3 percent) in Maricopa County is helping to drive merchants and potential customers out of town and has contributed to a very high commercial vacancy rate in the town center.
From 2009 to 2010 the town’s general revenue from taxes and investment earnings dropped 14 percent but the largest component of town expenses, “general government”, jumped more than 26 percent to over $1.9 million! In the year just ended “general government” merely returned to just under the 2009 amount as the town’s financial condition couldn’t be hidden any longer. In 2010 the “streets” expense category fell over 13 percent and was less than 30 percent of “general government” as needed street improvements continue to be deferred!
The above data clearly show the town’s finances are being managed in a grossly reckless and incompetent manner. I urge residents to demand that the new town council begin serious reform.
Jim Peirce | Carefree
Back
Atheists Drop Federal Suit Against Ministers
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A group of atheists and anti-religionists agreed today to voluntarily dismiss a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of centuries-old tax exemptions for parsonages and other ministerial housing.
The voluntary dismissal was filed today with the U.S. District Court in Sacramento. The plaintiffs, led by the Freedom From Religion Foundation and represented by atheist Michael Newdow, had not alleged that they had ever asked federal and state tax officials for the same treatment prior to filing suit and claiming favoritism toward religion.
Pacific Justice Institute represented a Sacramento pastor, on behalf of thousands of clergy throughout California, who would have been directly affected by a ruling in favor of the FFRF. The District Court initially denied PJI's request to intervene in the case, holding that the IRS and Franchise Tax Board would adequately represent ministers' interests. However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal reversed that decision last month, and PJI had been preparing to enter the case and present a staunch defense of the pastors.
PJI Chief Counsel Kevin Snider, who successfully argued PJI's motion to intervene in the case at the Ninth Circuit, stated, "We are pleased that this case has been dismissed, but we have no illusions that the FFRF and its allies will abandon their attacks on the clergy. We will remain vigilant to protect the outstanding men and women who serve our faith communities, and we are prepared to counter any future court challenges of this nature."
Pacific Justice Institute is a non-profit 501(c)(3) legal defense organization specializing in the defense of religious freedom, parental rights, and other civil liberties. Pacific Justice Institute works diligently, without charge, to provide their clients with all the legal support they need.
Pacific Justice Institute's strategy is to coordinate and oversee large numbers of concurrent court actions through a network of over 1,000 affiliate attorneys nationwide. And, according to former US Attorney General Edwin Meese, "The Institute fills a critical need for those whose civil liberties are threatened." "Through our dedicated attorneys and supporters, we defend the rights of countless individuals, families and churches ... without charge."
Back
Ja Rule Goes to Prison; Bloomberg Remains At Large
Going through another day blissfully ignorant of pop culture, I was confronted with a question about Ja Rule going to prison. Stumped, but with piqued interest, I looked it up.
Ja Rule is a rapper, as in musician. His real name is Jeffrey Atkins. Maybe he didn’t want to be confused with the country music star with a similar last name.
So, what heinous crime landed Mr. Rule is prison?
In 2007, Rule was pulled over in his Maybach sports car after a concert at Manhattan’s Beacon Theatre. Police found a loaded .40 caliber handgun in the back seat, which turned out not to be registered in accordance with New York state law.
He was not using the gun in the commission of a crime, mind you – the gun was the crime. And in Michael Bloomberg country, there is no greater offense.
For his part, Rule took full responsibility and accepted a deal for a two year prison term as opposed to going to trial and facing a three-and-a-half year mandatory minimum sentence. “Laws are laws,” he said on Good Day New York, a morning TV show. “There’s nothing I could really do but own up to the situation.”
Now, I don’t know Ja Rule and I’m not in any position to pass judgment. But one thing I do know is that Mr. Rule has never tried to take away any of my constitutionally protected individual liberties.
The same cannot be said of New York City’s lunatic mayor. It was Mike Bloomberg, after all, who lobbied the state legislature to pass the law making it a Class 3 felony (the same as robbery or burglary) to carry a loaded, unregistered handgun in the Empire State.
Bloomberg’s favorite cause, in fact, is taking away gun rights from law-abiding Americans. He calls the group he founded “Mayors Against Illegal Guns,” but the name is a sham. Presumably, no mayor is for “illegal” anything. He should, to borrow a phrase from Ja Rule, “own up” and not use such a misleading name. “Mayors Against All Guns” would be more accurate.
Bloomberg’s group opposes concealed carry laws and the ability of private citizens to buy or sell their own personal firearms without government interference. It is pushing a bill to prohibit people on the government’s “terror watch list” from possessing firearms, without the protections of due process of law, and it would reinstate the Clinton gun ban.
In short, Bloomberg’s mayors haven’t come across an anti-gun bill they wouldn’t support.
But laws against carrying firearms for self-defense must be looked at hard in the light of the recent Heller and McDonald Supreme Court decisions reaffirming that the Second Amendment protects an individual right. New York’s anti-self defense laws, in particular, create their own category of victimless crimes, treat gun owners like criminals and make streets and neighborhoods fertile ground for violent thugs.
Ja Rule will now sit in prison for the next 18 months or so. Maybe some people don’t mind seeing a tattooed rapper go to prison. But the same thing could happen to a nurse working the midnight shift at an inner city hospital who carries a gun because she doesn’t want to be raped or carjacked, or to someone who carries a firearm for protection when driving deserted roads upstate.
Here’s an idea. If they’re so intent on disarming the population, how about we send politicians like Bloomberg to prison the next time a person is unable to defend himself or herself because they were disarmed by anti-gun laws?
John Velleco | Director of Federal Affairs for Gun Owners of America
Back
I’m not buying it!
Dear America,
I'm not buying the "bull", coming out of Washington DC, the "alphabet" news medias, or the "so called" experts, anymore!
Voter fraud is rampant here in AZ and I suspect it follows suit in every other state as well. Those in high places claim the system has problems. The real problem is the loose screws running the system.
I'm no computer genius. In fact I'm fairly dangerous around computers, when it comes to fixing the system, but I use a program that allows me to correct mistakes and catch double entries in real time, as they are entered. FileMakerPro will alert me when ever I enter a "duplicate" in any field of information I choose. This keeps me from duplicating entries by, name, phone number, address, and could easily be applied to a SS number. This type of system is needed by our government, both local and national. Why don't they have it?
Because it would work, that's why! As Neville Cramer, a retired INS Special Agent has said many times. Our government likes to have programs that sound good, but fail to deliver! This allows them to continue spending money to fix the problem. I'm tired of paying for other people's stupidity and greed! I want a system in place that will at least alert anyone inputting information, that there is a duplicate or previous entry that must be investigated and reviewed before the new entry becomes final. That alone would put a damper on voter fraud, E-Verify mistakes, driver's license fraud, and a host of ID theft cases.
Am I missing something here? Are those multi million dollar computers, our government uses, faulty? Did I get a better program, FileMakerPro for far less?
It's time to demand that we get what we pay for with our tax dollars! What we have been getting is the "royal reaming"! Remember, when you hear the words, "It's a complicated matter", come out of the mouth of a politician or bureaucrat, hold onto your wallet, because it's gonna cost you! That to me is the first red flag. It's not complicated to me!
I can't spend more than I make without facing a bankruptcy, down the road! Neither can our government! Tell the career politicians, their time is about up if they can't do the people's business without driving us to the brink of disaster! Don't raise the debt ceiling! Cut the entitlements to "Illegal" aliens, stop wasting money on propping up third world countries, stop being stupid and wasteful!
Conservatives know, that it works at home with the family, and God help us, it should be that way with our elected officials.
Buffalo Rick Galeener | Rep. PC Dist. 11
Back
Misleading
Some scientists agree that inaccurate information repeated often enough will convince you it is true. They also agree some of the information given about global warming is misleading.
I believe a good example of this repeated inaccurate information is “global warming is caused by man-made carbon dioxide.” This repeated statement ignores any facts that disprove it, even from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In 2004, the EPA’s report stated “methane gas is 20 times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.” The EPA’s breakdown of kilotons of methane emissions in the U.S. for 2004 is as follows: urban landfills 6709, natural gas systems 5658, animal flatulence 5363, coal mining 2682, animal manure management 1875, urban wastewater treatment 1758, petroleum systems 1222, and all others 1245.
Why are these statistics ignored? If this was true in 2004, it is just as true today. I believe taxing urban landfills, natural gas systems and animal flatulence etc. doesn’t raise enough taxes to satisfy politicians. Politicians know if they can convince you that you are causing global warming, you will agree to be taxed for it.
Some scientists also agree God created a perfect world for man to live on. Can’t they also trust God to sustain His own sovereign creation? God created the salty ocean water for a purpose: to cleanse the polluted river water entering into it. God also created changing weather for the purpose of providing rain and sunshine on the earth to provide food to sustain man. God also created changing climate for a purpose, and man should not be interfering in God’s sovereign and perfect creation. All things were created by God. (Rev. 4:11)
James Roehrborn | Alexandria, Minnesota
Back
