By Linda Bentley | january 20, 2016

MCRC resolved to endorse anyone but McCain

Dr. Kelli Ward, the former Arizona State Senator who is challenging McCain in the primary, received a standing ovation

PHOENIX – During Saturday’s statutory meeting, elected precinct committeemen of the Maricopa County Republican Committee, representing over 710,000 registered Republican voters in Arizona, passed a resolution by a vote of 921 to 582 to support anyone but Sen. John McCain in the upcoming primary election.

The resolution will also be submitted to the Arizona GOP for a vote at their upcoming Jan. 23 meeting.

The resolution, titled “AZGOP State Committeemen Endorse Anyone BUT Senator John McCain,” and is worded as follows:

“We state committeemen of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) fully support our Party platform and the candidates in the general elections that support that platform. However, in the primary elections we are free to endorse and support the Republican candidates of our choice. Since the AZGOP members overwhelmingly censured Senator McCain in January 2014, we had hoped he would have returned to our Party’s values. He has not. So with conviction we rise and declare:

“WHEREAS, Senator McCain is a self proclaimed “Republican”, but is actually a RINO, that was censured by the Arizona Republican State Committeemen on January 25, 2014; and
“voted for DHS funding that included money for Obama’s illegal amnesty for illegal aliens; and
“campaigned on securing the border but co-sponsored legislation giving ‘pathway to citizenship’ to millions of illegal aliens; and

“actively worked to purge the party of grassroots conservatives using out-of-state funding via the Arizona Grassroots Action PAC; and

“voted to kill an amendment requiring certification that Iran has not directly supported or carried out an act of terrorism against the United States before sanctions can be lifted; and
“demeaned Republicans who stand for the Constitution, calling them ‘crazies’ and ‘wacko birds;’ and

“voted to support funding for the Iran Nuclear Deal, Obamacare, Executive Amnesty and Planned Parenthood’s selling of body parts.

“BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that the AZGOP state committeemen endorse anyone BUT Senator McCain in Arizona’s 2016 Republican primary election for the U.S. Senate.”

Last year McCain was booed by a majority of MCRC precinct committeemen who also turned their back on him, symbolic of what he has done to his constituents.

It was their hope McCain, who will turn 80 this year, would decide to finally step down and not to run for reelection.

However, that is not the case.

Dr. Kelli Ward, the former Arizona State Senator who is challenging McCain in the primary, received a standing ovation during Saturday’s meeting.

MCRC also voted in a slate of anti-establishment members at large: Linda Brickman, Wes Harris, Tom Morrisey and Mark Spencer with an endorsement from Sheriff Joe Arpaio, along with establishment candidate John Ashley, all of whom were sworn in by Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell.

Chairman Tyler Bowyer was retained as MCRC chairman by a vote of 1037-636, while First Vice Chair Jeni White and Second Vice Chair Aaron Borders were both ousted by votes of 1083-692 and 1070-640, respectively.

Bowyer stated, “The ‘Anyone But McCain’ sentiment expressed by the grassroots Republicans perfectly mirrors the dissatisfaction of the millions of everyday Arizonans who are tired of an out-of-control federal government. From the commentary of many activists, Senator McCain’s recent vote to increase the national debt to more than $20 trillion, while fully funding Planned Parenthood was a clear message that he is more inclined to choose President Obama and Harry Reid over the will of the Arizona voters in order to retain his D.C. establishment power.”

All resolutions presented on the ballot passed, including a resolution to strengthen the Republican Party, calling the Party “merely a mechanism to enable likeminded individuals to work together in advancing common goals,” in the direction as determined by its members and recorded in the Republican Party Platform.

MCRC also resolved to fully repeal Obamacare, which it says has already proven we cannot keep either our doctors or insurance plans if we like them, costs will not be decreased as promised, it will be a massive tax increase on America’s middle class as well as on the poor, and has already become a drag on our economy depressing job creation and stagnating wage growth.

It points out Republicans have several alternative plans that return control of healthcare decisions to patients and their chosen doctors, along with several options that both increase competition and decrease regulation among providers and insurers to force costs down.
MCRC also passed a resolution to repeal medicinal use of marijuana, previously adopted in November 2010 as Prop. 203.

The resolution claims there has been lax oversight, weak medical rationale for prescriptions being written and widespread marijuana use for purposes other than those anticipated following the passage of Prop. 203.

Another resolution, authored by Tristan Manos, addressed the “Rightful (original natural law) understanding of the meaning of U.S. Constitution Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5 ‘natural born Citizen.”

It states the U.S. Declaration of Independence was strongly guided by “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God.”

Further, it notes our Founding Fathers/Framers of the Constitution were strongly guided by Emerich Vattel’s “Law of Nations” (1758, Book 1, Chapter 19, Section 212): “natural-born citizens are those born in the country of parents who are citizens” and states, “meaning person born in the U.S. to two U.S.-Citizen parents.”

It goes on to state it was the first Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay who recommended the natural born citizen clause directly to President and Commander-In-Chief George Washington as a “strong check to admission of foreigners into administration of our national government,” and which ultimately passed unanimously at the Constitutional Convention.

MCRC also passed a Human Life Amendment, explaining the Republican Party came into existence to enfranchise a sector of humanity - people of African descent - legally deprived of equal protection under the law.

The resolution cites the Supreme Court, through cases Roe vs. Wade and Doe vs. Bolton, “conditionally deprived preborn humans of equal protection under the law, that condition being that the personhood of the preborn not being recognized.”

The resolution seeks to mandate “equal protection for preborn humanity and establish a consistent definition of humanness.”

Russell Pearce authored a resolution supporting Sheriff Joe Arpaio, declaring the Party’s support and thanks to Arpaio for keeping his oath of office and enforcing our laws, despite attacks by liberal courts and the open borders crowd, noting the sheriff is the last line of defense to preserving the constitutional laws of the land.

The resolution also condemned the “unconstitutional actions” of U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow and the Obama administration’s non enforcement policy.

Pearce also authored several other resolutions seeking to: prohibit participation in federal violations of the Second Amendment; defund Planned Parenthood, nullify Obama’s non-enforcement/backdoor amnesty policies by demanding worksite enforcement to protect American jobs, end the reign of activist judges and judicial corruption, and one in support of Kim Davis’ First Amendment rights relating to the free exercise of religion.

Michael Loverine authored a resolution opposing the legalization of marijuana, stating teen use of marijuana has been on the rise in Arizona since 2007 and has been found to be harmful to the adolescent brain.

It states, “[T]eens who smoke marijuana can see an eight point drop in IQ putting a person of average intelligence into the lowest third of the IQ range,” and “can lead to poorer academic performance,” while claiming “[T]eens who use marijuana heavily are more likely to develop mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.”

According to the 2012 Arizona Youth Survey, “2012 was the first time in Arizona’s history that past 30-day use of marijuana by teens surpassed their use of cigarettes” and “is one of only two substances whose use is on the rise among Arizona teens.”

It also notes legalization of marijuana, which is the second leading substance for which people seek drug treatment and increased emergency room visits, would lead to increased marijuana consumption, can negatively affect workplace safety and productivity, and lead to higher health and safety costs.

Joel Alcott of the Tenth Amendment Center authored a resolution in support of protecting Arizona’s state rights, resolving to have the Arizona State Legislature and governor pass and sign into law legislation that protects U.S. citizens from warrantless spying by federal and state agencies, asserting county sheriffs having constitutional jurisdiction over federal agencies, pro-property rights laws to protect Arizona citizens from unconstitutional federal land acquisitions, pro-Second Amendment laws, anti-Affordable Care Act laws, and any legislation specifically protecting due process and the Bill of Rights.