SEPTEMBER 1, 2010
Primary election results • Kiwanis property purchase
The primaries carried the good, the bad and the ugly.
Under the bad and the ugly John McCain, Nancy Barto and Heather Carter won the day.
Unfortunately this is what happens when the voting public stays home.
McCain’s use of $25 million to denigrate J.D. Hayworth was enough to gag you but it won votes for the amnesty proponent, the Democrat in Republican clothes. Either the tea party attendees were disjointed or there weren’t enough voters to turn the tide. I hope my projection of his support of amnesty and bipartisan support of Obama socialistic programs doesn’t happen but McCain is not a man to be trusted. If you bought his lies about conservative principles I have a bridge and Florida underwater property to sell you. I can’t bring myself to vote for him in November, but will have an alternative, even if it is merely a protest vote.
Infamous Nancy Barto raised over $70,000, but Ray Barnes, with only a minimum budget. got within 3,012 votes of her. Had Bob Green and Brad Bush dropped out, Barnes would likely have beat Barto by over 1,000 votes and the public would have had a decent, honest, conservative and experienced representative.
Sonoran News still has an option since she will be running against both Democrat and Libertarian candidates and we will see who we will endorse. It won’t be Barto, who proved herself to be dishonest, a sellout to the health industry, the unions, educational lobby and lobbyists in general.
Then there is Heather Carter, the darling of the Arizona Educational Association (AEA), the school union. You can thank AEA for the blanketing the entire area with her signs. And you can thank Carter for adding a piece to her signs that she got the support of police and fire fighters. Hardly specific, but unions for sure. So lets call her UNIONMAMA and fellow legislators will have no doubt where she stands.
Also in LD 7 David Smith got the most votes and he deserved them. He had been manhandled by Clean Elections and it cost him his house seat so it is great to have his strong conservative presence in the house again. UNIONMAMA called him and sought a back scratching arrangement and Smith was quick to tell her they didn’t suck through the same straw.
The race for Shadegg’s seat was instructive. There were ten candidates until the end and all but three losers had way less than 10,000 votes. Ben Quayle won with over 17,000 votes while Steve Moak had over 14,000 votes while third and fourth Jim Waring and Vernon Parker respectively had 13,000 and change each.
We endorsed Quayle and maybe there is some redemption about the shoddy way the national press treated his dad. Quayle had all the right answers to current issues. Let’s hope he can get his ideas on the Washington docket.
Also on the good side, we are blessed with Bill Montgomery beating the pants off dreary Rick Romley. Romley was doing the bidding of the County Board of supervisors who appointed him for the rest of Andy Thomas’ term after he resigned to run for attorney general. It is a delight to see the public correctly assessed Romley as a Democrat in Disguise (DID). Too bad they didn’t see McCain was also a DID but he spent $25 million and convinced the public he isn’t what he is – a Democrat.
J.D. is a smart, able and experienced legislator and I hope he soon goes back to Washington.
The Tom Horne and Andy Thomas race was sad. Thomas missed by a 854 votes. He was by far the better candidate but the Arizona Republic’s (AR) full throated attack swung enough votes to help defeat Thomas. Even Robert Robb, the so-called conservative columnist at the AR incorrectly and slavishly assaulted Thomas.
There was plenty of blood letting in that race that can only benefit Democrats. If you think Washington’s ruling Chicagoans aren’t after Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, then you are a hopeless liberal, like the new Robb.
Horne, who once asserted he was for the Dream Act, has a lot to prove to even be the shadow of Thomas.
Maybe not on our radar screen but hugely important is Senator Russell Pearce’s win. Pearce was the author of SB 1070, is a patriot and hopefully will become the Senate president next year. He wants to take away citizenship from anchor babies and I hope he is successful.
Kiwanis
In the local politics, Kiwanis has decided to try what T.C. Thorstenson failed to get in Cave Creek.
Apparently they have asked Carefree Architect Shelby Wilson to plan a Kiwanis presence at the much sought after windmill property known as Petersville, near Stagecoach Village.
Let’s hope this is the last screw-up of Kiwanis President Susan Vanik who is also on the Carefree town council as the token woman but full time GOB supporter. She will soon step down and Manny Gonzalez will become President. Some Kiwanians tell me a new day will dawn with Manny at the helm. Good luck Manny but don’t count on it. The organization’s officers and committees are stuffed with GOBs.
This letter was sent to Cave Creek:
Subject: Land Puchase by Kiwanis of Carefree Benefit Foundation
Dear Fellow Kiwanians,
A contract has been signed to purchase 3 parcels of land totaling 2.8 acres on Cave Creek Road between Scopa Trail and Galloway Wash contingent upon the Town of Cave Creek changing the zoning from residential to commercial.
Sterling Johnson negotiated a $4 per square foot price in a market that is bringing nearly $10 per square foot. The board of directors had authorized up to $500K for this purchase. The agreed upon purchase price is $487K
Our own member Shelby Wilson will be going through the zoning change and general plan amendment with the Town of Cave Creek’s Planning and Zoning Commission. Thank you Shelby.
Frequent updates will be made to all as we go through this process.
Yours in Kiwanis Service,
Susan Vanik
Perhaps neither Thorstenson nor Vanik understand an upzoning in Cave Creek has a few tricky features. First there must be a general plan amendment, which requires four council votes to proceed to a zoning change. The zoning change requires six of seven votes by council if there is a opposition in the immediate area. And there will be.
Maybe needy Kiwanis members can live in the residence which is on the property the (far sighted?) Kiwanians have contracted to purchase.
