Former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate and millionaire businessman Buz Mills is taking on a new challenge.
He’s focusing his fundraising efforts on helping two Arizona sheriffs defend themselves against lawsuits challenging Arizona’s controversial immigration law.
Mills is chairing the Border Sheriffs, a new non-profit organization set up to raise private funds to cover the legal fees of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever and Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, two of the state’s 15 county sheriffs named in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil-rights groups.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio also is named as a defendant in a separate lawsuit filed by the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, but he is not part of the Border Sheriffs group. None of the other four Senate Bill 1070 lawsuits name any sheriffs as defendants.
Mills said the goal of the Border Sheriffs is not to defend SB 1070, which he supports as a tool for law enforcement, but to help the sheriffs on the front lines. Cochise County shares about 80 miles of border with Mexico, and Pinal County is a major corridor of travel for illegal immigrants and drug smugglers.
“Helping them raise funds lets them focus on their main job: protecting Arizonans against this international violence,” Mills said.
Hundreds of thousands rally in Washington.
Radio and television personality Glenn Beck today hosted hundreds of thousands of rallying citizens from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. In what was an amazingly apolitical rally, Beck and his fellow speakers focused on three themes: faith, hope, and charity.
The event, billed by its organizers “Restoring Honor,” harkened back to revered American leaders, from the Founding Fathers to Martin Luther King Jr., and religious figures, particularly Moses, whom he continuously referred to as “the man with the stick and burning bush.”
Offering a grim picture of where the country is today, while refraining from critiquing specific politicians or even particular policies, Beck hit a hopeful pitch, urging his minions to be more like the great Americans and religious figures he praised.
“Do we no longer believe in the individual, and the power of one individual?” Beck demanded. “No!” the crowd adamantly answered. “One man can change the world….That individual is you!”
“Pick up your stick and stand!” Beck commanded the crowd, suggesting that what can save America is a Moses-like figure, committed to God and caring for all who follow his lead.
Beck’s religious undertone was the current that carried the whole show.
The first decision likely to spring to mind when thinking of Arizona and the U.S. Supreme Court is the 1966 landmark Miranda v. Arizona. While that case probably won’t be surpassed in terms of impact any time soon, the Grand Canyon state is the source of three major high court cases this term that are capturing national attention.
The three cases include challenges to Arizona’s immigration requirements for employers, a state school choice program and the state’s clean elections law. Also looming on the horizon is the Obama administration’s challenge to the state’s controversial law that gives police broad powers to stop those they suspect are in the country illegally.
So what the heck is going on in Arizona? “Arizona is indeed trying to fill the Supreme Court’s docket,” chuckled Clint Bolick, director of the Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation at the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix. The institute is a self-described independent government watchdog committed to expanding free enterprise and liberty.
Bolick is co-counsel with the center’s Nick Dranias on the election petition — McComish v. Bennett. A companion case, Arizona Freedom PAC v. Bennett, is being handled by the public interest law firm that Bolick co-founded in 1991 — the Institute for Justice in Arlington, Va.
“I think there are two explanations, and one is dominant,” Bolick suggested for the influx of Arizona cases. “Arizona is taking the concept of states being the laboratories of democracy very seriously on multiple fronts.
“We have a legislature that is risk-taking and innovative. For conservatives in particular, the realm of the possible is greater in Arizona today than any other place.” And, he added, when the Obama Administration is taking legal positions counter to conservative-libertarian beliefs, someone has to step forward to articulate those beliefs. “I think we’re doing that in all sorts of ways.”
Read the rest.
Primary Endorsements for Arizona Republican Candidates AND Maricopa County Republican Candidates
THE FOLLOWING PACHYDERM COALITION ENDORSEMENT LIST IS NOT COMPLETE AND CANDIDATE ENDORSEMENT INTERVIEWS ARE STILL ONGOING. WE WILL CONTINUE TO UPGRADE THE LIST AS NEW ENDORSEMENTS ARE MADE.
REPUBLICAN STATE AND LOCAL CANDIDATES THAT ARE RUNNING IN AN UNOPPOSED PRIMARY RACE ARE NOT LISTED ON THIS ENDORSEMENT PAGE. WE WILL PUBLISH OUR FULL ENDORSEMENT LIST OF CANDIDATE ENDORSEMENTS AFTER THE PRIMARY ELECTION .
BY LAW, THE PACHYDERM COALITION ONLY ENDORSES STATE RACES AND CANNOT NOT ENDORSE ANY FEDERAL RACE.
| State Races: | |||
| Governor | |||
| Andrew Thomas | State Attorney General | ||
| Thayer Verschoor | State Treasurer | ||
| State Superintendent of Schools |
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| Brenda Burns |
Corporation Commission | ||
| Gary Pierce | Corporation Commission | ||
Primary Endorsements for Arizona Republican Candidates AND Maricopa County Republican Candidates
FEDERAL:
U.S. Senate:
J.D. Hayworth – Endorsed. He is not perfect but he is noticeably more conservative than McCain.
John McCain – NO. He has been in Washington 28 years. Do we need to say more.
Jim Deakin – We have nothing against Jim, we are just going with Hayworth proven conservative record.
CD 1:
Rusty Bowers – Endorsed. A solid conservative record and strong character. A great fit with such a rural district.
CD 2:
Trent Franks – Endorsed+. Explanation not needed.
Primary Endorsements for Arizona Republican Candidates AND Maricopa County Republican Candidates
Many of you have asked me who I support and have endorsed for the upcoming republican Primaries.
Further below is a list of candidates and incumbents that I support and ask you to support also. However, before I share those with you I want you to know that there are several Republican incumbents who worked against the passage of SB1070. If you go to www.azleg.gov and watch the archived video and listen to the vote in both the House and Senate you will hear some very telling things about certain Republicans who did not support the passage of SB1070 but voted for it only because they knew if they didn’t you would have voted them out of office. Now those same members are campaigning saying that they were a sponsor of the bill and they were a supporter of SB1070 all through the bill’s legislative process. So with that said, if you don’t see a Republican incumbent’s name on this list then you may want to do a little research of your own.
A conservative group with a distinctly pro-American agenda will be signing up thousands of new members, it claims, after President Obama suggested the group was doing the political bidding of foreign corporations.
Leaders of Americans for Prosperity, a national conservative organization that promotes economic opportunity and expressly promotes educating “citizens” about public policy and constitutional limits, say they are flattered the president called out the group by name during a speech to the Democratic National Committee. But, they add, he need not worry about international influence of its 1.2 million members.
“The suggestion that we’re anything other than what we claim to be is ridiculous. The substance of the accusation makes no sense,” said Phil Kerpen, the group’s vice president for policy.
The president singled out the heavyweight organization during a DNC fundraiser in Austin on Monday.
Statement from Americans for Prosperity.
Black conservatives answering press questions regarding “racist” signs and the racist “elements” the left and the media insist are embedded within the Tea Party — National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on 8/4/10.
Part 1:
Part 2:
More from the National Black Conservative press conference in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 4:
