Democrat Attorney General candidate Felecia Rotellini has said she was unaware that one of her major campaign contributors is actively working to harm Arizona’s economy by calling for a boycott of the state.

Rotellini has accepted $4,176 from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), which supports a boycott due to their opposition of SB 1070 Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration law.

Republican Attorney General nominee Tom Horne said, “Now that she knows, she should return the money. We’ve seen the effects of these boycotts: business travel has slackened, conventions have been canceled, various groups have refused to come to Arizona, and many Arizona jobs have been lost. My opponent opposed SB 1070. That cannot be changed. But, the least she can do is return the money contributed by a group pushing to boycott Arizona.”

The question Rotellini should be asked is why she is in concert with out-of-state unions that are committed to influencing Arizona’s laws through economic coercion?

Hat tip: Seeing Red AZ

A m e r i c a n P o s t – G a z e t t e

Distributed by C O M M O N S E N S E , in Arizona

Mitchell campaign in meltdown; moves signs — drawing more attention to his record

We had to chuckle when we got an email from the David Schweikert for Congress campaign about campaign signs. The Schweikert campaign put up signs next to Mitchell’s campaign signs saying things like “Union Owned,” “Hides from Voters,” and “Supports Obamacare.” Mitchell reacted by complaining to the media and taking his signs down and putting them up elsewhere. This is the sign of campaign in disarray. The last thing in the world Mitchell wants is more attention drawn to his voting record, which includes voting for Obamacare and union-backed card check. Mitchell is running from his record but moving his signs and complaining to the media makes his record even more obvious!

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.

Read the rest.

If any theme emerged from the Aug. 24 primary, it’s that there wasn’t a single overarching theme.

Instead, there was a little bit of everything.

Some tea party candidates and “outsiders” won, which confirms that the anti-establishment sentiment directed at Washington, D.C. extends to Arizona.

But the sentiment’s reach wasn’t very deep – or it didn’t go deep enough.

Indeed, big names and well-oiled political machineries delivered in several races.

John McCain, the clear establishment candidate, trounced J.D. Hayworth in the Republican primary for the US Senate.

But it was also one of the most expensive U.S. Senate races in the country; McCain spent almost $25 million, according to OpenSecrets.org, which tracks campaign spending.

Read the rest.

How big a deal will this be in the Nevada Senate race?

The U.S. Senate recently considered a number of issues important to NRA members, including the confirmation of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Out of respect for the confirmation process, the NRA did not announce its position on Ms. Kagan’s confirmation until the conclusion of her testimony before the Senate Judiciary committee. Her evasive testimony exacerbated grave concerns we had about her long-standing hostility towards the Second Amendment. As a result, the NRA strongly opposed her confirmation and made it clear at the time that we would be scoring this important vote.

The vote on Elena Kagan’s confirmation to the Court, along with the previous year’s confirmation vote on Sonia Sotomayor, are critical for the future of the Second Amendment. After careful consideration, the NRA-PVF announced today that it will not be endorsing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for re-election in the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Nevada.

Read the rest.

Sen. John McCain fended off Republican challenger J.D. Hayworth in the Arizona Senate primary Tuesday, virtually assuring he’ll keep his seat in November despite signs earlier in the year that an anti-Washington wave could wipe out one of Capitol Hill’s most influential leaders.

Hayworth at one point in the campaign seemed poised to leverage Tea Party support and give McCain a run for his political life. Outsider challenges had already led to the primary defeats for Republican Utah Sen. Bob Bennett and Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, and McCain was potentially vulnerable nearly two years after losing the 2008 presidential election to Barack Obama.

But Hayworth struggled to build his anti-establishment credentials and seriously erode McCain’s popularity in the polls. Though Hayworth slammed McCain for voting for the Wall Street bailout and allegedly being soft on illegal immigration, McCain worked hard to show he was tough on border security.

It didn’t hurt that McCain reportedly spent about $20 million in advertising, far outpacing his competitor, and an embarrassing infomercial surfaced showing Hayworth pitching seminars on how to win free federal money.

Read the rest.

It happens every cycle, some union tries to influence an election with the most unimaginative signs possible. The signs are generic by nature so they can just plop different names into the mix. Here are two signs from East Tucson; they don’t even bother with house or senate, just legislature.

The interesting part is one has a primary and the other does not. Also, one is a Republican and the other a Democrat, wonder what they have in common that a union would like them both?

Hat tip: Arizona’s own Gila Courier

Voting Notice

From the

Maricopa County Republican Committee

MESSAGE FROM MCRC CHAIRMAN ROB HANEY: If you have not mailed in your Early Ballot, take it to the polling place Tuesday, Aug. 24. DON’T MAIL IT NOW. If you cannot personally take it to the poll, give it to a friend. DO NOT give it to a poll worker. Put it in the Early Ballot Box yourself. You do not have to wait on line, go right in to the Poll.

If you have not mailed in your Early Ballot, take it to the polling place Tuesday, Aug. 24.

•  Polls open at 6 a.m. Tuesday and close at 7 p.m.

• To find your polling place, go to azsos.gov.

• In Maricopa County, visit recorder.maricopa.gov or call 602-506-1511.

•  Early ballot holders must walk it in to a polling place, or drop it off at their local county recorder’s office. It is too late to mail in a ballot.

RepComm@cox.net

www.maricopagop.org

During the last sixteen years, the leaders of majority parties in the houses of Congress have been defeated twice: Speaker Foley in Washington in the 1994 election and Senate Majority Leader Daschle in the 2002 election. Senator Reid from Nevada may be the next member of Congress to discover that clout in Washington does not reflexively translate into electoral victory back home.  “Bringing home the bacon,” the ability of senior members of Congress to raid the public fisc for dubious projects back home, has long been considered a key advantage of incumbency (regardless of whether the member of Congress is a Democrat or a Republican.)

Incumbency has long been considered a priceless advantage in seeking re-election. Pork project and projection for interests in the federal legislator’s home state or district rank high on the list of incumbent advantages. Name recognition from an endless series of flattering photo-opportunities in one’s home constituency, which is worth countless millions of free publicity, is another advantage of incumbency. Each member of Congress also possesses a veritable army of aides who do “constituent service,” usually meaning advocating a constituent’s interests against an officious and indifferent federal bureaucracy.

Read the rest.