Specifically, Stevens wants to alter Prop. 105, the 1998 ballot measure that strictly limits the Legislature’s ability to tamper with voter-approved measures. Translation: he wants to take power away from Arizona voters.

As voters, we approved things like First Things First and Growing Smarter, early childhood education initiatives that would help kids get a jump start on their future so they can compete in a global economy. We approved these initiatives so that our money would be protected from legislative power grabs.

Unfortunately, those power grabs have already happened.  Republicans promised that receipts from last year’s sales tax increase by way of Prop. 100 would be used to protect education. But Gov. Jan Brewer and Republicans massively cut education again this year by hundreds of millions of dollars. Meanwhile, they gave away tax breaks to big corporations and the rich instead of making them pay their fair share. And, remember, two years ago they eliminated all-day Kindergarten.

Yet again, here is another attack on early childhood education. Stevens wants to make another hit on our kids’ schools. That’s especially devastating to Southern Arizona where rural school districts suffer from cuts the most.

It’s also just an outright insult to voters. There’s a reason Prop. 105 exists – voters have a hard time trusting politicians at the capitol, and why shouldn’t they, when theses legislators are slashing funding for our kids schools and pushing Arizona down the wrong track, again?

Prop. 105 holds government accountable, but Stevens and Republicans don’t want that, and after their actions this session, it’s easy to see why.

Can times in southern Arizona even get any tougher?

Just ask Sen. Gail Griffin, Reps. Peggy Judd and David Stevens. These three Republican lawmakers from District 25, and their special-interest friends in the legislature, want to reintroduce next year a “flat tax,” which would increase our taxes.

That means 88 percent of us would pay higher taxes while 12 percent (the rich) would pay less. 

In their flat tax, Arizona families who make less than $100,000 would have a tax increase of at least 10 percent. Impoverished families who make under $10,000 would have a tax increase of a whopping 20,000 percent. In other words, those who make the least get hit with the biggest tax increase.

But it gets even worse. Griffin, Judd and Stevens want to shell out a 45 percent tax break to the richest Arizonans with incomes of more than $5 million.

For every one person paying less in taxes, eight Arizonans will be paying more. Their motives are simple: tax the middle-class and make the rich even richer.

Their flat tax scheme to make the rich even richer, makes it even harder for significant families in our communities.

For starters, there would be no exemptions for:

• The blind.
• People older than 65
• Dependents
• Veterans
• Personal exemptions (i.e. no mortgage, medical, or charitable deductions)

Their “flat tax” also would eliminate:

• Church donations
• Medical Deductions (Medical and prescription bills, Medicare premiums, dentists, hearing aids, long-term care insurance and travel to doctors for rural citizens)
• Military pay exemption
• Mortgage Interest deduction (reducing incentives for home buyers)
• The first $2500 tax deduction for pensions
• Donations to Non-Profits (Community Food Bank, working poor, blind, etc.)

This year Judd co-sponsored HB2636, “flat income tax,” and she and Stevens voted to pass this bill in the state House of Representatives. Fortunately, and surprisingly, this HB2636 was held in the Senate. But they want to try to pass the bill again next year, and if successful, they could be increasing your state income taxes.

As southern Arizonans, we understand that rural, middle-class families, and small businesses are the backbone of our state. We work the land, teach in schools and fight for our country. We are the ones who till the soil of our economy and make it rich. Without middle-class families, Arizona’s economy will continue to tank.

And in Sierra Vista and District 25, we know what that’s like: state parks and small businesses close, schools and teachers disappear and our job market gets hit the hardest.

Making us pay more in taxes via a flat tax won’t create jobs because our families will be staying at home, saving up every dime they can to care for their kids instead of taking them to a small business to buy frozen yogurt or going to Tombstone to visit a state park.

Rich CEOs will be doing the same thing – pocketing their tax break instead of creating jobs.

It’s time the rich pay their fair share, finally start creating jobs and get our economy back on track. These representatives’ flat tax will just make our struggling rural economy struggle more.

The Sierra Vista Herald provided our community a useful service in publishing “How your state senators/representatives voted” and I commend them for their efforts.  With the ending of the first regular session of the 50^th Arizona Legislature, the results are in and there certainly is plenty of material to analyze and consider. 

Southern Arizonans now know that our LD25 and LD30 legislators, who told voters in 2010 that making state government smaller was really important.  By their votes, they actually grew state government.  In this session, Reps. Gowan voted yes 88% of the time; Judd, 95%, Stevens, 88.5%; Vogt, 88.9%.  Senators Griffin voted yes 87.5% of the time while Antenori voted yes 89.1% of the time.  Antenori could have changed that ratio except that he missed 6.5% of the votes. 

Just where are these legislators’ priorities?  A recent Nogales International’s story, “State senator, representative reflect on an eventful legislative session,” sheds light on why our kids’ classrooms are overcrowded and why it’s going to get even harder to find a nearby doctor for our seniors in rural areas.

As a former state representative, it’s disappointing to see what our current southern Arizona representatives are doing to our education and health care.

Representatives Peggy Judd, David Stevens and Senator Gail Griffin boasted about a budget that cut another $200 million from K-12 education after the biggest cuts to our kids’ schools in the history of the state. Arizona is ranked last in education funding, teachers are being laid off and our classroom sizes are growing and Judd said: “We are spending more money (on public education) in Arizona than we need to.”

Don’t we want our kids to learn and grow in school, and not be lost in a crowded classroom? Funding cuts to education are cuts to our kids’ futures, while investing in good education is the key to brighter futures for our young people.  Isn’t it time we invest in Arizona’s public schools instead of bailing out Wall Street and big corporations?

Yet our state lawmakers chose to vote in favor of a corporate bailout package that gives away corporate tax breaks to giant, out-of-state retailers, which won’t create a single job, nor help our struggling small businesses here in Arizona.  A jobs bill that won’t help middle-class families in Arizona is not good for any of us.

Many Arizonans are losing their jobs, and having a harder time putting food on the table while our small businesses are closing their doors.

We in southern Arizona know how hard it is to find a doctor in our rural communities.   Yet our state lawmakers voted to cut 280,000 people off of health care, resulting in 45,000 jobs lost in the medical sector. Our emergency rooms will flood with those who don’t have access to care, while our health services facilities struggle to recruit and retain medical providers,.

Sadly, many state representatives gloat about balancing a budget without borrowing or using gimmicks, when the reality is that this health-care cut actually is a gimmick.  Representatives  assume that the courts will go along with cutting hundreds of thousands people from health care, a violation of what voters approved on the ballot, which is also violation of the state Constitution. They also voted to roll forward $332 million in debt to next year, another violation of the state Constitution.

We need to hold LD25 and LD30 legislators, Judd, Stevens, Griffin, Gowan, Vogt and Antenori, accountable for their actions and require straight answers. Griffin, who campaigned in 2010 with securing our borders as her top issue, told Nogales International that she couldn’t remember how she voted on immigration bills and even asked for a “rain check.” 

Stevens didn’t return phone calls.

So what are our state representatives doing at the capitol?

Answer: wasting taxpayer time and money, while our children and teachers are forced into even more crowded classrooms and our families and friends who were laid off are having trouble putting food on the table.

We know what true legislative representation should be.  Now it’s time for a reality check on what legislative representation truly is.

Pat Fleming is a former state representative of District 25.

Thank you for all your support.

It has been an honor to represent the people of Legislative District 25 for the past two years.

Throughout our travels across the district, Bob and I have been welcomed by fellow Arizonans in every community, from Gila Bend to Douglas to Ajo.  We are extremely grateful for the support you have shown us and the friendships we’ve made along the way.

We are grateful to our fabulous volunteers and donors who helped get our message out to voters, through countless hours of phone calls, knocks on doors, personal testimonies, and giving whatever you could to help us succeed.

I congratulate Peggy Judd and David Stevens on their victories and send my sincere best wishes to each.

I’m hopeful that they will take on the state’s serious challenges with an open mind and a sense of balance, and that they will always keep their constituents front and center in their minds and hearts, and in their decision-making.

I look forward to spending more time with my wonderful husband, our children and our grandchildren.  And I look forward to continuing to serve our community in other capacities as well.

Let’s resolve, together, to continue fighting for a stronger Arizona, through our local good works, our advocacy at the Legislature, and everything in between.

Again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!

In the Legislative District 25 race, four people are seeking two seats.

Of the four, Democrat incumbent Pat Fleming is head and shoulders above the others.

During her first term, voters around District 25 have seen Sierra Vistan Fleming involved and working for her constituents. She has traveled around her district seeking input from residents about the difficult issues facing our state.

She routinely interacts with residents and returns e-mails and calls. She has participated actively in the election forums held in the district.

Her record in the legislature has included authoring a bill to allow Arizona veterans to qualify immediately for in-state tuition to attend universities and colleges. Her thoughts on the tough economic  times are colored by her years as a budget analyst on Fort Huachuca. She wants to keep the funding of education and public safety, but also to cut wasteful spending and to examine the current tax code to end some exemptions.

Despite the wide diversity of issues represented in the district, voters do want a “representative” who listens to them and what they have to say.

Pat Fleming fills the bill.

To add your comments on the Sierra Vista Herald website, click here.

“First Things First will end and the state will fund some of the programs, subject to the availability of funds. Not too many in the immediate future though. We have more pressing needs.”

That’s what Republican Rep. John Kavanagh said in response to questions on the upcoming election and Prop 302. He expects voters  to repeal the First Things First early childhood program and send the tobacco tax revenues that support it into the state’s general fund.

First Things First was a voter mandate funded through an 80-cent tobacco tax approved in 2006.

Prop 302 was initiated by the House Appropriations Committee, chaired by Kavanagh.

Rep. Olivia Cajero Bedford, a Democrat on the committee, said, “This is a terrible ballot measure. I hope it fails. There is nothing worse than a mad mom, and I hope there are a lot of mad moms out there to defeat it.”

Bedford is a strong supporter of the early childhood development programs offered by First Things First.

“It is so wrong to attack this program for our children. It’s a merciless measure. The session was gut-wrenching. but I am proud to be a part of the fight for our kids,” she said.

She also believes there are other ways to make up the state’s $1 billion budget deficit.

Democratic Rep. Pat Fleming told the Herald/Review, “My understanding is that the majority party, which wrote the budget without any Democratic involvement and passed it without any Democratic votes, is in fact counting on the voters repealing First Things First in order to ‘balance’ the state budget. But, even if the voters did that by passing Prop 302, the budget would still be in the red by $700 million.”

Fleming is a supporter of First Things First and the early childhood development programs.

“My constituents tell me they’re voting against repealing First Things First, because they understand that it provides critical resources for newborns through age 5 across the state, particularly in rural Arizona,” she said.

Kavanagh, on the other hand, said, “There is little talk and no polling on 302. Its fate is anyone’s guess.”

However, Fleming said, “Cheating needy children of these resources only leads to greater societal costs in the end.”

Where will the cuts be if the proposition doesn’t pass? Kavanagh says, “Reductions will occur almost everywhere that we can legally reduce but at different levels. It will be a difficult and painful process. We desperately need to shift the monies that First Things First is using for ‘nice to have’ projects to many ‘need to have projects.’ ”

Kavanagh said that money from the tobacco tax “must be used for similar child welfare purposes” but also said “not right now.” He indicated the plan was to “fund vital programs, such as children’s vaccinations, children’s rehabilitative services and Child Protective Services investigators to investigate abuse.” The Department of Health Services and Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System also would receive funding.

As Fleming understands it, only 11 percent of the $60 million annual tobacco tax revenue would be dedicated to the Department of Economic Security for child-care services. “The rest of it would go toward whatever the Phoenix politicians who run the Legislature decide they want it to go toward, regardless of the voters’ will.”

Attempts to speak with lawmakers other than Kavanagh who initiated Prop 302 were unsuccessful.

To add your comments on the Sierra Vista Herald’s website, click here.

That’s how much time remains in this election, and our polling tells us we’re in a dead heat.

It will all come down to which candidate can get her message to the voters. And that’s where I need you.

Many of you have given already and I truly appreciate it.

But with less than three weeks left and the corporate interests beginning to pour their unlimited money into taking this seat, I need your help again, and I need it urgently.

Please donate today, to help me win this race and keep fighting for YOU up in Phoenix.

Our polling shows that if the election were held tomorrow, all four candidates would have 20% of the vote, with about 20% still undecided.

Any notions you may have had about this being a “safe” seat, throw them out the window.

And let me remind you how high the stakes are.

David Stevens and his Phoenix bosses (Speaker Adams, Andy Tobin, Russell Pearce…) approved drastic cuts to education that have placed us dead last in the nation in school funding. We’ve lost over 220,000 jobs and now rank 2nd in poverty, behind only Mississippi.

Meanwhile, corporate special interests run the show in Phoenix, getting away with millions in disgraceful tax loopholes, paid for by you and me.

This is outrageous! And it’s got to stop!

David Stevens and the Republican leaders in the Legislature are taking our state completely in the wrong direction, and Peggy Judd would just be more of the same.

That’s why we must win this election. And why I need your help.

Please donate whatever you can, today.

Thank you,

Volunteering: The “Virtual” Phone Bank!

With a district as broad and immense as ours, the #1 way we can reach the voters is on the telephone.

One-on-one conversations with voters are absolutely essential. They cut through the clutter and enable us to convey to each and every voter just what’s at stake.

And we have tools that allow you to make these calls from home, to persuadable voters WITH BALLOTS IN HAND in your own city or county!

If you’d like to help make some calls from home, please call Courtney Frogge in Cochise at (520) 240-7522 or David Higuera in Pima at (520) 907-2080.

Endorsements

I’m pleased to have received the endorsement of AZCOPS today!

To view the broad range of groups that have endorsed my candidacy, click here.

Please watch and forward this link to everyone you know in the district.

The stakes in this election are incredibly high.  Because of the failed leadership of the Phoenix Republican Majority and Rep. David Stevens, who votes with them nearly 100%  of the time, we have poorly funded schools from which too many children are dropping out, one of the worst unemployment rates in the country, median incomes well below average across the state, and a deteriorating economy that now leaves 21% of all Arizonans, and 31% of children in our state, in poverty.

Enough is enough.

We need to send more Democrats to the Legislature to stand up against the failed agenda of the Phoenix political bosses and their special interest friends.

In an election with stakes this high, YOU must vote. And further, you must make sure everyone you know is voting, too.

The Citizens’ Clean Elections debate can be viewed here:

http://www.azcleanelections.gov/home/video/generaldebatevids2010/LD25.aspx

Thank you for fulfilling your civic duty to vote.  For information on how to receive your early ballot, click here.

My best,

Pat

STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX – A group of Democratic lawmakers is denouncing the efforts by other countries to weigh in on the constitutionality of SB 1070 and is asking Republican colleagues to join them.

“We agree that the effort by other countries to meddle in the United States’ and Arizona’s immigration policies is absolutely wrong,” said Assistant House Democratic Leader Kyrsten Sinema. “This is a U.S. and Arizona problem and we will work toward our own solution.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9^th Circuit agreed Monday to allow other nations to submit amicus briefs, but the group says that infringes on the United States’ and Arizona’s sovereignty.

House Democrats were one of the first groups to take a stand for our state and nation against special interests by opposing the boycott (see attached letter).

“Now we urge Republicans to join us in defending and protecting our sovereignty as a nation and state and upholding the U.S. and Arizona constitutions,” said House Democratic Whip Chad Campbell. “These are our decisions and other nations have no business interfering. We don’t interfere with their immigration policies. We need to protect our borders, and the federal government needs to do its job.”

The following Democratic lawmakers are opposing foreign countries’ participation in an appeal of SB 1070:

House Democratic Leader David Lujan

Assistant House Democratic Leader Kyrsten Sinema

House Democratic Whip Chad Campbell

Rep.Patricia Fleming, D-Sierra Vista

Rep. Nancy Young Wright, D-Tucson

Rep. Eric Meyer, D-Paradise Valley

Rep. Rae Waters, D-Ahwatukee

Rep. Barbara McGuire, D-Kearny

Rep. David Schapira, D-Tempe

Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe

-30-