Numerous Sheriff Joe Arpaio calls are being made by PLEA (Phoenix Law Enforcement Association) to Arizona voters with regard to the Maricopa County Sheriff Office race.

The caller (male voice) is stating:

• PLEA endorsed Arpaio
• There are two candidates running against Joe
• Phoenix Law Enforcement behind Arpaio (in fact, they would not even endorse their own former PD officer via Paul Penzone).

Some things John McCain “maverick” type of Republicans ought to consider as it relates to PLEA is:

PLEA is a union conducting collective bargaining, and in fact, it used to be governed by Mark Spencer who got into trouble for breaking police administrative rules with regard to booking people. His last 8 months with PLEA was as a union worker and not as a front line street officer. Mark Spencer was also a big supporter of Russell Pearce and was present when Pearce was cramming SB1070 to the Republican Party and Republican voters at a GOP executive guidance committee in 2009. It was at that meeting, when former registered Republican (now Independent) Mike Stauffer confronted Russell Pearce with regard to SB1070 and how it would negatively impact community and trust police officers have with local residents.

Mike Stauffer backed by front line police organizations in Arizona

Now we are here to set the record straight to inform the public with regard to independent candidate Mike Stauffer receiving an endorsement from one of the largest police organizations in Arizona via AZCOPS. We believe the largest police organization is the Arizona Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). Stauffer also received an endorsement by POSA, and both AZCOPS and POSA endorsements are important to the law enforcement community because both organizations come from leaders who are on the front line working the streets.

While it is true that PLEA endorsed Maricopa County Sheriff (R) Joe Arpaio instead of one of their own former police sergeants via (D) Penzone, Independent Candidate Mike Stauffer still received praise from front line level police members working the beat.

For those who don’t know about AZCOPS — they are the ones doing the job and on the street as line level members, and they are the ones who are behind Stauffer. Some more about AZCOPS below:

• AZCOPS is one of the largest police representative organizations in the State of Arizona
• 4000-5000 members (front line level members)
• 100 agencies represented

What is with the Democratic Political Corruption?  First Ben Arredondo now Catherine Miranda?

State lawmaker Ben Arredondo pleads guilty to two felonies

Will resign his position in Arizona Legislature as part of the plea deal

Now there is developing news that a Legislative District 27 resident is sueing (D) Rep Catherine Miranda over allegations of forged signatures on campaign docs and wants her tossed off the ballot.

And for those of you who are not from our whacky state of Arizona….go figure that our own Tom Horne (Attorney General) is also being investigated.

Criminy!  The crap we have to put up with here.   Now you know why independent voters have surged in our State becoming the 2nd largest voting bloc in our state now for the first time in Arizona history.  This is my shameless plug for Arizona voters to support Prop 121.

Good news for you Independent Arizona voters who are tired of the extremism in Arizona and sick of partisanship bickering.

According to an independent survey, Prop 121 is expected to pass.  This is wonderful news to those of us independent registered voters who are supporting independent candidates who have the experience and education to run for office.  For the first time in Arizona history, independent voters now make up the 2nd largest voting block in our state and in Maricopa County.

Please remember that an independent candidate for Maricopa County sheriff is running against the extremist Sheriff Joe Arpaio and I believe Mike Stauffer is Arpaio’s strongest opponent since we (independent voters) make up the 2nd largest voting bloc now.

Prop 14 in California is similar to Prop 121 and I have so many good success stories as a result of Prop 14 helping good candidates.

See below survey:

Independent Survey: Strong Support for Open Primary in Arizona

By Ted Downing on October 9, 2012 in Arizona, Open Primary, Survey with 1 Comment

Read Time: 3 – 5 minutes

 

With early balloting beginning on 11 October,  a new independent pollfinds the Arizona Top 2, Open Primary initiative likely to pass. No recent, independent polling data has been available for some time, apart from those supporting or opposing the initiative that would create a non-partisan Top-Two Open Primary.

The survey of 1,065 Arizona residents found 45% are inclined to vote for the Open Primary Initiative and 31% against it, with 9% undecided and 15% not planning to vote. Looking only at likely voters, this gives the measure a 16 point advantage with 10 % undecided.

On November 6th,  Arizona voters will be deciding whether to change their election system.  Under the current semi-closed primary system, partisan voters select Party candidates for the general election ballot.  Since 2000, independents are permitted to vote in a party primary if and only if the parties allow them, decided for each primary, and if and only if the independent votes for only one party slate.  Open Elections – Open Government advocates for Proposition 121 would institute a Constitutional amendment.  All voters would vote on a single slate of candidates and the top two vote-getters would advance to the general election.  FULL STORY>>>

Last Friday, the Arizona Republic ran a front-page story by Mary Jo Pitzl about the disadvantages that Independents face in Arizona elections.  If you haven’t  had a chance to read it, please take a moment.

She details how the largest growing voter registration in Arizona is unfairly penalized in a two-party system where Republicans and Democrats make all the rules.  This story helps to illustrate the need to allow ALL Arizonans to participate in ALL elections for ALL candidates.

At a time when people want to see their government pull together and find real solutions to the problems in our community, we need an election system that allows elected-officials to be free of the partisan stranglehold that prevents so many of them from being allowed to work together.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2012/09/14/20120914arizona-independent-candidates-face-long-odds-getting-ballot.html

YES ON 121

Gary Johnson recently visited ASU and addressed several Liberty-related issues including drugs, immigration, war and liberty issues to Ron Paul/Libertarian/Libertarian-Republican and independent voters.

For those of you who don’t know who Gary Johnson is, he is the Libertarian candidate running for President.  You see, he used to be a Republican when he was the Governor of New Mexico.  The Republican Party snubbed Gary and now they “will get what they wished for and will pay tenfold…..” That said, I see Gary Johnson being a power house in very much the same way Ross Perot was in 1992.  Remember Ross Perot from 20 years ago and who was concerned about free trade, federal budget deficits, and the U.S. national debt? I see the same parallel and we can learn from history.  Gary Johnson will influence the direction as he does his best to frame political discourse. Like Ross Perot….Gary will indeed have an important effect on the 2012 election, and I am told he will be on the ballot in 47 states so far in our Union, and his campaign is working tirelessly to get him on the other 3.

The new House Congressional Poll ratings will hurt the Republican Party since in essence they became the “Party of Hell No” instead of being the party of solutions. More than ever we need to go back to working on solutions….shedding the partisanship.  We need to go back to the Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill days. We are hungry for that.  We can no longer support the Tea Party and those who chant Hell No to everything.  Americans want politicians to do what they are paid to do and work with each other across the political aisle for what is in the best interest of the United States.    More Tea Party supporters have proven to be divisive with their “Hell No” to everything approach and it is destroying the unity message we yearn for because a house divided will not stand.

Gary no longer has to worry about pissing off the Republican Party.  He is now truly a free spirit and a free agent and he can speak what he is convicted to speak on.  Nobody can shut up Gary now, and that makes him politically dangerous.  I like that, and  I applaud his bold move in leaving the GOP for good and switching to the Libertarian Party.  Here is a short clip taken by Nick Thomas on that day where Gary Johnson speaks to the media followed by Libertarian candidate Michael Kielsky (running against Maricopa County Counselor Bill Montgomery).  We also heard Barry Goldwater Jr. speak before Gary Johnson gave his keynote speech.

I was very surprised to hear Gary Johnson say that President Obama received more “Liberty Torches” than Mitt Romney.  Now obviously, Gary Johnson received the most Liberty torches out of all the candidates, nonetheless….I was shocked.   According to Gary Johsnon, the ACLU came out with a report card last December 2011 where 24 Liberty torches was the perfect score.

Gary stated in this youtube video (fast forward to 5:45 minute mark) the following:

Mitt Romney received 0/24 Liberty torches.  (Zero)

Newt Gingrich had 4/24 Liberty torches

President Obama received 16/24 Liberty torches

Ron Paul received 18/24 Liberty torches

Gary Johnson had 21/24 Liberty torches

In looking at the above, you can see how President Obama is viewed as a moderate … and he is going to need to be viewed that way in order to garner independent voters like me or 80% of the moderate American population.  For those of you who could not attend the Gary Johnson event at Arizona State University, you can see his speech below:

Gary Johnson @ ASU Rally 9/26/12 Part 1

Gary Johnson @ ASU Rally 9/26/12 Part 2

We received so much support and love from the educated and open-minded voters at the Gary Johnson rally.  We love educated and open-minded people.

You see, when (Libertarian candidate) Andrea Glasscock Garcia ran against the extremist Arizona Senator Russell Pearce in 2010, I endorsed her when I used to be the President of Somos Republicans.  Like Gary Johnson, I left the Republican Party for good and I decided to be an independent registered voter here in Arizona.  I’m not the only one — (Independent) Mike Stauffer for Maricopa County Sheriff also left the Republican Party and is running against the corrupt Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

As an independent conservative, Mike Stauffer is Joe Arpaio’s most formidable opponent and it is time for Arpaio to go because the demographics are like this in Maricopa County:

36% registered R’s

35% registered I’s

29% registered D’s

1% registered L’s

So you can see why we are backing Mike Stauffer for Sheriff, because he attracts the fiscal conservatives, Libertarians, moderate Republicans and some Democratic voters, too.   Sheriff Joe Arpaio has wasted millions and millions of tax payer dollars.  He is no fiscal conservative, and has abused his authority. We want to thank Andrea Garcia for helping us secure a booth at this Gary Johnson event.  It was successful, fruitful and we were well received by the exact target market we need in order to beat Arpaio. Below are photos of the National Tequila Party Movement micro-targeting Libertarians / Libertarian-Republicans / Independents / Ron Paul revolutionists / Gary Johnson supporters and so on.

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Maricopa County Independent voters surged 33% from 2008, have reason to vote in droves this year thanks to Open Elections and mobilization. 

In fact, did you know that members from both parties tried to get the Open Elections initiative ousted?  All this did was mobilize independents and the “Open Government” people further.  See their below email that explains a huge win for independents and Arizona voters in general:

From:”Open Government – All Voters, All Elections”
Date: Fri, Aug 31, 2012 11:33 am

After our hearing yesterday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Rea has just ruled that Maricopa County elections officials were wrong in declaring hundreds of signatures of voters contained on the initiative petitions invalid, ordering those signatures restored. As a result of the ruling, those signatures now provide a more than sufficient margin for the measure to qualify for the November ballot.

In a separate ruling, Judge Rea also dismissed a suit filed by the political committee opposing our initiative which argued that the petition process and signatures gathered by the campaign were faulty.

This is a huge win for the voters of Arizona and another defeat for the political bosses and lobbyists who are trying to stop us.

Stand by for more details, as we prepare to move forward to November.

Thank you!
Tom Milton
Campaign Manager
Open Elections/Open Government
info@AzOpenGov.org
800-915-7940

The ground within Maricopa County is FERTILE because if you take a look at the registration numbers taken from the Arizona Secretary of State as of 9/14/2012 you will find:

Maricopa County Voter Registration Numbers

2008 (Final)

R – 639,267
D – 440,458
I – 394,782

2012 (August Reporting)

R – 703,288 (+10% from 2008)
I – 588,931 (+33% from 2008)
D – 541,711 (+22% from 2008)

Democrats are now showing as the “third party” in Maricopa County voter registration.

This is precisely why we are behind Mike Stauffer (independent candidate) for Maricopa County Sheriff. 

(Independent candidate) Mike Stauffer for Maricopa County Sheriff

Currently Independent voters hold an 8.8% lead over Democrats in 2012 while in 2008 Independents were outnumbered 10.4% by Democrats. Republicans have a 23% advantage over Democrats, and only a 16.3% advantage over Independents a difference of 7%.

For the first time in Maricopa County history, Independents now out rank the Democratic Party in registered voters. While Independent voters are largely apathetic in their voting turnout, the Open Government initiative has been set to appear on this years election ballot. The 33% of newly registered Independent voters are sure to turn out in record numbers to support a “top-two” measure to level the political playing field.

Most Independent voters have left the party structure in favor of more freedom in elections and less political bias and therefore will be more likely to vote for a candidate working toward that goal.

Here is more on Open Elections / Open Government that will shed light and demonstrate how independent supporters of this initiative has proven to mobilize people because Americans are tired of the partisanship nature that has prevented working in the best interest of the American People.

More from Tom Milton:

Arizona residents will have a chance this November to change our political system, making it less divisive and more responsive to voters of ALL political beliefs.

After our campaign collected more than 365,000 signatures from people from all over the state, the Open Elections/Open Government Initiative will be on the ballot – it will be Proposition 121. We hope you will vote YES on this important measure in the November 6 election.

Under Open Elections/Open Government, candidates will have to reach out to the entire electorate in the primary election, not just voters in their own political party. It will fundamentally change the way elections are held in Arizona. Taxpayer funded partisan elections will be abolished and replaced with an open primary where the top two vote getters will advance to a run-off. Independents, a rapidly growing percent of Arizona voters, and third party candidates will be provided a level playing field with party-sponsored candidates, making it easier to run and easier to participate in the election process. Open Elections/Open Government will bring more voters and candidates into the election process and will abolish taxpayer funded partisan primaries.

We have faced almost every imaginable challenge from the political bosses and lobbyists trying to keep our measure off the ballot.

The governor and legislature considered calling a special session just to place a competing measure on the November ballot. One legislator even admitted the plan was to intentionally confuse voters with a second, similar ballot item. Then, the opponents of the measure, operating through an ironically named group called Save Our Vote, tried to stop the initiative in the courts through FIVE different lawsuits.

But all of the political wrangling and lawsuits failed.

So why have all of the political bosses and lobbyists been fighting so hard to keep this initiative from the voters? Because they fear the real changes that it will bring - changes that will open up our government by opening up all elections to all voters.

That’s why we need the voters of Arizona to stand up and get involved! Please visit our website at www.AzOpenGov.org and click on the GET INVOLVED tab to register your support.