When I was a child I  was told that with age would come wisdom. If that is true why is that I cannot understand the motives of our political groups today. We have this new organization called the “tea party”, specifically the Pima County Tea Party Patriots, which seems to have motives that I cannot understand. I have watched, recorded, analyzed and studied their methods and what appears to be  their madness. I have been a registered Republican for 47 years and I now watch the party started by Abraham Lincoln tear itself apart by infighting.

I have watched, and for the most part, remained quiet, while they supported Jesse Kelly against a candidate whom he had no chance to beat. They not only did not support but actively campaigned against Jonathan Paton, a decent man whom I thought was the only candidate that could have won that election for the Republican Party. I believe Jonathan Paton will triumph in the new district and perhaps that was meant to be his karma.

I have watched as this tea party has moved my Republican Party so far to the right, that we now equal in some ways the radical concepts of the far left, which includes politicians such as Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and so many others.

This article is not concerning numbers or political concepts or whether anyone is right or wrong. What it does concern is what I feel in my heart and my soul concerning what is happening to my beloved country.  I am watching powerless as we become so fragmented that I feel we are about to break.

If you are curious as to the reason that I’m writing to you like I would write to a long-lost uncle, it’s because of what I am watching in the upcoming primaries.  I will give you one example of a concentrated, thoroughly  planned and executed attack on a candidate that I have a great deal of respect for, and that is my representative to the Board of Supervisors District 4, “Ray Carroll.”

I am not sure how many of you have read the website for the “Pima County Tea Party Patriots”, but I just finished reading it. I saw where they thanked Mr. Garrett Lewis with this ringing endorsement of him and the radio station KNST.  The following is the quote from their webpage:

Thanks to Garret Lewis & KNST

The Pima County Tea Party Patriots would like to extend our Thanks to Garret Lewis and KNST radio for moderating our Pima County Supervisor District 1 & 4 Debates. His moderating skills allowed him to conduct the debate professionally with an added pinch of humor.

End of quote

I have watched Garrett Lewis as he has attacked time after time Supervisor Carroll. I have watched as he has edited the sound bites to manipulate them and to intensify the attack. You asked why I mention that here, it’s because I sent e-mails and communications to both Garrett Lewis and the management of  KNST with a transcript of the editing and was completely ignored. He will admit, on the air, that his biggest concern is ratings. I would be happier if his biggest concern was the truth. Instead, Garrett Lewis has decided to support the candidate endorsed by Rosemont copper. One of his major attacks against Supervisor Carroll was that he used a “naughty word” while at a private roast, and supervisor Carroll made a comment on some of the false ads the media were allowing to be played. I listened to one of Lewis’s podcasts  between he and his callers; they used the word “Crap” twice and the word “Hell” once on the public airwaves while they were denigrating Supervisor Carroll’s using of the word “Pricks” at a private function!

This message was brought to you by no one but myself, written by myself.  I claim credit for all the mistakes by myself, but also claim credit for telling you, don’t turn into the competition or as the cartoon character “Pogo” once said; We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us.

The ending to this message is that the group “The Tea Party Patriots” used this comment while requesting donations at the August debate between Supervisor Carroll and opponent, Sean Collins:

COMMENT:

“So we will be needing to collect donations and also we have to pay for this venue and all the other things that go with it because we could not get a library large enough to hold us all. So if y’all could graciously help us out with donations, so we can take care of the Rangers at the end of the evening and also pay the “DAMN SCHOOL SYSTEM!”

END OF COMMENT

I promised myself I was going to try and stop posting large messages to you the public, so I will quit now.

On August 2, 2012 the Tucson tea party and KNST sponsored a debate between supervisor Ray Carroll of district 4 and the opponent. Sean Collins. It was an excellent opportunity to see the difference between supervisor Carroll, a man who is well-versed and knowledgeable in Pima County and Arizona politics and his opponent who is not knowledgeable in Pima County politics or needs.

His opponent, Sean Collins, appeared to be totally unprepared and ill-informed. Sean Collins appears to have one subject that he  repeats consistently and thats his support of Rosemont Copper. In the background, you can usually find a gentleman by the name of Randy Graf, for those of you who don’t remember him he was the man who proposed Green Valley secede from Pima County. Now he works as a PR consultant and community interface for Rosemont Copper, he also appears to be the man who pulls the strings on Rosemonts puppet (Sean Collins).

Sean Collins waived a paper in the air, during one of his questions that he was to answer, the question was “Have you or would you ever support a Democratic candidate over a Repubblican candidate?” The question was asked by the host for the evening, talkshow host Garrett Lewis, who appears to have developed into an attack dog For Rosemont Copper. It is my contention that Sean Collins was given the questions in advance and prepped in advance. The preparation was not adequate concerning this question, as he answered the question in the negative he waved a paper in the air and said he had information concerning Supervisor Carroll supporting a man, whom he said was a Democrat,  by the name of Salette Latas. I assume Randy Graf was one of the people who helped to prepare Sean Collins for the debate, he simply neglected to tell Sean Collins that Salette Latas was not a man but a woman.

I have refrained from making too large an issue of Mr. Collins defeat during the debate, but I am going to post, a few, articles concerning some of the questions. Ask yourself this question, why would Sean Collins happen to have a paper discussing the candidacy of Salette Latas in the 2007 Oro Valley city Council race unless he knew the questions in advance. I would say the odds are about the same as the sun and the moon colliding at three o’clock this afternoon or having an infrared camera posted at the one particular sign on Highway 83 that was reported stolen by the Collins campaign.

Take five minutes, watch the video and make your own decision. My decision is number one, he should have been better prepared or more knowledgeable, number two his handlers failed in his preparation. Salette Latas is a “Gold Star” Mother who lost her son in the war and asked  Supervisor Carroll for his endorsement .

YOUTUBE VIDEO LINK OF QUESTION

There is a new player in town, with the ability to do investigative reporting and the web site for the organization is as follows:   http://www.investigativemedia.com/

Last night I had the honor of attending the premiere opening of a documentary they produced. The name of the documentary was “Cyanide Beach” and dealt with an open pit gold mine in Sardinia, Italy , near the small farming town of Furtei.

Photo courtesy of investigativemedia

photo from “Cyanide Beach”

A link on the primary website connects the executives of the corporation known as “Augusta Resources” to the disaster of the gold mine in Italy, same players just a different playing field. Now it is the Augusta Resources power-play in relation to the proposed open pit copper mine in the Santa Rita mountains of the Coronado national Forest .

The main website contains other information, which should be mandatory reading for any Arizona resident that wishes to be informed concerning the Rosemont copper mine proposal.

A  headline for an article in the August 5, 2012 Arizona daily Star read:
Political notebook: Supervisors candidate Collins captures sign thief on video

There are too many stories that do not have an ending, something that you can put your teeth into and say, “Yes that’s the end of the story.”  This time the ending is the signs were picked up by the highway maintenance from Nogales.

Excerpt from story August 5, 2012.
Collins sent out an email Friday with the subject line, “Smile, you’re on the Collins Camera” to help capture the sign-snatcher. The campaign posted the video, taken by a hidden camera set up by a campaign volunteer and authorized by the Collins campaign, on YouTube and asked for people with information to call the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. Collins, a small-business owner trying to unseat Ray Carroll in Pima County Board of Supervisors District 4, is not taking this lightly. He has promised a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the culprit. He’s promising to prosecute the person to the “fullest extent the law allows.”
Excerpt ending

Included with this story is a link to the YOUTUBE Video of Sean Collins’ campaign posters at  mile marker 47.5 on Highway 83, which just happens to be the entrance to the Rosemont property and also includes photographs from Nogales . The Video shows  the pictures of the confiscated signs at the DOT yard in Nogales. Just click on the picture and it will open a new link.

The incident was used by Mr Collins in a negative campaign against supervisor Ray  Carroll and the Save the Scenic Santa Ritas . I think it would be gentlemanly if he were to call both organizations and apologize for his comments. Oh yes, Mr Collins  perhaps could tell  how someone could collect their $500 reward for finding his campaigns signs.

I’m finally learning something about writing blogs, one should try to hold blog to a length the will hold the attention span of the reader. Therefore, this chapter will be much shorter and simply comments and a copy of a letter e-mail to the Arizona American Legion. Sean Collins has started pacing signs on to his campaign signs that simply “Military Hero”. It is a misleading and incorrect statement that leads one to believe that he was actually a military hero. In truth he was given the local award by the local Red Cross for pulling someone out of a wrecked car. Because he was in the military at the time they classified him as a military hero (local). Now he is trying to use it to mislead the general public.

Attached is the letter I sent to the American Legion, the next letter goes to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Remember this when you go to the polls to vote.

Mailed to American Legion on 8/19

To whom it may concern:

Pima County has a candidate for Board of Supervisors, District 4, by the name of Sean Collins. He has made it a very large issue in his campaign and on his website that he was the “Military Hero of the Year”. Initially, that was his posted statement until I challenged him on it. Now he has changed it to read “Southern Arizona Red Cross Military Hero of the Year!”  When you drive through Tucson you will see Sean Collins election signs that have a large yellow sticker attached that says “Military Hero”.  I still find this very misleading to the general public.

This is a very personal issue to me: that a man would attempt to use a civilian award as a misleading comment, making one think he was a military hero

I am requesting that the Arizona American Legion governing body contact Sean Collins and express displeasure with his statement used in this campaign. It makes it appear from an initial reading that Sean Collins was a military combat hero.

I am also requesting that a letter be generated to all of the American Legion Posts in Pima County relating your decision in response to this complaint. I am sure there are many folks at the VA hospitals who would agree with me. At the moment I am attempting to obtain the e-mail address of the commanders of the Pima County, Arizona posts in an attempt to send my complaint to them. I am requesting that you do the same. I appreciate your attention in this matter.

Yours truly,

Robert Harris

member American Legion Post 109