Saturday, August 23, 2008

Scenes From the Road






Frank and I took a wonderful tour this week visiting Beaver Dam, Littlefield, Colorado City, and Centennial Park. Here are some shots of the scenery that captured our attention during the drive.
Besides breathtaking views, my days were filled with meetings...wonderfully productive meetings where I met new friends and shared with them my passion for protecting our personal liberties and individual freedoms. The response to my message tremendous as folks are eager for government to return to those priorities this country was founded upon.
Back in Lake Havasu City, I send a warm shout-out to my new friends with whom I look forward to working with as we strive towards crafting responsible, positive policy. Thanks for your support; it means a great deal to me.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Burning Questions, Plus an Endorsement

GROE NOTE: I recently received the endorsement of the Lake Havasu Republican Assembly after successfully answering the following questions. I am tremendously proud to have the Republican Assembly endorsement. When I get a bit of time, in the next day or so, I will print my answers to their pointed questions.

1. What in your opinion is the purpose of government?

2. Please name top issues you are most concerned about.

3. Explain your stand on the Second Amendment.

4. In your opinion, what is the role of gaming in Arizona?

5. Do you have any environmental concerns and what are they?

6. Are there any areas of spending that should be increased?

7. Name at least 3 things you hope to accomplish by running for your particular office.

8. Would you co-sponsor a bill to outlaw abortion? Will you vote to outlaw abortion?

9. Would you support government benefits to unmarried but cohabitating individuals…?

10. What would you say is the difference between a Democracy and a Republic?

11. Explain your views on current immigration policies; what if any changes would you make?

12. Do you favor the participation of the United States in international government?

13. Do you think we need federal help for our crime problems in Arizona?

14. What % of land in AZ should belong to the federal government? the state? private hands?

15. What is the role of state government in protecting private property?

16. Where do you think we need to increase state welfare?

17. What is your opinion of tax breaks for big businesses over small businesses?

18. What is the role of government in lower education, i.e. kindergarten through 12th grade?

19. What is your stand on the Governor’s plan to increase tax dollars to help state education costs? Do you feel the necessity to change the method of funding education in Arizona?

20. How would you improve the state highway system?

21. Do you favor a Balanced Budget Amendment?

22. How would you interpret the 10th amendment of the Bill of Rights?

23. Do you favor a Constitutional Convention?

24. What is the role of the state in providing language learning of non-English-speaking students?

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Easy Ways to Stay Informed

The Arizona Free Enterprise Club is an fiscally conservative organization that sends out email updates during the Arizona Legislative Session discussing the pros & cons of proposed legislation. I am almost always in agreement with their position. If you click on the red circled envelope at the bottom right corner of their website, you can sign up for their email updates.

Americans For Prosperity or, as the Arizona Chapter is known, Arizona Federation of Taxpayers, is also a great source of information during the legislative session. Tom Jenney, the ATF’s president, sends out email updates on budget issues & legislative proposals that effect the taxpayer. Some of his emails serve as “action alerts” so that you can organize a group of like-minded folks to call or email legislators.

The Goldwater Institute sends emails almost daily during session about all types of legislative proposals, weighing in on both fiscal & social proposals. They also rate legislators each year & compile a scorecard, much like Americans for Prosperity/Arizona Federation of Taxpayers.

Groe Named Top Champion of the Taxpayer

Groe Note: WOW!!!! After catching your breath and regaining your balance, make sure you check out the complete scorecard. You might be quite surprised at the scores of some fellow republicans.

Arizona’s FY 2008-2009 state budget, which is more than a billion dollars over budget, produced sharp divisions in legislators’ scores on the 24th annual “Friend of the Taxpayer” Legislative Scorecard, sponsored by the Arizona chapter of Americans for Prosperity (AFP), formerly the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers. Legislators voting against the budget bills scored an average of 82 percent, while legislators voting in favor scored an average of 10 percent.

The top award stayed in Lake Havasu City, with Rep. Trish Groe narrowly beating out Sen. Ron Gould, who earned the top spot the last three years in a row. Joining Groe and Gould in the category “Hero of the Taxpayer” were Gilbert Reps. Andy Biggs and Eddie Farnsworth, scoring 90 percent or higher.
To view the complete Scorecard, visit http://www.americansforprosperity.org/includes/filemanager/files/az/2008azlegislativescorecard.pdf.

With their combined high scores, Mohave County legislators Groe, Gould, and McLain made Legislative District 3 the highest-scoring district in the state. In second place was LD 22 (Gilbert), and in third place was LD 9 (Glendale/Peoria/Sun City). The average Republican legislator scored 70 percent (Friend of the Taxpayer), while the average Democratic legislator scored 9 percent (Hero of Big Government). Last year’s Party averages were 65 percent and 32 percent, respectively.

Widening the divide in scores were the failure of the Governor and legislative majorities to prevent a possible $300 million increase in property taxes next year, advance school choice legislation, allow for private enterprise to provide for Arizona’s transportation infrastructure, or enact budget reforms that would help to rein in runaway spending.

For AFP-AZ, the brightest spot in the 2008 Legislative Session was the passage of transparency legislation that will allow Arizona taxpayers to go online and view all state expenditures made to all vendors. AFP-AZ hopes the 2009 Session will extend transparency to the county and city levels.

For the second year in a row, Rep. Steve Farley (R-Tucson) was at the bottom of the scorecard, this time with a score of 3 percent. Farley, who received last year’s Empty Wallet Award, secured his spot at the bottom by casting the lone vote against the transparency legislation.

Contact: Tom Jenney, (602) 478-0146, or Phil Kerpen (202) 349-5796

Monday, August 18, 2008

State Taxpayer Protection Pledge

Today, once again, I committed to the taxpayers of Legislative District 3 and to all of the people of this state that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes by signing the State Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

A complete list of signers of the pledge can be found on the following link:

http://www.atr.org/content/pdf/2008/july/071508ot-stateincumbentslist.pdf

Senator Gould's name appears on the list. One notable name missing? That of my seatmate...CURIOUS.

Quick Facts on Education

Have you ever wondered how much of the state’s general fund budget they believe goes to education?

The reality is that the Legislature appropriates over 50% of the state’s general fund monies for education!

The Legislature appropriated 41% of general fund dollars to K-12 education ($4.3 billion) and 11% ($1.1 billion) to universities. [1]

(Caveat: Federal funds are outside the Legislature’s control. Educational programs and many, many other state programs receive federal funds (like welfare programs). When you add together all legislatively appropriated state general fund dollars and all other funds such as federal funds, then the state spends 21% of all funds for K-12 education and 12% on universities. Either way, K-12 education is the top funded item in Arizona.)

**To clarify the data presented, the average per pupil funding quoted includes all funding (maintenance and operations and capital) from all sources (federal, state and local), and represents a statewide average. Although I do not have the district by district breakdown for all funding sources and expenditures in front of me, I do have district reported data for FY 2007 for maintenance and operations spending, and this includes teachers' and teachers' aides' salaries and benefits, instructional supplies, instructional aids (textbooks, software, etc.) and activities. This constitutes classroom dollars, and excludes administration, food service, support services (counselors, librarians, etc), transportation and building operation and maintenance (this is non-classroom). Again, this is self-reported data from the school districts for FY 2007. As you know, an average is calculated by taking the total expenditures and dividing that by the number of students. An average does not represent an exact amount, and some districts will always be above the average and some below and there are many reasons for this average.

The statewide average for the classroom dollars in FY 2007 was $4,277 (again, this number does not include the items listed above) and total dollars was $7,382 (the discrepancy can be accounted for in lots of ways as some items are not accounted for in different comparisons, ie. this number may not include all sources of revenue, but looks at expenditures while the original number quoted is revenue per student from all sources). For Bullhead City Elementary, the classroom dollars average per pupil was $3,728 (total was $6,218) and for Lake Havasu City Unified the average was $4,040 (total was $6,598). There is no single reason why these districts are at these amounts, as the complexity of school funding and expenditures prevents an analysis of generalized data. Additionally, some school districts levy local taxes while others do not, thus raising the averages over those that do not levy locally. For Bullhead City Elementary, some of this difference may be in the average teacher years of experience (5.8 years) versus the state average (8.1 years) which can affect the average teacher salary ($38,700 versus state average of $43,833) and classroom dollars.

These districts would need to do a detailed analysis of their revenues and expenditures in order to determine if they are maximizing their available dollars.

As for school building renewal monies, these amounts have been cut in the past due to the failure of school districts to use the funds that they had been provided, and the federal courts have upheld that this failure to use these monies, along with failing to provide proof that these funds are necessary, have allowed the Governor and the Legislature to cut these funds.