Valley View Medical Center

At the invitation of CEO Allen Peters, CNO Dana Rice, & others, I recently had the opportunity to tour Valley View Medical Center located in Fort Mohave, for the first time. Wow! Not only is the facility gorgeous, with state of the art equipment but everyone on staff whom I came into contact with was friendly & professional. I came away from the visit with a better understanding of the positive impact on the community made by Valley View & all those who comprise the Valley View family. From the cleanliness of the hospital to the numerous community outreach programs, the dedication to customer service & attention to detail is apparent. Valley View Medical Center is indeed a shining jewel in the desert sand.

Thank you to all who work so hard on behalf of our community!

BIONIC

“BIONIC ~ Believe It or Not, I Care”

Frank & I attended a graduation ceremony last night at the Arizona State Prison-Kingman. ASP – Kingman is a low custody private prison under contract with the Arizona Department of Corrections to provide custody and substance abuse treatment for 1400 adult male offenders who have demonstrated a need for substance or alcohol abuse intervention.

What a celebration this was!

After Ralph McKie, the 1st VP of Vietnam Veterans of America, Mohave County Chapter 975 led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, the festivities began with a bang when the band playing praise music warmed up the crowd of family & friends. With inmates on the guitar, tambourine, & drums, guests clapped their hands to a soulful rendition of “Amazing Grace”. Though I cannot remember the name of the “lead singer,” his powerful voice does stick in my memory.

Kingman Mayor John Salem then delivered a motivational message regarding attitude & the choices we are presented with each day…how our attitude frames our perspective of events that occur in our daily life. Mayor Salem's stories were met with a few laughs and cheers from the inmates and their families.

Proud instructors, led by Dr. Elizabeth Gwynne, MTC's Education Administrator, passed out over 60 diplomas to inmates who successfully completed GED, Creative Writing, and Financial Literacy courses. By the time the graduation ceremony concluded my eyes were wet & swollen, my hands red & raw from clapping, & my heart was bursting with happiness over the accomplishment of these inmates. These guys get it! Taking a bad situation and turning it around shows gumption and character and never fails to amaze me. God's grace and forgiveness is awesome. With HIM, through HIM, all things are possible and work together for good! AMEN!

Rising from my chair to leave the prision, I turned over the graduation program & saw it:

BIONIC ~ Believe It or Not, I Care

Warden Elliot, Chaplin Basye, MCC Instructors, MTC Staff, thank you...I do believe it & so do those men you inspire.

THE RIGHT (!) CHOICE FOR VP

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is Senator McCain's choice for Vice President!!!!!! On John McCain's birthday, he gives conservative republicans a great gift by choosing SP! For the very first time in this presidential campaign I have hope...praise God! I now am enthusiastically supporting the Republican ticket and cannot wait to watch the upcoming speeches and debates. Senator McCain's choice is inspiring and I thank him for this greatest birthday present.

What we know about Governor Palin:

• 44 years old



• tough political operative



• has been known since high school as "Sarah Barracuda"



• married to a professional fisherman, celebrating their 20 year anniversary today



• has 5 children. Her youngest has Downs Syndrome, her oldest son is in the Army who will begin serving in Iraq next month.



• solid on energy policy



• proponent of drilling in ANWAR



• saved the state hundreds of thousands of dollars by getting rid of the state-owned jet and travels on commercial airlines



• pro-life advocate



• pro-gun

Home Builders Endorsement

News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, August 28, 2008
CONTACT: Spencer Kamps:(602) 274-6545

Home Builders Association of Central Arizona Endorses District 3 Incumbents

The Home Builders Association of Central Arizona (HBACA) is proud to endorse incumbent Senator Ron Gould, Representative Trish Groe and Representative Nancy McLain for re-election in legislative District 3. Gould, Groe and McLain have all proven to be strong allies of the home building industry, consistent with their commitment to lower taxes and limited government.

Additionally, Gould, Groe and McLain have repeatedly stood up against legislation that would have increased costs and further prolong Arizona's housing recovery. In the face of such uncertain economic times, District 3 is fortunate to have such strong, dedicated leaders at the legislature.

Republican Corporation Commission Candidates

GROE NOTE: Choosing your Arizona Corporation Commissioners is an important decision that impacts your utility rates. If you would like my input or assistance in making this important decision, please call or email me before voting on September 2nd.

AZ Federation for Taxpayers/Americans for Prosperity Ratings for ACC Candidates:

Candidate *Party *Previous Office *Year *Score *Scorecard Designation

John Allen R State Representative 2006 72% Friend of the Taxpayer
John Allen R State Representative 2005 82% Champion of the Taxpayer

Rick Fowlkes R None recorded n/a n/a No record available

Joseph Hobbs R None recorded n/a n/a No record available

Marian McClure R State Representative 2008 72% Friend of the Taxpayer
Marian McClure R State Representative 2007 40% Friend of Big Government

Bob Robson R State Representative 2008 77% Friend of the Taxpayer
Bob Robson R State Representative 2007 58% Needs Improvement

Bob Stump R State Representative 2008 82% Champion of the Taxpayer
Bob Stump R State Representative 2007 69% Ally of the Taxpayer

Keith Swapp R None recorded n/a n/a No record available

Barry Wong R State Representative 2000 14% Big Spender
Barry Wong R State Representative 1999 24% Big Spender

Note: AFP Arizona does not endorse or oppose any candidates for public office. Also, past performance is no guarantee of future performance. Further, the policy matters decided by the ACC may be different from legislative or local government matters.

Welcome to AZforMarriage.com

Please visit YESforMarriage.com!

From the website:

"This website is a temporary home on the Internet while we put the finishing touches on our permanent website. Please sign up for our free email alerts so you can get breaking news on the marriage campaign and also get notification when our official, permanent site comes online (note: we respect your privacy and won’t share your email address with anyone for any reason).

So, what’s this all about?

Arizonans will vote on November 4, 2008 on Ballot Proposition 102 which reads:
“Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.”

We urge you to vote “YES” which will place this statement into the Arizona Constitution and secure this principle for our state law."

GF Revenues and Spending for FY09

Here is a quick look at where FY 2009 General Fund Revenues are derived, and how they are spent:

FY 2009 General Fund Revenue--Where It Comes From
Sales and Use Tax: $4,643.6
Individual Income Tax: $3,619.4
Corporate Income Tax: $871.2
Other: $133.7
TOTAL 1/$9,267.9
1/ Includes all legislative revenue changes, but does not include beginning balance or other one-time revenue adjustments.

The projected beginning balance is $1.0 million. Other one-time revenues adjustments equal $711.3 million.

FY 2009 Total General Fund Appropriations--Where It Goes
Education (K-12): $4,141.2
AHCCCS : $1,425.3
Universities: $1,080.4
Corrections: $947.5
Economic Security: $808.3
Health Services: $611.5
School Facilities Bd: $101.2
Other Agencies: $846.6
TOTAL OPERATING BUDGET: $ 9,962.0

Data may be obtained through the JLBC website: http://www.azleg.gov/jlbc/09app/apprpttoc.pdf

TIME'S UP!

GROE NOTE: Hooray! I just received this email about the demise of the TIME Initiative and a "dragon-slaying" party to celebrate the good news. Please take a moment, as Tom suggests, to send a note to those who fought on your behalf to kill this tax increase.

Dear Arizona Taxpayer,

You are invited to a Dragon Slaying Party this Friday evening, August 29th, at the George and Dragon Pub in Phoenix. The occasion for the festivities is the demise of the TIME Ballot Initiative, which was thrown off the ballot today by the Arizona Supreme Court:

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/08/25/daily27.html

The TIME Initiative would have increased the state sales tax by 18 percent, and thrown $42 billion at unspecified transportation projects, including projects—such as light rail—that have very little to do with transportation. The government largess for rail projects would have been doled out by the members of a “Passenger Rail Projects Committee,” a majority of whose members would have been appointees serving at the pleasure of the Governor.

To learn about the many disastrous provisions of the TIME Initiative, read this analysis by transportation expert John Semmens:

http://www.americansforprosperity.org/includes/filemanager/files/az/timeinitiativeanalysis.pdf
And please send a note of thanks to Steve Voeller of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club (http://www.azfec.org/), for the work AZFEC did to oppose the TIME Initiative on the legal front. Steve’s email is steve@AZFreeEnterpriseClub.org.

If anyone is interested in organizing festivities outside of the Valley, let me know, and I will help.

For Liberty,
--Tom

Tom Jenney
Arizona Director
Americans for Prosperity
(Arizona Federation of Taxpayers)
http://www.aztaxpayers.org/
tjenney@afphq.org
(602) 478-0146

Trish Groe Receives an "A"

I am a member of the Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association (founded in 1909 to promote shooting sport) and just received my monthly newsletter announcing a new website and legislative rankings for incumbent legislators. Check out the new website for the ASRPA at http://www.asrpa.com/ and click the "Legislation" button on the left to view their newly posted rankings for those legislators involved in contested primaries only...drum roll please...

Rep. Trish Groe receives an A ranking!

A = Very good, strong pro rights & interests

Thanks ASRPA members, for your continued support. I look forward to working hard during the upcoming legislative session to protect and enhance our 2nd Amendment rights, in addition to protecting our right to safely hunt and fish this great land!

District III Community Profiles

Follow these links for some interesting reading about the communities that make up Legislative District (LD) 3.

Fredonia Community Profile

Kingman Community Profile

Lake Havasu City Community Profile

Page Community Profile

Parker Community Profile

Quartzsite Community Profile

Bouse Community Profile

Bullhead City Community Profile

Chloride Community Profile

Colorado City Community Profile

Dolan Springs Community Profile

Bad, Bad Biden

Visit this link for more on Joe Biden: The Club For Growth - http://www.clubforgrowth.org

Club for Growth PAC White Paper on Joe Biden
Washington – With Barack Obama’s announcement of Joe Biden as his vice-presidential pick, taxpayers should ask themselves: Just how bad is Senator Biden’s record on economic issues? Unfortunately, the answer is: Very bad.

TEAM GROE

Besides recently beating out our own Senator Ron Gould for top honor "Legislator of the Year" and sharing the title "HERO of the TAXPAYER", I have been exceptionally fortunate to receive endorsements from the following organizations:

Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association

Arizona Medical Association

Arizona Academy of Family Physicians

Arizona Technology Council

Arizona Right to Life

Lake Havasu Republican Assembly

National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB)

Arizona Association of REALTORS

Sonoran Alliance

Arizona Fraternal Order of Police

Southern Arizona Home Builders

Home Builders of Central Arizona

The Groe Campaign is growing stronger day by day, working hard towards a victory in the Republican Primary on September 2nd but we need your help! Send me an email if you are interested in learning more about joining "TEAM GROE"...we look forward to hearing from you!

2008 Annual Republican Picnic

The Annual Republican Picnic was held in the Haulapai's today and what a fantastic event it was! Hundreds of GOP faithful turned out to enjoy the mild mountain weather, fantastic Tennessee BBQ, and opportunity to fellowship among friends. The message from candidates and voters alike was of similar mind and purpose...success in November! A victory over Obama is a victory for the GOP.

BTW, if you haven't taken the time to attend one of these picnics, you are really missing out on a great party!