Monday, April 13th, 2009...8:37 am
For That Much, Kavanagh Ought to at Least Play Accordion
Many of you know about the dozens of “Town Hall” meetings held by Democratic members to discuss the budget. So, the Republicans are doing the same thing. Sort of. According to their press release:
The panel, consisting The of confirmed speakers Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Russell Pearce, House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Kavanagh, President Pro Tempore Senator Thayer Verschoor, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Gray and others yet unconfirmed, will address budget problems and possible solutions.
Topics will include the impact of illegal immigration, alternative solutions to raising taxes, why the Democrats plans will hurt taxpayers, and others.
“It is very important that we conduct town-halls throughout the county to better inform voters and taxpayers as to the status of the state budget. We need to talk directly with our legislators. We are facing difficulty economic times, as well as increasing alarm at what is transpiring in Washington,” said MCRC Executive Director Tom Husband.
Hey, I can’t fault them for wanting to get out and explain their positions to members of the public. But, one thing got me:
A $5 donation will be taken at the door.
So, this thing is acutally a fundraiser disguised as public outreach. I realize it ain’t a whole lot of money, but you’d think that folks who aren’t willing to give to the Maricopa County Republican party have a right to hear from their legislators too.
Is it just me, or does it seem like these guys do this stuff just to make writing the Democrats’ outraged press release easy? The press guy at the party is still new; I guess they don’t want to make his job too hard just yet.
6 Comments
April 13th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Baby steps. They are working their way up to charging admission for entrance into their offices at the capitol and donations for email replies.
April 13th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Someone should tell them that ‘donations’ are supposed to be voluntary. What they are charging is a fee.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Maybe they will tell those with the fivers how they rationalize the permanent repeal of the equalization tax. How can Pinnacle West go hat in hand when “For the full-year, the electricity and energy provider reported a profit of $242.1 million, compared with $307.1 million in 2007.*”
And their CEO “Post received compensation totaling $3.2 million in 2008, compared with $4.4 million in 2007.*”
*http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.aspx?Feed=AP&Date=20090410&ID=9777606&Symbol=PNW
April 13th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Hmm, Legislative Republicans need to have forums to provide information to the public about the budget and get input from their affected constituents. Am I crazy or did they used to call these things “Appropriations Committees”?
April 14th, 2009 at 12:17 am
Maybe they don’t want anybody who is really counting their pennies and can’t afford to even waste five bucks sneaking into the forum– you know, like say an already underpaid teacher who is facing foreclosure and who just got a layoff notice.
Can’t have somebody like that saying something that might destroy the atmosphere I’m sure they are working really hard to create.
April 14th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
But Juan, the Appropriations Committee can’t very well go shaking people down for five spots for the MCRC. The purpose of those meetings is to shake down lobbyists for a lot more money.