A friend of mine is working the campaign for one of the ballot propositions. She was working on signs for her effort and was trying out slogans. I suggested “Stop Sharia Law!” It had nothing to do with what she was working on, but I figured that it would confuse right wingers.
The folks pushing 302 have gone and done one nearly like that. “Stop Wasteful Government Spending.” The part that they don’t tell you is that the “Wasteful Government Spending” is the First Things First program. First Things First funds programs that do things like health screenings for young children and train people involved in care for and education for the very young. They call it waste, most of the rest of us call it a necessary part of making sure kids are ready for school.
The folks pushing for this are claiming that without First Things First, this money could be spent on, according to both of their deceptive websites (here and here), things like full day kindergarten, KidsCare and childcare subsidies. This is laughable for so many reasons, not the least of which is that the major funding for this campaign is coming from the Arizona Tax Research Association, which actively lobbies against these programs. The legislators that pushed for getting this thing on the ballot have been trying to cut these programs for years. It strains all sense to think that Russell Pearce and company would suddenly be excited to fund children’s programs if this passes.
The people of Arizona voted to tax themselves to pay for First Things First. The tax, by the way will still exist, it’s just that the legislature will be able to spend it as they please. They are claiming that First Things First is an unsuccessful, useless program. One has to wonder, then, why they fought so hard to keep the words “First Things First” out of the ballot language. Could it be that the program is, well, popular and successful?
I suppose I should cut these guys a break. “Stop the Goverment From Spending Money the Way You Told Them to and Let the Legislature Spend It the Way They Want Because They Have Shown Themselves to Be So Freakin’ Caring and Competent” would have been hard to fit on the sign.
4 Comments
You forgot “Kids First! Yes on 302!”
They even have a thouroughly dishonest web site that seems to have been laid out by the author of many best-selling coloring books:
http://kidsfirstaz.com/
Some people have absolutely no concern for their souls in the afterlife.
I was about to bring up what Tom mentioned above: Kids First–Yes on 302.
I’m ready to drive over these effing signs.
You know, I used to think the legislature had an anti-education agenda in Phx, now I think it’s more, it’s an anti-kid agenda too. Ironic–since their all pro-life.
You forgot the mailer telling people to support Steve Stoltz, as “The Real Conservative” for Congress. The AZ Democrat Party used this most deceptive & shameful tactic in its direct mail campaign to siphon off voters from Jesse Kelly.
How many times have AZ libs balled their eyes out during the past few months about the “fake Green Party candidates” that “Republicans set up to take away votes from Democrats”? This is hilarious. But, I err in assuming that the Democrat Party is capable of shame for its hypocrisy.
Anyway, about the mailer, I know that it’s not a political sign. But the mailer is a sign that the Democrats are getting very scared & desperate. The funny thing about it is that it could have the exact opposite affect from what was intended.
First, for anyone who thought that Giffords was somehow ahead in this race, the AZ lib Dem Party was just kind enough to make sure that you doubt it.
Second, Democrats have been trying to paint Jesse Kelly as the most extreme of right-wing extremists. Now, they have just made him the candidate in the middle between the extreme left-wing Giffords & their new extreme right-winger, the libertarian, Steve Stoltz. This does two things: it makes Kelly much more “electable” in the minds of people who might not want to vote for “extremists”; and it makes AZ Democrats & the Gabby Giffords campaign lose all of their credibility when it comes to painting Jesse Kelly as the extremist. (Actually scratch that last part, I accidentally implied that AZ Democrats & the Giffords campaign ever had credibility.)
I saw that sign in Phoenix two weeks ago. Not surprisingly, they littered Camelback Road from the Biltmore area into Scottsdale and then up Scottsdale Road to Paradise Valley. It made me ill, but not too ill to note the irony of the one posted outside the Phoenician Resort next to the McCain sign. Strange how short memories are and how people of differing political opinions define government waste.