Economy

This is How Radical Environmental Groups Fleece the Taxpayer and use the Money to Advance their Agenda

Anita Christy

It’s called "Sue and Settle."  Environmental groups work in close coordination with government officials.  They sue the government agency to change environmental policy.  The agency being sued uses "mediation" in a process to avoid a public court hearing.  The lawsuit is settled for thousands of dollars, including attorney’s fees, and the environmental policy is changed.  All of this is done behind closed doors. No public disclosure.  No legislative involvement.  

 
Take a look at the chart below titled ESA (Endangered Species Act) Litigation Expenditures by Organization to see how many millions in taxpayer dollars these radical environmentalists have been paid!

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Thank You to 3 Council Members for Voting NO to the 2012 ICC Building Codes

Anita Christy

Dear Council Members Victor Petersen, Jared Taylor, and Eddie Cook,
Thank you for acknowledging the 65 citizens who, on Nov. 7, 2013, spoke out, sent emails, or put their names on a list objecting to the passage of the 2012 ICC building codes.  Thank you for voting No.  I’m sorry that your 4 colleagues passed the codes, against Gilbert families, self-employed builders, and the Free Market.  To them, Liberty is a quaint philosophy, nothing more. 
Thank you for understanding the issues that many of these citizens have brought to your attention for the last several months about the damage that a proliferation of building codes has done to those who must adhere to them, and to those who must pay for them. 
Thank you for seeing that, no matter how much taxpayer money you spend to “train the bureaucracy to be consistent,” you are only adding an ineffective government fix to a government-induced problem.  There will never be consistency within Gilbert, and there will never be consistency among jurisdictions.  Yet, the myth prevails.  Thanks for not believing it.   
Thank you for realizing that the SBA, Chamber of Commerce, and SRP do not speak for Gilbert families. The SBA has been right on many issues, but unfortunately, not on this one.  I doubt if most SBA and Chamber of Commerce members could tell you what ICC stands for, let alone be able to offer an educated opinion about it.   Those who profit financially from higher priced products might like them, however.  Money and power does strange things to people with loosely held “principles.”
Thank you for honestly appreciating the time, effort, research, and meetings that the unpaid citizens have spent for months doing their best to educate the rest of the Council members.  These citizens have invested their own personal, private time, which they have taken away from their businesses and families.  I’m sure it has been a sacrifice to their families, who have supported them as they have exerted their Civic Authority.  These citizens remind me of something I read once.  It’s obvious that you are familiar with this sentence:  –And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
Thank you for understanding that some people in the construction industry are delighted with the code mandates because it means more profit for them.  I know this is true, because, as the previous owners of a swimming pool service and repair business, my husband and I stood to make 5 and 6 times more commission by selling energy efficient variable speed motors.  I fought against that legislation, at my own expense, because our customers trusted us to provide the best product for the best price.  The variable speeds are a sham.  We refused to “fleece” our customers and cowardly hide behind “It’s not our fault.  It’s those darned regulations.”  Our customers didn’t even know about our fight, nor did they care.  But we knew, we cared, and so did our God. 
Thank you for understanding that the Free Market responds to an ever changing building/construction environment in an instant, and it adjusts quickly.  The ICC’s codes take years to catch up.  A mandated code can be faulty, worthless, or even dangerous, but “it’s code,” so the law prevails anyway.
Mostly, thank you for recognizing the Truth.  This fight hasn’t been about the newest, best, safest, most energy efficient and greenest building materials.  It has been a fight between Centralized Governance versus Individual Self Governance.  The building/construction experts throughout this battle have been fighting for Liberty and Individual Self Governance.
In the name of God, Family, and Civic Duty
Anita Christy
Gilbert Watch
For More Information:

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Latest Election Results Indicate Major Override Defeats!!

Anita Christy

As of last night, November 5, at 9:47 pm, according to Maricopa County’s Election Results, it appears that many Maricopa County voters have tired of passing school district property tax overrides and school tax bonds.  They rose up and said, "Enough! Get your fiscal house in order!"  
It’s one thing to be on the correct side of an issue, but it takes teamwork, intelligence, hard work, integrity, and persistence to get the correct side presented to the public.  The activists presenting their case in several East Valley school districts made themselves heard.  From having worked with the No to the Override Gilbert group, I can tell you that they were outspent,.  Their signs were stolen, vandalized, and sliced up.  The Mayor of Gilbert and Town Council member Eddie Cook were against them.  A group funded by organizations like Core Construction fought against them.  
Not only did a dedicated core group of Gilbert residents fight off this override, but also a magnificent group of elderly people who regularly attend Randy Hatch’s Arizona Red Mountain Patriots battled.  They live in Mesa, but are in the Gilbert School District and pay plenty in property taxes.  They organized community meetings and encouraged their fellow seniors to Vote No!.   
The following school district overrides and bond issues went down in defeat:  
Gilbert 
Higley
Queen Creek
Scottsdale
Unfortunately, Mesa and Phoenix continue going down the path of self-destruction.  (Mesa Mayor Scott Smith has no business being the Governor of Arizona!) 
Chandler’s override win is based on an extremely small margin of just 64 votes!  This one definitely isn’t over.  
See Maricopa County Election Results
Pinal County has reported that many of their school district overrides bit the dust, too.  

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2013 Guide to School District Overrides & Bond Measures

Anita Christy

by Tom Jenney
Arizona Director
Americans for Prosperity
www.aztaxpayers.org
tjenney@afphq.org
(602) 478-0146
 
To all Arizona Taxpayers and Parents:

Odds are good that your local school district is holding a budget override election today — Tuesday, November 5. 

Before you vote, we strongly urge you read AFP-Arizona’s Guide to School District Overrides and Bond Measures.  Here is a short URL:  http://tinyurl.com/azoverride13.

Before voting for a budget override, AFP-Arizona urges taxpayers to find out how much money is already available within their districts, and how much money the district could already get into its classrooms, with current resources. 

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Think Twice Before Voting Yes to Property Tax Overrides

Anita Christy

Before you "generously and compassionately" vote to give your local school district more money (property tax override), remember that you are taking it away from your own family, not to mention your neighbor’s.  Do you carefully assess and prioritize every spending item in your family’s budget?   Doesn’t your local school district have a fiscal responsibility to do the same?
The truth is, our economy is not "recovering."  Unemployment is not a low 7.3%.   Inflation is not low, either.  If you believe otherwise, you might want to stop listening to the federal government and its mouthpiece, the mainstream media. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel all right.  
It’s a TRAIN.  
Here are a few articles that tell the truth.

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Open Letter to Gilbert Voters: When Government Expands, Freedom is Lost

Anita Christy

by Jeff Smith
LD12 Precinct Committeeman
I’ve heard the most potent arguments in favor of the tax increase known as the “override” and, as a conservative, I’m not at all convinced. 
Last November the voters of this community resoundingly defeated the override.  Now the school board has decided we all need another bite at the apple, although this time in an off-cycle election that will cost the taxpayers $328,000. 
While the rest of us have seen our home values and incomes reduced in recent years, and made commensurate cuts to our household budgets, the board has voted to give raises and is now asking for another tax increase, in an effort to completely insulate the school district from any of the negative economic effects the rest of us are dealing with.
We’re told that there’s no “hidden pot of money.”  Assuming that’s true, it’s most likely due to inefficiency, waste, and corruption.  The fact is, growth of per pupil spending in GPS has dramatically outpaced inflation over the last 11 years, even as the % of dollars spent in the classroom has decreased.  The district has had additional override funds at its disposal for the last 5 years, so if there’s no rainy day fund, it isn’t due to a lack of funding from the taxpayers.  The lack of reserves speaks more to mismanagement of the budget than it does to any dire need for higher taxes. 

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If we are in an Economic Recovery, Why are Major Corporations Firing Thousands?

Anita Christy

Do your elected officials, including city and town council members, school board members, state legislators, and the entire United States Congress and President continue believing we have 7.3% unemployment?  Is that why they want to give foreign nationals work permits?  Is that why they pass out raises to government employees?  Is that why they are sending tax overrides and tax bonds to the voters in an off-season election that most voters aren’t aware of?  
Where do they get their junk unemployment numbers?  From the federal government?  From the Leftist media?  
Do they live in an economic vacuum, or are they just stupid?  Or both? 
The first paragraph of this article found on Zero Hedge should be sobering.  
Please click the “Read More” link below for the rest of the story.

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If the Economy is “Recovering,” why are so many Companies Laying off Workers?

Anita Christy

I keep hearing and reading "statistics" that report that the American economy is recovering….ever so slightly.  Which companies?  Manufacturing?  Small businesses?  The oil industry?  Banking?  Who are they?
Gilbert public employees got a huge raise recently, and Gilbert plans to hire more government workers.  Gilbert school teachers got a small raise.  But growing government destroys wealth.  Private workers create wealth.
If you know of some private, not-tax-subsidized companies that are hiring massive amounts of employees, please let me know!  
In the meantime, here is a sampling of private industries that are laying off workers.  
Bank of America said to cut 2,100 workers in Mortgage Slump.
Mortgage lenders are paring staff as higher interest rates discourage refinancing and cast doubt on how long the housing market rebound will last. Wells Fargo & Co., the biggest U.S. home lender, plans more than 2,300 job cuts, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. may dismiss 15,000. Bank of America’s pending home loans fell 5 percent at the end of June from the previous quarter.
 
Citi Plans to Lay off 2,200 in Mortgage Unit 
Bankrupt Furniture Brands plans Massive Lay-offs
Barnabas Health Lays off Employees, Cites Healthcare Reform
Barnabas Health, the second-largest private employer in the state, said today it was forced to lay off employees because of pressures brought about by healthcare reform.

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