District #18 Republican Meeting Minutes 10/23/03
The meeting began at 7:05 p.m. at the Mesa Community College library as usual. Congressman Jeff Flake was introduced. Flake spoke about the legal framework he would like to implement for immigrants to come to the United States to work and then go home. He said we need a comprehensive solution to address all issues rather than addressing different issues individually. He was met with aggressive questioning and challenging.
Next it was announced JT Ready has become the Mesa College Republicans president. This allows our district to use our meeting room free of charge.
Then upcoming events were announced. Our November meeting will be moved up a week to the 20th due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
On Tuesday, December 2nd there will be a free Christmas BBQ party catered by Waldo’s instead of a monthly meeting. It will include East Valley Republicans from six districts. It will be held at the Kirk Student Center in the Navajo Room at 6 p.m. Each family should bring a dessert in a disposable container.
There will be no District #18 meetings in December or January.
Then, on the first and third Saturday of January, there will be meetings in the MCC student union for state and county precinct committeemen to vote for county and state elections.
The annual Republican Lincoln Day Dinner is set for Thursday, February 12, 2004. It will be held in Phoenix and will cost $18.50 per person.
Next, Senator Mark Anderson began his update by discussing Child Protective Services. He said he hopes for a resolution regarding its revamping and budgeting next week. He said Arizona’s CPS has a much lower work load than other agencies nationwide with an average of 12 cases per worker.
Then he spoke of the Abstinence Education program cuts. He recounted how the opposition published a press release about how expensive it would be to print the report, so he announced a press conference for Monday morning. He said 18 other states take private donations, but have to prove to the governor a decrease in teen thereby saving the state money.
There followed a presentation regarding the funding of Maricopa County’s freeway system and the continuation of the 1980’s ˝-cent RARF sales tax. The tax goes away in 2005. Halfway into 2007 the freeways should be done. A 20-year extension may be on the November ballot. They will need to continue to widen and add arteries due to population growth. The panel of experts included Don Stapley, chairman of the Board of Supervisors; Rep. Gary Pierce, chairman of the transportation committee; Rock Arnett, ADOT head; John Semmens, ADOT engineer; and Mesa’s Mayor Keno Hawker. Hawker emphasized his fight for an equal return on our tax investment. Stapley said too much money is going to light rail and maintaining it will be exorbitant, but Tempe and Phoenix want it. Semmens compared the costs of the transportation choices and stated the roads were the cheapest. He said impact studies showed light rail has the worst fatality rate because it creates traffic problems, it increases congestion, it removes access to businesses, and it increases pollution.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:58 p.m.
Dawn Peltzer
Recording Secretary, Republican District #18
11/19/03