(Survey Closed) This survey was created by a relentlessly curious private citizen blogger, and is in no way reflective of the views of the Tucson Tea Party, its membership, or any candidate or campaign.

UPDATE 4/1/12 – The Results:

• The participants of the survey were 89% Republican; Independents made up 9%.

• Given a list of the four Republican candidates running in the Primary, 67% of Independent voters surveyed said they would consider voting for Martha McSally. The other 33% surveyed would consider voting for Frank Antenori. None of the surveyed registered Independents indicated they were considering voting for Jesse Kelly or Dave Sitton.

• Question #4 asked registered Republicans taking the survey if they plan to vote in the Primary on April 17, 2012, and 99% of them said Yes. The majority of those participating Republicans voting in the Primary have already made up their mind about which candidate they will vote for:  46% of Republican Primary voters surveyed are voting for Frank Antenori; 23% of Republican Primary voters surveyed are voting for Martha McSally; 13% of Republican Primary voters surveyed are voting for Dave Sitton; 8% of Republican Primary voters surveyed are voting for Jesse Kelly. Only 8% have not yet decided on a candidate. Question #10 reflected similar outcomes.

• 83% of surveyed Republicans will vote for the Nominee in the special General Election on June 12, 2012, whether or not that candidate was their Primary pick. Another 16% said “maybe” when asked if they would vote for the Nominee.

Finally, participants had the option of leaving comments. Here are a few of those responses:

• It is a shame there is very little news on the Internet about this race. Most everything is about the 2010 CD 8 race. 
• Frank Antenori convinced the Arizona Senate—which is Maricopa-County-centric—to make him the majority whip, the #2 post in the Senate. That’s proof that Frank has leverage with the state legislature—leverage he can use in Washington. 
• The Tea Party message should be the economy and economic freedom. To the extent that a candidate panders to the religious/social right, they will lose votes among everybody else. 
• If just one candidate (regardless of party) would support our Constitution unconditionally, the choice would be real easy. With the current candidates it will be a choice of lesser evil but still a vote for evil. Not very motivating. Unfortunately there’s no Libertarian candidate in the race.

Notes: This unscientific survey was intended to engage the citizenry and pose questions that might spark interest in the special CD8 election. The survey opened on 3/22/12 and closed on 3/31/12. Only participants registered to vote in Arizona’s CD8 were included in the sample. Duplicate votes from the same IP address were discarded. Some participants identified their party registration and erroneously voted on questions designed for other party affiliations, so their duplicate votes were discarded. 100 unique responses were collected and analyzed. The survey was open to the general public and should not be considered a sampling of tea party members, nor is it an endorsement of any candidate.

Now, more than ever, is when we need our leaders to have honesty, responsibility, integrity, and trustworthiness. In short we need our country’s leaders to have good character so that they can lead us through the tough times with honor, honesty, integrity, reliability and responsibility. We can’t afford more of the same lying, cheating, and stealing that got us to this point in the first place.

An honorable character is the most important quality a leader like the President of The United States can have, and asking some tough questions will help determine which candidate running for the top office in the land has it. Here are two questions that bring the character picture into sharp focus.

Who caused the current economic crisis?

Contrary to unproven yet popular media and Democratic claims that Republican deregulation caused the problem, it was really the lack of ethics and good character on the part of Democratic members of congress that caused it. People who are yelling the loudest like Barney Frank and Barrack Obama acted to protect Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEO’s who were defrauding their companies. They did it by refusing to pass legislation from Senator McCain and others, which was (shocker here) attempting to “regulate” and “oversee” Fannie/Freddie. Under the guise of providing homes for the poor (meaning people who could not keep up house payments) the Democrats in congress consistently killed every attempt by Republicans to regulate the two renegade companies which continued to run amok, almost taking the rest of the country down the drain with them!

Who has the character to fix the economic crisis?

The answer to this question would have to be: the candidate that has shown the most consistent moral character not just during this campaign, but during his entire life and career. The candidate to vote for would have to be the candidate who has worked to clean up corruption and reform excessive entitlement spending, the candidate who has consistently put the interests of the people of the United States before party and before personal gain, the man who has the bright vision for America’s prosperous future that includes people at all levels of our society. There is only one candidate that fits this bill and it is up to each of us to recognize him and cast our vote for him.

The current administration has not shown the moral fiber to stop corruption, not once. In fact when they had the chance, Obama and Biden did nothing to regulate Fannie/Freddie and indeed defended their unsound business practices. Later Obama even took advice on economic matters from the corrupt ousted CEO’s of Fannie/Freddie, Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson, and accepted record donations from Fannie/Freddie employees. Now Obama and Biden not only refuse to admit to their part in the 2008 crisis, they also falsely blame GOP’s general stance toward deregulation for the entire mess.

If that was not enough the current administration not only did nothing to hasten an economic recovery, it did everything in its power to slow down recovery through direct government intervention. The Obama administration adopted a monetary policy that increased the quantity of money in circulation thus devaluing our currency. This action has had far reaching effects on all sectors of the economy especially the key energy sector. The U.S. dollar is the official currency of oil; therefore devaluing it has put direct upward pressure on the price of oil and by extension the gas that we put in our cars. When the cost of fuel rises, so do the costs of production and transportation on all goods from food to cars, making everything we buy more expensive. In the meantime the current administration has seen fit to throw away billions of taxpayer dollars into unproven ‘green’ energy technology companies that have since gone bankrupt. One such company, Solyndra, is known to have been founded and headed by an Obama campaign fundraising bundler. More such companies keep coming to light each showing varying degrees of collusion with the Obama campaign and later administration. The Obama administration has shown deliberate prejudice against gas, oil and mineral exploration and pressed an undue and unprecedented burden of regulation on gas and oil companies in an admittedly deliberate effort to raise the prices of gas, oil, coal and electricity.

People who helped cause the current economic conditions through deliberate actions are not the ones that deserve our trust to fix it because their demonstrated lack of moral character tells us no trust is warranted for such wrongdoers and deniers. Only one candidate deserves our trust and our votes and that is the one whose strong moral character and solid commitment to America stands alone in a political landscape otherwise littered with people who are guilty of ongoing dishonesty and self-dealing. In short we must choose the candidate whose character shows the sharpest possible contrast with that of Obama!

 Here are the deatils:

 Time: Doors Open at 10 am, come early as seating is limited. Event runs until 1:30.

Location: Sabbar Shrine Center 450 S. Tucson Blvd. Tucson, AZ 85716   Map to Sabbar

This event is free, but as always we appreciate any donations you can give in order to offset the cost. To donate, please visit here.

Over the past three years I have heard from many that they would like an opportunity to do more. Now is the time to step up. We have worked with Ralph in setting up some key events coming up in the next few weeks that should once again establish the Tucson Tea Party as a force to be reckoned with. It has been fun to watch Ralph take up the challenge and excel. Don’t let him do this alone. Contact him (tucsonteaparty@yahoo.com) and get involved. You will be very happy with what he has in the works. He will be contacting everyone soon with the Tucson Tea Party’s immediate plans.

That being said, Jennifer and I sincerely want to express our appreciation and love for each and every one of you. You have changed our lives and given us hope for the future of our children and this country. You have given us encouragement, looked past our mistakes, supported us when others deserted, and made this group one of the best Tea Party organizations in the entire country. We have grown and overcome much, developed leadership, and watched our members stand up individually and make a difference. Just a few short years ago, Pima County conservatives did not have the ability to run more than a handful of campaigns. Now we can run dozens over a variety of offices. We have won elections we had no business winning and have had heart-breakers in others.

We are proving to many who have never been exposed to the ideals of the Tea Party, that things can be done differently.

As for the future for Jennifer and I, we plan to help do whatever we can to push the conservative movement forward in Southern Arizona, spend a little more family time, and build up our personal business which has taken a side track to the Tea Party the last few years. Jennifer is also authoring a childrens book set to come out in March of 2012, she would love it if you go check it out.

Here’s to Nothing Less Than Victory in 2012,

Trent and Jennifer Humphries

 Not only is this a great opportunity to help the cause, it is a great tool for growing citizen journalists for 2012 and beyond.

- The Tucson Tea Party was instrumental in the successful election of fiscally conservative state senators and state representatives in three of six local legislative districts.
-Tea Party events open to all candidates, from all political parties, provided candidates a particularly important vehicle to communicate their message and recruit campaign volunteers.
-Your efforts as supporters and volunteers for your candidate helped many candidates get elected to state office.

The Finance Advisory Committee projects a surplus of $143 million for FY2013. The “temporary” one-cent-per-dollar increase in the sales tax expires on May 31, 2013, with one month left in the fiscal year. Economists project that the state will be in the red anywhere from $510 million to $900 million in FY2014.

Our state legislature this past year, balanced the state budget, albeit on the back of an increased state sales tax, with borrowed money, stripping the state’s rainy day fund, and with the use of funds swept from other agency budgets, without RAISING YOUR STATE INCOME TAXES. The 2012 state budget was 20% smaller than the state budget in 2008. Was it a perfect budget? No. Did they make difficult cuts to balance the budget? Yes. Is our state out of trouble yet? NO. Period. Exclamation point!

Our news is saturated with the trials and travails of national politics. It’s very easy to get caught up in these important battles. And, it is necessary. However, your sphere of influence is greatest in your local community. Tucson Tea Party members must at all times, remain equally focused on the actions of our local state legislators.
Your elected representatives, right now, are actively engaged in drafting their personal, and party, legislative agenda’s for the upcoming legislative session. Have you recently communicated to them? Have you asked them what their priorities are? More importantly, have they told you what their priorities are in the next session? Will they restore the state’s “rainy day fund” with our surplus revenues? Will they pay off debt with surplus revenues? Will they budget in such a way as to eliminate the “temporary” sales tax increase? Or, will the prospects of a short lived budget surplus tempt them to spend more?

Do not take anything for granted. Communicate directly with your elected representatives and make sure your Tucson Tea Party values are reflected in their actions. You have more influence here, than you do in the arena of national politics. Keep your eyes on local media for news of your elected representatives strongly supporting “initiatives”, “important projects”, and “vital needs”. Are these code words for new spending? Your common sense, and involvement, is their check and balance.

Here is a link to the State of Arizona’s legislature’s website http://www.azleg.gov/ . There is an easy registration form. No fee is required. You may use this link to query pending bills. You can also query based on an individual legislator. We urge you to learn to use this. Some terms to remember, HB (House bill) HCR (House continuing resolution) HR (House resolution)Note: Resolutions are not binding. Similar terms apply for the state senate. Important note: Many of the bills are introduced last minute. Don’t think that they are not now actively drafting legislation.

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” – James Madison Federalist no. 51

Your Tucson Tea Party is looking forward to an exciting year ahead. Enjoy your holidays! We all have important work to do in 2012.

On this Wednesday December 28th, Take Care of Tucson will be holding a community food drive that will take place from 4-7 PM at two parks near downtown.

They will be collecting food for the Community Food Bank, Cold Wet Noses, Hermitage Cat Shelter and the Humane Society. Volunteers from Trinity of Angels, a non-profit for abused spouses and children will be on hand to help accept donations.

Please help our community in its greatest time of need by dropping off canned and packaged goods at one of the two following locations on December 28 between 4-7 PM.

LET’S HELP THEM FILL THOSE TRUCKS!!

Veinte de Agosto Park
Broadway Blvd and Church Avenue
Tucson, AZ

De Anza Park
Speedway Blvd and Stone Avenue
Tucson, AZ

View the event on facebook!

It does lead one to wonder who is footing the bill for this service?

In the past, TTP has rented these units for $200 a day each.

The good news is that at least when clean-up does take place, hopefully no hazmat suits will be needed.

Additionally, a number of us will bring the sleeping bags and smores and occupy Regina’s office for a few nights as well. There is little difference between a public park and Regina’s office as far as the first amendment is concerned.