Adams vs Crump

Arizona Representative Sam Crump (R) LD 6, was removed as Chairman of the House Government Committee by House Speaker Kirk Adams (R) LD 19, on Monday. Crump and some freshman conservative Republican legislators opposed Speaker Adams over funding for the 21st Century Fund, which was a pet project of former Governor Napolitano.

The Gila Courier Blog, http://www.gilacourier.com/, has identified the freshman conservative representatives as; Carl Seel LD 6, Steve Montenegro LD 12, David Stevens LD 25, Frank Antenori LD 30, and David Gowan LD 30.

The Arizona 21st Century Competitive Initiative Fund ( 21st Century Fund ) was established by law for the statutory purpose to: 1) build and strengthen medical, scientific and, engineering research programs and infrastructure with an emphasis on bioscience and, 2) actively engage scientific research, academic and medical institutions.

The fund is administered by the Commerce and Economic Development Commission of the Arizona Department of Commerce under a Memorandum of Understanding with Science Foundation Arizona (SFAz), a nonprofit corporation.

For those taxpayers who like to know where their tax dollars went: so far they has traveled from the general fund; to the Arizona Department of Commerce under the watchful eye of the Commerce and Economic Development Commission; and then to a nonprofit corporation in the private sector, Science Foundations Arizona.

So what is Science Foundation Arizona? It is a 501 (C) (3) nonprofit corporation formed in 2006 by: Greater Phoenix Leadership Inc., The Southern Arizona Leadership Council and, a group called the Flagstaff 40. In other words, it was formed by some people who think they are somehow elite and own Arizona. They want to use your tax dollars to build and strengthen scientific, medical and engineering research programs to help make Arizona competitive in a global economy. The excuse use to be that your tax dollars were given to the private sector by government because it was, "for the children," now it's, "to make Arizona competitive in a global economy."

The Arizona Legislature and Governor Jan Brewer were forced to cut the Arizona budget by $1.6 billion, including major cuts in education, Department of Corrections, transportation, and across the board cuts for legitimate government functions performed by other state agencies.

The economy is in decline and therefore revenue to the state has been drastically reduced and the state must watch every penny of taxpayer money in order to provide essential governmental services to the people of Arizona, this is not the time to waste tax dollars on nonessential items like the 21st Century Fund. Making Arizona competitive in a global economy may be a worthy goal for the private and public sector, but it shouldn't be funded with your tax dollars. Every citizen is free and encouraged to donate to any charity or non profit they wish to, but government funds are the people's money, it is taken out of the pockets of the people by the force of law and should be used, as Lincoln said, to do those things the people can't do for themselves.

Becky Blackburn, a spokesperson for Speaker Adams, said of Sam Crump, "He was chairman of a key committee and he put his personal interest ahead of those of the caucus." I'm assuming Ms Blackburn is referring to the Republican Caucus, the one that stands for less government and less taxation. Sam Crump happens to be my representative and I was under the impression he works for me and not for the caucus, not for Kirk Adams and, certainly not for some elites who think they can use the people's money for whatever they wish.

The American Conservative Republican agrees with Sam Crump when he said, "I don't want to say we took $120 million out of K-12 education and gave $22 million to the Century Fund."

We salute; the Honorable Frank Antenori, the Honorable Sam Crump, the Honorable David Gowan, the Honorable Steve Montenegro, the Honorable Carl Seel, the Honorable David Stevens and every member of the Arizona legislature who showed the political courage to do what is in the people's best interest when under great pressure to do otherwise, they put country before party and principle before politics, they are all American Conservative Republicans.