When you hear Ruben Gallego’s Senate campaign ads, you might think he’s an outsider taking on the Biden-Harris administration’s policies. In reality, Gallego has been in Congress for ten years, fully backing the Biden-Harris agenda. Over the last four years, he voted with them 100% of the time.
Gallego is now trying to reposition himself for the general election, just like Harris, by running away from his record. But don’t be misled. He is a radical progressive with strong support from Alex Soros, the son of billionaire George Soros.
Gallego shares Soros’s radical views, including being anti-police and soft on crime. He’s even praised those wanting to defund the police, abolish ICE, and eliminate cash bail.
Gallego calls the border wall “stupid” and “useless,” and he mocks those of us who are concerned about 11 million illegals entering our country. According to Gallego, we shouldn’t worry about the hundreds of thousands of drug overdose deaths, the increase in violent crime, sex trafficking, and threats from potential terrorists allowed to enter America. We should look the other way when illegal violent gangs take over apartment buildings and terrorize American citizens in major U.S. cities.
While he decries “right-wing policies” for separating families at the border, Gallego backs Biden-Harris policies that have lost track of over 300,000 unaccompanied minors, with many likely falling into sex trafficking, child labor, or even killed. The Biden-Harris administration has no idea where they are.
Gallego says while in Congress, he has been at the forefront of sensible, comprehensive immigration reform. He claims several bills have passed the House only to be blocked by Senate Republicans. He fails to mention that he voted against H.R.2 – Secure the Border Act of 2023, which passed the House only to be blocked by Schumer in the Senate. He voted for mass amnesty for millions of illegals and for federal funding for sanctuary cities, and Gallego opposes the Remain in Mexico policy.
Ruben Gallego supports the Harris plan to extend Social Security and Medicare benefits to illegal immigrants, which would cost taxpayers millions.
He has had years to address these issues in Congress, but his record shows a consistent push for policies that have worsened the problems. Now he promises change, but with his track record, why should we believe him?
On the economic front, Gallego voted for the Biden-Harris administration’s trillions in reckless spending that fueled inflation and rising prices. Under Biden-Harris, overall inflation is up 19.2%, average gas prices are up 46.6%, grocery prices are up 20.9%, electricity prices are up 29.6%, and real hourly wages are down 2.2%.
Now, despite this record, while running for the Senate after four years of voting for massive spending and billions in higher taxes, he promises to tackle cost-of-living issues and empower workers.
Gallego’s campaign ads say he has pushed back against his own party and has plans to fix all the problems caused by his continued support of the Biden-Harris administration. Does anyone believe that a former congressman, who would be the junior Senator from Arizona, with a track record of voting 100% in support of radical Democrat policies, will somehow become transformed and now vote against the Harris agenda? Not likely.
Just like Harris, the radical Gallego will say anything to get elected.
The overwhelming majority of Americans want a change. Voting for the same people who caused the problems and expecting things to change is foolish.
Radical Ruben Gallego is wrong on the economy and taxes, wrong on crime, and wrong on the border.
Mike Bengert is a husband, father, grandfather, and Scottsdale resident advocating for quality education in SUSD for over 30 years.
Human nature always seems to make most people want something for very little, if any, effort. When someone comes along and makes promises that seem to be able to relieve pains or struggles to make ends meet or to gratify our desires for the comforts of life, we somehow don’t think of the cost in dollars—or in our liberty. We just want it and wanting it makes us feel good about the magical future. People who want to get people to believe this way and to vote accordingly are sometimes called Marxists.
Marxism is the belief that the accumulation of capital is evil and that capital and property is what makes the wealthy take advantage of those who have less than the so-called capitalists. The whole effort of Marxists, then, is to convince the “laborers” that they deserve their fair share of the wealth and that the force of government should be employed to make it happen, so that all are equally enjoying prosperity and the comforts of life. It is a gross deception.
Sadly, we have recent historical examples of how this Marxist philosophy works in real life. There’s the Marxist Vladimir Lenin taking over Russia, or the Marxist Mao Zedong taking over China, or the Marxist Fidel Castro taking over Cuba.
Cuba had been the sugar-producing capital of the hemisphere, with huge farms and mechanized equipment to be able to provide millions of Cubans with employment. Then, along came the Marxist Fidel Castro who promised each worker their own plot of ground to do as they wished. What a dream! When the government was overthrown and Castro was in charge, they began to distribute the land equally. But the people soon realized they could not afford to buy the equipment necessary to keep up the production as before, so they had to work their two acres of ground by hand to survive. They had been deceived. But it was too late. The Marxists, in whom they had great hope, were now in charge, and the only ones living comfortably were the Marxists – the Deceivers. Russia and China had already experienced the same Marxist fate.
Now comes 2024, and another candidate in Kamala Harris who sounds a lot like the three Marxists noted above. She wants to create an “Opportunity economy where everyone has a chance to compete and a chance to succeed.” She wants to lower costs for middle class Americans for everyday needs like health care, housing, and groceries. She wants to give homebuyers $25,000. Where is she going to get the money to pay for all this?
The answer is simple. She is going to confiscate the capital from those who have it through higher taxes on income, property, and yes, even unrealized gains! Apparently, it sounds so good to those who want to live by the sweat of another man’s brow. But, as history teaches us, it is only a deceptive dream. It is against the laws of nature. It will end in disaster for America. And by the way, just like the case of Lenin, Mao, and Castro, Kamala Harris has never built a business and created jobs for anyone outside of government. She has no idea of how to build a lasting economy. It is no wonder that she falls in line with the thinking of her Marxist father. She was trained that way. Her theme is “A New Way Forward.” Mao’s theme was a “Great Leap Forward.” It is gross deception.
America was redeemed from the tyranny of Europe by the shedding of blood. If America ever loses the fragile freedoms we now have by embracing the deceptive, failed system of Marxism, who knows what it will take to get it back?
Arizona voters should be able to have complete trust in their elected officials to conduct themselves honorably, ethically, and lawfully in every matter concerning our sacred elections.
Too bad Secretary of State Adrian Fontes never got the memo.
In the midst of firing off baseless attacks against our organization after a court ruled in our favor against his radical Elections Procedures Manual, Fontes found a new way to violate the ethics of his office…and maybe the law.
Last week, in an unexpected, politically motivated, and potentially unlawful use of taxpayer dollars, Fontes filed a brief at the Arizona Supreme Court in an effort to ensure that votes for Prop 140 are counted in the November General Election—regardless of its eventual legality.
Think about that for a moment. By filing this brief, Adrian Fontes—the top election official in our state—unequivocally signaled his position that 40,000 duplicate signatures should be ignored and counted in favor of passing Prop 140. In short, this means that for Fontes, the ends justify the means to ensure that Arizona adopts a California-style election scheme that includes ranked-choice voting and jungle primaries. But that shouldn’t come as much of surprise…because it’s exactly what he’s been working for…
“I am not a charter school fan,” Joe Biden declared in his 2020 presidential campaign. That’s disappointing, but not surprising, coming from the self-declared “most pro-union president” in history.
His would-be successor, Kamala Harris, claims to still be equivocating, as is her wont, over her position on charter schools. But she has the enthusiastic support of the teachers’ unions, so that’s a bad sign too.
Her dilemma is that the teachers’ unions, the political partners of the Democrats, are dead set in their opposition to charter schools for two reasons. They expose the education failures of the union-dominated district schools, and most charter school teachers aren’t unionized and therefore don’t pay union dues.
Charter schools, first created in the 1990s, are publicly funded but independently administered. They don’t charge tuition and aren’t allowed to “cherry-pick” the best students.
Charter school opponents once could claim that charter schools “don’t work” to improve academic outcomes. But we know now that this is simply not the case.
Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) released a 2023 report tracking charter school outcomes over 15 years. The study covered 2 million charter school students in 29 states with a control group in district schools. It is arguably the most comprehensive, credible study ever done of charter schools.
The conclusion was decisive. Most charter schools “produce superior student gains despite enrolling a more challenging student population.”
CREDO’s first study in 2009 showed no improvement in student outcomes from charters, a result still cited as evidence that charters fail to help those deemed “uneducable” by some. But each subsequent CREDO report has shown improvement and superior performance overall.
New York charter school students gained 75 days reading improvement and 73 in math each year compared with traditional schools. In Washington state, the numbers were 29 days in reading and 30 in math. In Illinois, it was 40 in reading, 48 in math.
The recent study also showed that black and Hispanic students achieved disproportionately large gains. A section in the CREDO report described several “gap-busting schools” which educate students from underprivileged backgrounds to perform at the same level as white peers. So much for the myth of “uneducable” students.
The overall statistics would be even better if not for the 15% of charter schools that underperform their local district schools. The telling difference is that failing charter schools can be and are closed. Failing district schools just keep on failing year after year.
There is even more good news. Charter schools benefit even those students who do not attend them. According to an analysis by the Fordham Foundation, at least 12 studies indicate that the scores for all publicly enrolled students in a geographic region rise when the number of charter schools increases. Moreover, neighboring schools which don’t experience academic improvement often showed progress in school attendance and behavioral problems due to competing with charters.
The reason is obvious. The mere presence of choices for parents breaks the district school monopoly. Competition brings more accountability and a “customer orientation” that benefits everybody.
It’s no coincidence that, while traditional public schools have lost students, charter schools have gained over 300,000 students over the last five years. But the institutional opponents of the charter schools are unmoved by the good news. The growth of charters would undoubtedly be even greater if not for the relentless opposition of the teachers’ union/Democratic Party axis.
Ironically, for charter school opponents, charters are highly popular with the working class, ethnic minority constituencies they claim to champion. A poll this May by Democrats for Education Reform found that 80% of black parents and 71% of Hispanics had a favorable view of charters, as well they should.
But the teachers’ unions don’t give away their formidable political support, and they clearly dominate educational policy making with today’s Democrats. The Biden/Harris administration has continued a program of budget cuts and onerous regulations for charter schools, including a proposed reduction for the Charter Schools Program, which provides grants and was even supported by the Clinton and Obama administrations.
The Democrats – and all of us – have a clear choice to make between the needs of students versus the demands of the teachers’ unions.
Dr. Thomas Patterson, former Chairman of the Goldwater Institute, is a retired emergency physician. He served as an Arizona State senator for 10 years in the 1990s, and as Majority Leader from 93-96. He is the author of Arizona’s original charter schools bill.
Every election for the Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) Governing Board the Scottsdale Education Association (SEA) teachers’ union endorses candidates. This year is no exception. But this time they may have outdone themselves with this slate of unqualified, activist candidates.
None of these SEA-endorsed candidates feels the need to make any changes in SUSD. In fact, according to their campaign website, they are running to, in their words, “protect” the district. From whom? You, of course, and anyone else who might point out declining enrollment, declining proficiency scores, increasing ESA participation in a run for the exits, and, of course, increasingly dissatisfied parents and students who stay behind.
From August 2021 to August 2024, SUSD lost over 2,200 students, nearly 10% of the enrollment. In 2023, SUSD had over 8,000 students who were NOT proficient in ELA, over 9,000 who were NOT proficient in math, and over 12,000 students who were NOT proficient in science. Dr. Menzel failed to meet even one of his academic performance goals last year. But he got a raise.
How can any reasonable, objective observer who cares about the quality of education in Scottsdale see these metrics and decide, I will run for school board to ensure more of the same for my kids? How can any reasonable, objective voter support this?
One of these SEA-endorsed candidates, Mike Sharkey, seems to be against parents having rights when it comes to educating their children. He wants parents to step aside and leave it up to the experts and trained professionals who know better.
In announcing his candidacy, he said:
“Over the last few years, there’s been an uptick in the ‘parents rights’ movement….This is the notion that parents are best situated to make educational and healthcare decisions for their kids.”
He doesn’t want parents involved in healthcare decisions for their children, one of the most fundamental duties of a parent. Mr. Sharkey says to leave that to the professionals as well.
Of course, after a major outcry on social media, he removed those words. But don’t be fooled. As we all know, someone’s first comments are what they truly believe.
Another SEA-endorsed candidate, Donna Lewis, has an abysmal record of academic achievement in a district of less than 25% the size of SUSD when she was superintendent and has a reputation as a bully. Listen for yourself.
Great choice SEA.
The final candidate, Matt Pittinsky is the CEO of a company (Parchment) that provides transcript services to SUSD. Click here and see for yourself.
It gets better. Parchment is part of a larger organization that provides educational software to schools and professional development training for teachers and school administrators. Will we see new contracts in the future?
As a candidate who professes to respect parents and the community, it would be nice if he would disclose this potential conflict upfront, so the voters know before they vote.
We deserve better than a governing board committed to “protecting” Dr. Menzel with his dismal academic record at SUSD and his failed policies. This November let’s start building a “strong” SUSD focused on academic achievement, fiscal responsibility, parental rights, and the safety of all our students and staff.
Mike Bengert is a husband, father, grandfather, and Scottsdale resident advocating for quality education in SUSD for over 30 years.
Tonight, the presidential candidates will have their first debate. But there is one critical election issue the American people are not debating at all. They agree that non-U.S. citizens should not vote in U.S. elections.
This is a convenient opinion for Americans to hold as it is also the law.
The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) and other federal codes and state constitutions require that only citizens vote in our elections. This is unequivocal. It is in writing. It is common sense.
The problem with laws is that people break them — including noncitizens who commit one federal crime by registering to vote and then another by actually voting. But because federal statutes are silent on requiring documentary proof of citizenship for either step, states have not demanded citizenship proof for voter registration on federal forms.
These registration forms are provided to people applying for a driver’s license or state ID with no consideration to whether that person is a citizen or not. And the entire citizen “confirmation” process is an innocuous checkbox on the federal form that many registrants fill in just because it’s there.
For noncitizen newcomers not proficient in English, all they know is that a government official handed them a form to fill out with a box to check — or that a liberal activist group told them to check it.
Election at Risk
Earlier this year, Tea Party Patriots commissioned a poll of citizens who vote regularly and found that 86 percent believe “proof of U.S. citizenship should be required to register to vote in American elections” and “only U.S. citizens should vote in elections in America.”
Who is the clueless other 13 percent? Leftwing political elites, their friends in the deceitful media, and the current occupants of the White House and vice president’s mansion, that’s who.
How do we know this? By following the SAVE Act and seeing who opposes it.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives in July, hung out for a while in the do-nothing Senate, and may now bounce back to the House as an add-on to a must-pass bill.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and congressional Republicans acknowledge that noncitizens are registering to vote in numbers not seen before — and those illegal votes, cast in specific cities or counties, could sway the entire federal election.
The SAVE Act closes federal loopholes that allow noncitizens to register to vote by requiring election officials to ask about citizenship during registration, and potential registrants to provide documentary proof of citizenship. It gives states unfettered access to existing federal databases to check citizenship status against voter rolls.
It is a “must pass” all by itself — to protect our constitutional republic where the people’s will should matter most.
SAVE the Vote
Noncitizens aren’t the only ones paying consequences for unlawful registration and voting. Punishments include jail, fines, and immediate removal procedures. Naturalization is also permanently denied for applicants who show up on voter rolls, and they are subject to deportation.
Then there’s the American voter. Every time a noncitizen illegally votes — intentionally or unknowingly — a citizen’s ballot is removed from the count. Americans have clearly signaled they know this is happening, they don’t like it, and they do not want to pay that price.
But there is nothing in law allowing action against election officials who fail to uphold laws on citizenship requirements, or DMV bureaucrats who knowingly hand voter registration forms to noncitizens. The SAVE Act will empower citizens to bring civil suits in these cases and includes penalties for those enabling or encouraging noncitizens to register and to vote.
Progressive politocrats and their media friends offer two deceptive talking points about noncitizen voting.
One is “It’s against the law anyway.” It is also against the law to steal a car, commit murder, and jaywalk. But perhaps worse is their casual quip, dripping with moral relativism, that illegal immigrants voting “is not widespread.”
Both these ridiculous notions can be easily repudiated.
Proof
The federal government recently indicted a group of noncitizens from 15 countries on federal voting charges. Virginia recently purged 6,500 noncitizens from its voter rolls. Texas removed 6,300 people — 30% of whom had voting records. A 2014 academic journal reported that 6.4% of noncitizens voted in 2008.
There are about 24 million noncitizens currently in the U.S. If they voted only at the same rate of 6.4% this year as they did in 2008, they would account for 1.5 million votes.
Within 39 months of the Biden/Harris administration (including our “border czar”) coming into office, the foreign-born population of our nation increased by 6.6 million; at least 4.6million of those are illegal immigrants.
Flyers have been found being widely distributed on the Mexican side of the U.S.\Mexican border encouraging illegal immigrants to vote for Biden in 2024. Biden issued Executive Order 14019 in March 2021, demanding anyone approaching the federal government for services (with no citizenship caveats) be provided a voter registration form. The Biden/Harris administration officially opposes the SAVE Act. Is all of that coincidence? And what could possibly go wrong?
If we learned nothing else from the presidential election of 2020, we know Americans of both political parties are profoundly disturbed by foreign interference of any kind in our elections.
Noncitizen voting is foreign influence.
We live in a representative republic. It’s beyond time our representatives listen to what we are telling them about the sanctity of our elections. Let’s get on with ensuring that only Americans vote in American elections.
Kerri Toloczko is the executive director of Election Integrity Network and senior advisor to the Only Citizens Vote Coalition. Both of these nonprofit organizations are dedicated to protecting all ballots and ensuring that elections follow the law. They are also leading organizers of the 2024 Only Citizens Vote Week, which runs from September 15 to September 21.
