Republic Comments on Senator Gorman Idiotic

The Arizona Republic chastised Arizona State Senator Pamela Gorman yesterday for failed leadership when she was Senate Majority Whip.  Yet not two sentences later, they chastise her for not "being a team player."  Huh?

A person who is a leader is by definition not a team player.  Leaders lead, followers are team players.  That the Republic doesn't get this is not surprising, but to be so obviously inept is embarrassing. 

The Republic, always in favor of liberal "ideals," more likely just wanted to throw a few arrows at Gorman because its writers don't understand principled leadership. 

Lighthouse Blog applauds the leadership or Senators Gorman, Gould & Crump for leading the charge against tax increases in the face of intense pressure from political lemmings.

Comments

[Restore Integrity]

Senator Gorman was opposed to tax increases when she first ran for the State House against incumbent Clancy Jayne and was elected overwhelmingly because she said she wouldn't cut "insider deals" and would oppose any and all efforts to raise taxes on Arizonans who already pay too much. She won handily and opposed any and all efforts to raise taxes.

Two years later, then-Representative Pamela Gorman ran against long-term back-bencher (did whatever Speaker told him to do) Ted Carpenter in the Republican primary for the Senate seat. She promised to promote spending cuts, smaller government and oppose any and all efforts to increase taxes on Arizona's working families. She won the primary overwhelmingly. She made the same promises in the general election and won overwhelmingly again.

And then, in 2008, Senator Gorman ran for reelection in the Senate and faced a publicly-funded Democratic opponent. She promised to promote smaller government, spending cuts and oppose any and all efforts to raise taxes. She won by an even greater margin.

Now, in 2009, people (including term-limited, lameduck, rookie President Bob Burns) are surprised that Gorman opposes a $3 billion tax increase on working families? She's been consistent. And as a member of leadership, she supported the program she was elected by her peers to support -- spending cuts, less regulation, pro-growth and OPPOSITION TO ANY TAX INCREASES.

She didn't agree to support "whatever Bob Burns agreed to in secret meetings without asking or consulting the caucus" ... she agreed to support the Republican program that was consistent with the themes on which she ran for office.

When it became apparent that a majority of the caucus was going to roll over under pressure and threats from Burns, Randy Pullen, Chuck Coughlin and Governor Brewer ... Gorman didn't roll over. She stood firm in support of opposing tax increases. Tax-hiking Burns kicked her off the Rules Committee and replaced her with somoene who would vote to raise taxes. Then when Burns ran into trouble in the Appropriations Committee, he kicked her off the Committee because she refused to vote to increase taxes.

Then, Senator Gorman simply determined that if the role of the Majority Whip had changed from supporting the agreed Republican program to supporting whatever Bob Burns agreed to in secret ... she wasn't going to do the job.

In this day and age, what Senator Gorman has done has been a breath of fresh air that is different than what you see from all the politicians these days. She said "NO! I won't vote for a tax increase." She was threatened and the threats were carried out. She still voted "No!" on the Burns/Coughlin/Pullen/Brewer $3 billion tax increase. She has stood on principle. She has been attacked (mostly inaccurate lies and innuendo) by the well-heeled special interests that wanted this risky $3 billion tax increase on Arizona working families. She's stood up and said "No!"

Gorman, Gould and Crump (and Waring and Biggs) have all been heroes. But Gorman even moreso than the others because she alone has had 10's of thousands of dollars spent against her, thousands of misleading, dishonest, unattributed auto-dialers made in her district ... misleading and dishonest YouTube adds sent through misleading means to her base in her district. And she's continued to stand up. She is targeted because she's been the most outspoken advocate of cutting taxes, not raising them and been the most outspoken opponent of the good old boys network.

Thanks for realizing that here.

[Keeper]

I've deleted a couple of comments that were personal attacks and not substantive. This is a blog for thinking people, not anonymous people seeking to trash opponents based on their personal lives.

Keeper