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Carol Turoff: Politic & Social Commentary
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NEWS & ANALYSIS
Protect Arizona Now Gets Money, Needs Signatures By Dennis Durband, Editor Leaders of the Protect Arizona Now (PAN) initiative last week announced that they are stepping up efforts in the signature-gathering process, thanks to a large infusion of money. PAN has collected more than 60,000 signatures thus far. The organization needs 122,000 valid signatures by June 30 in order to get the initiative on the November ballot for Arizonans to vote on. The citizens' initiative will require proof of citizenship when registering to vote, proof of identity when voting and proof of eligibility for non-federally mandated public benefits. Rick Oltman, of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), confirmed that his organization is contributing $100,000 to get the signatures required to put PAN on the ballot. Since the petition effort began last summer, most of the efforts have been conducted by volunteers. FAIR is Washington D.C.-based group favoring tougher immigration and border controls. Kathy McKee, director of PAN, is confident that the infusion of money will help push the effort over the top. The Arizona Secretary of State generally recommends that political candidates and ballot initiatives solicit extra signatures because some signatures are found to be invalid. So PAN is shooting for 160,000 signatures in order to be safe. “FAIR did not give us the money directly,” McKee said. “They hired their own company out of California. I understand FAIR's contract with Arno Petition Management Company was for $1.65 per signature. I understand the actual signature gatherers out on the street get 75 cents per signature.” Rusty Childress, treasurer for PAN, said at the news conference that PAN had raised $27,000 from 290 contributors in 10 states. Volunteers still have several thousand petition sheets, and PAN is urging that these sheets be turned in as soon as possible. “People must take these petition sheets to a notary public, complete the backs in front of the notary, have them notarized, and then send to PAN, P.O. Box 11000, Glendale, AZ 85318-1000 . . . and soon I hope,” McKee said. Home |News |State Briefs |Editorials|Letters |Key Legislation |Privacy Policy |Contact Us
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''They
(conservatives) probably don't know gay people. People fear to educate
them. [They have] their own fear and lots of misinformation and
disinformation, which some do for political expediency.'' --Marc Racicot, Chairman, Bush-Cheney '04, in 2003 meeting with Human Rights Campaign
“If these statements are accurate, then Mr. Racicot appears to be utterly tone deaf -- or openly hostile -- to traditional values voters who comprise the vast bulk of the Republican -- and President Bush's -- political base. The comments attributed to Mr. Racicot, if accurate, are rooted in religious bigotry." --Ken Connor, in 2003 when he was president of the Family Research Council | |