Arizona should not give these groups a penny of its license plate fees
Why is the State of Arizona, through its customized license plate scheme, raising money for blatant political action groups?
“In God We Trust” plates raise cash for the Alliance Defending Freedom, identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group for its anti-LGBTQ views.
“Choose Life” license plates raise cash for the Arizona Life Coalition, an anti-abortion political action group. Why is Arizona raising money for one side of the nationally charged abortion debate?
This program is ripe for abuse.
The State of Arizona should not be in the business of sharing license plate fees with any advocacy group, no matter what its cause may be.
Vince Wade, Cave Creek
Yes, highlight our water problems
It was refreshing to hear the governor talk about our state’s water problems. For way too long, corporations have been pumping our state’s most precious resource without any accountability, and our state government has encouraged this.
As a Cochise County resident who has loved ones who use groundwater from a well for everyday household needs, I’ve worried that running out of groundwater will destroy even more communities and livelihoods across rural Arizona.
The last governor sold our state’s water to the highest bidder. The new governor has already taken some action on this: her bipartisan water policy council has recommended policy solutions to the Legislature that can work for everyone in our state, from city dwellers in the Valley to rural farmers and residents across the state.
Economic development is important; but no amount of economic growth is worth anything if our state runs out of water. For once I’m finally feeling a bit optimistic about our water future.
Christie Brown, Sierra Vista
Arizona needs moderate lawmakers
All we hear from the politicians and the media is “let’s flip the state blue” or “flip it red.”
“Flip the statehouse.” “Flip the governor.” “Flip the Congress.”
Flip left, flip right.
They are ignoring the biggest voting block in Arizona and in the country — independents.
Add moderate partisans and you have over half the voting public — people who are every bit as motivated, but just want the problems solved.
Gov. Hobbs proves: She's ready to flip the Legislature
They don’t want problems preserved so party politicians can exploit them with their base.
The center, where independents are, is not a fixed position. It’s a mindset. One that considers the valid concerns of all sides and works toward solving problems for all.
Think what would happen if the Arizona Legislature were led by independents and moderate partisans, rather than the left or right base. Things would happen that would represent the desires of the majority of Arizonans, on issues such as schools for all, water policy, abortion, immigration, whatever.
We don’t need to flip back and forth just to protect the flippers’ jobs.
We need problem solvers, not flippers.
Let’s flip them out!
Doug Metzger, Phoenix
Let's stop demonizing migrants
I welcome the opinion column on the border situation written by Randy Mayer (“What an abandoned stroller tells us about our broken border with Mexico”). It should help end the demonizing of immigrants.
As John F. Kennedy wrote, we are “A Nation of Immigrants.” Let us not forget that.
I would recommend the president’s upcoming State of the Union speech include the article’s thrust about:
what these poor people are fleeing;
the “work program” idea the writer outlined;
and that the Border Patrol should end sensationalized border tours for elected officials.
I agree. “Money can’t solve this problem.” I believe unified, international military and law enforcement action could; it is about time the entire hemisphere sees the drug cartels and human trafficking organizations as terrorizing and invading forces that must be eradicated.
This is no different than good and decent people working together to fight and defeat the scourge and aggression of terrorizing and invading forces throughout history.
Steve Grogan, Sun City
How many jobs can migrants fill?
The column by Randy Mayer suggests that available jobs in the U.S. can be filled by border crossers. According to federal sources, there are more than 8 million jobs available in the U.S.
How many of the available jobs require English to be spoken, and how many of the border crossers speak English?
What are the skills of the border crossers vs. the skills required to perform the jobs? Many available jobs require a high school education. What percentage of the crossers have met that requirement?
There are only so many jobs available that only require minimal skills in the U.S.
Jim Herbster, Scottsdale
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona specialty license plate fees should never fund these groups
