THE TRUMPETER - February 2024

RWOP Newsletter Editor: Joan Lesko, RWOP VP Communications, [email protected]

We’re barreling through 2024 (well, at least January) - and the Republican leadership is pushing back! 

God Bless speaker Mike Johnson!

• More than half of all US Governors support Governor Greg Abbott in the great State of Texas to protect the border.  How about that for coming together for a common goal and for the good of the USA?

GOVERNOR PHIL SCOTT, VERMONT, IS THE ONLY REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR WHO DID NOT SUPPORT TEXAS.

• President Donald Trump slam dunks the Iowa and New Hampshire Primary caucuses!
• Five democrat U.S. Senate members are not running for re-election —Stabenow, Cardin, Carper, Butler, Manchin, and R Mitt Romney will all be retiring from public office!

Here’s what’s at stake in Arizona:

https://ballotpedia.org/Arizona_2024_ballot_measures

What can you do? 

- Re-confirm that you are a registered Republican!  

- Convince an Independent to register Republican before the PPE voter registration deadline on February 20^th.

https://my.arizona.vote

…And vote thumbs up/down on Arizona legislative bills and leave comments - called “Request to speak”.

https://www.azleg.gov/alispdfs/Using_the_Request_to_Speak_Program.pdf

Every win is progress, incremental, and important. That’s why we’re bringing candidates and Republican leaders to RWOP.

You get to see for yourself!

You get to decide!

You get to vote! 

Remember the comments from our election officials at the January luncheon meeting: We need to agree on, promise to, and vote for the primary Republican candidate winner.  

A blank mark on the ballot is a vote for a Democrat. Many of us have left a blank spot on a ballot. The solution is to swallow hard, hold your nose if you must, and choose R, no matter what!

Deal?

The stakes are incredibly high. In twenty years, people will talk about the year Americans rose up and stopped the insane liberal movement. This is that year!

It’s for you, me, and for them.

Sue

Wondering how you can contribute to securing our elections?

Volunteer as a Poll Observer

• Presidential Preference Election: March 19, 2024
• Primary Election: August 6, 2024
• General Election: November 5, 2024

Poll observers will:



• Receive training
• Work at County vote center locations
• Monitor poll center activities
• Provide alerts if issues arise
• Schedule shifts with flexibility

How do I volunteer?

Email us at: [email protected]

OR

Scan this code for our email address

The position of 5th VP of Education is now available.

The VP of Education is a member of the Executive Committee with both a voice and a vote. The Education VP shall be an active member in good standing and a member of RWOP for one year.

Duties include submitting information to the Communications Chair for the website, planning tours, and providing classes to educate the membership of educational

issues facing the community and the nation.

The VP of Education reports to the RWOP President.

Please apply here for this position if your skillset and interests meet these requirements.

NO SUBSTITUTIONS ON THE DAY OF THE EVENT

$35 per person

Click here to be put on the Wait List.

Reservations are on a first-come-first-served basis!

A reservation made is a reservation paid...thank you!

If you have any questions, please contact:

Elsie Tyree 

928-778-0235

[email protected]

To help speed up our check-in process:

• Prepaying for the luncheon is encouraged - online or by check mailed prior to luncheon
• Arrive early and allow time for parking
• No large bills accepted
• Have your payment ready – CASH or CHECK (made payable to RWOP for $35 - already filled out

Tuesday, February 13th RWOP Luncheon

Charity of the Month

Our charity of the month for February is a true favorite of RWOP members: Honor Flight Arizona. The mission of this organization is to pay homage to our WWII, Cold War, Korean War, and Vietnam War veterans who served in the Armed Forces. They do this by providing a FREE 3-day trip to Washington DC so the vets can visit the memorials built in honor of them. One Honor flight Guardian said his trip was “one of the top 5 most memorable experiences in his life and military career.” These sentiments are echoed by most vets who have visited their memorials.

Last year, we sent two Prescott veterans to Washington, and we would love to send more this year. In addition to the DC trips, Honor Flight also endeavors to educate our youth about the impact of the various wars we have endured and the freedoms Americans enjoy because of the sacrifices of our veterans.

Please be generous with your donations so that we can send even more deserving veterans on this humbling, yet satisfying journey. Stop by the Caring for America booth in the lobby for more information on how you can help.

RWOP is offering scholarships to local high school students – including home-schooled in accredited programs---Embry-Riddle Freshmen, Sophomore and Juniors and trade school students. Please encourage your friends and neighbors to apply.

All three applications are available now on our RWOP.info website. Click the "Education" menu and then the "Scholarship" button. 

Click HERE to go directly to the application.

Requirements for submission are listed on the applications. Deadline is February 23, 2024.

Submitted by Barbara Ernst

Scholarship Chair

As of the printing of this newsletter for the new 2024 membership year that started October 1, 2023 we have:

Total Members: 615

Active: 498

Associate: 113

Student: 4

New Active Members in January:

Deborah (Debbi) Avila

Mary Tritton Venable Baker

Laurel Elizabeth Cook

Gloria Garber Edens

Barbara Fraisl

Siri K. Gortler

Jody Ann Jacobs

Isabella Marie Helene Krothe

Joan Marie Massicotte

Kristi Lynn Mitchell

Sharon Moe

Natalie Richards

Sandra Ritter

Arlene Roepke

Dorothy Rossi-Inzerillo

Linda Schlyer

Debra J. Nugent Sedwick

Pamela J. Specht

Catherine A. Underwood

Corrine Sue Underwood

Genelle Volhontseff

Shannon Wallace

Barbara Joan Zweig

New Associate Members in January:

Stephen Edward Corbin

Bob Jardine

Laszlo Kovacs

Jerry Mailhot

William Ritter

Geraldine Rorrison

New Student Members in January:

Jane Tater

Click HERE for the 2024 RWOP Luncheon Schedule!!

We will share the full schedule once we have it.

National Salute to Veteran Patients Week

February 11 - 17, 2024

Let's honor and pay tribute to the brave military veterans who receive medical care at the VA Medical Center. 

Valentine Cards will be available at February's luncheon meeting. Please take a moment to share RWOP's love and appreciation by writing a personal note to one of our local veterans receiving care at the Prescott VA Medical Center.

Your cards will be delivered to our veterans immediately following the luncheon.

How Sacred is Your Vote?

When the Founders decided to set up voting rights for citizens of the newly created United States of America, they left that right to the states to determine how they would vote. The original Constitution was set up that way for several reasons, including the compromise over slavery, and that the concept of setting up a republic was so new.

Originally, only white men who were landowners could vote, but through the centuries, we have evolved to see that today, everyone who is an American citizen and 18 years or older can vote.

The Voting Rights Act was signed into law in 1965. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many Democrat southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.

After a 2013 Supreme Court decision found part of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional, states that had previously had to clear election changes through the federal government were now free to make changes on their own. That led to new waves of state laws enacting voter ID requirements, closed polling stations, restrictions on vote-by-mail, and limited voting hours.

Today, Arizona is faced with a new voting threat – Rank Choice Voting (RCV). It is designed to disenfranchise voters, especially conservative ones. Even their supporters call themselves “Free and Fair Elections” and “FairVote”, and George Soros, among other leftist organizations, are in favor of it.

Over the next ten months, it is important that everyone learn as much as they can about Rank Choice Voting. The first thing you should know is that the only way to count these votes is by machine. That alone should be the end of my article, but let’s see what’s involved and how this will affect us.

RCV will be on the ballot in Arizona’s General Election on Nov. 5, and you should vote ‘No’. Here’s a simplified example of how it works:

Assume that there are six candidates for mayor in a hypothetical city. The table below presents the raw first-preference vote totals for each candidate (Round 1).

No candidate won an outright majority of first-preference votes. As a result, the candidate (Candidate F) with the smallest number of first-preference votes is eliminated. The ballots that listed Candidate F as the first preference are adjusted, raising their second-preference candidates.

Assume that, of the 1,399 first-preference votes for Candidate F, 393 listed Candidate A as their second preference, 489 listed Candidate B, and so on. Of these first-preference votes for Candidate F, 297 did not list a second preference. On the second tally, no candidate secured a simple majority of votes. The rounds continue until a candidate has received a majority. In Round 6, Candidate B received a simple majority of the remaining votes.

More information can be found at https://ballotpedia.org/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV).

How is this way of voting wrong? All candidates in their respective race – Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, Green Party, etc. – will be listed together, and you will rank them, 1 through however many candidates are listed. In effect, you will be ranking Republicans right alongside everyone else – who is not a Republican! This will dilute our message and chances of winning. (Think Las Vegas – the house always wins.) This is set up to disenfranchise those with a pro-America message. And we need to shut this down in November.

Please visit the mall area and meet the candidates and sign petitions.

When you sign a petition it enables the candidate to be placed on the

ballot. By signing you are not committing to vote for that candidate.

Elections have consequences.

Any questions please contact:

Maureen Salfrank [email protected]

LAST MONTH OUR LOCAL LAWMAKERS RETURNED TO PHOENIX TO

OFFICIALLY START THE NEW LEGISLATIVE SESSION

Senator Ken Bennett, Representative Selena Bliss, and Representative Quang continue to work at the Capitol this month. Rep. Quang is Judiciary Chair with Rep. Bliss Vice-Chair of the Judiciary Committee. Rep. Quang has already killed 15 abortion bills this new session. The following are a few of their prime bills:

HB2244         Would make it illegal to intentionally misrepresent a product that is not derived from livestock or poultry as actually being meat. The language specifically says that term can’t be used if what is being offered was produced in a laboratory from cells cultured in a laboratory from an animal. The same would apply if a synthetic product was derived from a plant, insect, or other source. Transparency and disclosure are key. (Sponosor: Rep. Quang Nguyen)

HB2051         Members unanimously passed House Bill 2051, which aims to provide clarity about skilled nursing providers’ reporting and survey responsibilities. It would require the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) to establish a joint training session for skilled nursing supervisors, compliance officers, and investigators, along with skilled nursing and assisted living providers, to explain reporting changes to the survey process and educate those involved on how compliance with these changes will be determined. (Sponsor: Rep. Selina Bliss)

Senator Ken Bennett has numerous Senate Bills that he is sponsoring. Senator Bennett will present bills to prevent voter fraud. One such bill is his SB1375; Ballots; categories; count; identification number. Total transparency and verification. One voting ballot per eligible voter, check ballot images. Requires counties to release who’s eligible to vote. Precincts in each county will verify the ballot images.

U.S. Representative Eli Crane is co-sponsoring many vital bills to protect our border and protecting American workers. Congressman Crane has joined Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS) in the Bi-partisan Economic Development Legislation Bill. Congressman Eli Crane recognizes the negative impact of the federal government’s public lands regulations on tribal communities and seeks to right this wrong with this bill.

Side note: Presently, Senator Bennett has 44 bills (co-sponsored and prime), Rep. Selena Bliss has 45 bills (co-sponsored and prime), Rep. Quang has 5 bills for this new year, and Rep. Eli Crane is working on his bills presented in Congress last year. I have highlighted a few bills and have provided an excellent resource below to receive more in-depth articulation on bills presented on the Floor each week.

We encourage you to join https://azfree.org Arizona Free Enterprise Club to receive updates and or participate online every Friday to hear the bills presented on the Floor for the week.

Last but not least. Happy 112^th Birthday this month to our Arizona State! It’s our collective goal at RWOP for each of us as members to combine our efforts in overdrive in this important election year. Working together to keep our Arizona red is our mission. In this vein, this section in upcoming RWOP newsletters will provide the dark side of the Democratic bills being introduced to better educate us in our pursuit to make sure they do not become law.

All Federated Club Members are welcome and encouraged to attend!

CALL TO MEETING

Arizona Federation of Republican Women

Board of Directors & Membership State Meeting

February 15th, 16th & 17th, 2024

 Sheraton Wrigleyville West

860 North Riverview

Mesa, AZ, 85201

Registration CLOSES on February 4 at midnight.

Cancellation Policy

A registration made is a registration paid! Cancellations made by midnight on January 31 will receive a 100% refund. Cancellations made between February 1 and February 3 will receive a 50% refund. Beginning on February 4, there are no refunds. Thank you.

Don't forget to sign up for your Patriotic Angel Membership for 2024!



Interesting speakers - useful workshops!

Additional information to come!

All club members are encouraged to attend

Meet your new AzFRW 2024-25 Officers

Sponsor Business Card Ads are $100 for 12 months of inclusion in the monthly newsletters. Your ad will also be highlighted on RWOP website. If you are interested in highlighting your business, please contact Joan Lesko [email protected]

SELECT BUSINESS CARD BELOW TO GO DIRECTLY TO THEIR BUSINESS WEBSITE OR FACEBOOK PAGE

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