Frank Sharry- National Immigration Spokesman

Remember Sharry?  The man who thought the immigration proposals of McCain, Flake and Kolbe was "huge"?

Jeff Flake participated in a conference for one of the many organizations linked to Sharry. 

Let's look at who Frank Sharry is and the role he has played in the Comprehensive Immigration issue.  This is video of him speaking in Budapest on US immigration issues in October 2010.

"We've been very clear that our campaign was not about helping Barack Obama, per se, it was about passing immigration reform and when he was the biggest obstacle to move it forward, having promoted to move it, we hit him hard.  We were not hoping for a 21 point drop in the polls.  We were surprised.  But what happened is, we were so pissed off as an NGO (non-governmental organization) community that Obama didn't fight for us and we were hammering him pretty hard.  Then people who were doing the electoral mobilization going into the November elections said, 'you guys are basically going to keep Latino voters from turning out!  Call it off!'


The Republicans are going to get elected because we're pissed off?  So, we stopped criticizing the President because we're facing a bigger threat. 


But, after the election, if he goes forward and fights for us, we will be his best friend.  And if he doesn't, we will be a pain in his @$$.  At the end of the day, our commitment is not to 'let's hope a leader delivers us'.  It's 'let's build a movement large enough to dictate the terms.'


We're not there....it may be 10, 20 years away.  But, on a racially charged issue....to give citizenship to a bunch of 'brown people who broke the law' in a scared, elderly, white America?  That's a tough challenge!


So, we're gonna need a lot of power....it's not about anger.  It's about strategy.


We spend most of our time criticizing Republicans....and it's pretty easy.


....It's not a matter of 'if', it's a matter of 'when'."


Question asked on funding for the activities:

"We have a small group of foundations that are very committed to this issue and we used to have that relationship with them where we told them what we thought they wanted to hear and they would tell us what they thought they wanted us to do....we wouldn't do it.


Somewhere along the line, it got serious so we decided to  have a different relationship where we would be very honest and blunt with each other.  Not all of the NGOs, but a small group of us.


They became partners in trying to figure out the 'how do we refine our strategy and how do we reorganize ourselves' and when we came to them with this idea of the 4 pillars and we needed an independent, yet linked, communications agency, they said, 'yes'.


So, they put up 2 million dollars to start the organization.  We have a budget now- we're about 5 million for the campaign that didn't win and now we'll be back down to 3 million. But, they also invested in the communications capacity of other NGOs.  If it was just 1 organization, it wouldn't be enough.


So, there's now mostly national organizations and most big, critical local organizations have full time communications people....so now we can flood the zone with our take on a particular development and break through as a media as an NGO communication in a way that 2 years ago, we couldn't."


Who is our local "communications leader"?

Todd Landfried
Todd Landfried Revisited

THE 4 PILLARS:

1.  More effective policy approach
2.  More effective work in the media
3.  Stronger grassroots effort better linked to the nationwide effort
4.  Successful efforts to promote citizenship and encourage civic participation.

It is pretty clear they have been successful with implementing the 4 pillars.

Here
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here
and on, and on.....

This Is What A Bully Looks Like

Alinsky and his Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF)

 utilized confrontational tactics and dramatic protests.....

Randy Parraz learned the same tactics.

"Randy Parraz, progressive Democrat, grew up in CA.....Parraz was a leader for nine years in the IAF and the AFL-CIO. The IAF (Industrial Areas Foundation), founded by Saul Alinsky, trains community organizers, the most famous being President Barack Obama."

The Arizona Affirmation

In honor of Arizona's 100 Years

A DECLARATION OF FIVE PRINCIPLES

TO GUIDE ARIZONA'S PROSPERITY

Take a moment to sign the petition and show your support for Arizona's guiding principles and celebration of 100 years.

Kirk Adams...How Is That Quayle Endorsement Working Out For Ya?

Just what the Republican Party needs.  More self-serving arrogance. 
As if there isn't enough of it already.

Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) announced that he will switch

congressional districts and run against

Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), setting up a GOP primary

between the two freshmen lawmakers.

So, Mr. "Bail" Quayle is willing to hand over a district to the Democrats by running in a district that he doesn't even live in which is already held by a strong, capable Republican Representative?

Good luck with that. 

By the way, excellent timing on the bail announcement. 

Right after the much hyped Quayle family

endorsement celebration party for Kirk Adams.

Kirk Adams Gilbert Rally with VP Dan Quayle & Congressman Ben Quayle

We'll be sure to remind people over and over and over.

Jeff Flake Was For Comprehensive Immigration Reform Before He Was Against It

In 2009, Congressman Jeff Flake spoke to some Republican students at Arizona State University.  One of the subjects was about "Comprehensive Immigration Reform".  In particular, the STRIVE Act which he co sponsored with Luis Guttierrez (D-IL)

He said,

The Republican position on immigration, or at least the TONE,

has not been good for us politically. 

Because the tone has been HARSH. 

 And when you look at the vast demographic out there,

Hispanic American in particular, you have a HARSH TONE,

even if your policy isn't any different than anyone elses,

it doesn't serve you well politically.

You can explain it both policy wise,

 you have 12 million people who are here illegally now,

 you've got to have a mechanism to deal with that.

Bring them out of the shadows. 

 You have to go about immigration

in a smart way and a HUMANE way.

Now, where have we heard words like "tone", "harsh", "out of the shadows" and "humane" before?

Here

Here

Here

As recently as last year, Flake said,

'Comprehensive' has gotten a bad word.

But until we have a better one I'll use that.

The article goes on to say that while Flake understands we need to enhance border security, that's not enough.

'You have to have a viable mechanism to deal with the people who are here. My party hasn't come to grips with that.' He explains that his own state of Arizona passed a controversial law (now the subject of a federal court challenge) that allows for us to 'more easily round people up. But that's not the problem. The problem is what to do about them after we get them.' On a political level, he says the 'tone and tenor of the debate' needs to improve on the Republican side. But the substance remains the nub of the problem. He says the problem is 'more complicated' than his party would like to admit.

But given the current politics, he says,

'I'd like to be optimistic [about reform legislation], but I'm not.'

Two weeks later, Flake announced his run for Senate.

In  2003, members of Arizona's delegation including John McCain, Jeff Flake and Jim Kolbe introduced a proposal to deal with the illegal immigration market-driving flow of immigrant workers.

Remember Kolbe?  He donated to the PAC Judgement Matters in 2008 along with Bill Konopnicki and Farrell Quinlan in an effort to defeat Senator Pearce by supporting Kevin Gibbons....Jeff Flake's immigration lawyer brother-in-law (who incidentally, has had his law license recently suspended).

At least Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum was impressed.  He admited that it would have been unthinkable in the late 1990s for three Republicans from a border state to make such sweeping proposals.

Sharry's reaction?

This is HUGE!

Insert an election year.

Not just ANY election year but one which Flake is now running for the Senate.

Then cue the tack to the right.

"In the past I have supported a broad approach to immigration reform - increased border security coupled with a temporary worker program.

I no longer do," Flake says in an immigration-policy statement that was

 expected to be posted on his campaign website as early as today.

"I've been down that road, and it is a dead end.

 The political realities in Washington are such that a

comprehensive solution is not possible, or even

desirable given the current leadership. Border security must be addressed

 before other reforms are tackled....For those who say that this is a late conversion, I've been supporting these border-security things all along."

Border-security "things"?

Even the Vice President for immigration policy and advocacy at the CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS said,

It's kind of hard for him to walk away from this when he has his fingerprints all over the issue...It's not like he just gently engaged it - he was a full-throttle supporter of comprehensive reform. So it's hard for him to erase what in fact has been written in Sharpie pen.

If only Flake's sudden change of heart were believable.  The reality is, however, that his Comprehensive Immigration Reform platform has trailed as a close second, right behind earmarks, throughout his political career. 

He said as much himself.

For those who don't agree with my position,

or think that it ought to be something different,

at least I think they give me a little credit for

STICKING WITH MY POSITION.

He is betting on the hope that the electorate will have short term memories.  He will continue to insult our intelligence by downplaying his former role when he pushed for Comprehensive Immigration bills alongside the likes of Luis Gutierrez.

Then again, he was FOR self-term limits before he was against it.

Kirk Adams And Fellow Bill Co-Sponsor Phil Lopes

We have mentioned the Guest Worker Bill that Kirk Adams co-sponsored in 2008 along with fellow Representative Phil Lopes and a slew of other leftist/Progressives in the legislature.

There has been talk about how Progressive Rep. Lopes was while he was in the House.  Let's take a closer look at just HOW Progressive former Rep. Lopes really is....

Aside from his being the Coordinator of the Tucson Progressive Democrats of America.....

(Progressive Democrats of America was founded in 2004 to transform

 the Democratic Party and our country.)

One video of former Rep. Lopes shows him speaking at a Tucson Progressives Conference in April 2011.  He says,

We want to try to move the Democratic agenda in our

Progressive, Liberal direction. We have

1.  Co sponsored the End the Wars Peace march

2.  Co sponsored the Solidarity MLK march

3.  Worked with Moveon.org on their event supporting the Wisconsin workers

4.  Peace Fair/Parade honoring Cesar Chavez

5.  Again with Moveon.org, we did a protest of Bank of America

6.  Wrote a letter to Pima County Board of Supervisors opposing their action to remove retirees under sixty-five years of age from their HMO plan

7.  Co hosted with the Arizona Advocacy Network to save Arizona Clean Elections

8.  Participated in events related to the Senator Pearce recall

He then introduced Senator Grijalva who at one point stated that there would be a Congressional Progressive Caucus tour which would go to cities around the country and

talk about the budget, talk about jobs and beat up on the opposition......so we're gonna make crow.

This was a video of Rep. Lopes at a recent Progressive Democrats of Arizona Caucus in January 2012.  Also in attendance were Fred Barlam (with Randy Parraz's group Citizens for a Better Arizona and donor to Jerry Lewis), Carolyn Cooper (also with Parraz's group), and Todd Landfried (Spokesman for Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform and Jerry Lewis supporter).

He offered advice to those in attendance.  He said,

How do we energize, motivate our 800 plus members?  There's one thing we can all do relatively easily and that is when you have a parade of candidates coming up here, think about the issues that are important to Progressives.  Think about Medicare for all.  Think about publicly financed elections.  Think about clean energy and clean air and think about getting out of Afghanistan....the better question should be
 'WILL YOU VOTE FOR MEDICARE FOR ALL...SINGLE PAYER?' 
 DEMAND AN ANSWER!

Good advice.  I think those who have the opportunity, should ask the same of Republican candidates, including Kirk Adams, Jeff Flake, Steve Chucri and Don Stapley. 

WILL YOU VOTE AGAINST ANY COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM BILLS? 

WILL YOU NOT SUPPORT ANY FORM OF NON-BINDING IMMIGRATION COMPACT OR ACCORD?

Arizona Local Progressive Candidate Training Program

This program piqued our interest when we were researching a member of the Phoenix Human Relations Commission, Janice Blackmon.  In her bio, she states that she recently graduated from this program.  Although, she referred to it as the "Planned Parenthood's Local Progressive Candidate Leadership Training."


The LPCLT Program.

The Arizona Local Progressive Candidate Training Program is designed to help individuals develop the skills and resources they need to advance progressive change through local elected office.  The program is for individuals who are
planning to run for an elected office in the near or distant future.

This six-part comprehensive training program provides the nuts and bolts of putting together a winning campaign for local office, as well as developing the leadership qualities necessary to advance progressive change.

The Arizona Local Progressive Candidate Training Program is sponsored by the Center for Progressive Leadership, Planned Parenthood Arizona and the Arizona Education Association.

From school board to state representative, local elected offices help set many of the policies that most directly affect our communities.

The Arizona Local Progressive Candidate Training Program helps individuals who want to be a part of shaping the agenda of their communities through local elected office.

Who is the Center Progressive Leadership?

 The Center for Progressive Leadership (CPL) is a national civic training institute that develops diverse leaders who can effectively advance progressive political and policy change. 

CPL was founded by a broad and diverse group of progressive leaders from around the country who saw crucial gaps in training, mentorship, coaching, and support for progressive campaign, organization, community, policy and political leaders.


Our own Arizona Progressive, Raul Grijalva, is a member of the board of directors.

Our Arizona leadership team includes Kyrsten Sinema and Chad Campbell.  (Remember Mr. Campbell and Ms Sinema?  They were co-sponsors of the Guest Worker bill along with Kirk Adams)







Some of the other partners with CPL can be found here.

CPL Washington DC New Leaders Fellows have the opportunity to work at a variety of progressive organizations including:

• Planned Parenthood
• Center for American Progress
• National Council of La Raza
• Common Cause
• Center for American Progress
• Center for Community Change
• DC Public Charter School Board
• AFL-CIO
• South Asian Americans Leading Together
• National Women's Law Center
• Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute

We recognize several of the organizations listed above.  A few of them donated upwards of $50,000 to help Jerry Lewis' campaign. 

Campaign for Community Change
Common Cause

And yet, this same group is supported

 by Planned Parenthood.....

Suppose Jerry Lewis is aware of that fact?

Who else took the CPL Training program? 

Raquel Teran.


She was even voted Activist of the Year in 2009 for her efforts against Joe Arpaio.