PHOENIX - Each Sunday, ABC15.com debuts an Arizona issue - along with two opposing sides on the topic.
Don’t worry, you always have the opportunity to make comments at the bottom of the page. Yeah, your opinion matters, too.
This week we’re tackling the debate on which Republican presidential candidate Arizona will most likely gravitate toward in the primary.
Kim Owens, grassroots volunteer and former secretary of the Maricopa County Republican Party, says Newt Gingrich is the candidate best suited for the Arizona voter.
Andrew Tobin, Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, says presidential candidate Mitt Romney is a proven leader and is the person the country needs.
Click “next page” to read the first of two positions, “ The right choice for Arizona, the right choice for America ”.
“The right choice for Arizona, the right choice for America”: By Andrew Tobin, Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives
Our great Nation is at a crossroads. The 2012 Presidential Election will be the most important decision the American electorate has ever been tasked with. Nothing less than the future of this great Country is at stake.
America needs a true conservative. We need a President that believes in the greatness and exceptionalism of America, and a President who doesn’t apologize for it. America needs Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney is a proven leader. He spent 25 years in the private sector creating jobs and investing in businesses, leading them from start-up companies to global prominence. He spearheaded the turnaround of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, leading it from the verge of collapse to worldwide acclaim.
Mitt Romney has a proven conservative record. As Governor of Massachusetts, with a democrat-dominated legislature, Mitt Romney brought conservative values to a State in disarray. Spending was out of control and the budget was out of balance. By the end of his term, Mitt restructured and consolidated government programs, brought state spending under control and eliminated a $3 billion deficit without borrowing or raising taxes. This is the leadership America so desperately needs in the White House.
America needs a leader that understands the economy. Mitt Romney does. In 2009, American voters were made promises by President Obama that simply weren’t kept. He asserted that his trillion dollar stimulus package would keep the unemployment rate from rising above 8%. As of this point, three years later, the unemployment rate sits at a staggering 8.5%. Close to 14 million Americans are unemployed while millions more are underemployed or have simply given up seeking work. Mitt Romney will cut federal spending, bring an end to government waste and repeal Obamacare.
With minimal private sector experience, President Obama turned to the only thing he knows: Big Government. President Obama believes the government can do a better job of managing the economy than the spirit and innovation of the American free enterprise system. Federal government spending has increased at an astronomic pace, passing more and more debt to our grandchildren, and even their children.
In the last ten years he and his Sierra Club allies have allowed for more than two million acres of Arizona forests to burn to the ground. He has sued our state for enforcing immigration laws that he is unwilling to enforce. He continues to use the E.P.A. to threaten us with cutoffs in highway funding if we let our desert dust get out of control. He has threatened the future of our vital power plants such as the Navajo Generating station and the future of the mining industry in this state such as with Rosemont Mine.
His administration surrenders thousands of acres of Arizona territory to drug traffickers and tells Arizonans to stay out of those areas because they are unsafe to traverse. Mitt Romney will bring about a government that encourages investment in American industry, protects our borders and will return the powers that rightfully belong to the states.
Mitt Romney believes in the American people. He also understands the demands of running a business and meeting a payroll. Mitt Romney knows what it will take to turnaround the economy. It starts with a simpler, smarter and smaller government.
His track record has spoken, and the numbers don’t lie. Polling consistently shows that Mitt Romney is the only Republican candidate that can defeat Barack Obama. Fellow Arizonans, I urge you to stand with me in support of not only the right choice for Arizona, but the right choice for America, Mitt Romney.
Do you agree with this opinion? Add a comment below to sound off.
Click “next page” to read the second position, “ It is my honor to support Newt Gingrich”
“No it does not create too much pressure”: By Kim Owens, grassroots volunteer and former secretary of the Maricopa County Republican Party
Arizonans don’t respond well to being told by the elites what to do, who to follow…or who to vote for. However, Arizonans are bold. They have conviction. They lead. It is my honor to support Newt Gingrich for President of the United States as he exemplifies those same qualities. He is a conservative with conviction, a man of bold ideas who leads. I look forward to joining the majority of Arizonans who will cast their votes for Speaker Gingrich between now and February 28th.
The next president must know what good governance is, what the American people need, and what it will take to make it happen. Only one person in this race knows what that looks like, has the skills and an actual record of the same kind of success – balanced budgets, entitlement reform and booming job creation. That person is Newt Gingrich.
Arizonans know that neither Arizona, nor America, can afford 4 more years of Barack Obama. They will not be fooled by the slick style of big bucks attack ads, desperately used by candidates with no record of success in government and no real solutions to today's problems. They also recognize that it will take a leader with passion and a plan to take on the Chicago style politics and dollars that will flow through the Obama coffers.
Our large senior population is determined to vote for a candidate who will repeal Obamacare…not the candidate who wrote the model for it. Our young people want a candidate who understands that those same seniors deserve to have the system they were promised for their retirement, but who will allow them a future free of trillions in debt.
People of faith want a strong defender of traditional marriage, life at conception and who will stop the assault from Washington on the faith community of all denominations. Our veterans and those who serve our country in the armed forces want a candidate who understands the real threats America faces today and will keep promises to take care of those who have risked all for our freedom.
As we look to our hundred year history, we value someone who has studied America’s history—learned from it and values what it really means. Arizona is a conservative state. Newt Gingrich is the candidate best suited for the Arizona voter.
Do you agree with this opinion? Add a comment below to sound off.
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
PRINT
