My article in the Arizona Republic

Just about seven years ago -- on Sunday, November 5, 2000 -- I published an article in The Arizona Republic for their "State Lines" feature, which used to ask Arizona authors to write about what they love about the state. Unlike writers like the brilliant Ron Carlson (whom I've known now for over 30 years -- run, do not walk, to the bookstore to get his new novel Five Skies) and others, I didn't write about the Cactus State's natural beauty.

I'm reprinting the article here -- since the Supreme Court decision in New York Times Co. v. Tasini, 533 U.S. 483 (2001), when we freelancers won the right to be paid for our work in electronic newspaper databases, The Republic has removed freelancers' articles from online sources -- so you can get to know me better.

Maybe the Democrats of the Sixth Congressional District don't want me as their candidate. I'd like to hear from people if that's so. As I keep saying, I really want to vote for a Democrat for Congress a year from now, when I'll be getting my early ballot in the mail. I'm doing this campaign because it seems I'm not going to get to vote for a Democrat unless I run myself.

Anyway, here's the article:

State Lines

Richard Grayson:

On living where there's no there


Richard Grayson
Special for The Republic
Nov. 5, 2000

A few weeks after moving to Arizona last spring, I was sitting in the café of a Valley megabookstore, staring out the window at the multiscreen theater and big-box
stores on the other side of the shopping center. About to drive home, I fretted about the heavy traffic I'd be facing on the Florida Turnpike.

Then I noticed the mountains.

Shaken, I realized I was in the Ahwatukee Foothills and not in Boca Raton.

Less than a year away from official AARP-dom, I had just experienced my first "senior moment."

Upon further reflection, however, I recognized that my mistake was quite natural, considering I was in a "power center" which almost exactly resembled one I frequented near my former home in South Florida - down to the layout of the Barnes & Noble and the number of theaters (24) with stadium seating in the AMC megaplex.

Actually, everything was pretty much the same as in other shopping centers I'd been to in recent years, from Saratoga, Calif. and Garden City, N.Y. to Billings, Mont. and Willow Grove, Pa. Oh sure, the misters cooling off outdoor diners at the trendy
restaurants should have clued me in as to the desert locale, but the slight variation from the norm only seemed to emphasize the similarity.

That was the moment I knew Arizona was home.

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like every other place.

I live in a garden apartment in Mesa, just off the Superstition Freeway at Dobson Road. It is very similar to the garden apartment I lived in last year in Davie, Fla., just off an exit of Interstate 595. As in Florida, my "rental community" here has swimming pools, a tennis court and a clubhouse. Nearby are subdivisions of "executive homes" on cul-de-sacs and artificial lakes.

Palm trees line the wide, traffic-clogged streets. My day-to-day environment is essentially identical to the one I experienced 2,300 miles away: a suburban neighborhood whose density has made it de facto urban. There's a bus stop nearby to use in case my car breaks down, and a Starbucks is literally our next-door neighbor. I live amid the stucco and concrete of what architecture critic Melvin Webber, describing emerging metro areas of the West, has called a "non-place urban realm."

I can walk to the same supermarket (Albertsons) and bank (Bank of America) as I could in my former suburban Fort Lauderdale neighborhood. I'm still within a five-minute drive of a regional mall, golf course, library, park, and dozens of strip malls - though I must admit that in Florida I did live a lot closer to the local branch of the University of Phoenix.

If I'm in need of "shoppertainment" in the form of outlet stores, video arcades, foreign tourists, mall TV and dining amid mechanical denizens of the rain forest, I can take myself to nearby Arizona Mills, a carbon copy of the Sawgrass Mills by my old stamping grounds.

In Scottsdale I can use my Neiman-Marcus credit card and find that once exclusively Southern confection, Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

I now get my hair cut at the same worldwide chain that I've patronized in Gainesville, Fla., and Sheridan, Wyo. A short drive to Tempe and I can purchase my gourmet frozen dinners at the same Trader Joe's where I've shopped in Silicon Valley and on Long Island, and I pick up organic produce at the same Whole Foods Market I've patronized in South Florida, as well as in the suburbs of Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia. Although I subscribe to a different local paper here, I also continue to get home delivery of The New York Times.

Adjusting to life here was a snap. After all, not only did I already own a pair of Arizona jeans and regularly consume AriZona Iced Tea (the diet green variety, mostly), but when I lived in Manhattan in the 1980s, I'd eaten at the fabulously fashionable Arizona 206. In our global economy, what more needs to be done? After all, on Planet Consumer, whatever is unique to a region is reduced to mere buyable kitsch - like the saguaro-shaped pencils on sale at the local Walgreens.

But if you're expecting a lecture filled with terms like "soulless inter-changeability," unremitting deja vu," and "sterile artifice," you won't get it from me.

The sameness is exactly what I love about my part of Arizona. I like the fact that the only way I can tell I am entering a new neighborhood is when the fast-food
outlets and chain stores start to repeat themselves.

To a guy who's moved around as much as I have, the uniformity represents stability.

The conformity makes me comfortable.

Of course it wasn't simply a familiar environment I craved. An important reason I chose to move to Phoenix was its diversity. Before coming here, I looked at Valley phone directories to check for ample numbers of Patels and Nguyens, Rodriguezes and Changs. I need a place where supermarkets carry kimchi and kasha, quinoa and collard greens, platanos y boniatos. Where there is a large enough gay community to accommodate lesbian Scrabble leagues, gay Realtors councils, and bitter longstanding feuds. Where there are synagogues representing all major branches of Judaism, including atheism. Where I can find an Ethiopian restaurant, Caribbean music, Iranian movies, an active Green Party and local punk and hip-hop scenes.

When a childhood friend from Brooklyn, who is Sikh, informed me that within a few blocks of her Coronado district home there were two different gurdwaras, I
knew the Valley had the diversity I wanted.

Whatever natural beauty Arizona has to offer is not evident in my daily life. It would probably be lost on me if it were. Having grown up in New York City, I
would not care if the whole world were paved over.

My formative years occurred in an environment not altogether different from the "non-place urban realm" of Sun Belt suburbia. Our house was in a remote part of Brooklyn, a 15-minute drive to the nearest subway stop; an hour's trip to Manhattan was always called "going to the city." We had a backyard swimming pool, and I was eager to learn to drive as soon as possible.

Although our neighborhood did leave me with a sensibility equidistant between that of Seinfeld and The Sopranos, it was also a neighborhood that didn't have a name until the 1970 opening of Kings Plaza, the Big Apple's first enclosed mall, just a three-block walk from our house. It featured the same anchor department stores I can find at Fiesta Mall.

Although I loved living in Manhattan as an adult, my annual visits confirm that even that quintessential urban locale is morphing into something else. The sleazy but vibrant honky-tonk of Times Square has been replaced by an environment as safe and artificial as Main Street in Walt Disney World. Other once-distinctive neighborhoods are looking more and more like everywhere else as they are invaded by the same chain stores all around me in Mesa.

Three years ago, in order to write a new book, I left a job as an attorney in Gainesville - where I lived off an interstate highway exit in a garden apartment
across the street from a series of power centers complete with the mandatory Albertsons, Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, T.G.I. Friday's, and Red
Lobster. For a while I lived at artists' colonies and mooched off suburban friends, mostly women I knew from my 1970s undergraduate days and their tolerant husbands. In exchange for being a charming conversationalist and doing such genuinely enjoyable tasks as picking up dry cleaning and dinner sushi, looking in on elderly grandparents at nursing homes, walking Yorkshire terriers, and accompanying third-graders on on class field trips, I got a spare bedroom ("the Lincoln bedroom," my friend Nina calls it) or a futon in the den. I did my writing at Burger Kings and Borders bookstores across Power Center Nation.

The artists' colonies - Villa Montalvo, the Ucross Foundation, the Ragdale Foundation - generously gave me the luxury of time and a room of my own to write.

While I enjoyed being close to such fine examples of the natural world as the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the majestic landscape of Wyoming's high
plains, and one of the last pieces of pristine prairie in the suburbs of Chicago, I often found myself abandoning nature in favor of the coffee bars of Silicon Valley, the McDonald's counter at the Wal-Mart in Sheridan, or the food court in the Northbrook Mall - places where I would sit with my iced tea or Diet Coke and scribble away to my heart's desire. The truth is I did my best work in these palaces of conspicuous consumption. Writing about American culture circa Y2K, I need bland commercial conformity for inspiration.

Arizona provides me with more than enough inspiration.

So I am happy to be an Arizonan. For now.

Like many other state residents, I don't expect to be living here for the rest of my life. On the other hand, I'll probably be moving to a place that looks just about the same.

***

End the Global Gag Rule

Rep. Jeff Flake serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, so presumably he'll be attending tomorrow's hearing on the Global Gag Rule. As Committee Chair Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) notes today at The Huffington Post:

[T]he Global Gag Rule...places restrictions on health care workers overseas that they would never have to face if they were based in the United States. The hearing will feature witnesses who are experts in the field, with first-hand knowledge about the destructive effects of these restrictions on women's health around the world.

Under the Global Gag Rule, if NGOs in developing countries spend one dime on any service remotely related to abortion, they are punished with the loss of U.S. funding. If a pregnant woman shows up at their doorstep, these organizations cannot even advise her that abortion is an option.

Ignorance about the availability of safe and legal abortions will do nothing to bring down the number of abortions performed. Quite the opposite -- as our witnesses tomorrow will describe in detail, a combination of restrictive access to contraception and limited information about women's options is creating tens of thousands of unwanted pregnancies among the world's poor. It is driving up the number of women's deaths caused by complications from unsafe abortions. We need to put a stop to these needless tragedies.

The Global Gag Rule...was reinstated by the current president at the start of 2001. The sooner we change it, the better for everyone concerned. Our hearing is only a first step. We will work closely with leaders in the pro-choice community to overturn the Global Gag Rule, a deeply misguided and dangerous policy.

Jeff Flake serves on the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight, and you can send him this email asking him to overturn the Global Gag Rule by going here:

As your constituent, I'm writing to ask for your commitment to make sure that the Boxer/Snowe amendment, repealing the devastating global gag rule, is included in the final version of the FY'08 Foreign Operations spending bill that will be sent to the president.

With a very small investment, the United States could dramatically improve poor women's lives around the world. In particular, the overseas family-planning program could substantially help couples plan their families and avoid unintended pregnancy. But unfortunately, President Bush has crippled the program by imposing the global gag rule on overseas health clinics. Because of Bush's horrendous policy, we are not only missing enormous opportunities to help women and families in developing countries, we are stifling democracy.

Please fight to keep the global gag rule repeal in the final FY'08 Foreign Operations spending bill.

Although my campaign will concentrate on two issues -- immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Medicare for all Americans -- I believe very strongly in a woman's right to choose.

Here's Jeff Flake's ratings from interest groups on abortion rights issues:

2006 Representative Flake supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 0 percent in 2006.

2006 Representative Flake supported the interests of Planned Parenthood 0 percent in 2006.

2005-2006 Representative Flake supported the interests of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association 0 percent in 2005-2006.

2005-2006 Representative Flake supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 100 percent in 2005-2006.

2005 Representative Flake supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 0 percent in 2005.

2004 Representative Flake supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 0 percent in 2004.

2003-2004 Representative Flake supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 91 percent in 2003-2004.

2003 Representative Flake supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 0 percent in 2003.

2002 Representative Flake supported the interests of the Planned Parenthood 0 percent in 2002.

2001-2002 Representative Flake supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 100 percent in 2001-2002.

2001 Representative Flake supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 0 percent in 2001.

2001 Representative Flake supported the interests of Planned Parenthood 0 percent in 2001.

1999-2002 Representative Flake supported the interests of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association 0 percent in 1999-2002.

1995-2004 On the votes that the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association considered to be the most important in 1995-2004, Representative Flake voted their preferred position 0 percent of the time.

Once again, rigid ideologue Jeff Flake has his intellectual philosophy and doesn't understand the problems of ordinary people like you and me.

Jeff, what part of choice don't you understand?

"The World You Love"

I got a story it's almost finished
all i need is someone to tell it to
maybe that's you.

our time is borrowed and spent too freely
every minute i have needs to be made up
but how?
i'm looking for a nice way to say
"i'm out."
i want out.

i fall asleep with my friends around me
only place i know, i feel safe
i'm gonna call this home

the open road is still miles away
Hey nothing serious
we still have our fun
oh we had it once

Windows open and close
that's just how it goes

don't it feel like sunshine afterall
the world we love forever, gone
we're only just as happy
as everyone else seems to think we are

i'm in love with the ordinary
i need a simple space
and rest my head
everything gets clear
well i'm a little ashamed for asking
but just a little helps
it gets me straight again
helps me get over it (over it)

it might seem like a dream
but it's real to me

don't it feel like sunshine afterall
the world we love forever, gone
we're only just as happy
as everyone else seems to think we are

you should see the canals are freezing
you should see me high
you should just be here
be with me here
it doesn't seem there's hope for me
i let you down
but i won't give in now
not for any amount

don't it feel like sunshine afterall
the world we love forever, gone
we're only just as happy
as everyone else seems to think we are
-- Copyright 2004 Jimmy Eat World

Random Musings on Sixth C.D. Republican Primary

The always-interesting blog Random Musings has an interesting post on the Sixth Congressional District's possible Republican primary:

...Want positive proof that the 'family values' Arizona Republicans make a mob family look like the Waltons?

Now the Maricopa County Republicans are promoting a "gala reception" for Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) as he "explores" a run against Congressman Jeff Flake (CD6), one of their very own.

What does Flake have to do to get a little love from his own party? I can understand Democrats disliking him - on social issues, he makes Barry Goldwater look like a bleeding heart and his "crusade" against earmarks always seems to focus more on community-based projects than on real waste like no-bid contracts and the like - but why do other Republicans hate him so much?

In addition to all of the reasons that Democrats can't stand him, he's intelligent, hard-working, untainted by scandal, and while he is *definitely* wrong on nearly every important issue, he isn't an embarrassment to his district or his state.

Hmmm..."not an embarrassment"...hmmm....

Maybe, in a perverse sort of way, that's the real problem here.

Consider the scheduled headline endorsers at Pearce's soiree -

Joe Arpaio and Andrew Thomas of "let's arrest journalists for writing uncomplimentary articles about us" fame.

Those two are perfect for Pearce - nobody can say they don't embarrass the state.

The possible defeat of Jeff Flake as the candidate in the Sixth District is one reason it's important for the Democrats to run someone against him.

Right now I'm the only Democrat running.

Is anyone more credible planning on doing the hard work it takes to run for Congress?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Fight the Power!

Please call Rep. Jeff Flake's office and tell him you support reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Plan:

in Washington: (202) 225-2635

in Mesa: (480) 833-0092

Maybe he'll vote to override Bush's second veto of it.

Anything's possible when you look at a newborn baby.

So What If Rep. Jeff Flake Made a Mistake in Supporting the Iraq War?

Konservatives Kill Kids!

The Good Stuff Jeff Flake Did This Week When He Wasn't Voting Against Kids' Health Care

Jeff Flake apparently can take a joke. I don't know how, and I didn't think he was even aware I existed, but I got an email from his office saying the Congressman laughed when he saw the "Twilight Zone" alien and Count Olaf and W.C. Fields but wanted me to know he's better-looking than they are (well, maybe not Jim Carrey).

Also he doesn't hate kids. I know that. He's a good man, I think, just wedded to an out-of-date philosophy he's been committed to for so long it's hard for him to give it up.

To show I'm going to praise him when he does good, here are two excellent things he did this week that few other spineless members of Congress, Republican or Democrat, would do:

1. He was part of the teeny-weeny (but not weenies) minority of just 6 House members -- three from each party -- who voted against H.R. 1955, the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007, which actually defines thought crimes as homegrown terrorism.

If passed into law, this bill will also establish a commission and a Center of Excellence to study and defeat so-called thought criminals. Unlike previous anti-terror legislation, this bill specifically targets the civilian population of the United States and uses vague language to define homegrown terrorism.

It's another attack on the Constitution by Bush and Cheney, and I admire Jeff Flake for standing up to them and for us.

2. He reacted to President Bush's strident speech on Cuba in which he pandered to the most extreme elements of the Miami exile community with this statement:

Over 45 years ago, the U.S. implemented a policy to loosen Fidel Castro's grip on power in Cuba but, in the end, old age and failing health finally did what restrictions on trade and travel did not.

Make no mistake; the post-Fidel era is already well under way in Cuba and here we are, just as irrelevant as we've ever been. Rather than waiting for Cuba to make democratic reforms before we change our policy, let's actually implement a policy that will hasten democratic reforms.

Again, a terrific performance by a Congressman who's not afraid of taking on his own party and calling for a rational approach to Cuba.

Now if he'll just come around and support SCHIP...

Rep. Jeff Flake's Plan to Serve America's Poor and Middle Class Children

It's a cookbook!

"Mommy, I don't feel good...my ear hurts so much." "I'm sorry, baby, but Congressman Jeff Flake wants to eliminate earmarks, not earaches."

One day after again voting not to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Plan, Rep. Jeff Flake is hard at work:

Congressman Flake Spotlights Egregious Earmark of the Week
$250,000 to the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois

Mesa, Arizona, Oct 26 - Republican Congressman Jeff Flake, who represents Arizona’s Sixth District, today highlighted a pork project contained in the House Transportation-HUD Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008.

This week’s egregious earmark: $250,000 for the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.

“This is not a fiscally responsible undertaking,” said Flake.

You gotta admit he's a funny guy. But, wait a minute, Jeff...maybe some more kids are gonna need that cemetery now?

Is Ideologue Jeff Flake Telling Arizona's Sick Kids to Drop Dead?

Or maybe just "Take two tax cuts and call me in the morning"?


It's hard to believe a brilliant intellectual like Jeff Flake could be so -- well -- dumb when it comes to regular people.

I don't have the reports from the Goldwater Institute, which Jeff Flake once ran, or the Heritage Foundation or the Cato Institute or the Hoover Institute or any of those other "think tanks" that Jeff Flake has access to. I haven't seen all the charts and tables and stuff I probably wouldn't understand that have come across Jeff Flake's desk.

I'm not an ideologue, but I can't believe Jeff Flake's rigid beliefs are causing him to be so heartless. He's got five kids himself, all covered by the great plan given to members of Congress and their families, paid for by taxpayers whose own kids might not be able to see the doctor when they should.

Jeff Flake needs to talk to some regular people. He should come to the Wal-Mart on Apache Trail in A.J. and ask the customers there (yes, including this liberal -- who got this amazing black cashmere V-neck sweater for $20 there last winter) or the people who work there if they fear "government intrusion" more than they fear themselves or their kids not being able to get adequate medical care because they can't afford it.

I know what it's like to be scared, as I am currently uninsured. Okay, I'm just some poor schmuck so dumb I have four part-time jobs and no health benefits -- I admit I must be a moron. But I have talked to regular people.

Go to the McDonald's across the street from the Wal-Mart, Jeff, or the Starbucks on the other side of Apache Trail. Talk to the seniors, many of them Republicans, who meet there for breakfast chats. Ask those folks if they'd rather be without Medicare.

Jeff, you and President Bush want to privatize Social Security, but you found out the American people wouldn't stand for it -- despite all your reports from the Cato Institute and the American Enterprise Institute and the Club for Growth and maybe even the Hair Club for Men for all I know.

You want to roll back the Great Society's greatest achievement, Medicare, Jeff -- not expand it to everyone like I propose. You want to get rid of the New Deal's greatest achievement, Social Security -- what made the lives of my grandparents and now my parents more secure than they otherwise would have been.

You want to get rid of the other stuff of the New Deal, like unemployment insurance and the minimum wage that you always voted against because of your ideology.

You want to get rid of Teddy Roosevelt's Square Deal regulations on business, too, don't you, Jeff? Maybe just repeal the whole darn twentieth century?

What are you so afraid of? Maybe you're scared people would like universal coverage with a single payer like Medicare so much it would prove your ideology wrong (like this 1993 memo by your fellow ideologue Bill Kristol says it would) and it would crumble, the whole free market conservative establishment, just like the Berlin Wall did when the Communist ideology was shown to be nothing but lies.

Jeff, you're a smart man, and I honestly believe that you're a good man. Please -- before you vote to sustain President Bush's coming second veto of the State Children Health Insurance Program -- come to Apache Junction and talk to the people you represent (and will continue to represent because my stupid DIY campaign is certainly not going to stop you from your political career).

Go to the urgent care center on Southern Avenue where a lot of us who don't have health insurance go when we are really sick. Talk to a mom with a sick kid in her lap. For God's sake, Jeff Flake, listen to your heart and not with your intellect.

If you want, the doctors there can give you a stethescope to see if you can pick up anything.

Anti-Family Ideologue Jeff Flake Continues to Deny American Children Health Insurance

There he goes again. Another vote against refinancing the children's health insurance program.


It's sad when an otherwise intelligent person like Rep. Jeff Flake becomes so worshipful of an ideology that he holds the health of millions of children hostage.

Jeff Flake believes in small government, that government is only a problem, never the solution to the problem.

Never mind that Medicare has eased burdens for Americans over 65 for two generations. Jeff Flake's ideology tells him that Medicare is wrong, that people should be taking care of their own medical problems.

Although Jeff Flake believes in the free market, apparently he's happy to burden American corporations with the cost of health insurance for their workers, making it harder for them to compete against foreign companies whose governments provide health insurance for their citizens.

Jeff Flake is a libertarian free-market conservative, and he believes in that ideology so strongly that he has refused to vote for the revised State Children's Health Insurance Program, a new bill that tried hard to address Republican fears that -- God forbid -- it would enroll middle-class people or even adults.

That's what a belief in an ideology can do to a person.

My common sense tells me that all Americans deserve to have the same medical insurance -- Medicare -- currently available to citizens over 65. This is especially true for children.

In November 2008, voters can reward Jeff Flake for his votes denying children health care by again re-electing him.

Or they can vote for someone who favors Medicare for all Americans.

Stop World War III Before It Starts

President Bush mentioned the possibility of "World War III" last week when asked about Iran. Vice President Cheney and his supporters are actively promoting war with Iran -- hence the increasing use of the racist term "Islamofascism."

Meanwhile, some neoconservative millionaires calling themselves "Freedom's Watch" will run ads designed to convince Americans of the need for more war. According to The New York Times:

The idea for Freedom’s Watch was hatched in March at the winter meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Manalapan, Fla., where Vice President Dick Cheney was the keynote speaker, according to participants. Next week, the group is moving into a 10,000-square-foot office in the Chinatown section of Washington, with plans to employ as many as 50 people by early next year.

One benefactor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the group was hoping to raise as much as $200 million by November 2008. Raising big money “will be easy,” the benefactor said, adding that several of the founders each wrote a check for $1 million.

So far Rep. Jeff Flake seems to be a lonely Republican voice expressing his opposition to any stepped-up unilateral action against Iran.

But Rep. Flake is also better in his position on Iran than most of his brain-dead Democratic colleagues.

When the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act of 2007 by a vote of 37 to 1, Jeff Flake was the sole voice of sanity, noting that the sanctions in the act would be ineffective and would make it less likely to "achieve the type of multilateral sanctions that we would need..."

As his only Democratic opponent so far -- will no one better qualifed step forward? -- I'd like to commend Rep. Flake on his position on Iran.

On this issue, at least, so far he's been terrific.

Immediate Withdrawal from Iraq

Today President Bush asked Congress to approve $196 billion to pay for the war in Iraq.

I began protesting the Iraq war in late 2002. A South Florida resident then, I joined and was an active member of Peace South Florida and the Broward [County] Antiwar Coalition and went on numerous marches and to numerous demonstrations, rallies and candlelight vigils with members of these groups and Pax Christi. On the eve of the invasion I was one of eight people reading peace prayers at a service at St. Maurice Roman Catholic Church in Dania Beach.

I have never wavered in my opposition to what former Iraq commander Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez has called a "nightmare with no end in sight."

When I ran for Congress in Florida's Fourth District in 2004, I called for immediate withdrawal.

I still support immediate withdrawal.

I commend Rep. Jeff Flake for his recent vote against funding the war. In this, he joined Rep. Ron Paul and just a handful of other Republican House members. I call on Rep. Flake to join Ron Paul and become the second Republican to sign on to this letter:

July 20, 2007
Dear Mr. President:

We are writing to inform you that we will only support appropriating additional funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq during Fiscal Year 2008 and beyond for the protection and safe redeployment of all our troops out of Iraq before you leave office.

More than 3,600 of our brave soldiers have died in Iraq. More than 26,000 have been seriously wounded. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed or injured in the hostilities and more than 4 million have been displaced from their homes. Furthermore, this conflict has degenerated into a sectarian civil war and U.S. taxpayers have paid more than $500 billion, despite assurances that you and your key advisors gave our nation at the time you ordered the invasion in March, 2003 that this military intervention would cost far less and be paid from Iraqi oil revenues.

We agree with a clear and growing majority of the American people who are opposed to continued, open-ended U.S. military operations in Iraq, and believe it is unwise and unacceptable for you to continue to unilaterally impose these staggering costs and the soaring debt on Americans currently and for generations to come.


Sincerely,

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (CA); Rep. Barbara Lee (CA); Rep. Maxine Waters (CA); Rep. Ellen Tauscher (CA); Rep. Rush Holt (NJ); Rep. Maurice Hinchey (NY); Rep. Diane Watson (CA); Rep. Ed Pastor (AZ); Rep. Barney Frank (MA); Rep. Danny Davis (IL); Rep. John Conyers (MI); Rep. John Hall (NY); Rep. Bob Filner (CA); Rep. Nydia Velazquez (NY); Rep. Bobby Rush (IL); Rep. Charles Rangel (NY); Rep. Ed Towns (NY); Rep. Paul Hodes (NH); Rep. William Lacy Clay (MO); Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR); Rep. Albert Wynn (MD); Rep. Bill Delahunt (MA); Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC); Rep. G. K. Butterfield (NC); Rep. Hilda Solis (CA); Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY); Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY); Rep. Michael Honda (CA); Rep. Steve Cohen (TN); Rep. Phil Hare (IL); Rep. Grace Flores Napolitano (CA); Rep. Alcee Hastings (FL); Rep. James McGovern (MA); Rep. Marcy Kaptur (OH); Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL); Rep. Julia Carson (IN); Rep. Linda Sanchez (CA); Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ); Rep. John Olver (MA); Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX); Rep. Jim McDermott (WA); Rep. Ed Markey (MA); Rep. Chaka Fattah (PA); Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ); Rep. Rubin Hinojosa (TX); Rep. Pete Stark (CA); Rep. Bobby Scott (VA); Rep. Jim Moran (VA); Rep. Betty McCollum (MN); Rep. Jim Oberstar (MN); Rep. Diana DeGette (CO); Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA); Rep. Artur Davis (AL); Rep. Hank Johnson (GA); Rep. Donald Payne (NJ); Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (MO); Rep. John Lewis (GA); Rep. Yvette Clarke (NY); Rep. Neil Abercrombie (HI); Rep. Gwen Moore (WI); Rep. Keith Ellison (MN); Rep. Tammy Baldwin (WI); Rep. Donna Christensen (USVI); Rep. David Scott (GA); Rep. Luis Gutierrez (IL); Peter Welch (VT); Lois Capps (CA); Steve Rothman (NJ); Elijah Cummings (MD); and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX).

Since the Fall Peace Offensive began in August, fifeen more members of Congress have added their names to this letter. In the order in which they signed, they are: Rep. Chris Murphy (CT), Rep.Jesse Jackson, Jr.(IL), Rep. Melvin Watt (NC), Rep. Corrine Brown (FL), Rep. Bennie Thompson (MS), Rep.Gregory Meeks (NY), Rep. Anthony Weiner (NY), Rep. Dave Loebsack (IA), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (OH), Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR), Rep. Sam Farr (CA), Rep. Henry Waxman (CA), Rep. Mike Thompson (CA), Rep. John Tierney (MA) and Rep. Lloyd Doggett (TX).

I would sign this letter to President Bush if I were currently in the House.

Although I know I cannot defeat Rep. Flake in November 2008, I would like every vote cast for me to encourage him to please stop supporting this wasteful, horrible war. Getting U.S. forces out of harm's way in Iraq and ending our occupation of that country would be my first priority if I were in Congress.

The Early Money Race

Mike Bryan at Blog for Arizona analyzes "the early money race" in Arizona's U.S. House races. Here's his take on the Sixth Congressional District:

This district is a bit of a sleeper at the moment with Jeff Flake (R) ($526K) firmly entrenched. But Russell Pearce (R), the powerful Chairman of the Arizona House Appropriations Committee, is eying a primary challenge and could make serious inroads into Flake's base. It's my view that Pearce would make the district more vulnerable to a Democratic incursion, so I gotta say, "You go, Russ!" I must confess to secretly rooting for Flake's one-man crusade against earmarks, however.

To which I've commented:

It is difficult to see anything that "would make the district more vulnerable to a Democratic incursion" when no credible Democratic candidate has expressed any interest in running, let alone raising the money that you rightly say is the crucial component in running for office. And time is running out.

And while many of us may be "rooting for Flake's one-man crusade against earmarks," it's important to remember that all of the projects Flake has made the subject of his weekly pun-filled press releases, if you took the money saved in every one of them and put them together, they would not fund the disastrous, tragic war in Iraq for even part of one day.

No one who has voted for President Bush's tax cuts can call himself a fiscal watchdog.

And finally, many of those projects would actually help ordinary people, like a swimming pool that could be used for recreation by members of a rural community. The George and Barbara Bush Cultural Center, while giving Flake the opportunity to make a gratuitous punning insult at the expense of a former President, had as the goal of its host institution, the University of New England, of becoming "the epicenter of art, culture and ideas on the Biddeford campus...a place to celebrate the human spirit and cultivate the diversity of ideas that are the hallmark of a liberal arts education."

It's always been easy to make political hay out of government support for art and culture, hasn't it? And many otherwise thoughtful liberals see Flake's attacks on institutions like this and nod their heads in agreement.

It's so easy to distract people from the big issues: the war, health care, energy independence and fiscal sanity.

I, I always believed in futures
I hope for better in November
I try the same losing lucky numbers
It could be a cold night for a lifetime
Hey now, you can't keeping saying endlessly
My darling, how long until this affects me?

Say hello to good times
Trade up for the fast ride
We close our eyes while the nickel and dime take the streets completely

I, I always could count on futures
That things would look up, and they look up
Why is it so hard to find balance
Between living decent and the cold and real
Hey now, what is it you think you see?
My darling, now's the time to disgaree

Say hello to good times
Trade up for the fast ride
We close our eyes while the nickel and dime take the streets completely

Hey now, the past is told by those who win
My darling, what matters is what hasn't been
Hey now, we're wide awake and we're thinking
My darling, believe your voice can mean something

Say hello to good times
Trade up for the fast ride
We close our eyes while the nickel and dime take the streets completely
We close our eyes while the nickel and dime take the streets completely

-- Copyright 2004 Jimmy Eat World

Rep. Jeff Flake votes to sustain Bush veto of SCHIP, continues his policy of treating American kids like SHIT

It's not a surprise, given his conservative free-market philosophy that Rep. Jeff Flake voted to uphold President Bush's veto of the bill to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

While some Democrats don't care if Rep. Flake is opposed because they think of him as a moderate, on "family and children's issues," he supports policies favored by the extreme right-wing groups who've consistently opposed helping kids.

Here are his scores from interest groups, courtesy of Project Vote Smart:

2006 Representative Flake supported the interests of the Children's Defense Fund 10 percent in 2006.

2006 Representative Flake supported the interests of the Family Research Council 85 percent in 2006.

2005-2006 Representative Flake supported the interests of the American Family Association 100 percent in 2005-2006.

2005-2006 Representative Flake supported the interests of the The Arc 17 percent in 2005-2006.

2005 Representative Flake supported the interests of the Children's Defense Fund 11 percent in 2005.

2005 Representative Flake supported the interests of the Family Research Council 92 percent in 2005.

2004 Representative Flake supported the interests of the Family Research Council 100 percent in 2004.

2003-2004 Representative Flake supported the interests of the Children's Defense Fund 18 percent in 2003-2004.

2003 Representative Flake supported the interests of the American Family Association 67 percent in 2003.

2003 Representative Flake supported the interests of the Family Research Council 100 percent in 2003.

2003 Representative Flake supported the interests of the School Nutrition Association 0 percent in 2003.

2002 Representative Flake supported the interests of the American Family Voices 0 percent in 2002.

2001-2002 On the votes that the Family Research Council considered to be the most important in 2001-2002, Representative Flake voted their preferred position 100 percent of the time.

2001 Representative Flake supported the interests of the Children's Defense Fund 0 percent in 2001.

I support Medicare for all Americans, but it's most urgent that we have Medicare for children.

I also support an entitlement of child care for working parents, similar to the successful system operating in France:

French child care is intended primarily as early education and is open to all children, regardless of socioeconomic status. Almost 100 percent of French three-, four-, and five-year-olds are enrolled in the full-day, free écoles maternelles; all are part of the same national system, with the same curriculum, staffed by teachers paid good wages by the same national ministry...

The cost of the French child care is not cheap. However, in France, child care costs are considered to be a social responsibility and are publicly funded, while in the U.S., parents themselves pay for these services. As Clawson and Gerstel remind us, not caring for our children is in the long term, and probably even in the short term, even more expensive.

Rep. Flake's big contribution to children's welfare: he supports abstinence education which fills kids' heads with lies.

Remaining Human While Running for Congress

In his New York Times column today, David Brooks writes about Rep. Deborah Pryce, the Ohio Republican who barely survived re-election in 2006 and who, along with two other Ohio Republicans, has decided to retire. I suspect that Pryce knew she'd lose her seat next year, but Brooks -- who is, after all, a conservative Republican -- talks to her about her last race:

I expected her to talk about the vicious ads that had been run against her.

Instead, she talked about the ads that she had put on the air against her opponent.

"I was appalled by what I had to do," she said. In close races, the national parties send teams of professionals to take over campaigns, and the candidates who resist their efforts generally lose.

When Pryce spoke about the direct-mail letters that went out under her name, she did so with a look of disgust. She said that her friends kept coming to her to complain about the TV ads she was running against her opponent. Finally, her own mother told her she was ashamed of the ads.

Brooks goes on to discuss "the soul-destroying act of campaigning" and quotes Meg Greenfield in her memoir Washington:

Public people almost eagerly dehumanize themselves. They allow the markings of region, family, class, individual character and, generally, personhood that they once possessed to be leached away. At the same time, they construct a new public self that often does terrible damage to what remains of the genuine person.

The beauty part about running a hopeless campaign for Congress, as I am doing, is that I can say what I feel. If you don't want to vote for me, fine. I'm going to try to say whatever I think and try not to become one of the shrill voices I read on political blogs of the right and the left. Maybe I'm an asshole, but I'm going to be an asshole because that's what I am, not what I think voters want to be.

Por ejemplo, yesterday I got an email from Equality Arizona, which tells me to send this sample letter to my representative:

Subject: Oppose HR 3685

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

As a supporter of equality for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, I strongly urge you to oppose HR 3685, the employment non-discrimination law that does not include gender identity.

It is unprecedented for Congress to pass civil rights legislation that is not supported by a single organization in the community that the law is designed to protect.

I realize that I am asking you to take a difficult stand. But your leadership is needed. I am asking you to stand with lgbt Americans and stand up to Congressional leadership.

Over 300 organizations working for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans oppose this legislation.

We need your help and your leadership. Please do not support legislation that divides our community.

Sincerely,

It even thoughtfully adds my own name after the signature. But it's not a letter I would write.

I'm sorry. Yes, I strongly support including transgendered Americans in ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and I greatly prefer HR 2015, the inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, to HR 3685, but as a member of Congress, I would vote for the other bill as a start -- the first federal law to recognize that gay and lesbian people should not be discriminated against in employment.

As Governor Arthur "Goddam" Fenstemaker said in The Gay Place, -- the magisterial novel by onetime LBJ aide Billy Lee Brammer that Willie Morris called "the best novel about American politics in our time" (and which, despite its title, has nothing to do with gay people) -- tells a listener about a bill that doesn't quite go all the way he'd like:

"Half a loaf?...Slice of goddam bread, even."

So I would not vote against any bill that offered protection against employment discrimination against lesbian and gay Americans. Otherwise, I'd be doing exactly what Jeff Flake and other conservative Republican House members opposed to gay rights would do.



Sorry if the GLBT organizations which would make the perfect the enemy of the good don't like this. On this issue, I agree with Barney Frank.

If I don't say what I think, then I end up like the politicians Brooks discusses in his column:

These politicians become denatured pantomimes. They have no thoughts in private that are different from the bromides they utter in public. They confuse public image with real self. They talk to you as an individual the same way they would address a large crowd.

These simulated creatures end up successful, Greenfield emphasized, but also sad and lonely. They become the victims of the tawdry scandals that blow up from time to time (like Larry Craig).

Larry Craig will vote against ENDA. Jeff Flake will vote against ENDA. I would not.

Our Children's Health & Jeff Flake's Ideology

"It is unconscionable to allow SCHIP to expire and deprive any child who needs health insurance based on an ideological theory that ignores the economic realities of American life." -- editorial, Arizona Daily Star



As I've said, Jeff Flake is a highly intelligent man, one of the few members of Congress who is a true intellectual. He is also true to his philosophy that government can and should do little. Philosophically, he doesn't believe that the government should play a role in health care. That's why he was in the minority of House members who voted against the reauthorization of SCHIP.

It's understandable, given Rep. Flake's philosophical tenets -- although it is hard for me to reconcile his support for school vouchers for even middle-class parents to send their kids to private schools with government money.

I BELIEVE THAT EVERY UNITED STATES CITIZEN HAS THE RIGHT TO HEALTH CARE. I SUPPORT UNIVERSAL COVERAGE BASED UPON A SINGLE PAYER SYSTEM -- IN OTHER WORDS, MEDICARE FOR EVERYBODY, REGARDLESS OF THEIR AGE.

Although I currently have three part-time jobs as a college teacher, I can't afford health insurance right now. If I am not one of the 18,000 Americans estimated to die every year because of a lack of health insurance and make it another eight and a half years to 65, magically I will get coverage under Medicare. Does that make sense?

Does it make sense for any child not to be guaranteed medical coverage? President Bush says people can go to the emergency room. I notice when he needs medical care, Mr. Bush goes into a government hospital where he is treated by government employees. This, like our very good system for veterans' health care, is socialized medicine. I am not for socialized medicine. I am for Medicare for everyone, which would work just like Medicare does now for those 65 and older, with private physicians.

Every other developed nation on earth has a single payer system. But Jeff Flake's ideology believes in American exceptionalism.

Maybe that's because he doesn't have to worry as much as some Americans when their five-year-old daughter wakes up with a high fever in the middle of the night and starts having a seizure or when their twelve-year-old son is badly injured in a fall. Some kids have chronic conditions which will get worse without adequate health care. We all have read stories about parents who have to choose between getting medical care for their kids and buying groceries.

Jeff Flake, of course, has Cadillac coverage for his family as a member of Congress. Why can't all Arizona's kids and all American kids have the same security? Health care is a right, not a privilege.

Here are the facts about SCHIP, courtesy of the American Pediatric Society.

On Thursday the House will vote on overriding the President's veto of SCHIP reauthorization. Please call Rep. Flake at (202) 225-2635 or (480) 833-0092 and beg him to think of our kids and vote to override the veto. This is one issue for next November that I would gladly cede in order to make sure kids get adequate medical care.



To quote The Arizona Star again, "The health and well-being of America's children should not be used as a football in an ideological drive to privatize medical insurance."

Ten Things I Like About Jeff Flake

Before I make the case for a Democratic candidate against Rep. Jeff Flake in Arizona's Sixth Congressional District, I'd like to tell you ten things I like about him. This, I guess, is pretty rare in our hyper-partisan atmosphere, but I'm running a DIY campaign and I can pretend we're in some mythical past where our opponents were not our enemies, where legislators of both parties worked together on issues where they could find agreement.

1. Jeff Flake is an unusually thoughtful legislator who recognizes that issues are complex and who can appreciate ambiguity.

For example, see the video of his speech announcing his vote in support of President Bush's troop "surge" in Iraq. Although I've opposed the Iraq war since before the initial invasion and in my 2004 campaign for Congress from Florida, I favored immediate withdrawal of our troops, a position I believe more than ever today, I'm impressed with Rep. Flake's struggles with this issue.

He understands the need for debate in a (small D) democratic society and is honest enough to say that while he doesn't believe the surge will do any good, he is voting to increase the number of troops in Iraq because of his adherence to the notion that the Commander-in-Chief should get his way in military matters.

2. He is a rare voice in favor of ending the trade embargo of Cuba and normalizing relations with that nation.

I've lived in South Florida, where Democrats and Republicans are afraid to offend the extreme right wing of the Cuban-American community, so I commend Jeff Flake for recognizing that this stupid policy has been detrimental to both U.S. and Cuban interests for the past 35 years. In this Washington Post article he wrote with Rep. Charles Rangel, the New York Democrat, Rep. Flake makes a compelling argument for change.

3. Anyone who can attract such creepy, vile, xenophobic bigots as enemies has to be a decent guy, right?

4. Jeff Flake, or someone who writes his press releases, is extremely fond of terrible puns.

There is a twelve-step program for people with this problem, but until he gets needed help, this man needs at least some sympathy. (You thought I'd make a bad pun here, didn't you?)

5. He apparently annoys the majority of the House minority.

Rep. Flake's independence pissed off the troglodytes who control the Republican party so much that earlier this year Minority Leader John Boehner removed Flake from his post as a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

6. Jeff Flake is an intellectual.

Rep. Flake served as executive director of the Goldwater Institute, and like that think tank, he has a coherent worldview based on his philosophy of limited government. He believes there is very little government can do that the free market can't do better, and so his voting record, unlike many Republican conservatives is consistent: he will not vote for S-CHIP reauthorization because he is philosphically against government action to protect the health of children even if the majority of Republicans favor it.

While this sounds like I'm getting in a dig here, I do admire his consistency, enough to make him one of only eight GOP House members to earn a 100 percent rating from the American Conservative Union. He voted against President Bush's Medicare drug bill despite party pressure to do so. I'm sure that had he been in Congress back in the Johnson administration, Rep. Flake would have voted against Medicare altogether. His faith in the free market is based on core principles.

7. Jeff Flake can sometimes admit he was wrong -- something many politicians, such as the President, are loath to do.

Although he wholeheartedly supported both the Patriot Act and the Iraq war, recently Rep. Flake voted against appropriations for both. I salute him for that.

And though he was once a believer in the harebrained idea of term limits, campaigning in 2000 pledging to leaving no later than January 2007, he changed his mind shortly after being re-elected to his third term. "It was a mistake to limit my own terms," he said then. Had he not recognized his mistake, he would not be in Congress today.

8. As far as I can tell (and I have tried to check him out as much as I could), Jeff Flake is an honest man.

He was one of the first and one of the only House Republicans to publicly call on corrupt former Majority Leader Tom DeLay to step down.

9. He has a nice head of hair.

His wife cuts it. He says he has paid for just three haircuts in his whole life.

10. Jeff Flake had the guts, on national television, to refuse to submit to a reporter's efforts to prove he is a natural blond by revealing the hair on, um, another part of his body.

Welcome to the Sixth Congressional District of Arizona, Bitch -- uh, Democrat!

Arizona's Sixth Congressional District was created as a safe Republican House seat in the redistricting following the 2000 census, when the Cactus State gained two Congressional seats. It encompasses parts of Maricopa and Pinal counties. It is mostly made up of eastern suburbs of Phoenix, what we in the East Valley call "the East Valley": Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Queen Creek and my hometown of Apache Junction (though I've also lived and worked in Mesa).

It's one of the fastest-growing parts of the United States. Of cities over 100,000, Gilbert is the fourth fastest-growing and Chandler the ninth fastest-growing. Queen Creek's population is doubling every four years. In parts of the district, nearly all the buildings date from the 21st century.

According to Wikipedia:

It is currently represented by Jeff Flake, a Republican. George W. Bush received 64% of the vote in this district in 2004. The district has a Cook Partisan Voting Index score of R +12.
Population (2000): 641,329
Male 49.3%, Female 50.7%
Median age: 34.1
Median Household Income: $47,976
Racial Composition: 84.2% White, 2.1% Black, 1.8% Asian, 1.0% Native American, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 8.2% Other, 17.2% Hispanic (of any race)

In 2002, Republican Jeff Flake won his second term with 65% of the vote. (He first won a Congressional seat in the old First District in 2000).

Deborah Thomas, the only Democratic candidate who's ever run in this district, got 42,653 votes, or 32%. Libertarian Andy Wagner got 3%.

In 2004, Rep. Flake won 79% of the vote against the Libertarian candidate, Craig Stritar, who got 21%.

In 2006, Rep. Flake got 74% of the vote to 26% for Libertarian Jason Blair.

Why did no Democrat run in the last two elections? Why am I pushing for some Democrat to run in 2008? Why have I so far been able to convince only myself to run? See future posts.

Money and Politics

This is from the Federal Election Commission disclosure reports:

Committees Who Gave To This Candidate
FLAKE, JEFF MR.
THE CANDIDATE

JEFF FLAKE FOR CONGRESS
PRINCIPAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE OF THE CANDIDATE

Contributor's Name Date Amount Image Number
CONTRIBUTIONS
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR JUSTICE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (AAJ PAC) 03/01/2007 1000.00 27990409782
AMERICAN BANKERS ASSOCIATION PAC (BANKPAC) 03/26/2007 1000.00 27930489075
AMERICAN BANKERS ASSOCIATION PAC (BANKPAC) 08/16/2007 2000.00 27990639821
AMERICAN HOTEL AND LODGING ASSOCIATION PAC 06/06/2007 500.00 27990731629
BOB BARR LEADERSHIP FUND, THE 06/22/2007 1000.00 27930892088
BUILD POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HOME BUILDERS 06/20/2007 5000.00 27930962679
BURLINGTON NORTHERN SANTA FE CORPORATION RAILPAC (BNSF RAILPAC) 07/25/2007 1000.00 27990472695
CREDIT UNION LEGISLATIVE ACTION COUNCIL OF CUNA 04/05/2007 2500.00 27990078959
FREEPORT-MCMORAN COPPER & GOLD INC. CITIZENSHIP COMMITTEE 07/18/2007 1000.00 27931092239
INTEL CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 05/04/2007 1000.00 27931021456
LATINO ALLIANCE 06/14/2007 2500.00 27931039244
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 06/12/2007 1000.00 27930876944
NATIONAL CABLE AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (NCTA PAC) 04/11/2007 1000.00 27990418850
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT BUSINESS/ SAVE AMERICAS FREE ENTERPRISE TRUST 05/03/2007 1000.00 27990167659
NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION PAC 03/07/2007 1000.00 27990018308
NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION PAC 05/07/2007 2500.00 27930831167
NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA POLITICAL VICTORY FUND 08/16/2007 1000.00 27931226058
NATIONAL ROOFING CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION (ROOFPAC) 05/17/2007 5000.00 27990153686
PHELPS DODGE EMPLOYEES FUND FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT 03/02/2007 1000.00 27930611645
PINNACLE WEST CAPITAL CORPORATION PAC 03/29/2007 2000.00 27931038847
PINNACLE WEST CAPITAL CORPORATION PAC 05/09/2007 500.00 27931038848
QWEST COMMUNICATIONS INTERNATIONAL INC POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 07/23/2007 1000.00 27931103550
QWEST COMMUNICATIONS INTERNATIONAL INC POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 08/31/2007 500.00 27990621195
SALT RIVER VALLEY WATER USERS' ASSOCIATION POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT COMMITTEE ( SRPPIC) 03/14/2007 1500.00 27990204101
SOUTHWEST GAS CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 04/16/2007 1000.00 27039483969
UNION PACIFIC CORP. FUND FOR EFFECTIVE GOVERNMENT 08/28/2007 1000.00 27931227851
US AIRWAYS GROUP INC. FEDERAL PAC 04/13/2007 1000.00 27931038373
WAL-MART STORES INC. PAC FOR RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT 07/30/2007 1000.00 27990503764
WELLS FARGO AND COMPANY EMPLOYEE PAC (AKA WELLS FARGO EMPLOYEE PAC) 08/21/2007 1000.00 27990621088
WESTERN GROWERS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 05/24/2007 1000.00 27931038339

So is this:

Committees Who Gave To This Candidate
GRAYSON, RICHARD
THE CANDIDATE

RICHARD GRAYSON FOR CONGRESS AZ-06
PRINCIPAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE OF THE CANDIDATE

No Committees Gave To This Candidate



Here's more from the FEC:

Individuals Who Gave To: FLAKE, JEFF MR.
Sorted By Transaction Type Then Last Name
Committee(s) Used In This Query:

JEFF FLAKE FOR CONGRESS

The query you have chosen matched 284 individual contributions.

Contributor Address Date Amount Employer/Occupation Image Number
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM AN INDIVIDUAL
AARONS, BARRY PHOENIX
AZ 85004 03/28/2007 500.00 THE AARONS COMPANY/PR CONSULTANT 27930484441
ALLEN, GREG MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85262 04/04/2007 500.00 FFEC/EXECUTIVE 27990195964
ALVAREZ, RUBEN MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85021 05/30/2007 250.00 MOLERAALVAREZ GROUP/MANAGING PARTN 27990196114
ANDERSEN, TUCKER MR. WARREN
CT 06754 03/16/2007 2300.00 CUMBERLAND ASSOCIATES/CONSULTANT 27930484433
ANDERSEN, TUCKER MR. WARREN
CT 06754 03/16/2007 2300.00 CUMBERLAND ASSOCIATES/CONSULTANT 27930484432
ANDERSON, DANA SANTA MONICA
CA 90401 04/20/2007 250.00 MACERICH/VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOAR 27990196004
ARAL, MARIA MS. MIAMI
FL 33173 03/31/2007 1000.00 ABC CHARTERS/VICE PRESIDENT 27930484448
AUGUSTINE, CHRISTINE MRS. PHOENIX
AZ 85016 05/23/2007 1000.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27990196109
AUGUSTINE, JOHN MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85024 04/09/2007 2300.00 DESERT TREE FARM/WHOLESALE NURSERY 27990195975
AUSTIN, ALLEN MR. AND MR PHOENIX
AZ 85044 04/20/2007 500.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196005
BACHMAN, NATHAN MR. CINCINNATI
OH 45243 04/06/2007 2300.00 SELF/INVESTOR 27990195969
BAILEY, WILLIAM MR. MESA
AZ 85205 06/06/2007 2000.00 ASSOCO PROFESSIONAL INVESTMENTS/IN 27990196133
BAKER, PAUL MR. TUCSON
AZ 85716 03/22/2007 1000.00 N/A/RETIRED 27930484439
BALL, JUDSON MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85016 04/06/2007 1000.00 URBAN REALITY PARTNERS L.L.C. 27990195969
BALL, JUDSON MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85016 04/06/2007 1000.00 URBAN REALITY PARTNERS L.L.C. 27990195969
BALL, NANCY SUE MRS. JACKSON
WY 83001 04/06/2007 1000.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27990195970
BALL, NANCY SUE MRS. JACKSON
WY 83001 04/06/2007 1000.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27990195970
BARKLEY, ROBERT MR. YUMA
AZ 85366 06/04/2007 1000.00
27990196130
BARNEY, T. DENNIS GILBERT
AZ 85234 05/16/2007 300.00 LANDMARK INTERIORS/PRESIDENT 27990196091
BARNEY, T. DENNIS GILBERT
AZ 85234 05/16/2007 200.00 LANDMARK INTERIORS/PRESIDENT 27990196092
BARRETT, BARBARA PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 03/16/2007 2300.00 TRIPLE CREEK RANCH/PRESIDENT 27930484433
BARRETT, BARBARA PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 03/16/2007 2300.00 TRIPLE CREEK RANCH/PRESIDENT 27930484433
BARRETT, CRAIG R. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 03/16/2007 2300.00 INTEL INC./CHAIRMAN/CEO 27930484434
BARRETT, CRAIG R. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 03/16/2007 2300.00 INTEL INC./CHAIRMAN/CEO 27930484434
BAUM, ROBERT MR. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 05/30/2007 2300.00 SELF/CONTRACTOR 27990196114
BEECHER, CATHIE MESA
AZ 85205 05/14/2007 250.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27990196063
BERTRAND, ROBERT MR. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 04/04/2007 1000.00 CONCORD SERVICING CORP./CHAIRMAN 27990195964
BEUS, LEO R. PHOENIX
AZ 85048 05/04/2007 1000.00 BEUS GILBERT/ATTORNEY 27990196045
BEZOZO, JASON MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85250 05/30/2007 250.00 BANNER HEALTH/GOVERNMENT RELATIONS 27990196115
BLAIRE, MICHAEL MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85259 04/06/2007 1000.00 DIAMONDBACK DRUGS/PHARMACIST 27990195970
BLAIRE, MICHAEL MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85259 06/06/2007 300.00 DIAMONDBACK DRUGS/PHARMACIST 27990196134
BLANCO, DANIEL MR. MIAMI
FL 33155 03/28/2007 250.00 WILSON INTERNATIONAL SERVICES/PRES 27930484442
BODNAR, PATRICIA MS. GLENDALE
AZ 85303 04/13/2007 500.00 ARIZONA CREDIT UNION LEAGUE/V.P. P 27990195987
BORJA, ISIDRO MR. MIAMI
FL 33156 03/31/2007 250.00 WEATHERTROL/EXECUTIVE 27930484448
BOSC, MAURICE MR. TEMPE
AZ 85282 05/30/2007 200.00
27990196115
BOSC, MAURICE MR. TEMPE
AZ 85282 05/30/2007 200.00
27990196115
BRAKE, LELAND MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85254 05/17/2007 500.00 AZ CATTLE GROWERS ASSOC./PRESIDENT 27990196094
BRAUERSCHMIDT, GEORGE MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85042 04/19/2007 300.00 NVIDIA CORP./COMPUTER PROGRAMER 27990195999
BRAUN, TED MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85261 05/02/2007 200.00 DESIGN MARKETING/MARKETING EXECUTI 27990196043
BRIEVA, MARIA MS. MIAMI
FL 33165 03/31/2007 200.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27930484449
BRIEVA, ORLANDO MR. MIAMI
FL 33165 03/31/2007 500.00 MACHI COMMUNITY SERVICES/OFFICE MA 27930484449
BRIMHALL, STACY GILBERT
AZ 85296 04/09/2007 1000.00 SELF/REAL ESTATE 27990195975
BRIMHALL, STACY GILBERT
AZ 85296 04/09/2007 1000.00 SELF/REAL ESTATE 27990195975
BRYAN, JOHN D. MR. LAKE OSWEGO
OR 97035 04/09/2007 500.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990195975
BUCKLEY JR., WILLIAM F. STAMFORD
CT 06902 04/17/2007 250.00 NATIONAL REVIEW/JOURNALIST 27990195989
BULLOCK, FRASER MR. ALPINE
UT 84004 06/14/2007 2300.00 SLOC/EXECUTIVE 27990196141
BULLOCK, FRASER MR. ALPINE
UT 84004 06/14/2007 2300.00 SLOC/EXECUTIVE 27990196141
BULLOCK, JENNIFER MRS. ALPINE
UT 84004 06/14/2007 2300.00 N/A/HOME MAKER 27990196142
BULLOCK, JENNIFER MRS. ALPINE
UT 84004 06/14/2007 2300.00 N/A/HOME MAKER 27990196141
CAMPBELL, BRIAN MR. MESA
AZ 85207 04/30/2007 500.00 BONN & WILKINS/ATTORNEY 27990196034
CAMPBELL, CHERYL SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85254 05/19/2007 1500.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27990196101
CAMPBELL, LYLE P. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 03/28/2007 2300.00 FOUNDERS BANK/PRESIDENT 27930484442
CHASE, SUSAN MS. MESA
AZ 85201 05/30/2007 300.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27990196116
CIOCCA, ARTHUR MR. SAN FRANCISCO
CA 94108 03/20/2007 2300.00 THE WINE GROUP INC./CHAIRMAN 27930484438
COATS, WILLIAM OKEMOS
MI 48864 04/12/2007 2000.00 LEONA GROUP/CEO 27990195986
COATS, WILLIAM OKEMOS
MI 48864 04/12/2007 2000.00 LEONA GROUP/CEO 27990195986
COOPER, THOMAS MR. FT. LAUDERDALE
FL 33312 04/17/2007 500.00
27990195989
COWLEY, SAMUEL PHOENIX
AZ 85045 05/11/2007 2000.00 SWIFT TRANSPORTATION/ATTORNEY 27990196057
COWLEY, SAMUEL PHOENIX
AZ 85045 05/11/2007 2000.00 SWIFT TRANSPORTATION/ATTORNEY 27990196057
COX, CAROLYN MRS. TUCSON
AZ 85749 04/24/2007 200.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196027
COX, CYNTHIA MRS. CAVE CREEK
AZ 85331 05/17/2007 500.00 ARIZONA WHOLESALE GROWERS/OWNER 27990196095
CRAIG, EARLE MR. MIDLAND
TX 79702 03/28/2007 2300.00 INDEPENDENT OIL/GAS PRODUCER/SELF 27930484442
CROSS, ROBERT MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85048 06/06/2007 1000.00 SELF/DEVELOPER 27990196134
CROWE, MICHAEL MR. MESA
AZ 85203 05/30/2007 500.00 CROWE & ASSOCIATES/PRESIDENT 27990196116
CROWN, ERIC MR. TEMPE
AZ 85284 06/30/2007 2300.00 INSIGHT/CEO 27990196145
CROWN, ERIC MR. TEMPE
AZ 85284 06/30/2007 2300.00 INSIGHT/CEO 27990196146
CUNNINGHAM, ROBERT W. PHOENIX
AZ 85048 03/28/2007 2300.00 SWIFT TRANSPORTATION/PRESIDENT/CEO 27930484443
CUNNINGHAM, ROBERT W. PHOENIX
AZ 85048 03/28/2007 2300.00 SWIFT TRANSPORTATION/PRESIDENT/CEO 27930484443
CUNNINGHAM, SHELLEY R. PHOENIX
AZ 85048 03/28/2007 2300.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27930484443
CUNNINGHAM, SHELLEY R. PHOENIX
AZ 85048 03/28/2007 2300.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27930484444
DAHM, CHRIS MR. TEMPE
AZ 85283 05/19/2007 250.00 COLEMAN DAHM PUBLIC AFFAIRS/PARTNE 27990196102
DAWSON, JOHN MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85258 06/01/2007 1300.00 SELF/ENTREPRENUER 27990196127
DAWSON, JOHN MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85258 04/09/2007 1000.00 SELF/ENTREPRENUER 27990195976
DAWSON, JOHN MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85258 06/01/2007 2300.00 SELF/ENTREPRENUER 27990196126
DAY, TIMOTHY T. TETON VILLAGE
WY 83025 06/22/2007 1700.00 BAR-S FOODS/CEO 27990196143
DAY, TIMOTHY T. TETON VILLAGE
WY 83025 04/06/2007 2000.00 BAR-S FOODS/CEO 27990195970
DAY, TIMOTHY T. TETON VILLAGE
WY 83025 06/22/2007 300.00 BAR-S FOODS/CEO 27990196144
DE LA FUENTE MANRIQUEZ, MARIO MR. TUCSON
AZ 85748 03/30/2007 1000.00 SELF/BUSINESS MAN 27930484447
DE LA TORRE, JOSE MR. MIAMI
FL 33129 03/31/2007 250.00 FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY/P 27930484449
DE LEON, JOHN MR. MIAMI
FL 33129 03/31/2007 500.00 SELF EMPLOYED/ATTORNEY 27930484450
DELGADO, ROBERT MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85016 04/06/2007 1000.00 HENSLEY & CO./EXECUTIVE 27990195971
DEMENNA, KEVIN B. PHOENIX
AZ 85018 04/06/2007 1000.00 DEMENNA & ASSOCIATES/LOBBYIST/PUBL 27990195971
DIAMOND, DONALD R. TUCSON
AZ 85718 05/15/2007 1000.00 SELF-EMPLOYED/INVESTOR 27990196088
DIEFENTHAL, EDWARD MR. METAIRIE
LA 70001 03/20/2007 2300.00 WOOD VINE GROUP/CEO 27930484438
DIESSNER, MICHAEL PHOENIX
AZ 85016 04/10/2007 1000.00 M.F. DIESSNER & CO./REAL ESTATE 27990195980
DIESSNER, ROBIN MRS. PHOENIX
AZ 85016 04/10/2007 1000.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27990195980
DOBSON, DWAYNE E. CHANDLER
AZ 85249 05/15/2007 200.00 SELF-EMPLOYED/RANCHER 27990196089
DOUGLAS, HENRY MR. MESA
AZ 85207 04/21/2007 500.00 HARRIS CATTLE CO./FARMER 27990196016
DOZER, RICHARD MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85018 04/17/2007 1000.00 CDK PARTNERS/DEVELOPMENT 27990195990
DURAN, ALFREDO MR. MIAMI
FL 33131 03/31/2007 1000.00 SELF/ATTORNEY 27930484450
DURAN, CHELIN MRS. MIAMI
FL 33131 03/30/2007 500.00 PADOVAN REALTY/REALTOR 27930484447
EGAN, ROGER MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85258 05/30/2007 2000.00 MCDUFFY'S/RESTAURANT OWNER 27990196117
EISENBERG, KENNETH MR. DEARBORN
MI 48126 03/16/2007 1000.00 KENWAL STEEL CORP./EXECUTIVE 27930484434
ELLMAN, STEVE MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85018 03/05/2007 2300.00 COYOTES HOCKEY LLC/CHAIRMAN 27930484431
ELLMAN, STEVE MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85018 03/05/2007 2300.00 COYOTES HOCKEY LLC/CHAIRMAN 27930484431
ESPINOZA, ELENA CAMP VERDE
AZ 86322 03/05/2007 250.00 N/A/RETIRED 27930484432
ESSLEY, RONALD MESA
AZ 85205 04/21/2007 250.00 EMA2ARCHITECTS/ARCHITECT 27990196016
EVANS, LINDSLEY MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85014 05/30/2007 500.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196117
EWING, JOHN MR. YUMA
AZ 85365 04/19/2007 1000.00 SUN WESTERN FLYERS INC./MANAGER 27990196000
FARHA, S. JIM MR. WICHITA
KS 67278 04/05/2007 200.00 KOCH INDUSTRIES/EXECUTIVE 27990195968
FARNSWORTH, ROSS N. MR. MESA
AZ 85206 04/18/2007 1000.00 SELF EMPLOYED/REAL ESTATE DEVELOPM 27990195993
FARRAR, GORDON PHOENIX
AZ 85068 04/04/2007 500.00 FARRAR INSURANCE SERVICES INC./SAL 27990195965
FEE, NORMAN MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85250 04/04/2007 250.00 PHYSICIAN/TOCA 27990195965
FEE, NORMAN MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85250 04/24/2007 200.00 PHYSICIAN/TOCA 27990196028
FILES, ROBERT MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85262 04/19/2007 500.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196000
FLANAGAN, JOHN MR. FLAGSTAFF
AZ 86001 05/10/2007 500.00 FLANAGAN FARMS/OWNER 27990196055
FLORKIEWICZ, BUDD MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85262 04/04/2007 500.00 FOAM FABRICATORS INC/CEO 27990195965
FRANCIS, MICHAEL MR. LITCHFIELD PARK
AZ 85340 05/30/2007 250.00 SEL-EMPLOYED/INSURANCE AGENT 27990196117
FRAYDA, LEVIN MOUNTAIN LAKES
NJ 07046 03/22/2007 2300.00 N/A/RETIRED 27930484439
FRIEDLOB, RAYMOND MR. GREENWOOD VILLAGE
CO 80111 04/05/2007 250.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990195968
FULLINWIDER, J.M. DALLAS
TX 75205 03/19/2007 250.00 PRESIDENT & CEO/VF-RUSSIA INC. 27930484435
GARCIA, ROY MR. MIAMI
FL 33143 03/31/2007 250.00 GARCIA ESPINOZA MIYAIRES & CO/PART 27930484450
GILL, SHARRON MRS. GOLD CANYON
AZ 85218 05/11/2007 300.00 ASD/EXECUTIVE 27990196058
GITLIN, GARY MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85004 04/11/2007 400.00 SELF/SELF 27990195982
GITLIN, GARY MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85004 04/11/2007 400.00 SELF/SELF 27990195982
GOLDBERG, HERBERT MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85258 04/04/2007 500.00 WACHOVIA SECURITIES/SENIOR VICE PR 27990195966
GONZALEZ, RICARDO MR. MADISON
WI 53711 03/16/2007 250.00 N/A/RETIRED 27930484435
GREENING, ROBERT PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 04/06/2007 1000.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990195971
GREENING, ROBERT PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 06/30/2007 200.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196146
GRUBB, LOU PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 05/15/2007 300.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196089
GRUBB, LOU PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 03/28/2007 1000.00 N/A/RETIRED 27930484444
HAMER, GLENN MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85260 06/30/2007 500.00 ARIZONA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE/PRESID 27990196146
HANLEY, LEE MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85016 04/04/2007 250.00 VESTAR/CEO 27990195966
HANSEN, TODD MR. MESA
AZ 85208 04/30/2007 250.00 EDWARD JONES/FINANCIAL ADVISOR 27990196036
HASTINGS, VERNON MESA
AZ 85208 03/27/2007 200.00 RETIRED/RETIRED 27930484441
HAWKINS, ROBERT MR. TEMPE
AZ 85284 05/14/2007 1000.00 WESTERN TIRE COMPANY/PRESIDENT 27990196072
HEIDEN, W. BRUCE BUCKEYE
AZ 85326 05/30/2007 250.00 SELF/FARMER 27990196118
HERBERGER, JUDD MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85254 04/06/2007 2300.00 SELF/CONTRACTOR 27990195972
HERIAUD, LEE MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85254 05/19/2007 1000.00 SELF/SELF 27990196103
HERRERA, MONICA MS. MIAMI
FL 33186 03/31/2007 250.00 GARCIA ESPINOZA MIYAIRES & CO/SENI 27930484451
HIRSCH, I. JEROME PHOENIX
AZ 85018 04/06/2007 2300.00 JAREN CORPORATION/EXECUTIVE 27990195972
HIRSCH, I. JEROME PHOENIX
AZ 85018 04/06/2007 2300.00 JAREN CORPORATION/EXECUTIVE 27990195972
HITCHCOCK, JEFFREY MR. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 04/09/2007 500.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990195976
HOBBS, KAREN MRS. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 04/11/2007 1800.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27990195982
HOBBS, ROBERT C. SR PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 04/11/2007 1800.00 NAUMANN/HOBBS/CEO 27990195982
HOWLETT, C.A. MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85250 04/11/2007 500.00 US AIRWAYS/VP- GOVT. AFFAIRS 27990195983
HOWLETT, C.A. MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85250 04/11/2007 500.00 US AIRWAYS/VP- GOVT. AFFAIRS 27990195983
HUCK, LEONARD W. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85255 06/06/2007 250.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196136
HUIZENGA, J.C. GRAND RAPIDS
MI 49506 03/29/2007 1000.00 HUIZENGA MANUFACTURING GROUP/EXECU 27930484446
HUIZINGH, WILLIAM DR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85251 04/04/2007 250.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990195966
HUMPHREYS, ETHELMAE MS. JOPLIN
MO 64801 03/19/2007 1000.00 TAMKO BLDG PROD. INC./EXECUTIVE 27930484435
HUNTER, STEVEN MR. CORAL GABLES
FL 33134 03/31/2007 250.00
27930484451
INGRAM, K. MICHAEL PHOENIX
AZ 85048 03/28/2007 1000.00 EL DORADO HOLDINGS/PRESIDENT 27930484444
ISAACSON, DON PHOENIX
AZ 85023 05/19/2007 250.00 RIDEGE & ISAACSON/ATTORNEY 27990196103
ISAACSON, MARIE MRS. PHOENIX
AZ 85023 05/19/2007 250.00 STATE OF ARIZONA/SR. HUMAN RESOURC 27990196103
ISAAK, JASON MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85013 05/25/2007 250.00 POLICY DEVELOPMENT GROUP/CONSULTAN 27990196111
JESSEN, JULI MS. YUMA
AZ 85364 05/16/2007 500.00 GOWAN CHEMICAL COMPANY/DIRECTOR 27990196093
JOHNSON, FRANK MR. MESA
AZ 85213 06/06/2007 500.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196136
JOHNSON, IVAN D. PHOENIX
AZ 85022 04/11/2007 300.00 COX COMMUNICATIONS/VICE PRESIDENT 27990195983
JOHNSON, IVAN D. PHOENIX
AZ 85022 04/11/2007 300.00 COX COMMUNICATIONS/VICE PRESIDENT 27990195983
JOHNSON, KENNETH MR. MESA
AZ 85213 05/04/2007 500.00 SELF/RETIRED 27990196050
JOHNSON, NANA MRS. PHOENIX
AZ 85018 05/30/2007 1252.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27990196119
JOHNSON, RALEIGH MR. MESA
AZ 85206 04/20/2007 250.00 SELF/ATTORNEY 27990196008
JOHNSON, STEPHEN MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85018 05/30/2007 1252.00 MACAYO'S/SELF 27990196119

JONES, ROBERT MR. MESA
AZ 85213 05/30/2007 250.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196120
K. EARL, DURDEN MR. PANAMA CITY
FL 32408 03/19/2007 2300.00 RAIL MANAGEMENT CORP./CHAIRMAN 27930484436
KARAKEY, BUDDY MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85254 05/20/2007 300.00 EFI/SOFTWARE MANAGER 27990196106
KIM, JAMES MRS. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85262 04/17/2007 1000.00 AMKORTECHNOLOGY/CEO 27990195990
KIRR, DAVID MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85262 04/06/2007 500.00 KIRR MARBACH & CO./INVESTMENT ADVI 27990195973
KLEIN, EILEEN I. MS. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85258 05/20/2007 250.00 UNIED HEALTH AZ PHYSICIANS INC./VI 27990196106
KLINKER, JAMES W. MESA
AZ 85202 05/30/2007 250.00 AZ FARM BUREAU/PUBLIC AFFAIRS 27990196120
KNOX, NORMAN MR. CHANDLER
AZ 85225 05/18/2007 250.00 SELF/FARMER 27990196100
KRAEMER, RICHARD MR. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 04/30/2007 500.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196036
KUMAR, KV MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85258 06/06/2007 500.00 BUSINES & STRATEGIC CONSULTANTS IN 27990196137
LADD, JOSEPH MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85020 06/04/2007 500.00 ELGIN TREE FARM/MANAGER 27990196131
LAKE, JACK S. PHOENIX
AZ 85018 03/30/2007 1000.00 SELF EMPLOYED/INVESTOR 27930484447
LARSON, MACK MR. MESA
AZ 85215 05/04/2007 500.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196050
LEVY, EDDIE MR. MIAMI
FL 33129 03/31/2007 250.00 JEWISH SOLIDARITY/CHAIRMAN 27930484451
LEVY, KENNETH MR. MOUNTAIN LAKES
NJ 07046 03/22/2007 2300.00 N/A/RETIRED 27930484440
LEWIS, MARK MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85016 04/07/2007 200.00 ROBSON COMMUNITIES/GOVERNMENT RELA 27990195974
LEWIS, MARK MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85016 04/07/2007 200.00 ROBSON COMMUNITIES/GOVERNMENT RELA 27990195974
LOGAN, JAKE MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85018 05/30/2007 250.00 MOLERAALVAREZ GROUP/PARTNER 27990196121
LUDDY, ROBERT MR. RALEIGH
NC 27616 04/09/2007 2300.00 SELF/BUSINESS OWNER 27990195977
LUKE, DON MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85013 05/02/2007 500.00 BILL LUKE CJ&D/EXECUTIVE 27990196044
MARTORI, STEPHEN MR. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 05/30/2007 1000.00 MAROTRI FARMS/OWNER 27990196121
MAYER, ALLAN MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85250 05/08/2007 300.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196055
MCCLELLAND, NORMAN P. PHOENIX
AZ 85009 04/17/2007 2000.00 SHAMROCK FOOD COMPANY/EXECUTIVE 27990195991
MCDONALD, LARRY MR. YUMA
AZ 85367 05/10/2007 500.00 SELF/CATTLE FEEDER 27990196056
MCGRATH, JEAN MRS. GLENDALE
AZ 85301 05/30/2007 500.00 MCGRATH GROWERS/OWNER 27990196121
MCVAUGH, JACK MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85262 04/09/2007 2000.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990195977
MITCHEM, DENNIS MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85012 06/06/2007 200.00 SELF/DIRECTOR 27990196138
MOLERA, JAIME A. PHOENIX
AZ 85044 05/30/2007 350.00 SELF/CONSULTANT 27990196122
MOORE, JOSEPH MR. SUN CITY WEST
AZ 85376 04/18/2007 200.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990195995
NAJAFI, F. FRANCIS MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85016 04/06/2007 2300.00 PIVOTAL GROUP INC./CEO 27990195973
NELSON, AMY PHOENIX
AZ 85044 04/20/2007 2300.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27990196010
NELSON, AMY PHOENIX
AZ 85044 04/20/2007 2300.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27990196010
NELSON, TODD PHOENIX
AZ 85044 04/20/2007 2300.00 APOLLO GROUP/PRESIDENT 27990196011
NELSON, TODD PHOENIX
AZ 85044 04/20/2007 2300.00 APOLLO GROUP/PRESIDENT 27990196011
NICHOLS, C. WILLIAM PEORIA
AZ 85383 04/09/2007 1000.00 KILAUEA CRUSHERS INC./EXECUTIVE OF 27990195977
NICHOLS, C. WILLIAM PEORIA
AZ 85383 04/09/2007 1000.00 KILAUEA CRUSHERS INC./EXECUTIVE OF 27990195977
NICHOLS, MARCILLINE MRS. PEORIA
AZ 85383 04/09/2007 1000.00 KILAUEA CRUSHERS/OWNER 27990195978
NICHOLS, MARCILLINE MRS. PEORIA
AZ 85383 04/09/2007 1000.00 KILAUEA CRUSHERS/OWNER 27990195978
NICHOLS, VERNA MS. MESA
AZ 85205 04/30/2007 200.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196038
NICHOLSON, JAMES MR. DETROIT
MI 48213 03/19/2007 1000.00 PRESIDENT & CEO/PVS CHEMICALS 27930484436
NORTON, DORIS S. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 03/19/2007 2300.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27930484437
NORTON, DORIS S. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 03/19/2007 1900.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27930484437
NORTON III, JOHN R. PHOENIX
AZ 85064 03/19/2007 2300.00 J.R. NORTON CO./SELF EMPLOYED 27930484436
NORTON III, JOHN R. PHOENIX
AZ 85064 03/19/2007 1900.00 J.R. NORTON CO./SELF EMPLOYED 27930484437
OBRIEN, ROBERT MR. CAREFREE
AZ 85377 04/19/2007 250.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196002
ODEN, GARY MR. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 05/11/2007 500.00 SELF/CATTLE FEEDER 27990196058
OGDEN, JOHN PHOENIX
AZ 85028 03/28/2007 1000.00 SUNCORP./PRESIDENT/CEO 27930484445
OHRSTROM, CLARKE MR. THE PLAINS
VA 20198 05/01/2007 250.00 WHITEWOOD FARM/OWNER 27990196041
OHRSTROM, G.R. MR. NEW YORK
NY 10010 04/05/2007 2300.00 SELF/FINANCIAL SERVICES 27990195969
OWENS, HERB MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85009 03/30/2007 500.00 PCI/CEO 27930484448
PASQUINELLI, GARY YUMA
AZ 85366 05/18/2007 500.00 GRAY EAGLE GROUP/PARTNER 27990196100
PATTERSON, JAMES MR. LOUISVILLE
KY 40223 03/19/2007 2300.00 SELF/INVESTOR 27930484438
PEARCE, NORMAN MR. MESA
AZ 85277 04/23/2007 1000.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196026
PETERSON, SCOTT MR. MESA
AZ 85205 05/21/2007 2000.00 DEL WEBB/REGION PRESIDENT-ARIZONA 27990196108
PETZNICK, EARL MR. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 05/30/2007 1000.00 PINAL FEEDINGS COMPANY/OWNER 27990196122
PIERCE, STEPHEN MR. PRESCOTT
AZ 86305 03/26/2007 500.00 SELF/RANCHER 27930484440
PILGRIM, LONNIE MR. PITTSBURG
TX 75686 03/27/2007 2300.00 PILGRIM'S PRIDE CORPORATION/CHAIRM 27930484441
POTENZA, AUSTIN MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85254 05/19/2007 300.00 SELF/ATTORNEY 27990196104
PRUITT, J. DOUG MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85028 05/30/2007 250.00 SUNDT CONSTRUCTION/CHAIRMAN 27990196122
RAPPOPORT, D. MICHAEL SCOTTSDLE
AZ 85258 04/11/2007 500.00 SRP/EXECUTIVE 27990195984
RAPPOPORT, D. MICHAEL SCOTTSDLE
AZ 85258 04/11/2007 500.00 SRP/EXECUTIVE 27990195984
RAYNER, ROBERT MR. LITCHFIELD PARK
AZ 85340 05/25/2007 200.00 SELF/FARMER 27990196112
RAYNER, RONALD MR. GOODYEAR
AZ 85338 05/25/2007 200.00 SELF/FARMER 27990196112
REESE, DAVID E. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 04/12/2007 2000.00 FIFTH THIRD BANK/BANKER 27990195986
REESE, DAVID E. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 04/12/2007 2000.00 FIFTH THIRD BANK/BANKER 27990195986
RIESEN, DEAN MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85018 04/11/2007 2000.00 RIMROCK CAPITAL/PRESIDENT 27990195984
RIESEN, DEAN MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85018 04/11/2007 2000.00 RIMROCK CAPITAL/PRESIDENT 27990195984
ROBINSON, RICHARD MR. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85254 05/30/2007 500.00 DLC RESOURCES/PRESIDENT 27990196123
ROBSON, EDWARD J. SUN LAKES
AZ 85248 04/04/2007 1000.00 ROBSON COMMUNITIES/CHAIRMAN 27990195967
ROBSON, STEVE MR. SUN LAKES
AZ 85248 04/06/2007 1000.00 ROBSON COMMUNITIES/DEVELOPER 27990195974
ROCK, ROBERT MR. CHANDLER
AZ 85249 05/04/2007 250.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196051
RODNEY, JAMES MR. BIRMINGHAM
MI 48009 03/28/2007 1000.00 N/A/RETIRED 27930484445
RODRIGUEZ, JOSEPH MR. YUMA
AZ 85365 06/01/2007 500.00
27990196128
ROGERS, KEVIN MESA
AZ 85203 05/30/2007 250.00 AZ FARM BUREAU/PRESIDENT 27990196123
ROSE, JASON MR. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 04/11/2007 1000.00 ROSE & ALLYN PUBLIC RELATIONS/PRIN 27990195984
ROSE, JASON MR. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 04/11/2007 1000.00 ROSE & ALLYN PUBLIC RELATIONS/PRIN 27990195984
ROUSSEAU, DAVID MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85021 04/17/2007 500.00
27990195991
RUGGIERO, VIC MR. MIAMI BEACH
FL 33140 03/31/2007 500.00 WORLD GUERT/OPERATOR 27930484452
SACHER, FRED GRASS VALLEY
CA 95945 04/09/2007 2300.00 SELF EMPLOYED/INVESTMENTS 27990195978
SANDSTROM, PAUL MESA
AZ 85213 05/14/2007 300.00 SELF EMPLOYED/DENTIST 27990196082
SANTAMARINA, NELIA MIAMI BEACH
FL 33139 03/31/2007 250.00
27930484452
SAYLOR, RICHARD MR. BUCKEYE
AZ 85326 06/04/2007 200.00 SELF/FARMER 27990196132
SCHILLING, PAUL MR. CAREFREE
AZ 85377 04/04/2007 500.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990195967
SCHILLING, PAUL MR. CAREFREE
AZ 85377 04/04/2007 500.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990195968
SENSEMAN, PAUL MR. PEORIA
AZ 85381 05/30/2007 250.00 POLICY DEVELOPMENT GROUP/CONSULTAN 27990196123
SHEWMAKE, KENNETH MR. GOLD CANYON
AZ 85219 03/28/2007 500.00 SPECTRE WEST BUILDERS/PRESIDENT 27930484445
SIGG, JOE MR. GLENDALE
AZ 85302 05/30/2007 250.00 AZ FARM BUREAU/GOVERNMENT RELATION 27990196124
SILVERMAN, RICHARD H. PHOENIX
AZ 85018 04/10/2007 250.00 SATL RIVER PROJECT/GENERAL MANAGER 27990195980
SILVERMAN, RICHARD H. PHOENIX
AZ 85018 04/10/2007 250.00 SATL RIVER PROJECT/GENERAL MANAGER 27990195980
SIMMONS, JAMES P. PHOENIX
AZ 85016 03/28/2007 200.00 SELF EMPLOYED/FINANCIAL ADVISOR 27930484446
SKOGEBO, DAVID MR. MESA
AZ 85205 06/06/2007 250.00 WORLD WIDE RV/GENERAL MANAGER 27990196138
SMITH, DONALD MR. CAREFREE
AZ 85377 05/30/2007 250.00 SCF ARIZONA & CAVE CREEK UNIFIED S 27990196124
SMITH, MENLO MR. ST. LOUIS
MO 63141 06/01/2007 250.00 SUNMARK CAPITAL CORP./CHAIRMAN 27990196128
SMOLDON, RUSSELL MR. CAVE CREEK
AZ 85331 04/10/2007 250.00 SRP/GOVERNEMENT RELATIONS MANAGER 27990195981
SPAIN, BILL MR. MAHOPAC
10541 02/09/2007 500.00 N/A/RETIRED 27930484431
SPANGLER, SCOTT M. PHOENIX
AZ 85018 05/26/2007 2300.00 CHEMONICS INTERNATIONAL INC./CHAIR 27990196113
SPANGLER, SCOTT M. PHOENIX
AZ 85018 04/26/2007 2300.00 CHEMONICS INTERNATIONAL INC./CHAIR 27990196032
SPROUL, NATHAN MR. GILBERT
AZ 85296 04/13/2007 2300.00 SPROUL AND ASSOCIATES/CONSULTANT 27990195988
SPROUL, NATHAN MR. GILBERT
AZ 85296 04/13/2007 200.00 SPROUL AND ASSOCIATES/CONSULTANT 27990195987
SPROUL, TIFFANY MRS. GILBERT
AZ 85296 04/13/2007 2300.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27990195988
SPROUL, TIFFANY MRS. GILBERT
AZ 85296 04/13/2007 200.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27990195988
STEWART, MADENA MRS. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 06/25/2007 2300.00 N/A/HOMEMAKER 27990196144
STEWART, THOMAS MR. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 06/25/2007 2300.00 SGA GROUP/OWNERS 27990196145
STULL, PAUL MR. GLENDALE
AZ 85302 04/09/2007 500.00 ARIZONA STATE CREDIT UNION/EXECUTI 27990195978
STULL, PAUL MR. GLENDALE
AZ 85302 04/09/2007 500.00 ARIZONA STATE CREDIT UNION/EXECUTI 27990195978
SUMNER, WILLIAM O. SCOTTSDALE
AZ 85262 04/06/2007 500.00 MCMORGAN & CO./INVESTOR 27990195974
SYMINGTON, J. FIFE MR. III PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 05/30/2007 500.00 SELF/INVESTOR 27990196124
THELANDER, DANIEL W. MR. TEMPE
AZ 85284 05/30/2007 250.00 SELF/FARMER 27990196125
THOMAS, N.L. MR. JR CHANDLER
AZ 85224 04/27/2007 250.00 CMG 27990196032
THOMAS, TERENCE W. PARADISE VALLEY
AZ 85253 04/16/2007 500.00 AZ WHOLESALE SUPPLY/EXECUTIVE 27990195989
TIMMONS, JOHN MR. ALEXANDRIA
VA 22302 03/15/2007 250.00 THE CORMAC GROUP/PRINCIPAL 27930484432
TINGLE, BRADFORD MR. LEETONIA
OH 44431 06/09/2007 300.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196139
TOWNSEND, PHIL MR. YUMA
AZ 85365 05/22/2007 500.00 SUNLAND CHEMICAL/OWNER 27990196109
UFFELMAN, TRACY GILBERT
AZ 85234 05/23/2007 250.00 ALLIANCE BEVERAGE DISTRIBUTING CO. 27990196110
VOELLER, STEVE PHOENIX
AZ 85016 05/30/2007 500.00 ARIZONA FREE ENTERPRISE CLUB/PRESI 27990196125
VOELLER, STEVE CAVE CREEK
AZ 85331 05/30/2007 500.00 ARIZONA FREE ENTERPRISE CLUB/PRESI 27990196125
WALDEN, RICHARD S. SAHUARITA
AZ 85629 06/01/2007 500.00 FARMERS INVESTMENT CO./RANCHER 27990196129
WALSH, TIM MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85020 04/21/2007 200.00 WALSH BROS./EXECUTIVE 27990196019
WARNE, JAMES E. MR. JR. PHOENIX
AZ 85040 04/09/2007 1000.00 WARNE COMPANY/EXECUTIVE 27990195979
WEBER, ROBERT DR. FLAGSTAFF
AZ 86004 05/04/2007 200.00 N/A/RETIRED 27990196054
WEEKLEY, RICHARD MR. HOUSTON
TX 77055 05/14/2007 1000.00 WEEKLEY PROPERTIES/PRINCIPAL 27990196084
WEIGAND, NESTOR MR. WICHITA
KS 67202 03/20/2007 500.00 J.P. WEIGAND & SONS/EXECUTIVE 27930484439
WILHELM, SYLVIA MRS. MIAMI
FL 33129 03/31/2007 250.00 PUENTES CUBANOS/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 27930484452
WILHELM-GARCIA, CONNIE MS. PHOENIX
AZ 85013 05/30/2007 1000.00 HOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION OF CENTR 27990196125
WILLIAMS, JOHN MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85082 04/11/2007 500.00 SALT RIVER PROJECT/PRESIDENT 27990195985
WILLIAMS, JOHN MR. PHOENIX
AZ 85082 04/11/2007 500.00 SALT RIVER PROJECT/PRESIDENT 27990195985
WILLIAMS, KENNETH MR. GILBERT
AZ 85296 06/10/2007 200.00 MCK GREENHOUSE CO./OWNER 27990196140
WOODFORD, JOSEPH C. MR. COLORADO SPRINGS
CO 80906 03/28/2007 500.00 N/A/RETIRED 27930484446
WOODHOUSE, JOHN MR. HOUSTON
TX 77079 03/26/2007 250.00 N/A/RETIRED 27930484440
WORTHINGTON, JAMES MR. ANTHEM
AZ 85086 05/30/2007 500.00 27990196126

And the last thing from the FEC:

Individuals Who Gave To: GRAYSON, RICHARD
Sorted By Transaction Type Then Last Name
Committee(s) Used In This Query:

RICHARD GRAYSON FOR CONGRESS AZ-06

The query you have chosen matched 0 individual contributions.

Stop me before I run again!

It's now five months since I announced my candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Arizona's Sixth Congressional District, and to my disappointment, a more suitable candidate -- a local elected official, a member of the state legislator, a millionaire willing to finance her own campaign, a busboy at the Superstition Springs Hooters -- has not yet stepped forward.

I suppose I'm a crank for believing that the Democrats (and, for that matter, the Republicans) should have a candidate on the ballot in every single U.S. House district. Sixth District voters were unable to vote for a Democratic Congressmember in 2004 and 2006. I will run if I have to, as I've done it before.

But, please, someone stop me before I run again.