Sun Lakes Republican Club Minutes
When: Wednesday May 8, 2024 6:30-8:30PM
Where: Sun Lakes Country Club Navajo Room
Who: approximately 100 people
AGENDA:
- Chairman Michael Tennant welcomed the guests and led the Invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance.
- The first guest speaker was AZ Legislative District 13 Representative Julie Willoughby. She gave us an update on the State Legislature. Please remember to vote for BOTH Julie and Jeff Weninger in the upcoming election. We need to vote for TWO candidates. https://juliewilloughby.org/ https://www.jeffweninger.com/
- The next speaker was County Attorney General candidate Gina Godbehere. She is running against incumbent Rachel Mitchel (R). https://ginaforjustice.com/
- We then had Aubrey Savela from Turning Point Action who shared information on “ballot chasing”. “Ballot harvesting” is illegal but “ballot chasing” is legal. Ballot chasing is finding out who still needs to turn in their ballot and then contacting those people and reminding them to vote. She says anyone can volunteer to contact voters and volunteers will get a “TP Action” app to help them find the closest voters. She will be keeping us informed and has been assigned to our district in this capacity.
- Our next speaker was Justin Heap who is running for Maricopa County Recorder. He presently serves as a representative in the AZ State Legislature. https://www.justinheap.com/
- The “Keynote” speaker this evening was AZ State Superintendent of Schools Tom Horne. Horne served twenty-four years on the state’s third-largest school district board and ten years as president. He served in the Arizona legislature and was chairman of the Academic Accountability Committee. He was the State Superintendent of Schools from 2003 to 2011 and was elected State Attorney General. While Attorney General, he argued in every court: Superior Court, Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, and US Supreme Court. Tom Horne has served in every branch of government:
- Executive: State Superintendent of Schools and Attorney General.
- Legislative: Member of the legislature. On July 11, 2000, the Arizona Republic wrote that Tom Horne “raises the level of debate at the state Legislature by several notches all by himself.”
- Judicial: judge pro tem in the Superior Court and the Court of Appeals.
- Local: School Board Member and President. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard College and with honors from Harvard Law School. He taught legal writing at ASU Law School. When not in public service, Horne was in the private practice of law, focusing on trial work. In addition to being an avid supporter of music and the arts, Tom is also a classical pianist who has soloed with local orchestras, such as the Yuma Orchestra and the Scottsdale Philharmonic.
In his talk this evening he outlined his main focuses for the state’s educational system: 1) Support school choice, 2) Provide vocational education options, 3) Defend ESA vouchers, 4) Provide/Create a drug program to educate people about fentanyl and provide Narcan in schools, 5) Keep males out of female sports, 6) Fight DEI, 7) Do not offer dual language options in the schools. He described himself as relentlessly fighting against the insanity which we hear about every day in the news
- The Chandler School Board candidates were the next speakers to introduce themselves and explain their reasons for running for the school board. We need to elect ALL 3 candidates : Ryan Heap, Leanna DeKing, and Eloyce Gillespie.
- First Vice Chairman Carolyn McCorkle explained that SLRC will be holding a “special meeting” June 12th, the second Wednesday in June, to host a “Speed Dating/Meet Your Candidate” night. It will be held in the Navajo Room at 6:30pm-8:30pm. The public is invited to come and meet 7 of the people running for offices. You will spend 10-15 minutes with each candidate one-on-one small 10 people groups to find out more about them.
- SLRC will NOT be meeting in July or August due to the summer and vacation schedules.
- The 50/50 Raffle winner won $58 this evening!
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