Sandee McCullen
06-20-2007, 10:25 PM
Well, as luck would have it, politics, and not a good or bad bill played a bigger roll in HB 2443 failing.
4 Members had already left for the remaining of this years session ( more on who they were in the next email............ later).
1 member was there at the Capitol, but was having a hissy fit over her bill not going thru at the House so she refused to vote ..................of course she had supported our Bill from the start.
All five of these Senators were for our Bill.
Senator Paula Aboud had assured myself and our Lobbyist that she would continue her support of our Bill but at the last minute, she got a call from the Sierra Club that they had not been included in any of the meetings to write this Bill and asked her to vote NO because of this ..........Senator Aboud is a very strong supporter of the Sierra Club. So she flipped.
So, what we thought was a sure thing on Monday with 20 votes (16 are needed), came down to who was still around at the end of the session to vote..........and even then Nick , Our Lobbyist and Jeff the lobbyist for the Dealers assoc. were in the parking lots and garages hauling Senators back to vote on the bill.........it was the last one to be heard..............
Before I get to far here , I just want to let you know that all your emails and calls were heard, I received a call from the Senate Pres. asking us to "call off the Dogs"..........enough already!! We get the message!
SO ..............you did make a big difference! I thank you very much for all your time and effort!!!
Having spent a ton on a lobbyist was very important and prevented a horrible Bill that would have passed months ago from even seeing the light of day. This bill ...........that was so widely supported........was only made possible because we did have Nick as our Lobbyist ......we were taken as a serious player not to be ignored. There we many Bills left at the end of the day that never had the chance ours did to be heard.
I must tell you that most Bills like this take 4 or 5 attempts to get as close as we did this year. REALLY!
WE did very well for our first attempt.
Doesn't make it any easier to lose though......................
So now what???
I will write up a couple of editorials for the Clubs .............and the papers.............I plan on doing one with the sportsmen's groups as a joint letter to the editor............
BUT most of all I would like to let you all know who supported the Bill and who was adamant that it fail......those would be the folks we remember a year from now when it is time to elect new Senators to represent the people of Arizona.
Which brings me to my final comment on this very long year of politics at the Capitol.
Our Senators are elected by you and me............we vote for them hoping that they will represent us in important issues that will affect us and our families.
Now we don't expect that a tiny group of voters should be able to suggest or ask for a Bill such as HB 2443 to be passed.........especially if other bigger groups are not in favor of it............
BUT that was not the case here............everyone was for this Bill......everyone.........from County Supervisors to Law enforcement ........from Wilderness Coalition to Game a Fish.........from Dirt Bike Clubs to Four Wheelers............ Newspapers such as the very Green AZ Republic.........we all worked on this Bill and we ALL supported it...........The fact that in the end 54 of the 60 House members thought it was a GOOD Bill and all the Senate Committees thought it was a good Bill .......................COULD not over come just plain stupid politics!
4 Senators just had to get out of town on their vacations ..............one had a temper tantrum and decided she would get even by not voting on the next Republican Bill ........( ours) and 10 just did not think we the voters knew what was best for us.............and sadly best for Arizona in the long run.
So there you have it............... WE lost....................Let me cool off a day or two and I will get back to you all on what is next and where the other bills are that affect us!
Thanks again for all the support!
Thanks to all who donated for the lobbyist Fund ............I will have a complete who sent dollars list as soon as I can ................
And a special thanks to John Kolazar with the Sportsmen's Assoc. ............it was a pleasure working with you! Hope to keep this friendship for a long time to come! Still can't spell the name can I???
Sincerely Jeff Gursh
AZOHVC Education & Legislative Director
P.S.: Sandee's note to this: If just ONE call from the Sierra Club can do such a change think of what WE CAN DO if we unite............ as Jeff stated several times............ THANKS ALL for your support.
btw: Sierra Club WAS involved in the later meetings of the Task Team as well as the later meetings at Representative Weiers office. Interesting how a LAST MINUTE back stab works huh?
4 Members had already left for the remaining of this years session ( more on who they were in the next email............ later).
1 member was there at the Capitol, but was having a hissy fit over her bill not going thru at the House so she refused to vote ..................of course she had supported our Bill from the start.
All five of these Senators were for our Bill.
Senator Paula Aboud had assured myself and our Lobbyist that she would continue her support of our Bill but at the last minute, she got a call from the Sierra Club that they had not been included in any of the meetings to write this Bill and asked her to vote NO because of this ..........Senator Aboud is a very strong supporter of the Sierra Club. So she flipped.
So, what we thought was a sure thing on Monday with 20 votes (16 are needed), came down to who was still around at the end of the session to vote..........and even then Nick , Our Lobbyist and Jeff the lobbyist for the Dealers assoc. were in the parking lots and garages hauling Senators back to vote on the bill.........it was the last one to be heard..............
Before I get to far here , I just want to let you know that all your emails and calls were heard, I received a call from the Senate Pres. asking us to "call off the Dogs"..........enough already!! We get the message!
SO ..............you did make a big difference! I thank you very much for all your time and effort!!!
Having spent a ton on a lobbyist was very important and prevented a horrible Bill that would have passed months ago from even seeing the light of day. This bill ...........that was so widely supported........was only made possible because we did have Nick as our Lobbyist ......we were taken as a serious player not to be ignored. There we many Bills left at the end of the day that never had the chance ours did to be heard.
I must tell you that most Bills like this take 4 or 5 attempts to get as close as we did this year. REALLY!
WE did very well for our first attempt.
Doesn't make it any easier to lose though......................
So now what???
I will write up a couple of editorials for the Clubs .............and the papers.............I plan on doing one with the sportsmen's groups as a joint letter to the editor............
BUT most of all I would like to let you all know who supported the Bill and who was adamant that it fail......those would be the folks we remember a year from now when it is time to elect new Senators to represent the people of Arizona.
Which brings me to my final comment on this very long year of politics at the Capitol.
Our Senators are elected by you and me............we vote for them hoping that they will represent us in important issues that will affect us and our families.
Now we don't expect that a tiny group of voters should be able to suggest or ask for a Bill such as HB 2443 to be passed.........especially if other bigger groups are not in favor of it............
BUT that was not the case here............everyone was for this Bill......everyone.........from County Supervisors to Law enforcement ........from Wilderness Coalition to Game a Fish.........from Dirt Bike Clubs to Four Wheelers............ Newspapers such as the very Green AZ Republic.........we all worked on this Bill and we ALL supported it...........The fact that in the end 54 of the 60 House members thought it was a GOOD Bill and all the Senate Committees thought it was a good Bill .......................COULD not over come just plain stupid politics!
4 Senators just had to get out of town on their vacations ..............one had a temper tantrum and decided she would get even by not voting on the next Republican Bill ........( ours) and 10 just did not think we the voters knew what was best for us.............and sadly best for Arizona in the long run.
So there you have it............... WE lost....................Let me cool off a day or two and I will get back to you all on what is next and where the other bills are that affect us!
Thanks again for all the support!
Thanks to all who donated for the lobbyist Fund ............I will have a complete who sent dollars list as soon as I can ................
And a special thanks to John Kolazar with the Sportsmen's Assoc. ............it was a pleasure working with you! Hope to keep this friendship for a long time to come! Still can't spell the name can I???
Sincerely Jeff Gursh
AZOHVC Education & Legislative Director
P.S.: Sandee's note to this: If just ONE call from the Sierra Club can do such a change think of what WE CAN DO if we unite............ as Jeff stated several times............ THANKS ALL for your support.
btw: Sierra Club WAS involved in the later meetings of the Task Team as well as the later meetings at Representative Weiers office. Interesting how a LAST MINUTE back stab works huh?