Level the field for charter and public schools

(PNI) Leveling the playing field on public-education funding is long overdue.

We must change the fact that charter schools receive public funds and can receive exemptions under Arizona's state procurement rules. These rules are in place to ensure public dollars -- your tax dollars and mine -- are spent fairly, competitively and without conflict of interest.

Recent Arizona Republic articles highlight the charter schools' administration and board members' link to quite expensive purchases. It is no wonder that administrative costs are higher for public schools; they must adhere to rules that charters can be exempted from.

It is time to level the playing field as well as protect our public dollars. Charter schools should be required to follow the same set of rules as Arizona public schools because they receive part of the same public funds.

-- Karen Havird, Phoenix

A sex-offender dilemma

Republic reporter Michelle Ye Hee Lee identified just a few of the many symptoms of the sex-offender issues that face our communities ("Unwanted, unsettled, unaccounted for," A1, Sunday).

The focus must remain on the big picture and where our continued failure to act by our current (and past) elected officials will soon take us.

Their failure, despite being informed that something needs to be done today, likely will mean some poor child will have to be hurt or abused before they do what is required to help resolve or at least improve the system.

Yes, it will take tax dollars. Yes, there are many more sex offenders in prison waiting to be released and need some place to go. So, stop wasting time talking about failures and pointing fingers and start talking about solutions and taking responsibility.

-- Michael White, Peoria

More political alienation

I write in response to Nomiki Konst's timely column, "Arizona Democrats need to update plan to grow party base" (Opinions, Saturday).

I believe the column, although directed at Democrats, applies equally to both major political parties.

The growing number of voters who register as independent certainly reflect a range of rationales, but one is a growing sense of alienation from the traditional "political-party mentality" pervasive in both groups.

I have not yet registered as an independent but have seriously considered this option because of my negative assessment of the functioning of the Arizona Democratic Party.

Political parties must reinvent themselves to become relevant and viable as voices of the people they claim to represent, rather than the established and well-financed interests currently in full control of the levers of power.

From my point of view, the Democratic Party has the right core values and perspectives; it just functions and campaigns so much like the other party that it fails to distinguish itself as a preferred choice worthy of allegiance.

-- Melvin Hall, Scottsdale

Arizona now purple state

I must disagree with Nomiki Konst's column claiming Arizona Democrats had a bad year ("Arizona Democrats need to update plan to grow party base," Opinions, Saturday). That was true only for the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Democrats won all three winnable congressional seats and ran the closest race for U.S. Senate since Dennis DeConcini's victory in 1976. Further, they picked up four seats each in the Arizona House and Senate. And only two states (North Carolina and Georgia) had narrower margins for Mitt Romney over Barack Obama than did Arizona among the 24 states Obama lost. We are indeed now a purple state.

-- Gary Peter Klahr,

Phoenix

Driver's license solution

It seems there is a simple solution to the "problem" of issuing driver's licenses to young people who have qualified for work permits to avoid deportation under President Barack Obama's executive order.

Since the state can issue different types of licenses, why can't the MVD create a license that expires at the conclusion of the executive order and be clearly labeled "Not a United States citizen"?

My daughter's license before she turned 21 was clearly labeled that she was a minor to prevent her from going into bars. Why can't the same type of logic be applied here?

This would satisfy the governor's fears of the license being misused or of attempts to illegally gain benefits that the license holder is not authorized to receive. The kids need to be able to drive to work.

Why is this so hard?

-- Chip McTiernan,

Youngtown

Fed up with greedy CEOs

Regarding "Hostess done in by brass" (Letters, Friday):

I believe Americans are fed up. Not with all Republicans. Not with all Democrats. With greed.

What I am frustrated by is excess. I see the excessive salaries paid to CEOs and professional athletes and entertainers.

Maybe if they had to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on every cent they earned, it would also help fund those programs.

--Kelly Murray, Tempe

Seasonal sharing needed

You recently reported that the Harris Poll found that Americans plan to spend more this Christmas season than last but are less likely to give a charitable gift. How dismaying!

To think that another necktie for Uncle Elmer may be on the list but not a donation to help the one in four children in the U.S. who lives in poverty suggests the milk of human kindness has curdled.

As we express relief that we have not suffered the awful devastation of Hurricane Sandy, we omit a donation to the American Red Cross or Salvation Army in favor of yet another toy for little Joey.

With the unprecedented demand for emergency food, we fail to give a can of peanut butter or a donation to the Association of Arizona Food Banks and instead give a box of candy for Auntie Em.

Even your stories of real people who benefit from the Season for Sharing may be overrun by our own Season for Spending.

-- Ruth Wootten, Tempe

Copyright 2012 The Arizona Republic|azcentral.com. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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Schapira stands out in Dem field

(PNI) Democratic Party faithful see triumph and tragedy in the primary race for Arizona's new Congressional District 9.

Three of the party's young, bright stars are competing fiercely and, at times, brutally. Each is intelligent, articulate and accomplished. Each has compelling personal stories of perseverance and determination, of American dreams made real.

Andrei Cherny, Kyrsten Sinema and David Schapira are winners by many measures. It's such a shame for the party that two leading lights must lose.

Voters in the Democratic primary, however, can't lose.

We recommend Schapira, a candidate with the leadership skills and political mooring that Democratic and independent voters may want and a natural affinity for the district, which includes central Phoenix, Tempe and Ahwatukee as well as parts of Mesa, Chandler and Scottsdale.

Schapira, a small-business owner and faculty associate at Arizona State University, has lived his entire life in District 9. He serves a large portion of it passionately and effectively as a school-board member and minority leader in the state Senate.

Schapira, a father of two young children, is genuine, transparent and accessible. What you see is what you get, and it's difficult to not like what you see. His near-centrist politics would translate to pragmatic solutions to issues, particularly in education.

It's sometimes hard to see and appreciate that with the firepower Cherny and Sinema bring to the race.

If it's a candidate who has an Ivy League education, who has floated near the stratosphere of the Democratic Party apparatus at national and state levels, has some familiarity with Washington from his time as a White House aide and has the blessings of the likes of Bill Clinton and Terry Goddard, the choice is Cherny, a former assistant attorney general, state party chairman and candidate for state treasurer.

If it's a candidate with strong liberal values, masterful interpersonal skills, education, and knowledge about Arizona and urban Phoenix, the choice is Sinema, a lawyer with a doctoral degree in justice studies, a long-time grass-roots organizer and community activist, and a state senator before resigning to run for Congress.

But we believe voters would be better served with the third choice.

We recommend the candidate who trails his opponents in campaign money, post-graduate degrees and book authorship, but who shines in honesty, integrity and commitment to the district: David Schapira.

Copyright 2012 The Arizona Republic|azcentral.com. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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Democratic Hill staffers head to Maui on taxpayers’ dime for Senate Indian Affairs Committee field hearing (Daily Caller)

Senate Democrats are charging taxpayers for a trip to Hawaii, The Daily Caller has learned. The entire press staff of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee is in Maui, even though a field hearing there won’t happen until next Wednesday.

The committee’s oversight field hearing, scheduled for next Wednesday at 9 a.m. at the Maui Beach Hotel, will focus on “Strengthening Self-Sufficiency: Overcoming Barriers to Economic Development in Native Communities.”

Rick Manning from Americans for Limited Government, which first discovered the hearing, told TheDC it’s unbelievable that Hill staffers talking about fiscal responsibility would waste money on a trip to Maui.

“It’s outrageous that Senate Democrats have so little respect for the American taxpayer that in the same month they buried our credit rating, they’re heading to Hawaii to celebrate,” Manning said.

A committee staffer told TheDC that the reason the hearing will be in Maui is “mostly because it’s his [committee chairman Sen. Daniel Akaka’s] home state.” It’s unclear if the field hearing will focus on any issues relating at all to Hawaii, or if the reasoning for scheduling the trip there is only because Akaka will already be in Hawaii during the congressional recess.

The staffer said Akaka is the only senator who will attend.

The Democratic committee staffers used taxpayer funding to travel to Hawaii a full week before their committee’s hearing date. When TheDC called the committee’s Washington, D.C., office Thursday afternoon, a different staffer who answered the phone said all the committee’s communications staffers are already in Maui.

It’s unclear if other committee employees, in addition to communications staff, are also in Maui.

It’s standard practice for taxpayers to cover travel expenses for congressional committee staffers, but there’s no way to know at this point how much the trip will cost, unless staffers offer up the information.

Committee staff declined to answer specific questions about why the field hearing was scheduled in Maui, nor would they say how many of their colleagues were there, on their way there, or scheduled to travel there.

They deferred all questions to the committee’s press staff, which is already, in its entirety, in Maui.

No one among the press staff in Maui has returned the TheDC’s phone calls for comment.

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