A friend of mine sent me the text below, having seen all the other posts I’ve been writing about Pamela Gorman (who I just had lunch with, by the way). In lieu of me writing my own post or trying to encapsulate this into my own work, let me just give this to you.

It is a true story.

If you want a government by and for the establishment insiders, stand down and do nothing – that’s what you’ll get. If you want better, you need to support true conservatives who have the guts to fight the establishment. Pamela Gorman running in Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District is one of those conservatives.

Let me tell you a story. Despite being called the “Clean Elections” law, the Arizona public financing law has been anything but “clean.” Thankfully, the Goldwater Institute has been challenging the law (and winning) in the courts. At the end of the session last year, Senator Pamela Gorman single-handedly killed an insider deal that would have kept the “taxpayer-financed, full employment act for political insiders” pumping public cash into the system for another year.

How bad was the law? Well, if you run as a privately-financed candidate for the Arizona Senate and you raise and spend $30,000, your opponent (running on “Clean Elections” financing) gets a $30,000 check from the government to run ads against you. If an outside group independently spends $15,000 to support you, the “clean elections” candidate gets another check from the government for $15,000. Anyone who wants to run collects some $5 contributions and then the taxpayers will fund the rest of your campaign for you. It’s B-A-D.

As you might guess, the system has proven to be a cash cow for establishment insiders who scam the system, run a slew of candidates and collect a treasure trove of government checks. In some cases “straw man” candidates run, get public cash and don’t spend it, choosing to “donate it” to one of the political parties or even to the “charity” that the candidate’s spouse runs out of the basement. If private companies did these things, their officers would be headed to prison.

Well the political insiders, Party leaders, the Governor (who would have received a check for $1.4 million into her campaign account) and political consultants reached a “deal.” Senate leadership indicated that the deal was to be passed without amendment because there was no time left to have the House vote on Senate changes. It would be done in the dark of night (when hopefully the public wouldn’t notice). Senator Pamela Gorman said “No!”

Gorman took to the Senate floor after midnight when leadership tried to push the bill through on the last day of session. She talked. She fought. She debated. She offered one solid amendment after another. She was accused of impugning her fellow Senators because she questioned how they could be voting down amendments when reflected sound ideas that many of them had previously made speeches in support of (truth hurts). Ultimately, Gorman won the battle. She swayed enough minds that even though her amendments failed, she was able to strip off enough previous “yes” votes to kill the bill on final read. Once again Pamela Gorman, alone, stood against the establishment and put the public interest before the interest of the good old boys network.

If you want conservatives who are willing to fight for what’s right to win elections, it is critically important that you support Pamela Gorman for Congress financially. The “establishment” is trying to shut her down and prefers someone who will just go along.