Shooter proud of batting average For Yuma County

May 21, 2011 4:32 PM

BY MARA KNAUB – SUN STAFF WRITER

State Sen. Don Shooter (R-Yuma) “batted” an average of 71.43 percent, tying for second place, according to a Phoenix newspaper that ranked the members of the 50th Arizona Legislature.

Shooter succeeded in passing five out of seven “substantive” bills, as termed by the Arizona Capitol Times. The freshman senator sponsored 13 bills during the entire session.

“That’s pretty good for a rookie,” Shooter said, smiling widely.

He and Sen. John McComish (R-Ahwatukee) came in behind Sen. Robert Meza (D-Phoenix), who ranked first for sponsoring and passing one bill.

Shooter said he was mainly concerned with making Arizona business friendly by passing the Jobs Bill. It consisted of a phased-in property tax reduction and got rid of “peripheral taxes,” while adding tax breaks for rural businesses and incentives for attracting out-of-state businesses.

“It’s a free market approach. It took Arizona from 28th place to fifth in the nation as a business friendly state,” Shooter said.

He believes the approach works because “it’s business and business people who create jobs, not the government.”

He’s also proud of the state budget, which called for making “tough decisions that other politicians had been kicking like a can down the road,” he said.

For the first time in many years, he pointed out, “we actually balanced it without gimmicks, accounting tricks, loans, selling buildings, all the shenanigans that have been going on.

“We actually spent less than we took in. If the economy doesn’t dip, if it stays within a 3 percent range, then we might even have a surplus,” he added.

[ click to read full article at The Yuma Sun ]

IT’S OFFICIAL: TEA PARTY LICENSE PLATES COMING TO AZ

Posted on April 29, 2011 at 11:57am by Jonathon M. Seidl

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed three bills for 11 new special license plates, including one to commemorate the tea party.

She acted on the license plate bills late Thursday.

The tea party plate would feature the “Don’t Tread On Me” slogan, rattlesnake emblem and yellow background of the historic Gadsden Flag that is a symbol of the movement.

The Legislature completed action April 26 on the bill authorizing the tea party plate.

[ click to continue reading at THE BLAZE ]

Just wanted to thank you for the great job you’re doing! Keep up the gutsiness.  You’re the kind of man we need in office.

Also, thank you for the photo-ops, even though I didn’t ask.

Sandy Estes

State senator going all out in freshman year

March 05, 2011 2:36 PM

BY MARA KNAUB – SUN STAFF WRITER

Freshman legislator Don Shooter, the Republican state senator for District 24, jumped full force into state politics.

“I’m no tiptoer. I jump in,” Shooter said Friday while sharing how his freshman year in office is coming along.

It was his first weekend in Yuma since the beginning of the current legislative session in January. He’s been busy, having introduced about a dozen bills, of which “six or seven are still alive. That’s unusual for a first-year legislator,” he noted.

He declined to discuss specific bills, saying, “I don’t want to tip my hand.”

But he admitted the bills are all budget-oriented, with a couple of bills addressing specific requests from agencies.

Shooter is also serving as chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Rural Issues, Education and Natural Resources and as vice chairman of Water, Land Use and Rural Development. He serves on the Natural Resources and Transportation and Veterans and Military Affairs committees as well.

He believes it’s all part of doing his job. “We’re not here to get re-elected. We’re not here to be politicians, we’re farmers, businessmen, housewives. We’re here to do a job, so we’re getting it done.”

[ click to continue reading at YumaSun.com ]

Harvest season is in full swing in Yuma county. Newly-elected Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce made a special trip to Yuma to take a closer look at the county’s number one industry. Pearce said, “We thought it was a good chance to get off on the right foot. To talk about the needs of Yuma, the agricultural business. See what are the challenges they have and see how we can help.”

State Senator-Elect Don Shooter invited Pearce to Yuma. Shooter took him around the county to see both harvesting and planting. The junior senator wanted to show Pearce just how vital agriculture is to Yuma county’s growth. Shooter said, “Everybody talks about green jobs and high tech jobs, and everything else. What about the thing we all have to do is eat. How about the agricultural business. It’s a billion, billion, billion dollar industry for Yuma county and Arizona . It’s an exportable industry and everybody benefits from it. I think President Pearce is here to show he supports it.”

[ click to continue reading at KYMA.com ]

view page 2 of the flyer

The sanctity of human life, and the fact that it begins at conception is sacred with me.

Back in my younger days, and during the height of the Anti-Abortion Movement, my wife Susan and I took part in numerous marches, rallies and protests, such as the March For Life and the Vigil For Life. We even dragged our baby daughter Elizabeth with us – it’s never to early to start teaching our kids to respect and revere the miracle of life.

As your State Senator, I promise to continue my lifelong commitment to protecting the rights of all humans – even those humans still waiting to be born.