Monday, May 24, 2010

Thomas Will Defend AZ School Choice Issue Now Before U.S. Supreme Court Horne Opposed


U.S. Supreme Court Decides To Hear AZ School Choice Program Tom Horne Opposed In Legislature

Key Issue In Attorney General GOP Primary


PHOENIX, AZ.  MAY 24, 2010.  The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear arguments over Arizona’s landmark school choice legislation known as tuition tax credits.  That legislation has allowed thousands of Arizona students to enjoy better educations than they otherwise would have enjoyed. 

But State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne opposed the school choice measure while serving in the legislature (April 3, 1997. HB 2074, Chapter 48, '97 regular session).

“On so many issues Tom Horne has proven himself to be a liberal, not a conservative.  And school choice is key among them.  The four Democrats running for office, and quite candidly that includes Horne, cannot be counted on to vigorously defend this law as Attorney General as must be done,” former Maricopa County Attorney and GOP Attorney General candidate Andrew Thomas said. 
Thomas said he will as vigorously defend this law as aggressively as he has crackdowns on illegal immigrations supported by the legislature and voters.
Thomas has been endorsed by notable Arizona law enforcement leaders including Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Yavapai County Sheriff Steve Waugh, Mohave County Attorney Matthew Smith, Mohave County Sheriff Tom SheahanPinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu,Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever and the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association (PLEA).  Arizona Right to Life has endorsed Thomas as well.
During Thomas' time in office, crime rates plummeted.  The 19 percent drop is more than twice the national rate of decline, in despite of an 11 percent increase in the county's population during that time.  The illegal immigrant population has dropped by anywhere from 18 percent (Dept. of Homeland Security estimate) to 30 percent (Center for Immigration Studies estimate). Like the fall in crime rates, this dramatic decline in illegal immigration is far greater than the average in the rest of the nation. 
Thomas has a track record of successfully defending illegal immigration crackdowns in our courts, including his successful efforts to prosecute illegal immigrants for conspiring to violate the state's human-smuggling law and to defend Prop 200's voter ID requirements and the employer-sanctions law, which he defended along with the Attorney General's Office.
If elected Attorney General Thomas has pledged to expand that office's prosecutions of illegal immigrants under the state's human smuggling laws. The office is not currently pursuing such prosecutions.
Thomas is married with four children.  He is a graduate of Harvard Law School.  Prior to serving as Maricopa County Attorney, Thomas served as an assistant attorney general for Arizona, deputy counsel and criminal justice policy advisor to the Governor, special assistant to the Director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, and a deputy county attorney.   
To schedule an interview please contact Jason Rose.  For more information about Andrew Thomas, please go towww.ThomasforArizona.com.

No comments: