Press release: Mitchell Uses Franked Mail to Pull Wool Over Voters’ Eyes

Harry Mitchell spends taxpayer dollars
in extreme makeover attempt


Tempe, AZ – Harry Mitchell attempted political plastic surgery last week when he used his taxpayer-funded congressional mailing privileges in an attempt to appear before voters as a fiscal conservative.

Unfortunately for Harry, Arizona voters are getting to know the real Harry Mitchell.

In a slick brochure complete with pictures and a tear-away survey card, Mitchell attempted to position himself as a taxpayer advocate.

But history tells us all we need to know about the real Harry Mitchell.

In 2005, Harry’s last full year in the Arizona Legislature, the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers called Harry a “Friend of Big Government,” with a bottom-scraping 27% rating.

By comparison, that same year the AFT dubbed his Legislative District 17 colleague and current Congressional District 5 candidate Laura Knaperek a “Friend of the Taxpayer.”

“If Harry were such a taxpayer advocate, he wouldn’t be spending his
constituents’ money on a campaign-style mail job trying to convince us he’s
being a good steward of our tax dollars,”

Knaperek said.

Knaperek said Harry’s history as a tax and spender is why a second term for him in Congress is of such concern to CD 5 voters.

“We can’t afford Harry Mitchell in Congress,”

Knaperek said.

“As soon as he thinks we’re not looking, he’ll vote
to raise our taxes. He supported sales and property tax hikes when he was
in the Tempe mayor’s office[1] and was only one of five senators to vote against
property tax relief when he was at the Legislature[2]. Once a tax and spender, always a tax and
spender.”

Knaperek, on the other hand, is a committed fiscal conservative, having shepherded the largest income tax rate cut in state history through the Legislature. She has also endorsed Congressman John Shadegg’s Reagan 21 program and pledged never to support earmark spending when elected to Congress.

[1] Arizona Republic, July 29, 1992
2 SB 1508, Third Reading, 1st Regular Legislative Session, 2005

Paid for by Knaperek for Congress