Congratulations
Honoring the Precinct Committeemen is a time-honored tradition in the Pima County Republican Party and the 2021 Lincoln Day Dinner was no different. The 2020 Pima County Republican Party winners: Michelle Ludwig (LD 3) received the Art Wales Award, Lou Sampson (LD 2) received the Most Valuable Player, Annie Szalay (LD 10) received the Rookie of the Year Award.
Each Legislative District presented Rookie of the Year and Precinct Committeeman of the Year awards to recognize our Precinct Committeemen in our LDs.
Legislative District 2:
Jean Hughes, Rookie of the Year
Larry Alkire, Precinct Committeeman of the Year
Legislative District 3:
Tammy Bose, Rookie of the Year
Colette Endrizzi, Precinct Committeewoman of the Year
Legislative District 9:
Sarah Ramsey, Rookie of the Year
Ron DeSouza, Precinct Committeeman of the Year
Legislative District 10:
Kurt Neumann, Rookie of the Year
Steve Billheimer, Precinct Committeeman of the Year
Parralee Schneider, Precinct Committeewoman of the Decade
Legislative District 11:
Steven Fowler, Rookie of the Year
Anna Marie Clark, Precinct Committeewoman of the Year
Legislative District 14:
Laurel Nason, Rookie of the Year
Cheryl Caswell, Precinct Committeewoman of the Year
Our Speakers
Dr. Kelli Ward, Chairwoman of the Republican Party of Arizona, took the stage in her Republican red dress thanking the PCs for all their hard work and encouraging us to stay in the fight! All listened attentively as Sheriff Mark Dannels, Cochise County, provided data about the southwest border. The surge on the border tipped in January 2021, as the numbers have increased exponentially and the deaths in our desert are at an all-time high. Arizona Senate President Karen Fann told us the status of the audit. She talked about the referral to AG Mark Brnovich and how the AG’s office would begin the meticulous process of discovery and investigation into the audit findings. Congressman Andy Biggs shared with us some of the craziness taking place in Nancy Pelosi’s circus of Democrats and the criminal contempt referral to AG Garland. (On Sunday, Pelosi said Steve Bannon should be prosecuted and jailed for refusing to submit documents and testimony.) Congressman Biggs told us we looked “tense” in the audience and shared some fun stories about his work in the House of Representatives and as the Chairman of the Freedom Caucus. Steve Bannon took us back in history to the importance of Arizona during President Lincoln’s time. President Lincoln needed the rich gold mines, veins of silver and inexhaustible mines of copper in Arizona to help pay for the very costly Civil War. The discoveries of gold that could “be seen with the naked eye” helped push through Congress the Organic Act which called for a division of the New Mexico territory, and on February 24, 1863, President Lincoln signed the act creating the Arizona territory. President Lincoln and Congress were influenced by the need for precious metals to pay for the war. In 1863 the Pioneer Mining District was established in Central Arizona near present-day Prescott. This began the flood of immigrants to mine the precious metals in Arizona. Mr. Bannon suggested that while we often say we must fight for our children and grandchildren, we must consider the fight to preserve the Republic that our founders left us. He asked all the PCs to stand and reminded us that we are at the front of the fight. His message left many of our Lincoln Day Dinner guests motivated, many emotional, and all in the fight to keep our Republic.
Good Food, Good Friends, Good Messages
While COVID kept our Lincoln Day Dinner from happening in the traditional months of February or March, we enjoyed the opportunity for all 500 of us to be together and receive messages of hope and encouragement from our speakers. After the three-and-a-half hour event began to wind down, we all traveled back home remembering “A Republic, if you can keep it.”, a message from Benjamin Franklin to all of us. As Mr. Bannon started his keynote, he said “Elections have consequences”. Let us not forget that a republic is a form of government in which the people hold the power, but elect representatives to exercise that power. Are the representatives elected exercising the power that you elected them to do? We the people hold the power, they the representatives execute the policies. Are you happy with the way things are going? If not, please join me. We must keep our Republic.