I feel it has become an embarrassment to the community of Gilbert to have three very radical (Town) Council members. No other neighboring city councils have such radicals that would want to protest federal grants for seniors and the needy.

It is beyond belief that we have a handful of senators that want to filibuster to prevent even a vote on sensible gun control. When 90 percent of America is saying universal background checks are needed now. When over 75 percent of gun owners and NRA members are saying the same thing.

Hats off to the City Of Bisbee! Voting to legalize civil unions within its city Limits speaks volumes for an issue that is not going to go away. Attorney General Tom Horne wants to again waste time and taxpayer dollars on an issue he is going to have a hard time fighting. This is not about gay marriage it is about civil unions. Better yet rights of people that are in civil unions. This again will point to Discrimination something very familiar with the Courts coming from Arizona. Pure rights of citizens of Bisbee that are in civil unions. The State of Arizona will lose again and taxpayer dollars will again be wasted.

The Arizona Republican politicians have proven they are willing to violate the Constitution and the rule of law in order protect all of their office holders from possible competitive districts.

The sense of history that accompanies the inauguration of Barack Obama as the nation’s 44th president is particularly keen for John Chiazza of Gilbert.

At one time, the community of Gilbert had a great reputation. It had great schools and a proud economic future that led to Gilbert being one of the best communities to live in in the United States.

I find it quite shameful that the Arizona Tea Party would hold a rally at our state Capitol and call it “.223 Second Amendment Rally.” To have a rally named after one of the guns used in the Sandy Hook Massacre is shameful.

Does Arizona Senate President Andy Biggs and the Majority of the GOP not understand the crisis Arizona schools are facing? When Mr. Biggs says, “We have an excellent educational system at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s annual legislative kickoff lunch in Phoenix, he ignores that Arizona is one of the states that spends the least per student on public education. Arizona also ranks very poorly in overall dropout rates, Hispanic dropout rates, as well a low percentage of Arizona residents with college degrees.

It is time that all the East Valley cities collectively get together and accept the principles of the Utah Pact. This pact was drawn up and accepted in Utah, it has been accepted by the Mormon and Catholic churches as well as many other church-based groups. Our state is looking at this same accord. The pact blends into all of our East Valley cities. All of our cities are solid, big family-based communities and this pact protects families from being separated due to immigration issues.

It is quite disappointing that we now have a Senator who on the surface seems to understand the need for Universal Background Checks on Gun Sales. This supposedly good friend of Gabby Giffords then votes against it when it comes up for a Vote in the Senate. Mr. Flake obviously had fallen victim to the NRA who now has over 75 percent of it members in favor of Universal Background Checks. I find it very hypocritical that we have a Senator who shines is his smile of friendship to Gabby Giffords on her relentless campaign to get Gun Control legislation passed. At least to get Universal Background Checks passed. Then to have Mr Flake cave in to the failing NRA Lobbyist. This is a tell tale sign Senator Flake is not caring about what the people want but what the extreme lobbyist want. Shame on Senator Flake. Gabby does not need back stabbing friends like that.

It should it not be of any surprise that our racist elected officials in this state would be doing anything differently in raising the “birther issue” once again. We must all remember that Arizona was the last state in the union to approve MLK Day as a legal holiday.

Dan Watson’s letter, “Justice blind? Court dismissal of Brewer’s 1070 suit is political,” proves pure ignorance in Mr. Watson’s part as well as Governor Brewer’s. Judge Bolton had already pretty much put a stop SB 1070 in it’s tracks. Mainly due to basic Constitutional law. Jan Brewer then files a lawsuit against the federal government that is again dismissed by Judge Bolton — who, by the way, was recommended by Republican Senator Jon Kyl and not President Clinton. This ruling was because a lower court can not overturn a higher court’s rulings or tell the federal government how to do its job. These are not political decisions and justice is not blind. These are legal decisions that are backed by basic law. Governor Brewer should quit wasting time and money on these lawsuits and get to work on more serious issues that are facing our state.

In the town of Gilbert, we are going to be faced with a big choice in the May Town Council election. I have been a resident of Gilbert for 22 years. I am active in the community and I am a moderate Democrat. Our Town Council incumbents of Linda Abbott, Les Presmyk, Ben Cooper and Mike Crozier have made Gilbert a great place to live. They have pushed hard to make our quality of life in Gilbert better than any other community in the Valley.

It is beyond belief that our governor, with things crashing all around her in our diving economy, has come up with tax cuts. We're cutting funds to schools, letting people die without funds for transplants, cutting health insurance to low-income Arizonians, and Jan Brewer wants to give tax breaks to big corporations? This governor should be ashamed to come out in public and say she is doing this to "create jobs." This does not create jobs, it creates more economic downfall for our state.

It is really a shame that Arizona has the most liberal gun laws in the country. Guns can be taken into bars and no one needs to carry a permit. We have people that were at the shooting in Tucson last week that carried weapons. One person spoke out. He said he heard the gunfire and was ready to pull his weapon, but thought better of it. He thought since the gunman’s gun was taken from him that if he pulled his weapon, he could be mistaken by another armed person in the crowd and end up getting shot.

Conservatives in Arizona pretty much worship the Constitution, its freedoms and its founders. As soon as there is a conflict that points to racial profiling that plain and simply preempts federal law, all of these so-called scholars and worshipers of the Constitution seem to want to trample on it and fire up the ignorance of Constitutional law and say SB 1070 is fully Constitutional no matter what.

Jon Beydler’s “We are a country of laws, not of men” article hits right on. Russell Pearce seems to think he can trample on laws put forth by our Founding Fathers. Yes we are a country of laws and not of men. It just baffles me that these usual Republican conservative elected officials that usually preach very highly of our Founding Fathers and the Constitution now want to ignore it, disagree with it and change it! Even more baffling are the voters who continue to vote for the Russell Pearces of the world. Why is it that people want to vote for politicians that want to trample on people’s civil rights and ignore the laws of land put forth by our Founding Fathers? These politicians need to be voted out because they are out of touch with our laws and do not deserve to represent us.

BOSTON - John Kerry’s experience as a war veteran and senator, his intelligence and his desire to fix broken ties with international allies make him the best person to be the president of the United States, according to East Valley delegates to the Democratic National Convention that begins here Monday.

Last week in Gilbert Town Council meeting, the town of Gilbert got a great example of what happens when we have a tea party-dominated council. The Solar Sleeve Project on the city’s light poles came up for a vote. This was a proven successful project and was given a green light by Mayor Lewis and two other council members, Ben Cooper and John Sentz.

The Gilbert Town Council on Tuesdayofficially formed the town's new environmental and energy task force and appointed nine members.

How do we get so lucky to have not one but two Sheriffs that somehow get into the National Media for all the wrong reasons. Yes folks we have Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has news conferences about the “birther issue,” his posse and his racist raids.

Mitt Romney’s stance on immigration is not on the same page as his religion. It should be vividly noted especially here in Arizona, the church neither discriminates against the undocumented nor denies them access to a Mormon temple or to any of the ordinances prescribed for adherents of the LDS faith.

President Obama has taken the step in the right direction. Since Congress has not acted on the Dream Act it is the perfectly right time to make the move to make sure if SB 1070 is found in favor of the State of Arizona, the hard working immigrants will be protected. Jan Brewer, Sheriff Joe and Russell Pearce can take their racist stands in a highly-Hispanic populated state and they are all going to lose. The racist but supposedly religious politicians of our state who always want to preach “family values” want to break up families and send perfectly law-abiding kids educated in our schools that have parents paying taxes and contributing to our communities back to Mexico.

It should it not be of any surprise that our racist elected officials in this state would be doing anything differently in raising the “birther issue” once again. We must all remember that Arizona was the last state in the union to approve MLK Day as a legal holiday.