Newsroom
Capital Times Tags Michelle Ugenti as the Tea Party Candidate, see below.
Friday, May 28, 2010 - ( Bill Bertolino - Arizona Capital Times )
House District 8
This affluent district that takes in most of Scottsdale, Fountain Hills and parts of the northeast Valley boasts a crowded Republican field for the two House seats.
Political observers said incumbent John Kavanagh, who chairs the powerful Appropriations Committee, will be nearly impossible to unseat in the district he’s represented since 2006.
So the six remaining challengers are gunning for the second seat vacated by Rep. Michele Reagan, who is making a run for the Senate.
“You have the 800-pound gorilla in Kavanagh, and then you have everyone else,” political consultant Jason Rose said. “You have very credible people, and many times, credible people with money that are able to raise significant campaigns.”
One of those candidates boasting his financial wherewithal is physician Ray Mahoubi, who as of Dec. 31 – the most recent campaign reports available – had already raised $20,000.
“The key in this race is to differentiate yourself in the crowded race,” said Mahoubi, who is trumpeting his perspective on health care, being a small-business owner and an Iranian immigrant as issues that separate him from the pack.
Another candidate will be a test case about whether the Tea Party movement will have an effect on local legislative races. Michelle Ugenti, who recently gave a fiery anti-illegal immigration speech at a Tea Party convention, is running as a publicly funded Clean Elections candidate.
Want to know what Michelle thinks about Prop 100, read below.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - ( The Arizona Republic )
Scottsdale-area schools prepare for sales-tax vote
The blitz of billboards, yard signs and radio and TV ads will end Tuesday when Arizona voters decide whether to approve Proposition 100, a 1-cent sales-tax increase that will funnel $700 million to public education in the state.
Some school officials in the Northeast Valley have not been shy about their predictions if Prop. 100 does not pass.
Proposed by Gov. Jan Brewer, the tax, which will last for three years, will help offset the hundreds of millions of dollars the state has withdrawn from public K-12 funding due to Arizona's $4 billion budget shortfall. In response, school districts and public charter schools have made two budget plans, one if the vote passes and one if it doesn't.
Michelle at the Arizona/Mexico Border
At the Border
Michelle with rancher John Ladd
Michelle with the Border Patrol
Arizona/Mexico BorderInfluence of the Tea Party Movement
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 - ( myfoxphoenix.com )
SCOTTSDALE - The stimulus bill is part of the reason for the birth of the Tea Party, a group of people across the country who are not happy with the amount of spending in Washington. The displeasure stems back to President Bush's bank bailout.
Michelle Ugenti was out in Scottsdale Wednesday night collecting signatures to get her name on the ballot for state legislature.
Before now, a life in politics was far from her life plan. The mother of two was focused on her family and her career – but then something changed.
