AZ-8

The campaign of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson) has responded to a new ad from 8th Congressional District challenger Tim Bee, calling his accusations that Giffords voted to raise taxes on middle class Arizona families "baseless."

As it had with Bee's previous attack ad, the Giffords campaign issued a point-by-point refutation of the claims in "Independent Leadership," the telelvision spot that cites a vote Giffords made in 2007 to claim that she "voted for a Pelosi supported tax increase that raises taxes on southern Arizonan families two thousand dollars a year."

"The vote the ad cites as evidence was a non-binding resolution that does not raise taxes on seniors or anyone else," read the memo put out by the Giffords campaign. "Tim Bee again shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the legislative process in cherry-picking a procedural vote for a negative attack ad that misrepresents the position of Congresswoman Giffords."

Both the campaign of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson) and the Arizona Democratic Party accused state Sen. Pres. Tim Bee (R-Tucson) of religious intolerance Tuesday for criticizing Giffords's return to Arizona during the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

Bee put out a statement earlier Tuesday in which he decried Giffords's return to Tucson Monday night. In the statement, he urged her to "follow her own advice and rush back to Washington, put politics aside and develop solutions as quickly as she rushed to Arizona to campaign against me."

However, Giffords, who is Jewish, plans to stay in Arizona throughout Rosh Hashanah, which doesn't end until Wednesday at sundown. According to her congressional spokesman C.J. Karamargin, Giffords plans to fly back to Washington, D.C. either Wednesday night or Thursday morning, after the Jewish New Year is over.

"For anyone to criticize someone for their religious beliefs, it's unconscionable," said Karamargin. "If that is indeed the basis of the criticism then it is a sorry statement on the state of his campaign and the depths that he's sunk to. To be criticized for celebrating a religious holiday is completely out of bounds."

State Sen. Pres. Tim Bee (R-Tucson) attacked his 8th Congressional District opponent, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson) in a statement Tuesday, criticizing her for returning home after Monday's vote on the failed financial rescue bill.

"She urged Democrats and Republicans to 'put election-year politics aside' and develop solutions," said Bee in a statement, "while, according to the Arizona Daily Star, 'she hopped on a plane for Tucson to ... campaign against her Republican challenger, Tim Bee. Numerous efforts to reach Giffords were unsuccessful.'"

The full quote from the Arizona Daily Star article read: "Instead she hopped on a plane for Tucson to celebrate the Jewish New Year and campaign against her Republican challenger, Tim Bee." Rosh Hashanah began Monday night and ends Wednesday night.

The latest television ad from state Sen. Pres. Tim Bee (R-Tucson) - his sixth so far - continues to attack U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Bee's rival in the 8th Congressional District. The new spot comes just days after Giffords released an ad to counter claims made by Bee's first ad, which hit the airwaves early last week.

The new Bee offering, titled "Independent Leadership," compares Bee's record on the recent Arizona budget compromise with Giffords's record in her first congressional term. While Bee "earned bipartisan praise when he helped pass Arizona's budget without raising taxes," according to the ad, Giffords "voted to raise taxes in a bad economy," "raising taxes on southern Arizona families by $2,000 a year."

State Sen. Pres. Tim Bee (R-Tucson), the Republican candidate in the 8th Congressional District race, said Friday it was important that executives not be rewarded at the failing and failed companies involved in the Wall Street meltdown, but  has not yet looked at the proposed  plans to deal with the financial crisis.

Bee told PolitickerAZ.com that both parties share blame for the current state of affairs, but accused Democrats of playing partisan politics with the resolution to the crisis.

"As of yesterday we're having a lot of trouble getting information from the majority," Bee said. "Clearly they weren't including the minority in the conversation."

Bee said he would take a look at proposals being offered in Congress later Friday. However, follow-up calls Friday evening were not returned.

The campaign of U.S. Rep. Gabreille Giffords (D-Tucson) has issued a point-by-point refutation of the claims in a new ad from rival state Sen. Pres. Tim Bee (R-Tucson), which accuses Giffords of voting along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) 90 percent of the time, including votes against funding for U.S. troops and in favor of civil rights for terrorists.

A nine-page memo was the Giffords campaign's response, in which it tries to pick apart the arguments presented in the attack from Bee.

"Tim Bee did not do his homework," said the memo. "A comparison of the voting records of Congresswoman Giffords and Speaker Pelosi shows that... Giffords voted the same way as Nancy Pelosi 8% of the time given that the Speaker abstains from most of the votes. Furthermore, the Speaker does not take a public position on most votes and has allowed bills to come to the floor that she has publicly opposed."

State Sen. Pres. Tim Bee (R-Tucson) has gone negative in his bid to unseat freshman U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson) in the 8th Congressional District, releasing a new television ad that attacks Giffords for voting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) "over 90 percent of the time" and for being soft on terror suspects.

State Sen. Pres. Tim Bee (R-Tucson) has gone negative in his bid to unseat freshman U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson) in the 8th Congressional District, releasing a new television ad that attacks Giffords for voting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) "over 90 percent of the time," failing to support the troops and being soft on terror suspects.

Here is the transcript: 

Voice Over: Nancy Pelosi - leading Congress in the wrong direction.

Gabrielle Giffords - votes with Nancy Pelosi ninety-percent of the time.               

Giffords voted for Pelosi’s plan to end the Iraq war by blocking funding for U.S. troops in battle.

Pelosi supports Giffords’s own bill to allow captured terrorists to be tried in our courts with the same full legal rights as American citizens.  

Gabrielle Giffords votes for Nancy Pelosi’s agenda ninety-percent of the time.

Yesterday Inside Edge reported former U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate Fred Thompson would be in state on October 22nd to do a fundraiser for Tim Bee.  Inside Edge learned earlier today that Thompson will also be doing an event for David Schweikert before the election.

Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8) has launched a new series on her youtube channel. The series called Cactus Roots is an "on the campaign trail" series of videos produced in house. The campaign says they will be rolling out more as teh campaign progresses.

The congressional campaign of state Sen. Pres. Tim Bee (R-Tucson) fired back Wednesday against an ad  by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that began running Tuesday in the 8th Congressional District, and which criticizes Bee for not paying the extra security costs associated with Pres. Bush's  fundraising  visit  to Tucson on Bee's behalf.

"These assaults from Washington are simply an attempt to distract the voters and protect one of their own (the incumbent). They aren’t promoting ideas or solutions…just misinformation; in a blatant attempt to bring Arizona politics down into the gutter,"  read  a  release from the Bee campaign.

"Tim Bee loves George Bush," the DCCC ad begins, "supports his economic policies and staying in Iraq. So Bush came to tucson to raise big bucks at a private fundraiser for Tim Bee. Then Bee stuck local taxpayers with the security bill."

The claim is based on a story originally reported in the Tucson Citizen on Aug. 19, in which it was revealed that providing Bush with extra Tucson police and Pima County sheriff's deputies cost the city and county almost $100,000.