Meeting Minutes – January 2025

Sun Lakes Republican Club Minutes
When: Wednesday, January 8, 2025 6:30PM-8:30PM
Where: Sun Lakes Country Club Phase One Navajo Room
Who: Approximately 160 people
AGENDA:

1. SLRC Chairman, Michael Tennant, greeted the attendees and led the group in the Invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Michael then introduced the SLRC board.
3. First VC Carolyn McCorkle introduced our main speakers Keith and Sam DeGreen.
4. The first of the DeGreens to speak was Sam. Investment Advisor Sam DeGreen is President of DeGreen Private Wealth (DPW) in Scottsdale, AZ. He hosts a weekly radio show “Freedom Through Finance” Saturdays from 6-7 PM MST on News Talk 550 AM KFYI. His contact info is Sam@DeGreenWealth.com or
   www.DeGreenPrivateWealth.com. In his talk, he laid out the general financial outlook for the coming year saying that, according to past statistics, it looks quite positive.
5. After Sam’s talk there were questions and answers, then he turned the podium over to his Dad, Keith DeGreen. Keith is the founder and recently retired CEO of DeGreen Capital Management in Scottsdale, AZ. This was his 4th appearance for SLRC. This time his talk was entitled “Donkeys, Horses, Stolen TVs, and Wellington’s Pigeons”. In his humorous, but educational way he explained the main things going on in the news today and how they will affect the economy. The
   “Donkeys” are the symbol of the Democrats. DeGreen explained the impact of the Supreme Court’s Printz Decision (1997) and Sanctuary cities and states. What if “Horses” could vote? How will new technologies affect our labor markets? Remember the recent strikes? Keith explored the dockworkers’ fight against automation and why it matters. “Stolen TVs”, anyone? DeGreen also examined black markets and free markets, and why we need tariffs-especially to keep
   China in its place. Regarding “Pigeons”, another critical area affecting our financial future is the speed of information vs people. The internet has replaced pigeons as the next fastest resource of information. As usual he did not fail to inform and entertain his audience! His speech is attached to the end of these minutes. His parting insight was that “DOGE” will be an important attempt at reining in government spending. Although it may not initially cut back spending it will surely
   move spending from some useless areas to other more important areas, like defense. This will be “a long term generational attempt” and will require the assistance of us “older folks” to instruct and inform our families to keep them “on course”. The world is changing. Three quarters of countries around the world are changing course along with us to a more right leaning way of governing. “Meritocracy” is the way to go forward. Seek, hire and raise up workers who are
   well trained and reward them appropriately.
6. After the DeGreens were finished speaking, AZ House of Representative Jeff Weninger spoke on what is going on at the State Capitol and what we can expect to take place in the near future. Even though he is technically a “new” member he has already been picked for 4 important committees. One of these is as the Chairman of the Commerce Committee. Some of the things the legislature will be exploring are : shortening the time between the election and receiving election results and finding ways to relieve businesses from having bear the high cost of the credit card processing fees they pay on the sales taxes that they are forced to collect for the State on each transaction. Other issues they will tackle are: making laws to keep the names of witnesses to crimes anonymous until after the trials, solving water supply issues for the state, and finding solutions for low income housing.
7. Kurt Rohrs was the final speaker this evening and shared information about the Chandler School District. He shared three important points.1. He is promoting a “Path to Success” for each Chandler student. This is the idea of Career-focused academics, so that each child has a plan for the future when they graduate. 2. We should be teaching kids, not taking care of kids’ social issues: 70% of Hispanic children are not at grade level, 80% of black children are not at grade level, etc. 3. Ryan Heap was elected to the Board, so now CUSD has 2 conservative board members but there are 3 liberal ones, so they can still be outvoted. The
   Chandler school bond issue did not pass. Thanks to Kurt who was able to inform the community that the exorbitant bond amount of $487 million being requested was not justified. About half of the Sun Lakes’ resident’s property tax bill goes to fund Chandler schools! CUSD has about 1,000 fewer students per year, The lower enrollment (at approx. $7,000 per student in state ADA funding) adds up to $7 million. Birth rates are down and the cost of living in Chandler is out of reach for many younger families looking for housing here. There is more school competition: the best schools (like Basha and Hamilton) are still at full enrollment. Parents will send their students to the best option they can find. Conclusion: CUSD has to cut costs just like the rest of us.
8. The winner of the 50/50 raffle won $53 tonight!
9. Attached is Keith DeGreen’s speech

Download meeting minutes, and Keith DeGreen’s speech