Meeting Minutes – May 2026

Michael Tennant Meeting Minutes

Sun Lakes Republican Club Meeting Minutes
Where: Sun Lakes Country Club #1
When: May 13, 2026 6:30-8:30PM
Who: Approximately 80 people in attendance
AGENDA:

  1. 5th Vice Chairman Michael Tennant announced the gun raffle and 50/50 raffle while people were arriving for the meeting.
  2. 1st Vice Chairman Carolyn McCorkle welcomed the guests and led the attendees in the Invocation.
  3. 5th Vice Chairman Michael Tennant led the attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance.
  4. 1st Vice Chairman Carolyn McCorkle gave recognition to the veterans and first responders.
  5. 1st Vice Chairman Carolyn McCorkle then recognized any elected officials attending the meeting. There were two: Mayor Hartke and LD 13 State Legislator Rep.Jeff Weninger.
  6. 1st Vice Chair Carolyn McCorkle then recognized any first time attendees to our meeting. There were approximately 10 new people attending.
  7. 1st Vice Chairman Carolyn McCorkle then gave the “Constitutional Minute” entitled “Who Said It?”. “No greater thing could come to our land today than a revival of the spirit of religion – a revival that would sweep through the homes of the Nation and stir the hearts of men and women of all faiths to a reassertion of their belief in God.” This was said by FDR. PEW research has noted that 68% of adults surveyed do not believe that it is necessary to believe in God to be moral. Our country was founded on God and prayer. President Truman started the annual National Day of Prayer in 1952 and President Reagan designated the first Thursday in May to be the annual date for the event. May 17th will be an event sponsored by President Trump in cooperation with Coral Ridge Ministries on the National Mall to remember the vital role of prayer that formed our nation. The president said, “We’re inviting Americans from all across the country to come together on our National Mall to pray, give thanks, and to rededicate America as one nation under God.” She then recognized Jeanette Cline who was instrumental in bringing the National Day of Prayer here to Sun Lakes for us. it was held in the Oakwood Ballroom on May 7, 2026.
  8. 1st Vice Chairman Carolyn McCorkle announced that there were no submissions of “Intent to Run” forms to the SLRC Nominating Committee by the May1st deadline, so the existing board would continue to run the SLRC. Rather than an election, the existing Board will be elected “By Acclamation” at the October meeting and sworn in at the November meeting. She then introduced the 8 Board members who were in attendance: Herself (1st Vice
    Chairman), Bonnie DeGrenier (Membership & 2nd Vice Chairman), Chris Standerfer (PC Head & 3rd Vice Chairman), Janet Cincera (Fundraising & 4th Vice Chairman), Michael Tennant (Maintenance & Operations & 5th Vice Chairman), Starla Kramer (Social Director & 6th Vice Chairman), Mark Lastovica (Treasurer), and Patricia PK Koepp (Secretary). Chairman Kurt Rohrs was attending his daughter’s graduation this evening.
  9. 5th Vice Chairman Michael Tennant then made an announcement about the gun raffle. He pointed out that 4th Vice Chairman Janet Cincera was selling tickets this evening. The raffle will consist of a Smith and Wesson handgun and only 100 tickets will be sold. Tickets are $10 each. The winning ticket will be drawn at the September meeting.
  10. 1st Vice Chairman Carolyn McCorkle then pointed out that 3rd Vice Chairman Chris Standerfer would be happy to guide anyone who wants to become a Precinct Committeeman.
  11. 1st Vice Chairman Carolyn McCorkle then explained that we are gearing up for the Midterm Elections and plan to send a mailer out to all voters which will list Republican candidates and Conservative stances on any ballot issues. Just as in the past, voters look forward to getting these “Golden Tickets” in the mail because it helps them know how to vote particularly in the “down ballot” sections. This mailing of the Golden Tickets will be costly, somewhere between $4-5,000.00. She said that membership dues are our primary fundraising mechanism, in addition to the 50/50 raffle, and our current gun raffle. She asked the attendees to consider making a donation to this project so we can get these printed up and mailed out.
  12. 1st Vice Chairman Carolyn McCorkle then introduced American Majority’s Dawn Schween who spoke on the importance of “Real ID”. She warned that the DMV has been known to change people’s voting designation to PND or Democrat so be careful when dealing with this government entity. Check your current voter ID designation by looking it up on the voter website https://elections.maricopa.gov/voting/voter-dashboard-login.html She introduced her colleague from Turning Point USA Angel who could assist people after the meeting. She indicated that Republicans have an advantage of 321,000 over the Democrat party in AZ. The concern is that 5.1 million people haven’t registered yet. Another concern is that 350,000 Republicans got their mail at home ballots and never mailed them back in. You can also hand deliver a mail in ballot on Election Day.
  13. 1st Vice chairman Carolyn McCorkle introduced Alex Kolodin next. Secretary of State candidate Alex Kolodin is an election lawyer, small business owner, and State Representative for Legislative District 3. Alex has been practicing election law in Arizona for over a decade. In 2014, as a rookie lawyer, Alex litigated one of the first cases that established that election-related metadata stored on central count computers was a public record. In 2020, Adrian Fontes tried to give illegal instruction to every person who voted by mail in Maricopa County. Alex took him to the Arizona Supreme Court and not only won the case but won the right for every Arizona voter to challenge unlawful acts by elections officials. He explained how the election overhaul in Florida has now become the new “gold standard” for elections nationwide. He believes that a government issued voter ID should be required to vote in any national election. He gave examples of ways in which election results could be achieved at a faster rate. Why does election integrity and transparency matter? In 2024, a mistake by Congress threatened to disenfranchise every Arizona voter in the presidential election. Few thought the problem could be solved in Arizona’s overheated partisan environment. Alex Kolodin stepped up and not only fixed it but sponsored and passed a 29-page election reform package that created legally binding rules for validating the identity of early voters, improved the chain of custody for early ballots, helped ensure that valid provisional ballot voters were not disenfranchised, and required the audit logs for elections systems to be publicly posted on the internet. Starting in 2026, voters will enjoy faster results due to this package requiring elections officials to allow voters who drop-off their mail-in ballots at the polls to show ID and, therefore, bypass the time intensive signature verification process. Recently, as Chair of the Select Committee on Election Integrity and Florida Style Voting Systems, Kolodin has been working to pass security measures that would further speed up election results. Alex was named a finalist for the national “Best Legislator” award by the State Freedom Caucus Network. Alex is a former Reagan Fellow at the Goldwater Institute’s Scharf Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation.
  14. The next speaker was AZ State Legislator Representative Jeff Weninger. He is running for Mayor of Chandler. He said his opponent in the race claims to be an Independent but is actually a far left liberal. He gave a summary of the legislative session that he says they hope comes to an end by June 1st. Unfortunately Governor Hobbs has vetoed all the bills he has put on her desk, and the legislature and Governor are still negotiating a budget.
    The budget the legislature is offering is called an “income tax conformity” budget. It conforms to/matches the tax cuts implemented by President Trump nationwide. It includes the small business deductions, increased standard deductions for individuals and retirement deductions for retired folks. It also includes “no tax on tips”, no tax on overtime, and cuts back on SNAP and Medicaid where there was fraud and abuse. It is an equivalent of a $1.45 billion tax cut over 4 years. It will cost $800 million less than what Governor Hobbs is pushing.
  15. The last speakers for the evening were the candidates running for the State Legislative District 13 House of Representatives. For this particular office voters will be voting for TWO Republicans because there are TWO open seats. In attendance tonight was Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke and Janet Weninger. Debra Schinke the third candidate, was unable to attend due to a death in her family. In this “LD13 State Representative Forum”, they both had 5 minutes to introduce themselves and explain why they wanted our votes to be elected as a Representative in the House. The audience could then ask them questions. Mayor Hartke said his main concerns would be about water, power and literacy. Janet Weninger said her concerns were cutting back on regulations, improving foster care, and promoting ESA for educating the children.
  16. At the end of the evening we held the 50/50 raffle in which $43 was awarded to the winner.
  17. 1st Vice Chairman Carolyn McCorkle ended the evening by reminding everyone about the important Primary Election dates and upcoming meeting dates for SLRC in the fall. Those who signed up for SLRC email are receiving this and other important election information weekly leading up to the Primary on July 21st. She also encouraged people in attendance to pay their dues tonight.
  18. The next meeting of the SLRC will be September 16, 2026, at 6:30 PM in the same venue.

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