$30 million Goldwater Library coming to Mesa

Downtown Mesa will be home to a library honoring the legacy of late Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater.

Goldwater timeline

Jan. 1, 1909 -- Born at 710 N. Center St. (now Central Avenue), Phoenix.

1928 -- First flying lesson.

1929 -- Leaves University of Arizona after a year when his father dies; takes first job in family department store.

1934 -- Marries Margaret "Peggy" Johnson of Muncie, Ind.

1941 -- Enlists for active duty in Army Air Corps, forerunner to U.S. Air Force.

1949 -- Wins Phoenix City Council seat as part of a civic-reform movement.

1952 -- Runs for U.S. Senate, defeats incumbent Ernest McFarland, the Senate majority leader, by 6,500 votes.

July 16, 1964 -- Accepts Republican presidential nomination in San Francisco, declaring in the most famous passage of his speech that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice."

November 1964 -- Loses to incumbent Lyndon Johnson by 16million votes.

1968 -- Re-elected to Senate, succeeding Carl Hayden.

1974 -- Visits President Richard Nixon in White House, tells him his presidency cannot be saved.

1980 -- Wins fifth and final term in Senate.

1985 -- Peggy Goldwater dies.

1986 -- Senate passes Goldwater bill to reorganize the military.

1987 -- Says embattled Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham should resign.

1989 -- Castigates Religious Right, says Republican Party has been taken over by "a bunch of kooks."

1992 -- Marries Susan Shaffer Wechsler.

1993 -- Says military should end its ban on gays.

May 29, 1998 -- Dies at his Paradise Valley home.

Establishment of the Barry and Peggy Goldwater Library and Archives is scheduled to be announced this morning at the Mesa Arts Center.

The $30million research and education center in the heart of Arizona's third-largest city is expected to contain not only the Goldwater archives but papers from other Arizona politicians.

It will also showcase artifacts from Goldwater's life, his trajectory having paralleled that of Arizona's statehood while deeply influencing national and global politics.

The library's website describes the facility as "a cultural and historical institution of global significance."

The archives are certain to be both voluminous and rich: The late author William F. Buckley reported that after leaving the Senate, Goldwater dictated more than 24,000 letters in a single year.

The library's website calls Goldwater's papers "one of the premier congressional collections in the United States."

Mesa was not the first choice for a library honoring the father of modern American conservatism. The original plan was to find a site in downtown Phoenix, but talks fell through because the city insisted that the Goldwater Library foundation also build two apartment buildings as part of the project.

"We're not in the apartment business," said Judy Eisenhower, executive director of the library foundation who also worked for Goldwater for 311/2 years as his secretary and then chief of staff.

Mesa makes a bid

Eisenhower said Mesa Mayor Scott Smith heard about a year and a half ago that the library was looking for land and invited the board to consider Mesa.

Eisenhower said Mesa's growing list of downtown assets was instrumental in the board's decision to locate there.

This year, four private liberal-arts colleges have announced plans to establish campuses there. Earlier this month, the city nailed down final funding for a light-rail extension through the heart of the city. And Mesa is working with national arts groups to boost the profile of its growing downtown arts-and-cultural district.

Downtown already is home to four museums, including a new wing of the Mesa Historical Museum that is expected to morph into that facility's main campus within a few years.

"Light rail is very important to a project like this, particularly for ASU students," Eisenhower said, while also mentioning the incoming colleges. "Where it's going in downtown Mesa is just perfect for us. … It's the right thing to do."

Mesa Councilman Chris Glover, who was credited by several sources with helping bring the talks to fruition and now sits on the library foundation's board, called landing the library "a momentous achievement" for Mesa.

It is not a done deal, however. Formal agreements still need to be hashed out between the Goldwater organization and the city, and there remains the big question of money.

Glover said the government of Taiwan has pledged $10million toward the center. Goldwater championed the cause of the Chinese nationalist government, which fled the mainland in 1949, and Glover said Taiwan is interested in academic-exchange programs with the Goldwater Library.

Smith said the library will be privately funded and operated, with the city's chief role being to provide the land.

The City Council considered the proposal in executive session last week and will have its first public discussion on Thursday morning.

Smith said another catalyst for the library coming to Mesa was the February Republican presidential debate at the Mesa Arts Center, about a block from the prospective library site.

The library, planned to encompass 40,000 square feet, will contain lecture halls and research facilities in addition to museum displays.

"They want to house all of the papers for everybody who has represented Arizona in Washington, D.C., since statehood and even other things pertaining to Arizona history," Glover said.

Last week, however, outgoing Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said he was donating his historical papers to his alma mater, the University of Arizona.

Political earthquake

The Goldwater Library board has solicited support from a wide variety of political figures, including 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern, who died this week.

McGovern, quoted on the library's website, said he and Goldwater were friends despite their divergent politics.

"Such an institution can be a focal point for the study, research and discussion of one of the most important figures in 20th-century American history," McGovern said.

That statement speaks to why Goldwater is deemed worthy of the honor of a stand-alone library dedicated to his life, a rarity for a U.S. senator.

The five-term senator was, in sum, a one-man political earthquake who shattered an ideological landscape that had stood for decades.

His victory at the 1964 Republican National Convention wrested control of the party from Eastern country-club types and moved it west. The most notable result of that was the 1980 election of California's Ronald Reagan as president.

Goldwater's opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act helped pull the Deep South into the GOP's orbit after almost a century of Democratic dominance there. Indeed, apart from Arizona, the only states Goldwater carried were in the South, and to this day, Southern "red" states are an integral factor in the presidential-election calculus.

Further, and probably most importantly, Goldwater's powerful articulation of conservative principles moved the entire American political apparatus rightward so forcefully that one analyst has observed that the 1992 Democratic platform was almost identical to the Republican platform of 1968.

On the Republican side, the rightward impulse was so dramatic that, in later years, Goldwater denounced some aspects of it, saying the party had been taken over by "kooks." He reserved special venom for the Religious Right.

Those who analyzed Goldwater's politics over the years, however, said those statements did not spring from a softening of his conservatism, but more from the fact that it was of the libertarian variety: He objected as much to "conservatives" meddling in private lives as to liberals doing so.

That side of Goldwater, by itself, could keep scholars busy for decades.

Deep Arizona roots

But the man was inextricably woven into the fabric of Arizona history, as well. His ancestors were front and center during Arizona's frontier days, one having been present in Tombstone on Oct. 26, 1881, when bullets flew at the O.K. Corral.

Goldwater was born before Arizona became a state. He inherited the reins of a pioneering retail chain and, with his own hands, helped clear the landing strip that became Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

He was an early and enthusiastic photographer, radio operator and aviator -- the latter interest leading to a World War II military career that saw him flying equipment and planes to war zones all over the world.

Had he never been anything but a photographer, he would still stand as a legend in that field. Over the years, Arizona Highways published about 300 of his pictures, including one of the most famous Arizona photos ever taken: a 1946 cover shot of two Navajo children herding sheep in a snowy landscape.

None of which is to say anything about his early political life as a corruption-fighting Phoenix city councilman or his 30 years in the U.S. Senate, during which he shaped a major overhaul of the military.

His friends, acquaintances and enemies included a virtual who's who of 20th-century politics, ranging from China's Chiang Kai-shek to Planned Parenthood executive Gloria Feldt to Richard Nixon.

Nixon's Watergate scandal put Goldwater at the center of one of the most dramatic moments in American history. On Aug. 7, 1974, Goldwater went to the White House with U.S. Rep. John Rhodes, R-Ariz., and Sen. Hugh Scott, R-Pa., to tell Nixon that he would be convicted and expelled from office if he were impeached by the U.S. House. Nixon announced his resignation the next night.

Coincidentally, Rhodes' 2003 funeral was at Mesa's First United Methodist Church, just a block east of the prospective Goldwater Library site.

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Romney, RNC take in $40 million in April

Mitt Romney and the Republican Party raised a combined $40.1 million in April, a figure that nearly matches the Democratic haul last month and shows the Republican Party coalescing around its presumptive nominee.

By Edward Linsmier, Getty Images

Mitt Romney campaigns in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Wednesday.

By Edward Linsmier, Getty Images

Mitt Romney campaigns in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Wednesday.

By comparison, President Obama and the Democratic National Committee raised $43.6 million in April. Both candidates share their fundraising with the national party and state committees.

"Voters are tired of President Obama's broken promises," Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement released by the Romney campaign. "Mitt Romney has the record and plan to turn our country around - that is why he is receiving such enthusiastic support from voters across the country."

The campaign says there is $61.4 million in the bank. Nearly all — 95% — of the contributions last month came in chunks of $250 or less.

"We are pleased with the strong support we have received from Americans across the country who are looking for new leadership in the White House," Romney Victory National Finance Chairman Spencer Zwick said in a statement. "Along with the hard work of the Republican National Committee, we will continue to raise the funds necessary to defeat President Obama in November."

Romney began jointly raising money for the fall campaign with the RNC and various state party committees only last month when it became clear he would become the Republican presidential nominee. Their goal is to raise $800 million for the general election.

How much was raised by each entity will be clearer this weekend. Candidates must file financial reports to the Federal Election Commission by midnight Sunday.

Romney spent $78.6 million during the primary, more than double his nearest competitor on the Republican side.

The Romney campaign's fundraising has increased steadily the closer he has inched to the nomination. In January, the campaign raised $6.4 million. By February, that number was $11.6 million, followed by $12.7 million more in March.

Those numbers do not include the tens of millions of dollars raised and spent by pro-Romney super PACs during the primary campaign.

One group, Restore Our Future, launched several blistering attacks on the former Massachusetts governor's rivals during critical early contests, drawing loud complaints from those candidates on the receiving end.

Other outside groups have pledged to raise millions to help Republicans win the White House. Crossroad GPS, a super PAC affiliated with Republican strategist Karl Rove, announced this week it was starting a $25 million ad campaign against Obama in key states.

Crossroads GPS said it will first spend $8 million to air an ad titled "Obama's Promise" in 10 battleground states. The ad started airing Thursday and will run through May 31.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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Romney's $20 Million IRA: A Lousy Investment? (Time.com)

Mitt Romney may have made the classic IRA mistake: holding low-tax investments inside a tax-favored account. His IRA strategy isn't clear, of course. Romney continues to guard his personal finances. But details are trickling out, and even if it turns out that Romney's traditional IRA is built right for him, the securities he holds in it serve as a valuable reminder that not all investments belong in a tax-favored account.

Romney's IRA is valued at between $20.7 million and $101.6 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. That's an extremely wide range that the Journal found in Romney's latest financial disclosure report, filed in August. His IRA produced income between $1.5 million and $8.5 million last year.(MORE: Cash Back: Banks Battle for Your Rollover IRA.)

So he's not like most of us, financially speaking. But he is exactly like us in that he has limits on how much he can contribute to an IRA, or to a 401(k) plan that can be rolled into an IRA. Given those limits it's remarkable that he has been able to amass such wealth in a tax-deferred account.

For most of his years at Bain Capital, the annual IRA pre-tax contribution was capped at $2,000 and the annual 401(k) pre-tax contribution, including employer match, was capped at $30,000. Other limits are in force today: $5,000 for an IRA ($6,000 if you over 50); $16,500 for a 401(k) ($22,000 if you are over 50).

Assuming Romney was maxing out pre-tax contributions, as should anyone who can afford to do so, he still would have needed extraordinary returns within his tax-deferred accounts to build such a big balance. He must have been investing in stocks and other high-growth potential vehicles, which produce a capital gain.

Here's the rub: The max capital gains tax is just 15%. That's what Romney would pay in federal tax upon selling his stocks from a taxable account. Yet when Romney begins taking distributions from his IRA, as he must in his 71st year, the money will be subject to federal income tax at rates of up to 35%. That tax-rate disparity is why it often makes sense to hold stocks in a taxable account and things like real estate investment trusts, rental properties, bonds and other income-generating investments in an IRA or 401(k). This is especially true for the wealthy, like Romney, whose net worth is about $250 million. Rich people have ample resources to max out tax-deferred vehicles with bonds and hold their stocks in a taxable account -- all while maintaining a desired asset allocation of, say, 60% stocks and 40% bonds.(MORE: More Fees, Fewer Branches as Banks Cope With Lower Profits.)

This doesn't necessarily work with limited resources. If you only save in a 401(k) and must stretch to get the full company match, you're probably better off with a mix of stocks and bonds in that account. Stocks also make sense in a tax-deferred account with at least 20 years before distributions begin, according a study by T. Rowe Price. And holding stocks in your IRA won't hurt if your income tax rate will shrink when you begin to take distributions.

But, in general, it makes sense to add low-tax investments like stocks (even dividends get taxed at a max 15%) to a taxable account and income-generating investments to a tax-deferred account -- especially with fewer than 10 years to retirement. A presidential candidate probably knows that. But thanks, Mitt, for the reminder.

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Romney on $1 million mystery donation: ‘No harm, no foul’ (Daily Caller)

C.J. Ciaramella - The Daily Caller C.j. Ciaramella - The Daily Caller – Thu Aug 25, 3:30 pm ET

At a town hall event Wednesday, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney dismissed a question about the $1 million donation to his super PAC by a short-lived company, saying there was “no harm, no foul.”

In April, the company W Spann LLC made a million-dollar donation to the pro-Romney Restore Our Future super PAC. In July and two weeks before Restore Our Future made its first annual campaign filing, W Spann dissolved as a corporate entity. (RELATED: Perry responds to Republican critics, snipes at Romney)

Campaign watchdogs jumped on the story, saying W Spann was little more than a shell company created to circumvent campaign finance laws. Ed Conrad, a former top executive at Bain Capital — which was founded in part by Romney — later came forward as the creator of the company.

At the town hall in Lebanon, Massachusetts, Romney said Conrad scrapped plans to donate to other candidates, so he only donated to Romney’s PAC and then dissolved the company.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: “I did hear that there was a company formed which gave your campaign a million dollars. Do you remember this, a few weeks ago? So, can you explain that?”

MITT ROMNEY: “Yeah, there’s a guy named Ed Conard, who had a company who was gonna’ give to a bunch of candidates and decided not to, and gave a million dollars to a PAC that supports me and said ‘Oh it’s me.’ So yeah, well there’s no need for him to have the company if he’s not going to give to other candidates, so he gave to me. He’s given to me before, one of my partners, so it’s not hidden. It’s all out in the open.”

AUDIENCE MEMBER: “See there’s the spirit of something, and then there’s the legalities of something. And it just seems that this company was formed just in relation to the Supreme Court ruling to give money to your campaign and then dissolve itself.”

MITT ROMNEY: “And, and given the fact that, that — you make the, yeah, it was a company you say was acting as a person, that may well be. You can take it up with him. But there’s actually, given the fact that he said, ‘Oh, well it’s me,’ I don’t think there was, if you will, no harm, no foul.”

Conrad did come forward, but only after two complaints were filed with the Federal Elections Commission and the Department of Justice.

Read more stories from The Daily Caller

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Boehner reportedly raises $29 million for Republicans (The Ticket)

(Photo of Boehner: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Fundraising in the 2012 GOP presidential race may have gotten off to a slow start, but that's not the case for the cash-collecting work of House Speaker John Boehner.

Sources close to Boehner tell The Hill's Michael O'Brien the top House Republican has raised more than $29 million so far this year. Of that total, $12 million went to his various fund-raising committees, including his leadership PAC. The rest he raised for individual GOP candidates and party committees.

By comparison, Boehner raised $50 million over the entire course of the 2010 election, when Republicans were fighting to regain majority control of the House.

Boehner's enormous fundraising haul comes as Republicans prepare for what could be a bruising 2012 campaign.

It's probably not a coincidence that aides to the House speaker are leaking out how much Boehner is doing to financially boost the party. As he continues to attempt to negotiate a deal with the White House over the debt limit, Boehner is facing a rebellion within his own ranks over how to reduce the federal deficit.

As the New York Times' Carl Hulse reports, Boehner has reportedly signaled his willingness to generate new revenues though an overhaul of the tax code. But other House Republicans have rejected that proposal, saying that it could prompt tax increases. Meanwhile, a significant portion of the House GOP caucus simply won't vote to raise the debt limit, no matter how strongly Boehner lobbies them.

If a budget deal is to be struck, Boehner must convince at least two-thirds of his caucus to support him--hence the reminder of how much the speaker has done to help them in their bids for re-election.

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Romney raises $18 million for White House bid (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney raised more than $18 million over the last three months, a total that dwarfed his Republican rivals but lagged some predictions.

Romney's second-quarter fundraising reinforced the former Massachusetts governor's role as early Republican front-runner. But it also raised questions about voter enthusiasm for the party's current field of White House hopefuls.

The Romney campaign said on Wednesday the $18.25 million came from all 50 states and the District of Columbia and represented primary donations, not funds for a prospective general election battle against Democratic incumbent President Barack Obama.

Some advisers and analysts had speculated that Romney could raise $30 million or more in the second quarter. Republicans said the sputtering economic recovery may be dampening giving.

"Part of it is the economy. People have less money to give on things like this," said Romney fundraiser Lee Cowen.

A pillar of Romney's support comes from those on Wall Street, Cowen noted, many of whom he said feel "betrayed" by some of Obama's policies.

More Republican establishment figures are giving to the former governor this election season, he said.

Romney, who mounted an unsuccessful presidential bid in 2008, raised more money -- $23 million -- in the first fundraising quarter of 2007, according to Federal Election Commission records. Four years ago, he was less well known.

Still, those figures included some of his own funds. He did not contribute to his campaign for the second quarter of 2011.

The Romney campaign also said it ended the second quarter with $12.6 million in cash on hand.

The sum was at least four times larger than second-quarter fundraising totals for Romney's closest money race rivals, some of whom have only just entered the contest.

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty reported raising $4.2 million last week, while Texas congressman Ron Paul's campaign said he collected about $4.5 million.

Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor and U.S. ambassador to China, formally entered the race on June 21 and has taken in $4.1 million, according to aides. But just under half of that is his own money.

Both Romney and Huntsman have large personal fortunes.

Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a Tea Party favorite and formidable fundraiser, has yet to report her second-quarter takings.

Meanwhile, the Obama campaign's second-quarter goal is to raise $60 million including money from a joint account with the Democratic National Committee.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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Romney raises $15-20 million, leads Republican cash race (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is expected to report raising between $15 million and $20 million in campaign cash for the quarter ending on Thursday, a campaign aide said, a sum that far outpaces rivals.

Romney's dominance in the money race stems from his relentless campaigning and fund-raising since he lost a presidential bid in 2008. In addition, several of his rivals have only just entered the race.

Aides to rival Jon Huntsman, who formally announced his candidacy on June 21, said on Thursday he had taken in about $4 million in recent weeks, with a bit less than half coming from his own pockets.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is the front-runner in the Republican race to replace President Barack Obama in the 2012 election. He leads most polls of party rivals and has more than enough money to stay competitive.

"He is raising money far more quickly than he can spend effectively, especially in Iowa and New Hampshire where retail politics is important," said Georgetown University government professor Clyde Wilcox.

Romney rivals like Huntsman and Tim Pawlenty must raise enough to remain competitive, he said.

"If you don't have enough money, volunteers and fund-raisers may start wandering," he said, adding that "enough" may be a matter of surpassing expectations.

The second-quarter figures have not been officially released for the campaigns.

Some outside experts had predicted Romney would raise between $20 million and $30 million, especially after a one-day haul of $10 million last month.

A senior Romney adviser said the totals are in line with what they planned, but also cited "economic headwinds," which could depress fund-raising.

BACHMANN UP, PAWLENTY DOWN

Meanwhile, Pawlenty is struggling in the polls and being overshadowed by the entry of rising Tea party star Michele Bachmann into the race.

"She's clearly stealing oxygen from him in terms of Iowa," University of Minnesota professor Larry Jacobs said.

Pawlenty's advisers have been trying to downplay expectations since the former Minnesota governor entered the race.

"Our numbers are going to be respectable but it's not going to blow (anything) out of the water," said Ray Washburne, national finance chair for Pawlenty's operations in Texas.

Bachmann, a conservative member of the House of Representatives, is an adroit fundraiser. Her congressional committee out-raised all of her House colleagues during 2010, with a $13.5 million haul.

The campaign to re-elect Obama had a goal of raising $60 million, between the campaign and an account at the Democratic National Committee, in the quarter ending on Thursday.

In addition to Romney's official figures, a new so-called Super political action committee created by former Romney aides is said to have pulled in at least $10 million, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

These are a new form of political action committee created after a federal court decision last year allowed unlimited contributions from corporations and unions to independent political committees.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Todd Melby; Editing by Xavier Briand)

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