Mayors from the East Valley cordially invite you to take part in a State Budget Forum on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. at the Granite Reef Senior Center in Scottsdale.
Governor Brewer and community leaders will be taking part in the event.
The event is open to the public, but space is limited so be sure to arrive early to guarantee a seat.
GRANITE REEF SENIOR CENTER – 1700 N. GRANITE REEF ROAD - Scottdale
PHOENIX – With an apparent disregard towards the state’s fiscal woes, Attorney General Terry Goddard has spared his office from sharing painful budget cuts being suffered throughout Arizona and has sided with a group suing the state which could end up costing Arizona millions.
In response to Governor Brewer’s request that each state agency provide proposals that reflect reductions of 5% up to 20% of their 2010 operating budget, Attorney General Goddard’s office declined to make any reductions stating that they are “differently situated than agencies with leaders appointed by the Governor.”
Each state agency has complied, including the Secretary of State, Treasurer, Corporation Commission and State Mine Inspector all of whom are independently elected like Attorney General Goddard. This leaves the Attorney General as the only state official failing to cooperate and contribute any proposal to the budget talks.
“It is astonishing that our Attorney General is either unaware of the state’s fiscal crisis or thinks that his office should be immune to the reductions being incurred by other state agencies,” said Chairman Pullen. “Mr. Goddard’s rationale seems to be that the Attorney General’s office with ‘growing caseloads’ should be exempt from any reductions. That is a slap in the face of those people being asked to do more with less, and to Arizonans who are struggling during this difficult time. The Attorney General’s flat refusal to offer any cost-saving measures and make a contribution to the budget negotiations, is either dismissive of our economic problems, or sheer arrogance.”
In addition to Mr. Goddard’s stance on providing no proposals to cut spending, the Attorney General has also taken a position in direct opposition to the state Legislature, Superintendant of Public Instruction and Governor in regard to the Flores case which could add tens of millions of dollars in additional costs for the state’s already overburdened taxpayers. Mr. Goddard’s actions leave the state without a chief litigator defending Arizona against such lawsuits. In fact, the State had to hire outside attorneys to defend itself.
Arizona’s court case seeks the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court decision which ruled that the law which outlines funding for English-language-learner programs was illegal.
“For Arizona’s Attorney General to be representing a view at odds with that of the state’s legislative leaders, clearly exceeds his constitutional authority and is a blatant attempt to undermine the will of the elected representatives in the House and Senate while ignoring Arizona’s education experts.”
This past Sunday, Bob Robb wrote in his opinion editorial that the Arizona Republican Party was trying to “peddle” a public opinion survey purporting to show support for Governor Brewer’s tax increase. He goes on to list a number of “problems” with the poll. His biggest concern seems to be the wording of the question was not done in the “conventional way”. The problem with his premise is he is assuming the purpose of the poll was to demonstrate support for what is typically a non-starter for most voters, a tax increase.
In reality, the fundamental purpose of the poll was to try and understand what voters thought about ht current budget crisis, who they held responsible for the debacle and how best to respond to restoring balance to the state’s budget. The poll questions were in depth and extensive covering all aspects of the budget crisis and related issues. It was the most extensive poll I have ever been involved and provided a tremendous amount of insight for our leadership.
As a former political operative and someone I worked closely in the late 1990s to develop a financing strategy to build a state of the art domed stadium for the Arizona Cardinals, Mr. Robb knows every election is essentially a “push poll”. Political consultants try to understand how voters perceive the issues and to develop messaging to support their candidate or proposition. More interesting to me, reading between the lines (something we also do), I sense Mr. Robb understands the State is facing a financial crisis of a magnitude not seen in our lifetimes and it is prudent to consider all options. Mr. Robb has never been shy about putting his own ideas forward; however, in this instance he offered nothing of substance.
Arizona has been dealt a terrible hand by our now departed Democrat governor. She was the architect for the explosive expansion of spending and new programs that have taken effect over the past three years. We now have the second largest budget deficit on a percentage basis and the largest per capita deficit in the nation of any state. Even more daunting is that tax revenues will continue to fall we short of projected spending for the state through 2013. Janet Napolitano’s game plan was to deny the seriousness of the situation and with a wing and a prayer hope for the best. Well, the quail have come home to roost so to speak. She flew the coop for DC and left Governor Brewer with the task of cleaning up the mess.
So far, Governor Brewer has enacted the largest budget reduction in the history of the state, with more to come. There will be more pay cuts, furloughs and reductions to right size state departments and programs, which will include education, healthcare and other social programs. This is something a large majority of Arizonans believe needs to happen.
Arizona voters also are not supportive of selling off state buildings, securitizing the lottery, or accounting gimmicks. Right now is not a good time to sell your house, nor state assets. Rolling over funding of education into a new fiscal year to avoid recognizing your financial obligations in the current years no different than not paying your bills this month to show you have a bigger check balance and then making double payments next month. Sooner or later it catches up to you.
Governor Brewer understands Arizona’s government needs to reform how it operations and to reinvent how it controls spending in the future by limiting the growth of government spending and having adequate reserves to weather the tough times, which will surely come again. She also understands that voters are in no mood to push our problems off to next year or to continue to deal with the problems in a piece meal fashion. Voters expect results.
The Governor’s five point plan addresses all of these concerns and lays the groundwork for creating a strong more stable economy in Arizona. A tax increase is the last point in her plan and assumes everything else has been addressed and voters are not willing to cut out education programs such as music, art, sports, all day kindergarten or child protection and other emergency services. Giving the voters a chance to decide seems reasonable.
Listening to Rev. Al Sharpton’s comments denouncing Sheriff Joe Arpaio would be laughable if they weren’t so outrageous. Rev. Sharpton has a track record of being a race-baiting opportunist who takes advantage of liberal media sensationalism in an effort to promote himself.
Most recently, he called for the jailing, and prosecution of white Duke Lacrosse players who were wrongfully accused of raping a black stripper at a party. Prior to that, he took up the cause of Twana Brawley who said that she was raped by police officers who were also white – also proven as false accusations.
For him to be taking on our Sheriff is ridiculous. A five-time duly elected Sheriff in one of the largest counties in the country, Sheriff Joe’s record in law enforcement over a 48 year career is one to be emulated, not called into question. Thankfully, most people recognize Rev. Al for what he is, and will dismiss his appearance in Phoenix for what it is, an attempt to use Sheriff Joe’s high profiles to attract media attention in an attempt to bolster his finding political importance
- Randy Pullen
