Arizona Politics for Conservatives: Sonoran Alliance
Arizona Politics, News, Commentary and Information with a Blatantly Conservative Worldview Presented by an Alliance of Writers, Activists, Consultants and Government Insiders.
For Immediate Release: June 15, 2009
Senate President and House Speaker issue joint statement in response to the governor’s threat of legal action on budget bills
“It is regrettable that we now have another delay in negotiations. It is unfortunate the governor is seeking to involve the courts in an ongoing budget negotiation while the Legislature is still in session. It delays and obstructs the process.”
Senate President Bob Burns
House Speaker Kirk Adams
by Matthew Ladner, Ph.D.
Goldwater Institute
We have a new entrant in the K-12 fable-making industry: a website called Stand Up for Arizona.
A few weeks ago, the Arizona Economic Council created an advertisement equating Arizona public school funding to that of a Third World country. Of course, Arizona spends many times above and beyond the wildest dreams of Third World school administrators. But that didn’t stop them from making the claim.
Stand Up for Arizona is not so reckless with the truth. Not quite. The website does, however, complain bitterly about the $133 million in K-12 reductions in the legislature’s January 2009 budget fix:
These devastating cuts have forced already underfunded K-12 schools to lay off teachers, eliminate programs, and cancel orders for books and school supplies. Over 5,500 teachers and 2,000 school employees from 120 districts across the state have been laid off. Many of these cuts were so severe that schools had no option but to cut into core academic areas like English and Social Studies.
The writer neglects to mention that total revenue for Arizona school districts was more than $9.2 billion in 2007-8. The January reductions amounted to something in the neighborhood of 1 percent. That’s far from “crippling,” as Stand Up for Arizona suggests.
Stand Up for Arizona isn’t doing itself any favors by crying wolf at minor reductions. Arizona faces a daunting new fiscal reality. Public schools needed to do more to boost student learning before the crisis. Now they will have to adjust to doing more with less.
Dr. Matthew Ladner is vice president for research at the Goldwater Institute.
Here is a graph of the latest Gallup poll. As you can see, as many of us believe, this is a Center Right country.
The data was accumulated from, get this, 40,000 interviews!
If the Obama Administration doesn’t get a clue or continues to ignore these hard realities, there will be a political revolution.
The Arizona Civil Rights Initiative (SCR 1031) will be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday June 16 at 2:00pm.
SCR 1031 will amend the state constitution to prohibit affirmative action programs that grant preference based on race or gender in public contracting, public employment or public education.
In Arizona, if the House and Senate vote in favor of such a concurrent resolution, they can refer the Civil Rights Initiative to the general election ballot for November 2010.
The House Government Committee passed the House version of the bill last Wednesday 6 to 3. The Republicans on the committee voted unanimously to pass the bill. Republican members, Antenori, Crump, Driggs, Gowan, Montenegro and Nichols deserve praise for their support to end race preferences in public contracting, public employment and public education.
We need to show the legislature that there is strong support for ending affirmative action programs that grant preferential treatment in our state. If you or friends and family can attend all you have to do is sign in and specify “in favor of,” you will not need to prepare any comments or speak on behalf of the bill.
The ACLU, NAACP and other members of the left will stop and nothing to preserve their radical agenda. They will be at the committee hearing in full force misrepresenting the initiative. Now is the chance to fight back.
Contact your state Senator and tell them to support SCR 1031, click on this link for a member roster.
When: Tuesday, June 16th at 2:00pm
Where: Senate Building (next to the capitol)
1700 West Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85007
For additional information email info@arizonacri.org
Come and show your support – Together we can end affirmative action programs that grant preferential treatment based on race or sex in Arizona.
