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Money Well Spent

June 16, 2009 By 15 Comments

Living up to their reputation of spending money in all the wrong places here is the latest banner ad running on the AZCentral.com. I’m sure all the teachers out there appreciate their hard earned dues going toward failing newspapers to advocate for more of your tax dollars to increase the amount of money the state spends on students.

Currently, Arizona spends approximately $9,700 per student. But for the sake of argument, let’s drop that amount to $8,000/student (I like to be conservative). If teachers deserve a nice healthy salary of say $64,000/year, then it would take 8 students to pay that teacher’s salary. However we know that there are roughly 25-30 students in a class. So the $136,000 question is (17 x $8,000), “Where’s the rest of the money going?”

Perhaps even the bigger question is, “When all the money is gone, what is the AEA going to do then?”

Filed Under: Education, Spending

A House Divided

June 16, 2009 By 13 Comments
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I posted on this earlier this month but it’s worth watching one more time. In this speech, Jan Brewer spoke out against “Big Government Gospel.” It drew quite an applause.

Today, Governor Brewer filed a special action lawsuit against the GOP leadership in the legislature in order to force them to send her the budget so she could veto it and ultimately force a government shutdown.

So much for being “in one accord.”

Needless to say, it’s getting pretty ugly. Democrats are having a field day watching the bickering take place and I’m sure the hit pieces and sound clips are being generated for whoever runs in the next election cycle. Even the comments here on earlier posts are “interesting” to read.

Hopefully, this stalemate or “game of chicken” will be over shortly and the taxpayers will win out by not having a budget that remains bloated and fingerprinted with Napolitano’s leftover pork programs. But I have my doubts that the most important bridges have been burned and once again leadership in the GOP will have wandered away from what made our party great – lower taxes and fiscal responsibility. 

My advice to the Governor as a consultant - and this comes free of charge  (which is a lot less expensive than what she’s paying the consultants) – sign the budget when it gets to you, reject the tax hike and most important, get back on principles. People are losing faith in your ability to lead.

Filed Under: State Budget

PR: Taxpayer Champion Commends Republican Legislative Leadership

June 16, 2009 By 16 Comments

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, June 16th 2009

Senator Ron Gould commends Republican leadership

(STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX) – Sen. Ron Gould, R- Lake Havasu City, issued the following statement about legislative leadership.

“I want to commend Senate President Bob Burns and House Speaker Kirk Adams for their resolve in dealing with the perplexing decisions by Gov. Brewer in her continuing effort to push for a tax increase on Arizonans.

Like many legislators, I continue to be mystified by the governor’s unwillingness to stand up for Arizona taxpayers and join the Republican majority in protecting them from higher taxes.

Gov. Brewer’s decision to file a lawsuit today is nothing more than a media stunt and a complete waste of time. It’s sad that she is so dug in on the idea of higher taxes that she feels the need to bring the judiciary into this battle and in doing so fall back on the tried and true tactics of our liberal friends on the left.

Her lawsuit comes on the heels of her speculation that there may be a government shutdown, which, like the lawsuit, is nothing more than a transparent attempt to generate attention and try to intimidate the Legislature into acquiescing to her wishes.

It’s time for Gov. Brewer to stop playing political gamesmanship and put the interests of Arizona taxpayers first. She knows there is a budget on the table that does not include tax increases, I would encourage her to drop her support for higher taxes and commit to signing that budget into law.”

Filed Under: Press Release, State Budget

How to Win Friends & Influence People…

June 16, 2009 By 36 Comments

Yes, I know, we’re ones to follow this prescription. But then again, we’re not the Governor and have an $11 BILLION budget to deal with.

This is sure to invite Republican challengers as the issue becomes “The Governor is willing to shut down the State in order to get her tax increase.”

Here is the link to the video clip.

Filed Under: State Budget Tagged With:

State should spend less, hold line on taxes

June 16, 2009 By 2 Comments

By Tom Patterson
Goldwater Institute
 
Fiscal conservatives in Arizona are in shock. After six years of watching Gov. Janet Napolitano’s fiscal mismanagement drive our state to the brink of disaster, there was hope for relief earlier this year.

Our new governor, the conservative Jan Brewer, would have the courage and good sense to set us back on course to recovery.

It hasn’t worked out that way. Right out of the box, she opined that she might possibly consider a tax increase to balance the budget if all other options had been exhausted. When politicians talk like that, it usually means hold on to your wallet, and this time was no exception.

Soon after, she included a non-specified $1 billion tax hike in her budget reform proposal. “Maturing” rapidly, in the eyes of the mainstream local press, she then threatened a veto for any budget that didn’t include new taxes. Now her supporters, with her approval, have threatened a $225,000 media campaign against fellow Republicans who refuse to inflict more taxes on Arizonans during a recession.

Arizona lost 170,000 jobs from February 2008 to February 2009, the second-highest job loss in the nation. During that same time period, government added 4,500 net jobs. With families and businesses across the state cutting back and coping the best they can, sending more of our resources to the growing government sector is just nuts.

Admittedly, Brewer is in a tough spot trying to remediate the consequences of Napolitano’s reckless spending. But her budget proposal doesn’t do anything to solve our predicament. Under her plan, state revenues, currently in free-fall, would have to grow 40 percent in two years to have a balanced budget, after the temporary tax and stimulus funds were depleted. That’s not going to happen.

The only solution to a spending problem is to spend less. That’s not pleasant, but the alternative is worse. Principled, responsible leadership is more than kicking the can down the road. Just ask California.
 
Tom Patterson is chairman of the Goldwater Institute and a former state senator.

Filed Under: Economics, Spending, State Budget, State Government, Taxation

Napolitano acting as Homeland Security for MEXICO, not U.S.

June 16, 2009 By 6 Comments

This one’s going to develop into a scandal.  The Republic reported today that Janet Napolitano is “redeploying” 360 U.S. border agents from their jobs protecting American interests so that they can now devote their time inspecting vehicles travelling into Mexico.

Readers no doubt remember that Napolitano earned a reputation while Governor of Arizona for her “can-do nothing” attitude on border security, vetoing numerous bills.  But now we find out that she really does care about border security, only it’s Mexico’s border security.

You may wonder why it is the U.S. government’s responsibility to protect Mexico from border traffic, especially since the Mexican government does nothing to deter the influx of illegal alien traffic from Mexico.  Actually, to the extent it does anything, Mexico ENCOURAGES illegal aliens to come here! If American border security is America’s problem, as Mexico has long contended, why is Mexican border security now America’s problem too?

According to Napolitano, “there is shared responsibility (on border security) going both ways.”  Is she crazy?  What, if anything, has Mexico done to share this responsibility?

You also might wonder what important jobs these U.S. agents have been diverted from?  Tracking terrorists?  Hunting down illegal aliens who also commit violent crime in the U.S.?  Enforcement of rules prohibiting illegal aliens from working in the U.S., thereby protecting jobs for citizens and legal residents?

Filed Under: Border, Illegal Aliens, Illegal Immigration, National Security

Whatever Happened to…

June 16, 2009 By 5 Comments

One question: While the federal government continues to inject itself into a multitude of industries is anyone asking about the fed’s track record on Social Security? I was under the impression – as were many others - that the Social Security system was going bankrupt and would collapse within a decade. So I ask the question, whatever happened to the issue of Social Security reform? I propose that the federal government allow individuals who want out of the system to get out and do our own thing. For those of you who believe Social Security will be around for you, I’ve got a federal bailout to sell you.

Filed Under: Social Security

Fun with Budget Negotiations

June 16, 2009 By 1 Comment

The latest gambit in Governor Brewer’s increasingly strained negotiations with the Legislature is a lawsuit she intends to file today forcing the Legislature to send her the recently passed budget that she will presumably veto in an attempt to start the process over with less than three weeks to go.  

The Governor has backed off on her insistence that the FY’10 budget include a tax increase and is now calling for legislation to put the tax increase on the ballot at some time in the future.  I suppose that’s a logical negotiating position on her part – “I’ll give you a no tax increase budget for FY’10, if you give me the tax increase vote in return.”

One problem.  

How does it pass the Legislature?

In theory, you have two somewhat realistic options to pass it in both chambers.  

First, you convince Republican legislators that this isn’t really a tax increase, just a vote to give voters a choice.  You then hope that the desire to finish this marathon legislative session outweighs the reluctance to vote for the tax increase.  Odds of this happening – probably slim and none.  

Second, you try and convince Democrats to provide a large majority of the votes and then try to pick off and/or buy Republican votes to get yourself a majority.  Odds of this happening – slightly better, but it would fly in the face of strong Democrat opposition to the sales tax and their desire for something with a little more, shall we say, oomph in the tax department.  It also assumes that there are enough Republican yes votes, something that is by no means guaranteed.  

This is probably why the Governor wants the budget bills.  Vetoing them serves her purposes in both scenarios.  In scenario one, she can increase the desperation about passing a budget by vetoing these bills.  If these ones are off the table, she apparently believes she is in a stronger negotiating position as the fiscal year nears an end and Legislators come under increased pressure to strike a deal.  

In the second scenario, she is in better position to buy both Republican and Democrat votes for her tax increase if she can play a big role in the crafting of a new budget.  

Fun stuff.  Aren’t you glad you’re not a Legislator?

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Republican Professionals Politics on the Rocks photos from last Thursday

June 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment
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Filed Under: Pol-parazzi, Political Parties, Special Event