Tue 4 May 2010
Who does Jan Brewer really work for?
Posted by MadArizonan under State Budget , State Economy , State Government , Taxation[8] Comments
I tried to find the Yes on 100 video the governor appears on TV on to include in this post.
But after watching this, I’m amazed. Who does she really work for?
Well, if you are stumping for left wing unions and PACs, who are the major funders for this effort, well then, you’re working for left wing unions and PACs.
The ads are clever and list the most inane sounding unions and PACs as “major donors”, like the fire union and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, but dig into the donor list and see who you find. The ultra-left wing AEA, among other more notorious liberals.
Does Jan Brewer believe that one of these left wingers will EVER vote for her? They wont. Not until heck freezes over.
Jan Brewer and those Republicans who support her, in the true spirit of Orwellian doublethink and doublespeak, purport to be Reagan conservatives while simultaneously proclaiming that prosperity will only come via a tax increase.
They attempt to provide themselves with political cover by saying that Reagan raised taxes to close deficits. Did he? Arguable. What is unarguable is that Reagan NEVER argued that you can tax yourself into prosperity. But that is precisely the type of “leadership” Ms. Brewer would have us believe is Republican leadership.
It’s a farce. They are trying to turn the world upsidedown and then say it’s right side up. They are being left wing liberals and supporting left wing liberal agendas while trying to claim to be conservative Republicans and doing so in the midst of the TeaParty revolution.
Could the governor do anything MORE to hurt the Arizona Republican Party at this point in time? I don’t think so.
This little gem is the best though. See this video below, in it you will hear the standard tax and spend mantra:
Unless you vote to increase taxes, the prison doors will open, the school doors will close, children will die and ambulances will stop running.
Anytime you hear that, you are hearing a tax-and-spend liberal speaking about their issue.
If the governor had any shame whatsoever, she would be embarassed by this. I’m sorry, Governor, you cannot tax yourself into prosperity, no matter how you spin it. Also, conservatives don’t advocate for tax increases, no matter how you spin it.
If you’re going to argue that she’s pro-life, therefore she’s conservative? Well there are pro-life democrats too. Just being pro-life does not a conservative make.
Anyway, here goes….. Jan Brewer: People are Going to Die Unless Prop 100 Passes
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. But I’m mad.
May 4th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
Holy cow. Disgusting.
May 4th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
Well there ya go folks-the last dying breath of one of the three M’s. I was partly entrigued until the part that said it was arguable if Reagan raised taxes. He’s one of my hero’s and even I can admit that he did.
The video is embarrassingly bad-and not for Jan. I’m sure with that camera point of view it won’t be hard to tell which campaign is responsible for it. It’s so bad they were smart enough not to put a dislaimer.
May 5th, 2010 at 6:37 am
I expect this kind of mental drivel from a lefty not a sitting Republican Governor. Jan should contact Don Bivens and file as a Democrat to challenge Goddard for the donkey nomination. Jan’s rant only goes to confirm my decision as a PC to work ro replace her in the primary with a conservative.
May 5th, 2010 at 6:40 am
Pitiful.
May 5th, 2010 at 6:51 am
A disingenuous question:
The public must be puzzled how every time, any level of government, comes looking for a tax increase they are told education and public safety will suffer without it, Proposition 100 is no different. It is no accident the question is always set up that way. Think about it, if you were asked to raise your taxes to continue to fund wasteful spending, how would you vote? You and I both know how we would vote, we would vote no. In reality, you ARE being asked to raise your taxes to continue wasteful spending.
In 2005 I began my service in the State Senate, Arizona had a budget deficit of $450 million. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I and the other committee members began to work our way through the state’s budget with a very sharp pencil. Our budget analysts helped us through what seemed like endless spread sheets and we began to cross out items that seemed illogical, items of duplication and even some items of triplication.
While our work continued, the real estate bubble began to expand. As property values rose, the nation began a spending spree that resulted in increased tax revenue to the State.
With tax receipts on the rise, a majority of the Legislature was no longer interested in rooting out wasteful spending. In fact the State began its own spending spree! That year state spending rose from $6.2 Billion to $8.2 Billion. The following year spending rose to $10.2 Billion. State revenue continued to rise into 2008 when the real estate bubble burst. As income began to fall, rather than reducing state spending to match revenue, as you and I would do in our own household budgets, my colleagues continued to spend at a still increasing rate. The 2008 budget rose to $10.8 billion. In 2009, budgeted spending was $11.3 billion dollars. During the last 5 years government spending increased, outpacing inflation and population growth by well over 100%.
Many of my fellow Republicans place the blame for over spending on former Governor Napolitano, I agree she was a driving force in overspending. We must not forget that the GOP controlled the Legislature, had my fellow Republicans joined me and the handful of fiscal Conservatives that dug in our heels, we could have stopped the runaway spending.
You would think that with the mess we are in, the Legislature would have learned it’s ”over spending lesson” but, it doesn’t appear to be so. During the legislative session that just adjourned, several bills increasing spending were passed into law, along with several “targeted tax credit” bills. One such tax credit bill for a solar energy generation plant, that appears to only benefit one Lobbyist’s client, will cost the taxpayers over $250 Million. Supporters of this policy argue the plant would locate elsewhere without the handout but, with the Arizona Corporation Commission’s mandated requirement for Arizona generated renewable power, they would have come without the subsidy.
From 2007 to 2009 I served as Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. During that time a group of lobbyists and political consultants was formed to push a 1% sales tax to be used for transportation spending. These people had experience in ballot measures, many members of this group had successfully worked to pass a Maricopa County transportation tax hike through the Legislature in 2004. I was able to keep them from moving their plan forward in the Senate, forcing them to gather signatures to gain a spot on the 08’ ballot. Fortunately their signature drive fell short of the required number of signers and the” TIME INITIATIVE” never made the ballot.
In early 2009, as then Governor Napolitano prepared to resign to take a position with the Obama administration in Washington, soon to be Governor Brewer began to assemble her transition team. You can imagine my concern upon learning that some of the same lobbyist/consultants would be members of Brewer’s team. With a team of advisors such as this, with their clear self interests, it should be no surprise that within days of assuming the Governor’s office, in her first official speech, Governor Brewer demanded the Legislature send a tax hike to the ballot.
The Governor has configured the ballot question so its failure appears to cause heavy cuts to education and public safety but, this may not prove to be true. If Proposition 100 fails and I hope it does, I really don’t think Governor Brewer has the nerve to follow through with those heavy cuts with only three months until the primary election. Under that situation, I believe the Governor will call the Legislature back into special session to make more realistic budget reductions.
Some may argue that this tax will hold education harmless from any additional budget cuts; this may also prove to be untrue. Proposition 100 does not contain a “No Supplanting Clause”, if the proposition passes, education and public safety will receive the new tax revenue but, the legislature could still cut their General Fund money.
We need to send a message to Government that the State should tighten its belt, make the appropriate cuts and learn to live within their means, just like you and me. Please join me in voting NO on proposition 100.
Senator Ron Gould
Representing Arizona’s 3rd Legislative District
May 5th, 2010 at 7:04 am
It would be cool if Sonoran Alliance would post Senator Gould’s comments here as a Guest column on the SA page as a Guest blog post!
May 5th, 2010 at 9:44 am
Why doe these politicians play cozy with the Teachers & Fire unions. The fire union in Phoenix has charges against it in the AFL-CIO for not standing up for its fellow IAFF union members at Rural Metro ambulance. These guys sell out their own union buddies – and politicians want to be seen with them?
The Teachers – they can’t get enough money and their union is really pushing for more members in the janitor and clerical ranks, not the classroom teachers, so who are they kidding.
I’ve vote NO for 100 and if I could have voted “hell NO” I would have checked that one, too.
May 5th, 2010 at 9:51 pm
………………
Sen.Ron Gould Says:
May 5th, 2010 at 6:51 am
A disingenuous question:
The public must be puzzled how every time, any level of government, comes looking for a tax increase they are told education and public safety will suffer without it, Proposition 100 is no different. It is no accident the question is always set up that way. Think about it, if you were asked to raise your taxes to continue to fund wasteful spending, how would you vote?
………….
Exactly!
Thanks for the excellent post.
THe AZ GOP should have stood firm. It’s this failure of resolve and commitment to principles that has gotten poeple so angry.
AZ schools are rock bottom nationally with all that money that was thrown at them, now we’re broke … because of the schools, because they take the lion’s share of the state budget. Hmmm. And they NEED more money … because education is so important? SO, what gives? If it was so important, how come the people who’ve gotten the tons of money FOR education for the past ten years haven’t properly educated our kids? WHat did they do with all that money?
I don’t want to hear excuses about “poor kids” or “non-English speaking.” Poorer kids in AFrica with less school money and less-equipped schools do better than this and our own kids were thrown into non-English schools and had to survive doing all their schoolwork in another language – cold turkey, no clique to hide in – so we know for a fact it can be done without all the whinging and whining about the “poor things.”
Teachers sit around, they don’t teach, they don’t even want to grade kids’ papers, they don’t know their subjects and don’t care to improve themselves, then they grumble about standardized tests and say they can’t do the job properly unless they get paid more. Huh? They work 3/4 of the year, but want a full year compensation. WEll, so does the REST of the workforce, who would be DELIGHTED to work 9 months and have three months off, PLUS all the three day weekends, Four day Thanksgiving, over a week at CHristmas/New YEar and Spring Break.
SO, AZ has gone broke trying to finance the likes of THAT? Doesn’t this mean that it’s an “unsustainable” model?