by Nick Dranias

Goldwater Institute

Many local governments in Arizona want us to believe they have gone to extreme lengths to tighten their budget belts. But when you hear that Tucson is using its sign laws to squelch artistic murals on the historic Rialto Theater because the murals aren’t purely for artistic purposes—they also promote shows at the theater—your realize budgets can’t be that bare. Then there are the pool cops of Maricopa County, who are aiming to shut down weekend pool parties used by Phoenix-area resorts to boost their business during this recession.

Any government that can waste resources on such measures has too many idle hands on the payroll. The fact that local governments can’t recognize this shows that streamlining budgets requires more than a commitment to saving money. It requires a guiding philosophy of limited government.

In many cases, cities and counties cannot focus limited resources on core functions because they cannot identify what functions are core. Laws against genuine public nuisances have no higher standing than crack downs on wall murals and bans on resort pool parties where guests might eat or drink too close to the water. Resources are stretched because government officials are using them to perform needless and often abusive tasks.

Fortunately, local governments can look right at the Arizona Constitution for guidance on identifying core functions: “All political power is inherent in the people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are established to protect and maintain individual rights.”

Officials who accept this basic principle of limited government are unlikely to prosecute  businesses for such offenses as painting wall murals on their own property that also advertise their business and planning some outdoor fun to attract more customers. No function of government is a core function if it has nothing to do with protecting and maintaining individual rights.

Nick Dranias holds the Clarence J. and Katherine P. Duncan Chair for Constitutional Government and is Director of the Joseph and Dorothy Donnelly Moller Center for Constitutional Government at the Goldwater Institute.

Goldwater Institute News Release

PHOENIX – After a three-year legal battle, Tom and Elizabeth Preston soon will be able to open Body Accents Tattoo and Piercing Studio in Tempe.

The Prestons have settled their lawsuit against Tempe which challenged the City’s refusal to allow the couple to open a tattoo studio near Scottsdale and Curry Roads. Both sides have agreed to dismiss their appeals of a 2009 trial court ruling. Maricopa County Judge Robert H. Oberbillig ruled the City’s revocation of the Prestons’ operating permit was arbitrary and capricious, and ordered Tempe to restore the permit. But Judge Oberbillig determined the Prestons shouldn’t receive monetary damages for more than $20,000 that they had invested in the business before Tempe revoked their permit.

“This lifts such a weight off of our shoulders,” Elizabeth Preston said. “Clearly, we lost money because we couldn’t open the studio three years ago. Now, we can do something that we are passionate about and will allow us to recover our losses in a business that continues to grow.”

“This little studio will be a monument to the triumph of economic freedom,” said Clint Bolick, director of the Goldwater Institute Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation, which represented the Prestons. “No business owner should have to endure what the Prestons went through. After the trial court precedent, we hope no one will have to do so again.”

This case protects the fundamental right of anyone to pursue a livelihood and operate a legal business without a local government shutting it down because of personal, negative feelings not based in fact or the law, Mr. Bolick said.
 
The Prestons have owned Virtual Reality, a tattoo studio in Mesa, for 20 years with no complaints filed against them. In 2007, the City of Tempe issued a permit for their new studio, Body Accents. But the City Council rescinded that permit after substantial investment by the Prestons based on the “perception” that the studio would harm the neighborhood.

The Prestons received their Tempe operating permit today and hope to open the Body Accents studio in early August. Mr. Bolick plans to fulfill a vow to get “inked” with his first tattoo when the studio opens.

Read more about this and other Goldwater lawsuits to protect individual rights and keep government within its constitutional limits at www.goldwaterinstitute.org/litigation. The Goldwater Institute is a research and litigation organization whose work is made possible by the generosity of its supporters.

There’s more than one environmentally degrading spill being mis-managed by the Obama Administration and the Democratic Party and that’s the corrosive social environment undermining of law enforcement as the Federal government fails to uphold, first our international border enforcement, and now our state and local law enforcement. This is not accidental and it has been part of a consistent bias of oppression and bigotry against law enforcement rather than law breakers. It employs a fraud of an analogy to Southern Civil Rights, promoted disingenuously by the very political party that put oppressive racial constraints on Blacks in the South, the Political Party that has thieved Republican and Christian Martin Luther King’s life struggle against Democratic Party political oppression of Blacks in the South as if he was actually a Democrat. But this goes beyond one party or the other;  if rational thinking and priorities amongst all Americans, regardless of political party, does not re-establish itself, American citizens will no longer be safe in their homes or on the street or at work.

Third World nations have a number of characteristics in common with each other. One major blight of the Third World is corrupt law enforcement. It’s not an accident. Corrupt governments prefer corrupt policing. Police departments are underfunded, sometimes not paid for months, and woefully under-equipped. Police, reduced to hardly more than traffic officers,  survive in that environment by bribery, hitting up the commuter, being paid off by the politicians. It is common in Third World cities to have entire neighborhoods robbed by just one organized lethally-equipped gang, starting at the east and ending in the west, dozens and dozens of homes invaded, not a cop in sight, despite scores of frantic calls for help. The police don’t come, and who can blame them? They don’t have the training or more than one bullet in their guns, why would any rational citizen expect them to confront a gang equipped with numerous rifles, pistols and AK-47s?  Because of this, the other commonality of Third World cities is  security bars on all windows and doors, concertina wire rolled at the top of walls,  broken-glass-topped walls, and a thriving private security  industry for those elites who can afford it. Everyone else buys a solid front door and cowers behind it at night.

The degradation of our southern border Federal law enforcement has been going on for years, full of political meddling, tainted by drug money and loaded with brutality, while  devoid of even common-sense national self-preservation,  and has not been rectified.  On what rational basis does any American expect our Border Patrol to intercept illegals crossing the border when the chances of the Border Patrol Agents being thrown in prison is higher than the illegal they’ve arrested? Even though this current Adminsitration is aware of the situation, it has done nothing to correct this dangerous nonsense.  Dodging action by blaming previous administrations is worthless, even benign neglect becomes  a negative as expanding over-the-boarder drug cartels ramp up murders in growing turf wars. 

Today, the deliberate feeding of hysteria is now spreading aggressively against local law enforcement. The desperate illegal immigration lobby, with immense assistance from politicians and the media, has employed a phony analogy of “Civil Rights” – an emotional but dishonest evoking of  bigoted Southern white cops bullying the defenseless Black citizens which is toxically ramping up the volatility of a confrontation that will put first Arizona law enforcement officers on the front line, then their counterparts across the nation. This is enhanced by the open threats by officials and all manner of public figures of promising any and all manner of legal challenges to any law enforcement officer who has the audacity to actually arrest a law-breaker, and in what would be in any other time and place be considered total insanity, especially a foreign law-breaker. That the worst rhetoric is spewing out of the Democratic Party, from mayors to city councils, from the Homeland Security chief, the US Attorney General, from the White House , even incredibly the U.S. State Department,  the Obama Police Doctrine of,  ”I don’t know the facts, but the cops acted racist,”  is a national disgrace and a short-sighted tactic that will backfire on ALL Americans, regardless of political party, color, creed or religion.  There is no justice when people are falsely accused of doing something they didn’t do, there’s only chaos ahead when police are constantly falsely accused.

It would be useful for residents of Phoenix to have a taste of what it’s like to live in Lagos, Nigeria for a few days, to step out of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport the way travelers step out of Lagos International Airport at midnight, miles ahead to downtown Lagos along a run-down highway route, otherwise known as The Gauntlet. Kidnappings, overtuned vehicles with shoot-outs and high speed car chases as victims flee their pursuers are common. Nigerian armed gangs can throw up road blocks on a two-mile elevated stretch of highway in Lagos itself. It takes about three hours to rob every car trapped there, in broad daylight, no police. The equivalent would be a two mile stretch of I-10 by Sky Harbor jammed with rush-hour cars, people trapped from fleeing, a new brand of urban terror that our diligent law enforcement has never allowed to occur.  But Lagos is far away.  Armed gangs use the exact same modis operandi throughout Mexico, just across the border.  The only reason that  blight has been kept at bay is the diligence of Arizona law enforcement officers : the local police and sheriff departments who must pick up what the beleagered Border Patrol can’t.   That barrier gets breached, and the gangs can be in Phoenix in hours.

It would be a useful lesson, but the problem is, once law enforcement feels the citizens do not have their backs, they have no motivation to put their lives on the line or put up with the abuse and hassles of confronting criminals and criminality. Once that trust is lost, it is almost impossible to restore. Law enforcement officers have a hard job, at times a dangerous job. They must on every single call be prepared for anything from a stray kitten to a homicidal drug dealer. Few people are made for that sort of thing or could tolerate the stress. That we have such people made of the fiber and drive to be law enforcement officers is an incredible gift to the community, the state and the nation. The citizens who depend on city, county and state law enforcement officers to stand between them and brutality must also do their part and defend the earnest men and women of our law enforcement against political demonizing, and rebuke by words and voting out any politician who engages in such demonizing and undermining of the social contract between society and its law enforcement.   It will be a hard day to discover what we had only after we’ve lost it

How about starting with demanding an apology from Mayor Phil Gordon:  http://the-raw-deal.com/?p=2495

by Byron Schlomach, Ph.D.
Goldwater Institute
 
On Monday, Governor Jan Brewer signed House Bill 2282, which will require most local governments to post on the Internet extensive budget information including individual spending items. In addition, the state will have a website where a street address can be entered and, at the touch of a button, links to every unit of government with authority over that address will pop up. Each of those governments must, in turn, post information about taxes, upcoming elections, and how to contact officials for more information.

Arizona recently earned an F on a government transparency report card produced by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. Fortunately, Arizona now is poised to leapfrog many states and move to the forefront of government disclosure in the Internet age.

The state Department of Administration soon will launch a website revealing state finances in greater detail as a result of a bill passed two years ago. Special districts were given a similar mandate in 2009. HB2282, championed by Representative Steve Montenegro, Senator Russell Pearce, and former state Senator Jonathan Paton, covers most other local governments including cities, counties and school districts and must be implemented by 2013.

The vision of government transparency is not complete, though. We have to make sure government releases information that is understandable and follows common sense. In addition, not all aspects of government are covered by the law; small towns have been exempted even though there are few costs involved in providing public information on the Internet. Finally, government should reveal even more than its checkbook. It should also justify what it’s spending by posting information about the actual performance of agencies and employees.

Arizonans can be happy that our elected officials took action to make sure the state rates higher than an F in transparency. But there is still a way to go before the state gets the A+ that we all deserve as taxpayers.

Dr. Byron Schlomach is an economist and the director of the Center for Economic Prosperity at the Goldwater Institute.

by Nick Dranias
Goldwater Institute
 
Last week, Governor Jan Brewer signed into law Senate Bill 1398, which mandates that local governments enforce their “coordination rights” against federal agencies. This new law enlists Arizona cities, counties and special districts in the fight against an overreaching federal government.

SB1398 leverages the fact that federal agencies are required by many federal laws to “coordinate” with local governments to ensure that new federal regulations will be enforced consistently with existing local laws. In other states, local governments have successfully used their coordination rights to block the introduction of wild horses into public and private lands, as well as to prevent new listings of endangered species. Despite these successes, most local governments simply do not exercise their coordination rights, perhaps for fear of upsetting federal agencies.

Now, whenever a new federal regulation clashes with a less restrictive local law, plan or policy, SB1398 requires Arizona cities, counties and special districts to demand that the responsible federal agency sit down at a bargaining table and make every reasonable effort to modify the federal regulation to become consistent with local priorities. If local governments ignore this obligation, ordinary citizens will have the power to compel their local elected officials to justify their inaction at a public hearing, guaranteeing local accountability.

But the effort to restore federalism does not end with the passage of SB1398. To stake out an initial bargaining position that will blunt one-size-fits-all federal regulations, local governments in Arizona need to start developing freedom-friendly land use policies before the need for coordination arises.  Fortunately, the Goldwater Institute policy report “A New Charter for American Cities” shows how that can be done.

Nick Dranias holds the Clarence J. and Katherine P. Duncan Chair for Constitutional Government and is Director of the Joseph and Dorothy Donnelly Moller Center for Constitutional Government at the Goldwater Institute.

As elected leaders in the Town of Gilbert we feel a responsibility to the citizens of Gilbert to explain our rationale when it comes to our votes.  We voted “no” when it came to putting a permanent .25% tax increase dedicated to public safety before the voters because we believed then, and still do, that we have more work to be done, that government CAN become more efficient and because tax increases should only be used as a very last resort and only to provide essential services.

Much has been said about Proposition 406.  Here are the facts:

1. This is a PERMANENT tax increase.  There is no sunset clause or expiration date.
2. The tax increase, if passed, will put our town sales tax rate at 1.75% – it will include food but due to a recently passed state law, will not include construction tax.  The construction tax rate will remain at 1.5%.  (As a reference, Chandler’s is 1.5% and Mesa’s is 1.75%)
3. The .25% is “dedicated” to public safety.  The first year projections of the tax would raise $5.1 million.  In a statement made by former Manager George Pettit, these will be the first dollars in the public safety budgets.  The remaining money needed to fund public safety at the current levels (approx. $55M) will need to come from the General Fund – the same fund used to pay for the majority of town operations.

We firmly believe that we can balance the ‘10-‘11 budget without a tax increase.  There are efficiencies to be found in Gilbert and the citizen’s budget committee, town staff and council members have spent countless hours finding those efficiencies.  A long list has been generated and we have a responsibility to the citizens to see those recommendations through – to properly vet them through the public process and to make decisions based on the best interest of the community as a whole.  We receive more value from our tax dollar in Gilbert than through any other government entity.  However, we cannot assume that we have exhausted all possibilities for better, more efficient ways of doing business.  There is work to be done and a tax increase is not the answer.  Make no mistake, funding our public safety departments is, and should always be, our first priority.

As stewards of your tax dollars, we feel a responsibility and obligation to validate the spending of each and every penny.  Until we have proven that all other options have been exhausted, we simply cannot ask you to reach into your pocket and provide the government with your hard-earned resources.  Government can do better.  The Town of Gilbert has a wonderful reputation in the valley for setting an example of properly using government funds. Let’s continue.

John Lewis, Mayor, Town of Gilbert
Jenn Daniels, Councilmember, Town of Gilbert

by Byron Schlomach, Ph.D.
Goldwater Institute
 
When I worked for a state legislator in Texas, his policy was his legislative offices were open any time his private business was open. I spent many a lonely day in a largely abandoned Texas Capitol on government holidays that were ignored by the world in general. I also enjoyed marvelous health insurance benefits. The birth of my third child cost me personally a total of $20.

Wonderful benefits, extra holidays, and job security for government employees are often justified as relatively inexpensive perks that compensate for comparatively low government pay. That justification, however, no longer applies.

The Cato Institute recently pointed to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that show just how well state and local government employees are paid. On an hourly basis, government employees receive salaries that, on average, are 34 percent higher than private workers. Benefits are even better, with government paid leave worth 77 percent more and health insurance valued at 118 percent higher. Most government workers enjoy a lifetime claim on taxpayers’ wallets when they retire, too.

State-level statistics are not as easy to break down. However, the Tax Foundation has shown that in 2007, Arizona’s average state and local government employee made $300 a year more in total compensation than the average private worker. The latest federal statistics show that in 2008, the margin had grown to more than $1,000.

Considering today’s budget problems,  it’s time to get government employee pay and benefits under control, including paid leave, health insurance and retirement pensions. We could start by moving government employees to high-deductible health insurance plans coupled with tax free Health Savings Accounts. This could save the state millions in annual premium increases. We should also convert government pensions to defined contribution plans–like a private sector 401k–instead of defined benefits. This won’t be a huge short-term money saver, but it will keep the state solvent in the long-run.

Dr. Byron Schlomach is an economist and the director of the Center for Economic Prosperity at the Goldwater Institute.

by Carrie Ann Sitren
Goldwater Institute
 
Glendale City Council members could use a cold splash of water – perhaps with the hockey ice from Jobing.com Arena – if they finalize a deal with potential new Phoenix Coyotes team owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Council members signed a non-binding agreement earlier this month to allow Reinsdorf to sell the team in five years if it doesn’t turn a profit. Why does that matter? Because the deal also potentially requires city taxpayers to pony up $165 million for the private sports franchise. It’s a lose-lose for taxpayers and hockey fans alike.

Surprisingly, the City rejected another deal proposed by Ice Edge Holdings, which would have asked fans to pay more of the Coyotes’ operating expenses through a ticket surcharge and parking fees. Ice Edge owners also committed to making Jobing.com Arena the team’s permanent home. The City could have signed agreements with both groups and continued negotiating, but it inexplicably gave Reinsdorf the nod and sent Ice Edge packing.

Reinsdorf insists the City guarantee up to $100 million to cover his losses and demands the right to abandon the arena lease after five years with no penalties. The other $65 million might come from taxpayer-backed bonds whose proceeds would be paid to the National Hockey League on Reinsdorf’s behalf. It’s the kind of one-sided deal Reinsdorf has been known to drive. In 1983, when he threatened to move the Chicago White Sox from Illinois to Florida if taxpayers didn’t build him a new stadium, Reinsdorf explained, “a savvy negotiator creates leverage.”

But Glendale has the leverage here, and it is time for council members to start exercising it. The City owns Jobing.com Arena where the Coyotes currently play. Although the NHL could make Reinsdorf the new team owner, the City can choose not to lease the arena to him if his demands are out of line, as they appear to be now. In fact, the City cannot lease to him if he requires a subsidy because that violates Arizona’s Constitution. Glendale officials need to let this savvy negotiator know that the interest of taxpayers, not billionaire sports team owners, is all the leverage they need.

Carrie Ann Sitren is an attorney with the Goldwater Institute Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation.

For Immediate Release: Monday, March 15, 2010

ON BEHALF OF

MAYOR JOHN LEWIS
VICE MAYOR LINDA ABBOTT
COUNCILMAN DAVE CROZIER
COUNCILWOMAN JENN DANIELS
COUNCILMAN LES PRESMYK
COUNCILMAN JOHN SENTZ
COUNCILMAN STEVE URIE

Gilbert, Arizona, March 15, 2010. Approximately six weeks ago, members of the Gilbert Town Council learned that a Town zoning code intended to help neighborhoods with traffic, parking and safety concerns had been interpreted by Town staff to mean that small church groups could not meet in their own homes. The Council immediately asked Town staff to make changes to the code and not enforce the code while changes were being considered.

Unfortunately, without the Town Council’s knowledge, one church group had already been told to stop holding meetings in their home. Last week the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed an appeal for the Oasis of Truth Church located in Gilbert. While Town staff had anticipated presenting to the Town Council proposed zoning changes at the next Town Council meeting (scheduled for March 23), ADF’s appeal reached the media on Friday, March 12, causing concern that Town of Gilbert restricted religious freedom guaranteed in the Constitution.

Gilbert’s Mayor John Lewis said, “It is unfortunate that the Council did not know about information given to the Oasis of Truth Church. Gilbert is known as a family-oriented community and our faith groups are a vital part of our Town. We want to keep it that way.” Lewis continued, “Gilbert has the largest celebration of the Constitution in the United States. During the third week of September, we have an entire week of community activities available to remind us of the important principles of the Constitution.” Vice-Mayor Linda Abbott commented, “This is a community with patriotic citizens who study and defend the Constitution. We understand the importance of maintaining religious freedom.”

Upon learning of the appeal, the Town Council expressed their overwhelming support to expedite changes in the code. Yesterday, Mayor Lewis and Acting Town Manager Collin DeWitt attended the Sunday worship services of the Oasis of Truth Church. DeWitt said, “We had a wonderful experience as we met with the three leaders of the church and their families. We are glad that they selected Gilbert as their home.” Mayor Lewis told church leaders that he will ask Town attorneys to include ADF and the Oasis of Truth Church in the review process this week of the proposed changes that will be presented to the Town Council on March 23. Lewis said, “We welcome their input and suggestions to ensure that church groups are able to meet and enjoy their Constitutional rights. Potentially, we may have a solution to this issue this week.”

The Town of Gilbert has been one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. In spite of the economic downturn, 1,278 single family permits were issued by the Town in 2009. Currently, 221,000 citizens of Gilbert enjoy the clean, safe, and vibrant environment. In 2009, Gilbert was named as the 24th safest city in the United States and safest city in Arizona. Mayor Lewis said, “Our vibrancy is enhanced with our strong faith-based groups. Our partnership with our local ministers and pastors is excellent. Gilbert is considered a religious friendly area. Religious activities occur all over Town and most especially in our homes. The Town Council and our citizens will keep it that way.”

###

Once again Oro Valley is conducting a mail-in election. And once again I will tell you why the concept is fundamentally wrong.

It makes voting easier? Check Iraq or Afghanistan or lots of other places trying to build democratic regimes where they still shoot at you for making the attempt. Voting was pretty damn easy here for quite a while.

My liberal Democrat radio co-host Tom Danehy, who shares my opinion on this subject, reminds us of a news clip from a Philippine election in which an official with a ballot box is being chased by a group of thugs. Not shown is the part where they succeeded and killed him. I witnessed a few years back huge lines in Rocky Point when they were holding something unusual in Mexico – a real election. People wanted to be part of it.

We had it pretty soft. Having to actually leave home and go to a safe polling place isn’t exactly a root canal.

Voting by mail does make it easier – for the election bureaucracy. They prefer to use the money involved to hire a few more permanent employees rather than go through the hassle (for them) of using Election Day temps.

The costs involved are clearly increased in some areas (postage) and decreased in others (poll workers), but that should never be a deciding factor. Ahead of even cops, courts and armies, choosing who’s in charge is the first and most primary duty of government.

At-home voting destroys the secret ballot. Why do you think we have those little booths and curtains? So husbands can’t muscle wives or wives husbands. Mailing out ballots is an invitation to cajole by anyone from the family patriarch and union boss to your mama.

It’s also quite obviously a fraud magnet. Why the same Republicans who are convinced thousands of illegal aliens are voting at the polls are ignoring a system that eliminates their having to go there to do it is beyond me. I recognize that most voting systems are legit, but it doesn’t take much dog barf to ruin an otherwise great burger.

While supposedly being in the best interest of individual voters, the at home ballot can screw them in two ways by returning it too early or returning it too late.

Return it too early and you may learn something that would’ve changed your mind about a candidate or an issue. The elimination of late information was sold as a virtue by advocates of early voting because it would eliminate last-minute smears. It also eliminates last-minute facts. Which is why many folks hold onto their ballot until the last minute.

Only return it too late and it doesn’t count. One stat I have never seen election officials produce is how many ballots get tossed every time for late delivery.

But my greatest complaint is that the entire concept (beyond taking care of the ballots of those physically unable to get to a polling place including those who are out of town) is totally demeaning to the election process.

What advocates are really saying is “we recognize this voting thing is really not important to you. You’re right — it’s no big deal. We want to make it so easy it won’t inconvenience you at all.” Turnout is not increased by telling people voting is not worth much effort.

Election days used to be local and national events. They were part of that Norman Rockwell kind of glue that helped hold the country and its culture together. To eliminate them is to eliminate one more part of what made America a great nation.

This dramatically caught my eye especially since my church, Central Christian Church, strongly encourages its members to conduct small group meetings. Say this isn’t so and that the Town of Gilbert will quickly abandon this policy if it is so. Thank GOD, literally, that we have the Alliance Defense Fund based right here in Arizona!

The city of Gilbert, Ariz., has ordered a group of seven adults to stop gathering for Bible studies in a private home because such meetings are forbidden by the city’s zoning codes.

The issue was brought to a head when city officials wrote a letter to a pastor and his wife informing them they had 10 days to quit having the meetings in their private home.

Pastor Joe Sutherland had been told in a letter from code compliance officer Steve Wallace that the people were not allowed to meet in a home for church activities under the city’s Land Development Code.

(Read the full article at World Net Daily)

Today’s Phoenix Business Journal ran the following article by Mike Sunnucks:

U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Mesa, has been quick throughout his tenure to oppose federal subsidies and special incentives. But the East Valley congressman is keeping mum on state and local proposals within his district to build a new Cactus League ballpark in Mesa for the Chicago Cubs.

The Legislature is considering a plan to impose 8 percent ticket fees on all Cactus League games and $1 Maricopa County rental car tax to help pay for the Cubs stadium. In addition, the city of Mesa will ask its voters to approve bonds and new spending for the $86 million project.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, the Arizona Diamondbacks and other Cactus League teams oppose the ticket fee idea. Instead, Gordon and D-backs officials would like to see special tax districts created around spring training ballparks and in downtown Phoenix to capture and dedicate sales tax revenue toward those areas, and perhaps bond against future expected revenue.

The Cubs have threatened to move to the Grapefruit League in Florida unless a new ballpark is built here by 2013.

Flake is not taking a stance either on the ticket fees or the tax district idea to help pay for a new stadium.

“We’re going to hold off on commenting for now,” said Flake spokesman Matthew Specht.

The city of Mesa is a prime backer of the ticket fee and car rental tax increase to keep the Cubs from moving.

A bill that would impose ticket fees and the car rental tax has been approved by committees in the Arizona House of Representatives. House Bill 2736 is not yet scheduled for a full House vote.

“This is budget week, and the Cactus League bill is on hold for this week,” said House Majority Leader John McComish, R-Ahwatukee.

by Byron Schlomach, Ph.D.
Goldwater Institute
 
Adapt and overcome. This is part of a Marine Corps mantra born of a resource scarcity the service suffered when its equipment consisted mostly of hand-me-downs from the Army. This is exactly the kind of can-do spirit that we need from government officials today.

The Arizona economy has lost more than 300,000 jobs. Tax revenues have plummeted at every level. We cannot afford to continue funding government at its former levels. Unfortunately, officials with the City of Phoenix have demonstrated an unwillingness to adapt to changing circumstances.

Phoenix says it has eliminated 500 positions, but that’s only about 3 percent of the city’s 14,000 employees. Due to attrition, the actual number of layoffs will be less than 50, or around three-tenths of 1 percent. The City Council did eliminate an administrative assistant position that paid $95,000 a year. That’s a start, but it begs the question of how many other high-dollar assistant positions have been preserved. And, it lends credence to the assertion that the average cost of a city employee is $100,000.

Residents of Phoenix were told that the city needed to impose a 2-cent food tax to protect police and fire services from budget reductions. But on a recent episode of Sunday Square Off, Mayor Phil Gordon said he was shifting police officers to other city departments whose budgets were partially funded through federal or state tax money.

So, really, the City Council has made it more expensive for people to put food on the table so that they can protect the city’s $1 million budget for “arts and culture” and the $1 million budget for “government relations,” i.e. lobbyists.

When Mayor Gordon delivers the “State of City” address next Tuesday, he will talk about all the changes going on at City Hall, all the hard choices he’s made. But the truth is, the new tax on groceries and the refusal to realign government to focus on core functions show nothing has changed and the state of the city is disappointing.

Dr. Byron Schlomach is an economist and the director of the Center for Economic Prosperity at the Goldwater Institute.

February 25, 2010

Dear Scottsdale/CD5 Taxpayer:

Three upcoming taxpayer events are listed below. Be sure to check out the picture of our gigantic inflatable ATM machine, which we will deploy in front of Scottsdale City Hall for the rally against the Bed Tax on Tuesday afternoon, March 2:

http://www.americansforprosperity.org/022510-three-big-taxpayer-events-scottsdale

(ATM stands for “Already Taxed to the Max.” The message of our upcoming statewide ATM campaign is that politicians should stop treating taxpayers like an ATM machine whenever they get short on cash.)

If that link doesn’t work for you, just go to www.aztaxpayers.org and scroll down under What’s New until you see the photo.

Event Type: Tea Party Protest
Topic: HONKING for Health Care Freedom
City: Scottsdale
Date: Saturday, February 27
Time: 1:00 to 3:00 pm
Host(s): Scottsdale Tea Party Patriots
Location: Harry Mitchell District Office, Camelback and Scottsdale Road, SE corner.
Ideological Orientation of Host(s): Patriotic/Free-Market/ Conservative/Libertarian/Constitutionalist
Contact/Sign Ideas: Judy Hoelscher, judy@shadowlakes.com
More Info: http://www.meetup.com/Scottsdale-Tea-Party/calendar/12706997/ Keep calling Congressman Mitchell! His Scottsdale number is 480-946-2411. DC number: 202-225-2190.

Here is a video from our last Honking event, in Flagstaff:
http://www.americansforprosperity.org/021710-video-honking-health-care-freedom-flagstaff

Event Type: Rally Against the Prop 200 Bed Tax
City: Scottsdale
Date: Tuesday, March 2
Time: 4:30 to 5:30 pm
Host(s): AFP Arizona, Scottsdale Tea Party Patriots, Stop the Tax – NO on 200
Ideological Orientation of Host(s): Patriotic/Free-Market/ Conservative/Libertarian/Constitutionalist
More info on the Bed Tax: http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/article/4423
Media Inquiries: Ryan O’Daniel, (480) 941-0781, Tom Jenney, (602) 478-0146
Protest Info: Among other fun things, AFP Arizona will deploy its giant ATM machine, to make the point that the people of Scottsdale are Already Taxed to the Max. We are encouraging the people of Scottsdale to vote NO on the Prop 200 Bed Tax.

Event Type: Tea Party Meeting
Topic(s): Defending American Freedom
City: Scottsdale
Date: Tuesday, March 2
Time: 5:15 to 7:30 pm
Host(s): Scottsdale Tea Party Patriots
Location: Arabian Trail Library, 10187 E. McDowell Mountain Ranch Road, 85255
Ideological Orientation of Host(s): Patriotic/Free-Market/ Conservative/Libertarian/Constitutionalist
Contact: Honey Marques, h.marquesz@cox.net, (808) 283-3661
More Info: http://www.meetup.com/Scottsdale-Tea-Party/calendar/12374001
More statewide taxpayer events are posted at www.aztaxpayers.org. Scroll down to the top items under What’s New.

For Liberty,

–Tom
Tom Jenney
Arizona Director
Americans for Prosperity
(Arizona Federation of Taxpayers)
www.aztaxpayers.org
tjenney@afphq.org
(602) 478-0146

by Byron Schlomach Ph.D.
Goldwater Institute
 
Today, the Arizona Senate Committee on Appropriations will consider an important measure from Senator Jonathon Paton which would require all levels of government (including cities, towns, counties, school districts) to disclose in detail how they spend taxpayer money. It would also require the state to maintain a website where anyone could get quick access to information on every government in Arizona that has the power to levy taxes on them. Those governments would post details on a website about every expenditure and tax revenue collected, like an online checkbook register for city hall or the county courthouse.

This bill also would require government agencies and departments to establish performance benchmarks and list them for the public to review. Accurate crime statistics and details about county prosecutions would have to be reported as well.

For little cost, information about government operations can be made available 24 hours a day to people researching on their home computers or even on their cell phones. Most local governments have websites now, but the information they post often is so general that it doesn’t provide any real insight into how it conducts the people’s business.

The primary objection to these websites is that they will be costly to create and maintain. But experience proves otherwise. State Treasurer Dean Martin launched a transparency website in the midst of budget cuts, and states like Virginia, South Carolina, Kansas and Texas put spending information online using only existing resources. Nebraska created its spending transparency website, which does much of what this bill would require, for only $40,000. Some software companies, like ProcureNetworks, are even offering software to government agencies for free.

I have a question for those who use cost as a reason to oppose spending transparency: considering the recent declines in government revenue, how can we afford not to engage citizens more comprehensively in determining spending priorities and hunting down new efficiencies?

Taxpayers who foot government’s bills deserve the widest possible access to information on how their money is spent. Perhaps then Thomas Jefferson’s vision will be fully realized.

Dr. Byron Schlomach is an economist and the director of the Center for Economic Prosperity at the Goldwater Institute.