Incoming Arizona Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria, and Rep. Steve Yarbrough, R-Chandler, talked publicly Tuesday about a painful political subject that has been obvious to budget watchers for months — the state will have to cut K-12 education funding to deal with billion-dollar deficit woes.

K-12 education is the state’s single largest expenditure out of the $10 billion General Fund. At $4.25 billion, K-12 education takes up nearly 43 percent of everything spent from state taxes and is twice as much as the next highest expenditure, the state’s portion of Medicaid health insurance.

Wipe out the “rainy day” fund, crank up agency fees and pull all of the accounting gimmicks you want. The scope of the Arizona’s deficit problems are so big — $1 billion last year, $1.2 billion this year, more than $2.2 billion next year — there’s no way to stop the red ink while declaring K-12 education untouchable. (Unless you are talking about tax increases, but you’re going to talking to yourself because no one else will be listening.)

But K-12 education largely avoided any budget cuts earlier this year because of a lingering public perception that Arizona leaders didn’t commit enough resources in the past, a political backlight that Gov. Janet Napolitano used to great advantage to protect such funding. There’s also the sales tax for education approved by voters in 2000. One provision of that law says the state must increase basic state aid to school districts by 2 percent each year. Technically, the law says the increase must be applied to basic state aid OR transportation funding (a far smaller cost). But Napolitano and the education establishment have successfully argued the Legislature would face a backlash hurricane if it adopted a narrower interpretation that says basic state aid can be slashed.

However, a new budget summary from the Joint Legislative Budget Committee says at least $2.2 billion in K-12 education funding isn’t protected in any way by that 2000 law, if you include the property taxes collected by local school districts. Unless someone gives a compelling legal argument otherwise, that would give state lawmakers quite a bit of discretion to temporarily roll back education spending.

Napolitano would fight such cuts to the bitter end. But everyone expects her to be going to Washington soon, and Secretary of State Jan Brewer to move into the governor’s office. So Brewer’s fellow Republican leaders can talk more openly about what they believe inevitably has to happen to meet their constitutional mandate to balance the state budget.

                      DEAN MARTIN

How often does a government official who’s being sued immediately agree with the plaintiffs and ask a judge to revoke a policy? I can’t think of a recent example. But State Treasurer Dean Martin says he’s doing just that in a lawsuit filed by the Arizona League of Cities and Towns to stop a provision of the current state budget that requires municipalities to pony up a total of $30 million. This odd demand was among several ways to increase revenues to the state without raising general taxes sought by Gov. Janet Napolitano and endorsed by the Legislature. Other examples include allowing state agencies to increase their licensing and public access fees, even in the midst of a likely recession, to replace funds cut elsewhere in the budget.

Napolitano and legislative budget negotiators used some strange fundraising methods to bypass what’s called Proposition 108, a voter-approved constitutional amendment that generally requires any attempt by the Legislature to bring in more money to pass by a two-thirds majority. Too many Republicans opposed Napolitano’s approach to hope for such support in this budget.

The League of Cities and Towns claims Prop. 108 still applies, and so the budget’s demand for $30 million is unconstitutional. The lawsuit was filed against Napolitano as head of the executive branch (which generally carries out state laws) and Martin as treasurer because his office would physically receive the cash for deposit. Martin’s involvement is almost perfunctory. But this politically ambitious Republican has been given an opportunity to put more pressure on Napolitano, a Democrat who might soon leave Arizona to be secretary of Homeland Security in President-elect Barack Obama’s administration.

Along with his opposition to sending the cities a bill to help balance the state budget, Martin wrote a letter telling his lawyer to seek court intervention on those other fundraising methods as well.

Depending on how quickly the Arizona courts act, Martin’s move could affect a upcoming special session to again address a budget that’s still not balanced.

On Friday, I wrote about attending the annual fundraiser luncheon that benefits the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. This weekend Tribune writer Ryan Gabrielson provided a short question-and-answer piece with the luncheon’s two main honorees, Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil from PBS. Their thoughts are revealing and succinctly sum up their speeches at the Cronkite luncheon. I only wish Ryan could have provided us with more!

WALTER CRONKITE

The luncheon has been so successful over the years because of Cronkite’s personal involvement, which has helped ASU to convince the biggest names in American journalism to make the trip to Phoenix (usually from New York or Washington), accept an award and offer some inspiring thoughts. This year, the stars were Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil of PBS, and both men went to great lengths to emphasize what a special honor they were receiving.

“For people like us in television broadcasting, to be named among the best by Walter Cronkite is as good as it gets,” Lehrer said.

In Cronkite’s absence, ASU President Michael Crow took on a more prominent role in the proceedings. Crow staunchly defended his decision to invest heavily in upgrading the Cronkite School — highlighted by the new 250,000 sq. ft. headquarters. He repeated the statements of American founders who argued democracy can flourish only when the public has been properly informed by a free press committed to pursuit of the truth and to holding government accountable.

“We’re not crazy,” Crow said. “We’re dead serious, we’re dead serious, that the future of a free society, that the future of what we stand for, depends on the education of (journalism students) …”

ARIZONA GOV. JANET NAPOLITANO (left) AND JAN BREWER, THE NEXT CHIEF OF STATE? (Capitol Media Services file photo)

The national media are acting like they are engaged in a massive competition to get the first news scoop on specific, top-level appointments to the incoming Barack Obama administration. But have you noticed the remarkable regularity in which these stories are coming to light? One person or office each day, with one media outlet posting the news first and then most of the other print and broadcasters quickly confirming the rumor with two or more anonymous sources.

My guess is the Obama team is deliberating leaking names and positions on a set schedule. Each potential appointment gets around 24 hours of focused news attention, providing an opportunity for key lawmakers, Washington insiders and the public at large to react to the choice without Obama publicly putting his credibility on the line. If some problem with the potential nominee’s background emerges that the transition team didn’t uncover, another person’s name will suddenly pop up and the previous candidate will be dismissed as unfounded speculation by the media.

Pretty clever, actually, if you think about it.

Granted, Wednesday night’s news that Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is the leading contender to be secretary of Homeland Security came out only several hours after former Sen. Tom Daschle was “rumored” to be the choice for Health and Human Services. But that could be easily explained as a slip up in timing, with the Obama transition team intending for the public to learn about Napolitano this morning.

Let’s see if this pattern continues for the next few days, shall we?

The incoming state Senate President, Bob Burns, announced his list of new committees and their chairmen for next year in a news release today. See the complete list below. The most obvious change was Burns’ own replacement as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Sen.-elect Russell Pearce, R-Mesa. Pearce was in charge of budget appropriations during most of his time in the House, and his experience will be invaluable to Burns as Legislature deals with the on-going budget crisis.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is Sen. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler, taking charge of education issues, as he will chair a committee called education accountability and reform. The title implies that Huppenthal will again take up the cause of school choice and other Republican reform issues. With his background in research and data analysis, I expect Huppenthal to stand toe-to-toe with highly educated school district superintendents and their lobbyists.

Since two education committees will be combined into one, Sen. Linda Gray, R-Phoenix, will become chairwoman of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee.

Here’s the complete list.

            REP. HARRY MITCHELL

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., has announced that her colleague, Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Tempe, was one of six House members added today to the Blue Dog Coalition. This issue-oriented congressional caucus (or voting bloc) is centered around Democrats who want their party to shed the image of “tax-and-spend,” and adopt conservative fiscal policies that includes lowering key taxes and balancing the budget as soon as possible. The coalition also serves as a sanctuary for Democrats who are pro-life or strong gun rights advocates, in conflict with the official party platform.

Membership in the coalition is restricted and considered desireable because Republicans have a hard time labeling such Democrats as “liberal.” Washington political observers were surprised when Giffords was added to the coalition after the 2004 election but Mitchell wasn’t.

Apparently, with a larger Democratic majority next year, the coalition decided to grow as well and Mitchell made the cut this time.

Newsweek is reporting that Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is not President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to be the next attorney general. Instead, Obama wants to nominate Eric Holder, who once held the No. 2 position in the U.S. Justice Department. Assuming Newsweek is right, that’s not a done deal as Obama’s transitition team is shopping Holder’s name among senators who would have to confirm the nomination.

Attorney General seemed to be the most obvious route for Napolitano to join the Obama administration, given her legal background which included eight years as the U.S. Attorney for Arizona and state attorney general. But Napolitano also has been mentioned as a potential candidate for other Cabinet posts such as Homeland Security and even Education.

        SEN. JOHN HUPPENTHAL

The Scottsdale city prosecutor’s office has an interesting dilemma in the case of Sen. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler, 78-year-old Democratic volunteer Ruth Levin and the campaign sign removed on election day.

Republican activists believe precedents have been set that would relieve Huppenthal of any wrongdoing. They include the not-guilty verdict for then-state Sen. (and now congressman) Harry Mitchell after he admitted taking signs put up by his election opponent in 2000, and a recent decision by the Tempe city prosecutor’s office not to press charges against a student at Arizona State University for taking down signs that had painted some Democratic lawmakers in a bad light.

But Democrat activists believe there are clear differences in Huppenthal’s case. First, Huppenthal is an elected official and should be held to higher standards than a young, misguided volunteer. Secondly, unlike the Mitchell case, the sign that Huppenthal removed clearly was election-related and thus protected by state law. Third, Levin claims she got into some kind of shoving match with Huppenthal, which raises the potential of a misdemeanor assault charge along with stealing a campaign sign.

On the other hand, Huppenthal says he had permission from the property manager to remove the sign and he never touched Levin. Perhaps Huppenthal’s best answer would be to hire former state Attorney General Grant Woods as his attorney. Woods caught the Mesa city prosecutor’s office completely unprepared in the Mitchell trial before a justice of the peace. It’d be interesting to see how the veteran trial lawyer handled what’s basically a “he said, she said” case.

If you want to gauge Levin’s credibility as a potential witness against Huppenthal, watch her interview with the Tribune on the video below.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano keeps a close eye on the “river” during a friendly game of poker on Veterans Day 2008 at the Arizona State Veterans Home. (Photo by Capitol Media Services)

The future of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano remains quite as a mystery, as President-elect Barack Obama hasn’t announced any Cabinet-level appointments yet. Numerous media reports say Napolitano is a leading contender for attorney general or homeland security. But some Arizona Democrats are openly saying Napolitano could turn down any offers to join the Obama administration, to avoid elevating Secretary of State Jan Brewer to the governor’s office.

Even if Napolitano doesn’t leave Phoenix for Washington, she has firmly established herself as a national-level politician that bodes well for her future. Her successful efforts since 2003 to get noticed by both print and television news operations meant recent profiles by the New York Times and Washington Post carry a tone that Napolitano already is a known quantity. And then there was that parody of Napolitano on Saturday Night Live last weekend. (Sorry, no video link as of this post, as SNL didn’t rush to put a link on its Web site and NBC already has filed copyright challenges at YouTube to other clips from the show). When Hollywood comedy writers pick out someone new to mock, that person has arrived in some fashion.

UPDATE: Azfamily.com has embedded the key part of the SNL video as part of a news story from KTVK-TV (Channel 3). Hat tip to Eye on the Ninth Floor.