Senate President Bob Burns (left, sitting down) and Gov. Jan Brewer might need some mediation after his harsh words last week about Brewer's budget vetoes and a special session today (Photos by Capitol Media Services).
When state lawmakers gather at 1 p.m. today to again deal with budget woes, a new set of clouds will darken the proceedings after the top two legislative leaders lashed out at Gov. Jan Brewer for her vetoes last week, which included striking down all funding for public education just to make sure Brewer has the Legislature’s attention.
Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria, was particularly caustic. As Capitol Media Services reported, Burns essentially called Brewer incompetent and accused her of a “strong-arm tactic to take control of the legislative process.”
Several Capitol insiders noted Burns was angry, in part, because he had to cancel a long-anticipated trip to Europe that was supposed to start over the July 4th holiday. His language was so strong that it prompted a direct, public response from Brewer, in which she said she won’t take his comments personally. Nice words, but it’s going to be a while before these two become political friends once more.
House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, didn’t go quite as far as Burns. But he did call the vetoes “irresponsible and reckless.” That’s not something a leader says in public and then expects to quickly resolve the source of the conflict.
What has to be galling for Burns and Adams is they find themselves trapped in the same position as their predecessors while Janet Napolitano was governor. Not that Brewer is much closer to Napolitano’s political ideology than previously suspected. But Brewer is demonstrating that many of the budget conflicts between Napolitano and lawmakers arose from the tension between the executive and legislative branches instead of naked partisanship.
In the end, Burns and Adams counted on Brewer’s loyalty to her fellow Republicans to accept she had received all they were willing to approve. But Adams and Burns ignored the long independence streak of Arizona governors who consistently have been willing to stand up to their own party, when they believed it would in the best interest of the state (and their own political careers).
Now, unless some Republican lawmakers changed their minds over the weekend about a temporary sales tax increase, Brewer is going to look for help from Democrats to get a final budget done. The governor’s challenge is putting together a strong enough coalition that can move a new budget package through the legislative process that Burns and Adams still firmly control.
Twitter
Both Burns and Adams seem not to favor public education much and both seem to love the voucher system that was ruled illegal in Arizona. Is there some sort of reasoning? I know that Burns use to own the Rainbow Elementary Prep School, but what about Adams? Do, or in Burns case, did their children go to public school? Interested to know if this is a personal vendetta or just party politics as usual.