Archive for the 'Arizona Legislature' Category
October 5th, 2009, 5:06 pm by Le Templar
 Jason Rose (right) is the public relations specialist/political strategist who is in charge of attracting public attention to the likely campaign for governor of Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker (left). Now that Republican Vernon Parker is in the race for governor (almost), we in the media received today the first of what could be daily missives from his press agent, Scottsdale political provocateur Jason Rose. Typically, a candidate or business hires Rose’s PR firm to make a big public splash and then to keep the spotlight burning, as Rose and Co. specialize in attention-grabbing headlines and other tactics almost guaranteed to generate publicity — even though some of it makes the intended audience go “what the heck?” or “Ewwww!”
But what Rose is really good at is framing talking points and campaign slogans with instant emotional appeal that might, or might not, stand up to critical examination.
Today’s news release is an example of this. Parker (via Rose) wants to tap into widespread Republican opposition to Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposed temporary sales tax increase. Parker’s statement says Brewer wants to raise this tax before even reducing her own staff:
“Many Arizonans are suffering. Many state agencies are cutting. The Governor’s Office should do the same. I will,” Parker said. “Should I be fortunate enough to be elected Governor I would make these necessary cuts on Day One.”
Parker goes on to say, as Paradise Valley mayor, he has cut the town’s spending by 25 percent and the budget for mayor and Town Council by 54 percent. What Parker doesn’t mention is any reference to what those cuts were or how they might translate to the governor’s office. It’s important to note that the Paradise Valley mayor and council combined spent $83,108 last year and will spend $50,175 this year, a far cry from the $7.6 million set aside for the governor’s office this year.
Also, Parker’s math is a little fuzzy. Paradise Valley’s tax revenues are projected to be down by 25 percent from when Parker became mayor in June 2008 ($21.9 million to $16.3 million). But town operations will spend 16.4 percent less ($19.5 million to $16.3 million). The spending-to-revenue gap of nearly 9 percent will be filled with cash-on-hand saved from past tax collections. A similar savings account for the state was drained dry in January.
Parker also doesn’t mention a single position in the governor’s office that he would eliminate or any specific cost savings he would pursue.
Oddly enough, Parker (via Rose) could have made a stronger statement simply by highlighting the budget numbers for the governor’s office, which have risen by nearly $210,000 from last year as explained by the Legislature’s official budget summary. This stands in contrast with the state agencies that Brewer oversees, which have undergone at least three rounds of budget reductions and have been asked to prepare for another 15 to 20 percent in cuts mid-year. Parker’s news release includes a web link to the governor’s office budget, but fails to note the increase in spending.
UPDATE: Brewer’s press secretary, Paul Senseman, told me by email Wednesday morning that the governor’s office needed additional staffing so far this year to comply with tracking and auditing requirements for use of federal stimulus funds. But Senseman added Brewer plans to include mid-year cuts to her office when she sends new budget proposals to the Legislature in the near future.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Election issues • Governor • Jan Brewer • Jason Rose • Vernon Parker | 2 Comments »
September 29th, 2009, 10:10 am by Le Templar
Everyone in Arizona knows the state faces an immediate operating budget deficit of nearly $1 billion, and a long-range or “structural” deficit of $3 billion to $4 billion. The situation is so dire that Gov. Jan Brewer has asked state agencies to deliver proposals for scaling back by yet another 15 to 20 percent in mid-year spending cuts. So what should those state agencies be considering in proposals for the next budget year, which are due in the governor’s office by Thursday?
The Arizona Board of Regents has decided to demand more money, a lot more money, as in a 46 percent increase.
At the Board of Regents monthly meeting last week (held in Flagstaff), there was widespread frustration with the state budget situation and how it is affecting the state’s three public universities. The university presidents point out the state hasn’t raised funding to match the record growth in student enrollment, and hasn’t provided enough cash for building construction or major maintenance.
The Board of Regents’ staff had prepared an agenda item that offered to raise state university funding from $1.04 billion to $1.36 billion*, or a 15 percent increase. That alone seems rather lofty.
But a few regents asked the three presidents to hastily come up with a new proposal that reflects the “true cost” of public university education. Arizona State University President Michael Crow clearly was eager to do so. He boldly accused state lawmakers of violating the state constitution because they haven’t raised taxes to give his school more money, as you can see in the video below from the regents’ meeting:
The new budget proposal would raise state funding for universities to $1.459 billion or a $459.1 million increase. For about 30 minutes, the regents debated whether to send both budget choices to the governor’s office, or just the massively more expensive option, as board President Ernest Calderon explained:
The board deadlocked at 5-5 on the motion that would have sent both budget choices to Brewer and lawmakers. Then, the board voted 7-3 to submit the 46 percent increase.
If you watch the whole video, you will see that regent Fred Boice of Tucson is the only person who injects any sort of common sense:
“I think, consciously or subconsciously, we have taken a step into a different world. And that for us to go to (lawmakers) and hand them a bill for $(459) million, knowing full well they can’t balance their current budget, that is a bit inappropriate.”
It’s too bad Boice’s comments came after the last vote.
Most of the discussion on the video suggests the regents are taking a brave, new stance in defense of university education. But, in fact, the universities and board regents have a recent track record of being completely unrealistic in budget matters.
In the spring of 2008, the universities convinced then-Gov. Janet Napolitano to push for $1.4 billion in new building construction, even though the details of the state’s budget woes already were starting to emerge. The universities’ pitch was the construction would be a state economic stimulus, as if that somehow would be popular in this politically conservative state.
The Legislature reluctantly went along with last year’s request, and then delayed the funding because of the growing budget problems.* This year’s proposal will be laughed right out the door.
But this is no laughing matter. Pushing for a showdown with such absurd budget numbers will seriously damage the Board of Regents’ credibility with lawmakers, while creating false hope among the thousands of university employees who are far more likely to be laid off in the coming months.
*NOTE: This post has been updated to reflect the fact that the Legislature approved a version of last year’s university construction stimulus plan, formally known as SPEED. The original post incorrectly said the Legislature rejected it. As updated, the post explains the plan was later delayed because of budget issues. Also, a decimal error in one of the proposed budget numbers has been corrected.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona State University • Arizona government • Governor • Arizona Board of Regents • Ernest Calderon • Jan Brewer • Michael Crow • state budget | 2 Comments »
September 16th, 2009, 1:20 pm by Le Templar
The Arizona critics seem to agree. Not even professional comedic writers/fake reporters such as The Daily Show’s Jason Jones can be funny when it comes to the enormous deficits plaguing the state budget. The Tucson Weekly, the Arizona Guardian, and everyday viewers all shared my view that last night’s segment about selling the legislative buildings to raise cash was not The Daily Show’s best work.
Jones’ tact was to act as an investor exploring the potential (and down sides) of being the Legislature’s new landlord. He was hampered by the fact that only legislative Democrats would agree to take part, when we all know it was the Republicans who were behind this plan. Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, filled in and tried defend the idea, but clearly she didn’t believe in what she was saying. I did like the scene where Jones scrolled “unannounced” into the House office of Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, climbed on her desk and pushed up a ceiling tile to inspect the dark shadows above.
You can check out the segment for yourself below:
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Jason Jones • Kyrsten Sinema • Linda Lopez • state budget • The Daily Show | 1 Comment »
September 15th, 2009, 3:25 pm by Le Templar
 Jason Jones, correspondent for the Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," taped a piece Aug. 12 at the Arizona state Capitol (Capitol Media Services photo by Howard Fischer). “The Daily Show” will finally get around to airing tonight a “news story” about Arizona’s plans to balance its budget by selling off state-owned buildings such as the offices in the state Senate and House (and then leasing them back for state use). Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones sparked a buzz while he was here in mid-August to film his report. Steve Albani, a spokesman for The Daily Show, confirmed Jones’ piece will be featured at 11 p.m. on the show’s second episode after a three-week summer vacation.
If you can’t watch tonight, Albani said the episode will be repeated a couple of times tomorrow on Comedy Central, and individual segments will be available for online viewing as well.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Comedy Central • Jason Jones • state budget • The Daily Show | Post a Comment »
September 10th, 2009, 4:28 pm by Le Templar
 Sandra O'Connor/Capitol Media Services Now that’s she retired from the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor is starting to relive the days when she was one of Arizona’s top politicians.
O’Connor has started the “O’Connor House Project,” in which she will use the relocated house from she lived in Paradise Valley as a place to talk about public policies ideas. And now she has launched a kitchen think tank made up of dozens of the state’s most powerful and influential people to work on updating the structure of state government. O’Connor held a news conference today to unveil the first set of proposals that her unofficial coalition would like to have adopted by the time the state centennial arrives.
None of the biggest ideas that would require constitutional amendments are really new. Proposals to have an elected lieutenant government have been around since the early 1990s; state voters actually rejected the office in 1994. Gov. Jan Brewer lobbied the Legislature for several years to ask voters again when she was secretary of state. The Tribune Editorial Board has been among a variety of voices suggesting some elected offices — such as state mine inspector — should be eliminated in favor of appointed positions. And many Republican lawmakers desperately want to do away with the 1998 Voter Protection Act, or least to modify it to ease the handcuffs placed by voter-approved initiatives.
But O’Connor can galvanize new attention to these proposals. And she can use her rare status as a living political legend to motivate disparate political forces to work together. Capitol Media Service notes in today’s story that legislative leaders from both parties are part of O’Connor’s kitchen think tank. That makes it more likely such proposals could move through the Legislature in time for the 2010 or 2012 general elections.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Arizona secretary of state • Governor • Jan Brewer • Sandra O'Connor • state mining inspector | 1 Comment »
September 8th, 2009, 5:53 pm by Le Templar
Arizona lawmakers and state officials often talk about a constitutional requirement to adopt a balanced budget. That simple statement can be somewhat misleading, because there’s no way to really know if a budget is balanced under the state’s accounting system until the fiscal year is over and there’s a final tally of revenues and expenses.
The state constitution even anticipates a situation in which unpredicted expenses push the state budget out of balance when those tallies come in. Article 9, Section 4 authorizes the Legislature to imposes taxes that cover such potential deficits and also will balance the budget for the next year as well.
A new report from staff for the Joint Legislative Budget Committee makes it clear that the state now is in violation of that provision, and likely a second mandate in Article 9, Section 5, which limits state debt.
The report was prepared in response to Gov. Jan Brewer’s final actions on the 2009-10 budget last week, which included vetoes that bring back a statewide property tax and that restore funding for K-12 education and the Department of Economic Security. In essence, the JBLC report says a 2009-10 budget that was balanced when adopted by the Legislature now is predicted to have $464 million in deficit spending because of Brewer’s vetoes. The Legislature still could act on that problem before June 30 and wipe out the pending deficit.
But the JLBC report also notes that the last fiscal year concluded with a $500 million deficit, despite earlier rounds of funding cuts and other maneuvers. The current budget has no provisions to address that deficit, which also qualifies as debt because the money has been committed and is owed to someone.
Brewer could fix last year’s deficit on her own by directing federal stimulus money to cover it. But that would reduce even further the amount of federal money available in case this year’s budget stays in the red. Don’t even ask about the potential deficits for the next budget on the horizon.
Arizona’s courts have basically ignored the state debt limit for years — allowing state and local governments to enter various borrowing schemes including the sale of bonds and lease-to-purchase of state buildings. My guess is the judges also would treat the ongoing budget deficit as a political problem that can’t be solved with a court ruling.
But it’s still interesting to note that Arizona lawmakers still haven’t accomplished their one official task under the constitution.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Congress • Election issues • Governor • Presidential campaign • Arizona Constitution • Jan Brewer • Joint Legislative Budget Committee • state budget | 1 Comment »
September 4th, 2009, 6:17 pm by Le Templar
Gov. Jan Brewer blamed “extremists” from both political parties to justify her budget actions today which included vetoing a bill that would have permanently repealed the state property tax and also included line-item vetoes of budget cuts to K-12 education and the Department of Economic Security.
On the Republican side, Brewer’s insult was primarily aimed at Sens. Pamela Gorman of Anthem, Ron Gould of Lake Havasu City, and Carolyn Allen of Scottsdale, lawmakers who refused to support the governor’s proposed sales tax election even when it was linked to bigger cuts in personal and corporate income taxes a few years later.
But on the Democratic side, Brewer was referring to … well, all of them. Not a single Democratic lawmaker ever broke ranks over the past nine months to vote for the temporary sales tax proposal. That’s 12 Senate Democrats and 25 House Democrats that the governor has labeled as so far out of the mainstream that they don’t reflect any significant collection of interests in Arizona.
In blaming the Democrats, the governor was trying to provide herself some cover in rejecting the property tax repeal, which had been the highest priority of most Republican lawmakers. But Republicans aren’t going to buy her excuses for a minute when Democrats can make statements like this:
“We are adamant in our resistance to giving massive tax cuts to special interests and big business at the expense of public education, and the actions taken by the governor indicate that she feels the same way. So why are we sitting here today with the governor trying to blame us is lost on me,” said Rep. Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix.
“What we are proposing is consistent with what she wants. Where she is receiving resistance is from Republicans in Legislature,” said House Democratic Floor Leader David Lujan.
House Speaker Kirk Adams and Senate President Bob Burns sought to remain diplomatic and measured in their disappointment to vetoes that not only wiped out the property tax repeal, but created a state budget that’s at least $350 million in the red. But House Appropriations Committee chairman John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said the anger among Republicans would be swift and deep once they understood the full consequences of Brewer’s vetoes.
Kavanagh predicted there’s little chance the Republican majority will support yet another special session before Sept. 30, as Brewer has requested. The bill with the property tax repeal also included other changes to fees and policies for 12 smaller state agencies to help balance the budget. Brewer’s veto will leave the 12 agencies desperately short on cash in the coming months unless the Legislature acts again.
“I can’t conceive of a way that a “clean-up” bill is approved unless it has an amendment to repeal the (property) tax,” Kavanagh said.
Brewer clearly believes she did the right thing for the people of Arizona. But the budget crisis is far from over, and she might find herself running out of allies whenever the Legislature does take the issue up again.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Governor • Bob Burns • burning bridges • Chad Campbell • David Lujan • Jan Brewer • John Kavangh • Kirk Adams • state budget | 6 Comments »
September 1st, 2009, 3:55 pm by Le Templar
 Source: colliersheriff.org Expect new momentum to be injected into efforts in Arizona and nationwide to add new laws to stop texting while driving, after the national association of state highway safety officials reversed itself and endorsed specific bans on Monday.
It’s routinely repeated that texting while driving isn’t illegal in Arizona, but that’s simply not true. In general, Arizona makes any type of reckless driving a misdemeanor crime with a possible sentence of up to four months in jail. Given the growing evidence about just how dangerous texting while driving is, that practice should qualify as the very definition of reckless driving.
Many proponents of a specific ban argue the spreading prevalence of texting while driving requires more action. But Arizona’s largest city has banned texting while driving since 2007, and hands out few tickets for it.
The reality is police are unlikely to pursue a texting while driving case unless it’s connected to a serious accident or blatantly bad driving (nearly causing an accident), because of the time often involved in obtaining the offending cell phone and confirming that a text message was sent.
The first, best step to address problems with texting while driving is the ongoing education effort thatshould make everyone aware that’s not the same thing as drinking a mug of coffee or grabbing a French fry out of the take-out bag. Once our society shares this common understanding, consistent enforcement of the reckless driving law might be enough to the deal with most of the remaining scofflaws.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Alberto Gutier • driving while intoxicated | 1 Comment »
August 31st, 2009, 4:54 pm by Le Templar
A statewide telephone poll of likely Arizona voters shows a temporary 1-cent sales tax to help shore up the state budget would have a good chance of passing. But those same voters wouldn’t elect Gov. Jan Brewer to a full term if the 2010 general election were held today.
The poll was commissioned by Mesa real estate magnet Wil Cardon, apparently in a bid to boost Cardon’s own potential candidacy for governor or some other statewide office. (In a news release, Scottsdale political strategist Jason Rose floats state treasurer or chairman of the Arizona Republican Party as other possibilities).
The poll surveyed 602 voters who had cast ballots in the past two statewide primary or general elections. Campaign strategists consider this type of sampling to be more reliable than other polls that sample all Arizonans or all registered voters. You can see the full results here, but I’ll pull out a few highlights:
* Voters narrowly favored passage of the temporary sales tax increase at 49 percent in favor and 43 percent against. That’s within the poll’s margin of error of 4 percent. But toss in the fact that these voters identified funding for K-12 education and resolving state budget as two of the state’s three top pressing concerns, and you can see that a sales tax definitely could pass. Only a handful of those survey were concerned about tax reductions, which has been a top priority for Republicans who control the Legislature.
* Brewer’s political fortunes would seem closely tied to that sales tax proposal. But this sampling of voters found much unhappiness with the governor’s performance. Only 18 percent said they would vote for her in 2010 and 45 percent said they are likely to vote for someone else.
* Who might that someone else be? Well, the poll also asked respondents to consider the potential challengers by job title or political experience (no names were used). “A successful businessman with a young family” got the most picks at 42 percent, which is exactly the description that Cardon would use in a statewide campaign. The next closest were “a former state senate president and secretary of state” (Ken Bennett) at 27 percent, and “an incumbent Attorney General” (Terry Goddard) at 12 percent.
* The poll also found strong support for a flat income tax (although the wording of the question appears slanted to support that proposal’s most favorable arguments) and expanding term limits to require politicians to sit out for two years before they could run for a new office. But the poll respondents were opposed to stripping lawmakers of the pay ($24,000 a year plus expenses) or to going to one legislative session every two years as the Texas Legislature does.
Coming this weekend: Read Austin Hill’s interview with Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker, who is also considering a run for governor as a Republican in 2010. In the Tribune Opinion section.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Arizona secretary of state • Congress • Election issues • Governor • Presidential campaign • Jan Brewer • Jason Rose • state budget • Summit Group • Vernon Parker • Wil Cardon | 1 Comment »
August 25th, 2009, 1:23 pm by Le Templar
The Arizona Legislature is moving to end the budget special session by adjourning sine die, which will have the net effect of granting Gov. Jan Brewer more time to decide what to do with most of the budget bills sent to her last week (she signed one bill dealing with the state parks and the state land department).
Under the state constitution, Brewer had five days to sign or veto the bills while the Legislature was in session — or they automatically became law. Her deadline is Wednesday. But a quirk in constitutional language means that once the Legislature ends the special session, Brewer will have another 10 days.
If Brewer decides to veto anything or reaches a new deal with lawmakers, she can call the Legislature back into another special session almost immediately.
UPDATE: House Democrats are calling today’s end of the special session are “sign of hope.” From a news release:
“We are hopeful that Gov. Brewer and our Republican colleagues will continue to work in a bipartisan way with Democrats so we can solve this budget together,” said House Democratic Leader David Lujan. “Bipartisanship is necessary to pave a road toward economic recovery and prosperity for the future of education and middle-class families in Arizona.”
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Congress • Election issues • Governor • Presidential campaign • Jan Brewer | Post a Comment »
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