Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Sen. Gorman: They say never to pick a fight with anyone who buys ink by the barrel


by Sen. Pamela Gorman
Originally posted on The Copper Dome, Monday, October 26, 2009

A recent article in The Arizona Daily Star makes an outlandish statement that I simply cannot let go unanswered. In the editorial headlined “Hiding under the bed won't fix the budget” (Oct 26, 2009), [which, if you look at the fine print, is actually from a blogger from the former Tucson Citizen whose title is “Chicken Legislature needs to call special session and solve budget deficit”

If this was a letter from a reader, I could understand the lack of insider understanding or the misunderstanding of the process and the obvious ability to see budget votes online that disprove this statement. But, for this article to come from their journalistic staff? Smells of political activism by a newspaper employee with a specific agenda, to me.

The facts are what they are… The current legislature spent an entire session plus a 2 month long special session wrestling with balancing an unprecedented shortfall, largely created by former Governor Napolitano’s strong arm tactics and all-too-eager minority party members who were able to line up a handful of Republican legislators to help them pass their bloated irresponsible budgets. This legislature not only “wanted to do something about it” but they DID do something about it. The problem is that not a single democrat would agree to any of the necessary cuts. Yes, that is right. Not ONE democrat. Add to this the Governor’s repeat use of the veto power to do away with any cuts that would have helped Arizona go forward with a spending level that more closely resembles the revenues, and you will have a much more accurate view of the budget process and the inevitable unbalanced budget.

The legislature (or to be more accurate, the Republican majority) worked tirelessly to balance the budget and took a courageous move in bringing spending back to levels they should have been before Napolitano’s Democrat-enabled spending spree for the last six years. The votes are there to prove it. Not one budget fix, but several, were passed by the legislature in the last session and special session that followed. The record also shows that the budget went imbalanced when Governor Brewer vetoed several cuts to spending. Her office claims that she did this because she didn't get the legislature to approve her tax increase proposal. But that translates to this screwy logic: Since you didn't give me more revenue to balance the budget, I am going to increase spending. What?! No one called her on it. They just shrugged and said, "Well, she DID feel very strongly about winning the tax increase policy. Guess we could have expected her to veto part of the budget deal she previously agreed to." What? Really?! (more on this in a later post).

So, while I recognize it is an easy poke to accuse the legislature of “hiding under the bed” in a liberal publication like the Arizona Daily Star (affectionately called the “Red Star” by insiders), it is journalistic laziness. I expect you all to fight for a tax increase, vs. cutting bloated government programs. I get it that we have vastly different economic theories by which we base our opinions… But, to say that “no one in the legislature wanted to do anything” about the budget problem is false and ridiculous in the face of indisputable public record.
– even worse!] they make the following goofball statement: “But after a six-month regular session bickering over the budget and two more months of a special session, no one in the Legislature wanted to do anything about it.” Really, Star? Really?!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What Gorman failed to say is that after the Republican leadership and the governor reached an agreement to cut taxes in exchange for a referral of a one cent sales tax increase to the voters. Gorman voted for the tax cut and against the referral and therefore the referral failed by one vote and the agreement was broken. Thanks for saving us a penny Gorman. Next time let the people decide.