It looks like the Republicans won the state-wide elections in a clean sweep. And it looks like they are gaining majorities in the legislature. On top of that both Proposition 301 and Proposition 302 went down in big defeats.
So, what to make of this (if anything)?
Prop 301 and 302 were put on the ballot in a desperate attempt to find millions of dollars to help balance the Arizona budget. The voters said heck no with emphasis (302 moves funds allocated for "First things First" into the general fund, 301 transfers money from the state land conservation fund into the general fund).
Meanwhile, the Republicans have been running almost religiously on the principle of no new taxes. They also want additional resources on the border and want to expand the police force role to include immigration enforcement (HB1070).
They also have a constitutional mandate to balance a state budget they couldn't balance last year even with the help of the federal stimulus. Do you remember the stimulus is running out and won't be available next year? Meanwhile, of the 50 states, we are one of the most frugal states in the country in terms of per pupil funding on education.
Not to mention we elect Huppenthal who now has a voter mandate to turn all of our schools into charters or something.
I have no idea where all of this is heading, but it doesn't look good for Arizona.
Good luck Republicans. You're in charge of this mess almost completely now. My prayers are with you.
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3 comments:
Hi Scott,
I think that you have post-election blues given the horrible and naive performance of your own party the last two years. America is frustrated right now, and Democrats haven't shown us any good reason why they should lead. Now America tries the other party again to see if they can now figure this out. In AZ, Democrats were also hit by SB 1070 which has a lot of public opinion support. I think during this recession Democrats need to solve the illegal immigrant issue in a smarter way to compete. It seems the Republicans, as ineffective as they seem, are more than happy to take on the challenge with or without your prayers. You should probably pray for corrupt Mexico instead.
-David G.
David, I get the state election reflected the national mood. But Arizona is in a real quandry and the voters just voted in a pretty contradictory way.
Why would someone vote republican in Arizona and vote no on 301 and 302?
I don't get it at all.
How can you expect to balance the state budget (constitutional requirement), put more of our resources into border enforcement, promise not to increase taxes (the Republican ideology) AND not touch something as ancillary as kids care (well compared to things like schools).
I'm anxious to meet someone who voted no on 301 and 302 and voted for Jan Brewer and the other Republicans.
Know anyone?
Scott, keep in mind that 301 and 302 were not tax increases -- they focused on where existing taxes go. Second point is that Republicans are consistently hypocritical. Many of my Republican friends will vote for tax increases for schools -if- they have children in public schools. Hypocritical selfish yes, but so is only supporting the Constitution for their point of view but ignoring it for American Moslems. Or supporting government spending and expansion under Bush but not under Clinton or Obama. This behavior has given some rise to the Tea Party, so we'll see if that movement has any true momentum. By the way, if enforcing the border and illegal immigration reduces the cost that illegals burden our society with, the money to do the enforcement will handsomely pay for itself. Of course, these "burden estimates" vary greatly.
-David G.
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