Friday, March 25, 2005
The inherent vice of capitalism
Winston Churchill: "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."
Our Budget... Vetoed by Napolitano. A hasty move?
Below is a summary of the present situation with our state's budget as provided by the Arizona GOP in a recent email...
The Arizona Legislature’s approved budget plan protects children, promotes families and offers compassion without jeopardizing our children’s financial future. However, the Governor’s proposal mortgages our future by forcing today’s children to pay for her short-sighted excesses. On Monday Governor Napolitano only took 15 minutes to veto a good budget sent to her by our hard working Republican Legislators at the state Capitol. Don’t let Napolitano play games with the future of our state. Republican Legislators have crafted a fiscally responsible budget that invests in our state’s future while protecting Arizona’s Children.
The Legislature’s Sensible Budget
vs.
The Governor’s Tax-and-Spend Plan
Tax Policy
The people’s Legislature recognizes the state’s money comes from hard-working Arizonans who deserve to keep as much of their paycheck as possible while still funding vital services.
The Legislature’s Sensible Budget
The Legislature eliminates the marriage penalty when giving to student tuition organizations, conforms the state’s code to the IRS, which allows Arizonans to write off tsunami-related donations on their 2004 tax returns and reduces the inequity businesses face on property tax without shifting the burden to homeowners. The governor nullifies these and other features of a massive tax relief package with her hasty blanket veto.
The Governor’s Plan
The governor increases taxes by vetoing the IRS conformity bill. With that veto, Arizonans will be paying higher state taxes. She calls for targeted and largely cosmetic business tax cuts that do not provide overall relief for a wide range of families and businesses.
Welfare Reform
Arizona taxpayers spend billions of dollars to provide aid for the poor, including day care subsidies for working parents, health care for the poor and cash assistance. We continue and in fact expand our health care programs but put in place sensible reforms.
The Legislature’s Sensible Budget
The Legislature recognizes the need to give a hand up to some of our citizens. By adding sensible reforms, we ensure welfare does not become a lifestyle. For instance, we implement a cap of five children per family for the day care subsidy and a five-year family limit. The governor nullifies these and other meaningful reforms with her hasty blanket veto.
The Governor’s Plan
The Governor increases the welfare rolls even when there is no need. Her increased spending eliminates a waiting list for the day care subsidy program despite the fact no such list exists. The Governor asks for an additional $28 million for new CPS caseworkers despite gross failures and wasteful spending. Two years of increased funding this woefully managed executive agency has produced no improvements for the protection of children. However, the agency has continued full pay and reassignment to desk duty for convicted felons who could not obtain clearance to work directly with children.
Education
Nothing is more important than the good education of our children. The Legislature makes it our top priority.
The Legislature’s Sensible Budget
The Legislature adds $175 million to K-12 education, including substantial dollars intended to go directly to retain our experienced teachers. The Legislature also adds $70 million for normal building maintenance to ensure our new schools remain in use for a new generation of Arizona schoolchildren. The Legislature invests $25 million more into K-12 education than proposed by the governor. The governor nullifies these and other important education improvements with her hasty blanket veto.
The Governor’s Plan
The Governor asks for less money for our schoolchildren. She denies teachers a pay raise and adds new money for her pet project, full-day kindergarten. The governor’s substantially duplicative program comes despite the fact that many school districts tax their property owners or use federal dollars to implement the full-day kindergarten.
Fiscal Responsibility
For the last several years, we have had to borrow and use smoke and mirrors to balance our books. We put a halt to those practices. We will not mortgage our children’s future.
The Legislature’s Sensible Budget
The Legislature ends the vicious and costly cycle of borrowing to pay for new schools. Building new schools for our children has become an annual expense, much like any operating expense. And government should avoid borrowing to cover day-to-day costs. By paying cash, the state saves an immediate $45 million. The Legislature also pays cash to settle a taxpayer lawsuit. The Legislature does not rely on gimmicks or smoke and mirrors to give Arizonans a balanced budget. The governor nullifies these and other fiscally prudent measures with her hasty blanket veto.
The Governor’s Plan
The Governor wants to sell a state building to settle the taxpayer lawsuit while also borrowing $300 million to pay for new schools. Her plan creates the specter of a tax increase to cover the mounting debt and expansion of welfare in our state. She fails to find efficiency savings promised in her 2002 campaign that would eliminate the need for school construction borrowing.
The Arizona Legislature’s approved budget plan protects children, promotes families and offers compassion without jeopardizing our children’s financial future. However, the Governor’s proposal mortgages our future by forcing today’s children to pay for her short-sighted excesses. On Monday Governor Napolitano only took 15 minutes to veto a good budget sent to her by our hard working Republican Legislators at the state Capitol. Don’t let Napolitano play games with the future of our state. Republican Legislators have crafted a fiscally responsible budget that invests in our state’s future while protecting Arizona’s Children.
The Legislature’s Sensible Budget
vs.
The Governor’s Tax-and-Spend Plan
Tax Policy
The people’s Legislature recognizes the state’s money comes from hard-working Arizonans who deserve to keep as much of their paycheck as possible while still funding vital services.
The Legislature’s Sensible Budget
The Legislature eliminates the marriage penalty when giving to student tuition organizations, conforms the state’s code to the IRS, which allows Arizonans to write off tsunami-related donations on their 2004 tax returns and reduces the inequity businesses face on property tax without shifting the burden to homeowners. The governor nullifies these and other features of a massive tax relief package with her hasty blanket veto.
The Governor’s Plan
The governor increases taxes by vetoing the IRS conformity bill. With that veto, Arizonans will be paying higher state taxes. She calls for targeted and largely cosmetic business tax cuts that do not provide overall relief for a wide range of families and businesses.
Welfare Reform
Arizona taxpayers spend billions of dollars to provide aid for the poor, including day care subsidies for working parents, health care for the poor and cash assistance. We continue and in fact expand our health care programs but put in place sensible reforms.
The Legislature’s Sensible Budget
The Legislature recognizes the need to give a hand up to some of our citizens. By adding sensible reforms, we ensure welfare does not become a lifestyle. For instance, we implement a cap of five children per family for the day care subsidy and a five-year family limit. The governor nullifies these and other meaningful reforms with her hasty blanket veto.
The Governor’s Plan
The Governor increases the welfare rolls even when there is no need. Her increased spending eliminates a waiting list for the day care subsidy program despite the fact no such list exists. The Governor asks for an additional $28 million for new CPS caseworkers despite gross failures and wasteful spending. Two years of increased funding this woefully managed executive agency has produced no improvements for the protection of children. However, the agency has continued full pay and reassignment to desk duty for convicted felons who could not obtain clearance to work directly with children.
Education
Nothing is more important than the good education of our children. The Legislature makes it our top priority.
The Legislature’s Sensible Budget
The Legislature adds $175 million to K-12 education, including substantial dollars intended to go directly to retain our experienced teachers. The Legislature also adds $70 million for normal building maintenance to ensure our new schools remain in use for a new generation of Arizona schoolchildren. The Legislature invests $25 million more into K-12 education than proposed by the governor. The governor nullifies these and other important education improvements with her hasty blanket veto.
The Governor’s Plan
The Governor asks for less money for our schoolchildren. She denies teachers a pay raise and adds new money for her pet project, full-day kindergarten. The governor’s substantially duplicative program comes despite the fact that many school districts tax their property owners or use federal dollars to implement the full-day kindergarten.
Fiscal Responsibility
For the last several years, we have had to borrow and use smoke and mirrors to balance our books. We put a halt to those practices. We will not mortgage our children’s future.
The Legislature’s Sensible Budget
The Legislature ends the vicious and costly cycle of borrowing to pay for new schools. Building new schools for our children has become an annual expense, much like any operating expense. And government should avoid borrowing to cover day-to-day costs. By paying cash, the state saves an immediate $45 million. The Legislature also pays cash to settle a taxpayer lawsuit. The Legislature does not rely on gimmicks or smoke and mirrors to give Arizonans a balanced budget. The governor nullifies these and other fiscally prudent measures with her hasty blanket veto.
The Governor’s Plan
The Governor wants to sell a state building to settle the taxpayer lawsuit while also borrowing $300 million to pay for new schools. Her plan creates the specter of a tax increase to cover the mounting debt and expansion of welfare in our state. She fails to find efficiency savings promised in her 2002 campaign that would eliminate the need for school construction borrowing.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Say "NO" to a balanced budget? What?!
I sat in disbelief as I watched a bill go down that would have made it illegal for the legislature to pass an unbalanced budget. The bill was actually not a normal bill, it was a referendum. This means that if successful in the house and senate, then it would be up to the voters to decide at the next election if they wanted to approve this new law. And, this bill had lost before and was up for a reconsideration. So, to lose a second time meant it was deep dead. Gone until next year at the earliest.
The reason this bill was being reconsidered was because many people had "said" they voted against it the first time around out of confusion. They said they thought it was TABOR (Taxpayers Bill of Rights), which is arguably one of the most aggressive pieces of fiscally conservative legislation out there these days. In actuality, though, this bill was all of the really obviously good things about TABOR without all of the "out there" super conservative stuff. So, someone made a motion to hear it again. Naturally, everyone expected it to pass the second time now that everyone understood that this was more of a "TABOR-lite" (my own pet term for it).
In other words, this was a very reasonable piece of legislation that the voters should have had a chance to vote on. I was shocked to see that we couldn't find 31 Republicans willing to even give the voters the chance to insist we give them a balanced budget. What is so bad about letting the voters choose to have a balanced budget?! Shocking. Discouraging. Sad. Borderline disgusting, to be honest.
The reason this bill was being reconsidered was because many people had "said" they voted against it the first time around out of confusion. They said they thought it was TABOR (Taxpayers Bill of Rights), which is arguably one of the most aggressive pieces of fiscally conservative legislation out there these days. In actuality, though, this bill was all of the really obviously good things about TABOR without all of the "out there" super conservative stuff. So, someone made a motion to hear it again. Naturally, everyone expected it to pass the second time now that everyone understood that this was more of a "TABOR-lite" (my own pet term for it).
In other words, this was a very reasonable piece of legislation that the voters should have had a chance to vote on. I was shocked to see that we couldn't find 31 Republicans willing to even give the voters the chance to insist we give them a balanced budget. What is so bad about letting the voters choose to have a balanced budget?! Shocking. Discouraging. Sad. Borderline disgusting, to be honest.
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Vindicated
In a stroke of his official pen, Gene Lemon has vindicated me and finally brought a much-awaited end to the vicious accusations and outlandish statements by Clancy Jayne. Below are Mr. Lemon's words, in a letter dated March 4th, regarding the various complaints filed by my former opponent (your former representative). These complaints were filed against me after he got a good old fashioned whoopin' at the polls last September:
Dear Ms. Gorman:
Thank you for your thorough and timely response to the Commission's Order Requiring Compliance issued February 10, 2005, and for agreeing, within the time allowed, to amend your campaign finance reports to achieve full compliance with the requirements of A.R.S. 16-948 (C).
Your response enables me to find:
*All expenditures of campaign funds by Gorman 20054 were for direct campaign purposes in compliance with Commission rules.
*The amendments to your campaign finance reports satisfy the requirements of A.R.S 16-948 (C).
*The amendments to your campaign finance reports satisfy the requirements of A.A.C. R2-20-109(A)
*No violation of the provisions of A.R.S. 16-948 (C) pertaining to petty cash was committed by Gorman 2004.
*No illegal contribution was received by Gorman 2004 in connection with its transactions involving the procurement and mailing of four-color campaign literature in the campaign.
Accordingly, I will recommend that the proceedings in the captioned matters be terminated, that the matters be closed an that a final order to those effects be entered.
Sincerely,
L. Gene Lemon
External Investigative Consultant
Dear Ms. Gorman:
Thank you for your thorough and timely response to the Commission's Order Requiring Compliance issued February 10, 2005, and for agreeing, within the time allowed, to amend your campaign finance reports to achieve full compliance with the requirements of A.R.S. 16-948 (C).
Your response enables me to find:
*All expenditures of campaign funds by Gorman 20054 were for direct campaign purposes in compliance with Commission rules.
*The amendments to your campaign finance reports satisfy the requirements of A.R.S 16-948 (C).
*The amendments to your campaign finance reports satisfy the requirements of A.A.C. R2-20-109(A)
*No violation of the provisions of A.R.S. 16-948 (C) pertaining to petty cash was committed by Gorman 2004.
*No illegal contribution was received by Gorman 2004 in connection with its transactions involving the procurement and mailing of four-color campaign literature in the campaign.
Accordingly, I will recommend that the proceedings in the captioned matters be terminated, that the matters be closed an that a final order to those effects be entered.
Sincerely,
L. Gene Lemon
External Investigative Consultant
Friday, March 04, 2005
COW
COW, or Committee Of the Whole, is an interesting part of the lawmaking process in the House. This is the one time when all 60 of us, both Republican and Democrat alike, sit in the same room to discuss every bill on the calendar. With good parliamentary procedure, it remains surprisingly tame...So far. But, I would imagine that if there are going to be fireworks this session, this is where they will be seen. You are welcome to come observe from the gallery, if that sounds like a good way to spend the afternoon. It is all open meetings and if you have the stamina to watch for 6 hours, you will eventually hear all of the day's calendars. To find out when we have our next COW, just call in and talk to my assistant "Phil" and ask. I would love to have a blog-pal as a guest. #602-926-4002.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
