Being one of only four "no" votes on our recent budget package in the House might seem futile to many. But, what they don't see is the value to being a person of principle, and a legislator whose word means something.
When a dozen or so Conservatives gathered for an impromptu meeting of the minds and agreed that there were many things not to love about the budget proposal, it created a very powerful tool for the House leadership in their negotiations. By promising to vote "yes" only if some very stiff reforms were included with the spending (among other things) we had, in effect, given our word. This allowed the negotiators to point to us and our strength in numbers and use us as the excuse for holding spending down. I truly believe this spend-and-tax governor would have moved this budget much further to the left had our little band of fiscal conservatives not been in the picture.
We all agreed that there were five very problematic issues in the budget and set about trying to find a compromise that we could live with on those issues. Truly, we thought all of our concerns had been satisfied... Up until about 48 hours before the final vote. One by one, everything we had worked to get into the budget in terms of reforms began to disappear from later drafts. At the same time, new things were added that shocked many of us. One of our "no go" issues was the use of debt by the governor to make it appear the budget was balanced. To that end, we all thought the language allowing the governor to run up $300,000,000 in additional debt over and above the budget package had been removed. Turns out, she had somehow negotiated that little tool of hers back into the final draft. Many of us were sorely disappointed, having looked forward to voting "yes" on the previous version of the budget.
As the vote grew near, our Conservative friends began to fold to immense pressure. Only a small handful of us kept our promise and voted "no" in the end. While I don't fault others for their choices, I believe my "no" was the right vote to cast and that it mattered.
I believe it matters to keep your word. If I promised to vote "no" under certain circumstances, then I had to follow through. That is what being a person of principle is about. It is also what being a legislator who keeps her word is about. In the future, my fellow legislators will appreciate my promises because they mean something. I am hoping that my leadership team will understand this, and someday come to respect it. In the meantime, I will just have to revel in the belief that our efforts, however futile they may seem, went far in keeping this governor from spending Arizona into oblivion.
