Accidental Governor flip-flops on education, concedes defeat to GOP insane clown posse

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

If you needed any further evidence that the Accidental Governor is a lame duck governor who is neither respected nor feared by her own Republican dominated legislature, Monday should have erased any doubt.

Governor Jan Brewer on July 1, 2009 in her veto message of the state budget:

I received early this morning a fatally flawed legislative budget. The legislative budget ignores my consistently expressed goals and instead incorporates devastating cuts to education, public safety, and our state's most vital health services for the frail. In particular, this package of bills is shortsighted, in that it sets up an enormous revenue shortfall that will severely harm our State's future. . . Improvements in education funding, however, will require significantly more legislative work.

Governor Jan Brewer on November 23, 2009 on signing essentially the same budget measure regarding cuts to education:

"This is the beginning of the process of turning around the crisis that Arizona faces," Brewer said upon signing the four-bill package into law. "This is a good day."

As I have said before, Arizona's governors, Republicans and Democrats alike, have been hostage to Republican legislative leaders since 1967. Brewer made her signing statement flanked by her tormentors, House Speaker Kirk Adams (R-Mesa) and Senate President Bob Burns (R-Peoria). Jan, try blinking a message to the media in Morse Code like your buddy John McCain did.

Brewer, for the first time in more than a quarter century in public office, conceded defeat. State cuts into K-12 and social services:

Her signature on the budget cuts reverses the spending she restored 2 ½ months ago when she vetoed the cuts, saying they were devastating to the state's vulnerable citizens.

On Monday, she explained her reversal by pointing to the state's dire fiscal straits.

"Reality sets in," she said. "We have no other alternative."

Brewer also backed away from her earlier demand for a temporary one cent sales tax hike to increase state revenues.

The governor pointed out that her earlier veto was based on the belief lawmakers would come back and approve her plan ask voters to approve a temporary increase in the state sales tax.

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That did not happen, leaving not only a big hole in the budget but an anticipated gap between revenues and spending for the coming fiscal year.

"We have no other alternative other than to go in and make some adjustments, some cuts, and to continue working forward in an effort to see how we are going to solve a possibly $4 billion deficit," she said.

Uh-oh. Our hostage governor sounds like she has a case of Stockholm syndrome. She's our Patty Hearst.

The GOP insane clown posse of Grover Norquist Republicans who want to shrink government to the size that they can drown it in a bathtub are now in complete control. Jan Brewer is their lame duck hostage. The budget cutting axes are being sharpened. It's going to look like the floor of a slaughterhouse on the floor of the Arizona legislature.

"These cuts we're making today barely make a dent in the problem," said Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills. "This is cosmetic."

The package cuts $144 million from K-12 schools, most of it coming from soft-capital needs such as books, technology and buses. An additional $155 million was axed from the state Department of Economic Security, which provides a safety net of social services for the needy and disabled.

Another budget-related measure, Senate Bill 1003, restores funding for various state agencies and allows them to set fees administratively, instead of needing legislative approval. The goal is to make various programs self-sufficient, instead of relying on the state General Fund.

Another bill provided $18 million to Science Foundation Arizona, which won a lawsuit against the state. The foundation argued that the state reneged on its contract and must pay for services already provided. You may be seeing more of these lawsuits.

The governor also signed a fourth measure which repeals changes in state foreclosure laws that were designed to make it harder for real estate speculators to walk away from homes they bought without financial obligations. The repeal gives lawmakers more time to consider a compromise between bankers and real estate agents.

During debate on Monday, Rep. Ray Barnes (R-Phoenix) went so far as to suggest that the state could file bankruptcy. State lawmaker wants to go into bankruptcy – Le Templar No state has ever filed bankruptcy because states are not an entity that can file bankruptcy. A state can run out of money and default on its debts. (Chapter 9 bankruptcy is available to municipalities).

As Le Templar says, "it’s shocking for any lawmaker to suggest that the Legislature just throw up its collective hands and walk away from its most important task."

NB: Senator Rebecca Rios (D-Apache Junction) got it right when she called out Governor Brewer for her hypocrisy earlier this year Senate defeats bill with sales tax hike referral :

"If the governor signs this budget, she's turning her back on the very people that she proclaimed to protect," Rios said.

"She will have done nothing for education or Arizona's most vulnerable populations," Rios continued. "Rather, when the governor signs this budget she will show that she is just another politician who cannot be trusted and who will lie to Arizona voters."