Al Melvin, friend of education (at least that’s what he said during the campaign)

by David Safier

Reports of huge budget cuts in state funding are all over the news — prisons, schools, health care, you name it. According to the AZ Guardian [Note: their website is down, so I can't provide a link], Rs say that's nothing but a scare tactic. Or, as Senate Assistant Majority Leader Steve Pierce put it, “This is a bunch of crap."

But LD-26's own Al Melvin, sees all this as an opportunity to put cuts back into the budget that Brewer vetoed out.

[Melvin] said he'd like to reconsider the cuts to K-12 education and health and human services that were restored when Brewer vetoed elements of the state's current spending plan.

Melvin won't let it rest with a disingenuous statement like, "We don't want the cuts, but what can we do?" You've got to give him points for candor in this case. You can practically see him salivating as he talks about taking the ax to school funding. According to him, the governor's refusal to cut money for our children makes her a wimp, or, to be more specific, a panderer.

The restoration of the education cuts, Melvin said, was purely political on the governor’s part.

“She’s pandering to the education community who isn’t going to give her a single vote anyway,” he said.

Just so you know, the first definition for "panderer" in the dictionary is "pimp." Way to stay classy, Al.