Can you get your exaggerations straight, please?

by David Safier

First it was the Goldwater Institute claiming a one cent sales tax hike would cost the average family $600 a year, then lowering the number to $400. They're both wildly wrong, but still, G.I. blinked.

Now it's Tom Jenney, Arizona state chapter director of ultra conservative Americans For Prosperity, stepping back from G.I.'s assertion that Arizona spends $9,500 per student. He brought the number down to a still-ridiculous $8,000.

Jenney was in Green Valley debating Pete Hershberger about Prop 100. Hershberger, one of the old style moderate Republicans who have been hounded out of office by the ever more crazy-base party, argued for the Prop, Jenney against.

Here's what Jenney said, and the response from the Sahuarita Schools superintendent:

Jenney said the measure is unnecessary because Arizona already funds education at about $8,000 per pupil, an amount he said is more than enough, and that local districts generally overspend on administration and capital projects, such as fancy computers.

Jenney asserted that Sahuarita schools are “a lean operation” that only spends $7,000 per pupil. However, Superintendent Jay St. John last week said the current district budget is $27 million, including local override funds and soft capital (not buildings). With an enrollment of roughly 5,000, that works out to about $5,400 per pupil.

In these dark days in Arizona, I'm looking for small victories to counter my horror at what the legislature is doing, so I find even a small scaling back of the crazy to be a positive sign. I'm hoping these people are retreating, even a little, because others, realizing how dangerous the right wing is, have begun attacking their misstatements aggressively.

A PLEA TO MODERATE REPUBLICANS: Pete Hershberger, ex LD-26 legislator, is a generally good guy. He's part of the old school of moderate Arizona Republicans whose legislative stances were a little to the right of moderate Democrats. They often agreed with Democrats on the quality of life they wanted for Arizonans and differed on the quantity of dollars which should be allotted for those quality of life issues. Jennifer Burns, ex LD-25 legislator, is another from the same camp. Other than her retrograde stands on women's health issues, she is in far more agreement with Dems these days than the extremists who have taken over her party.

It's time for these people to take an active role in putting Arizona back on a reasonable track. It's good to see Hershberger entering the Prop 100 debate, though that's reasonably safe territory. And I know Burns is working with others to create coalitions that cross party lines.

But I want to see more. I want to see the high profile remnant of the reasonable Republican Party taking strong stands against what's happening in our legislature. The state needs their voices to counter the screaming Tea Party mobs. I would love to see them change to Democrats, but I don't really expect that to happen. If they can find moderate R candidates to run and throw support behind them, I'm all for it. But if they can't, they need to show some courage and say loudly and publicly, "I'm a loyal Republican, but I cannot support the candidacies of people like Al Melvin, Frank Antenori . . ." and continue down the list.

As Arizonans who care about this state, they have a moral obligation to take a stand. For people in their positions, silence is the equivalent of assent.