Melvin does not play well with others.

by David Safier

It seems our Cap'n Al put his fellow Republicans in a bit of a jam the other day. They were forced to vote for a bill they wanted to change, but Al put it up for a vote without consulting them. (Information is from Arizona Capitol Reports, a subscription only service.)

The bill, SB1274, allows people to contribute tuition tax credits all the way up to April 15 and get the credit for the previous year. In other words, people can send in the contribution and file their taxes, including the tax credit refund, on the same day.

(Al, aren't you still making this a little difficult on the folks who want to give back door vouchers to their rich friends for their children's private school tuition? Why don't you make it so they can just order the state to give $1000 in their name to the STO of their choice and cut out the middle man?)

Other Republicans thought the bill was a bit too blatant. They wanted the bill changed so that, if you gave money after December 31, you couldn't give the full $500 per person or $1000 per couple.

And maybe the same kind of leeway could be granted to people who wanted to give tax credit money to public schools and charters.

Melvin would have none of it. The other Republicans hemmed and hawed, then finally went along.

The thing that amuses me is, the others wanted to give at least the impression they were being reasonable and responsible, but Cap'n Al said, No way.

Some Rs made it sound like Melvin will pay a price in the future for putting them in a bind. But he doesn't mind. He commented,

“That’s a small price to pay to get the bill passed in my view.”

Yes indeed. Help private schools. Do nothing for public schools. That's our Al.