state trust lands

Since a picture is worth a thousand words…

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Crossposted from RestoreReason.com.  My views line up with much of what AZBlueMeanie says, but can’t agree with him on Prop 123.  I am intimately aware of the deal and think it is the best we can do at this point.  Our schools need the money now, they can’t wait another 5+ years.  Plus, once we … Read more

State Treasurer Jeff DeWit considering suing state for misleading voters on Prop. 123

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DeWitArizona State Treasurer Jeff DeWit is considering suing the state for adopting misleading statements for the ballot explanation for Prop. 123, the school funding inflation adjustment settlement to Cave Creek Unified School Dist. et al. v. Ducey, at the Special Election scheduled for May 2016.

I provided you with the language of the laws at issue in yesterday’s post, Deadline for public comments on Prop. 123, school inflation, which you will need to reference because Howard Fischer and the Arizona Daily Star do not provide it in this report, Lawmakers OK wording of school funding proposition:

State lawmakers voted Thursday to approve an explanation of Proposition 123 over objections by state Treasurer Jeff DeWit that it is misleading — and probably illegal.

And now he is weighing whether to ask a court to intercede ahead of the May 17 election to change the distribution formula for state land trust proceeds — and possibly refusing to comply with the law even if voters approve it.

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Deadline for public comments on Prop. 123, school inflation funding settlement, are due Friday

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DeWitArizona State Treasurer Jeff DeWit strongly opposes Governor Doug Ducey’s plan to settle the Prop. 301 school funding inflation adjustment case, Cave Creek Unified School Dist. et al v. Ducey, by raiding the state trust lands fund for K-12 education for ten years, if approved by voters at the May 2016 Special Election (Prop. 123).

DeWit insists that this change to the state trust lands fund formula for distribution requires congressional approval because it modifies the Arizona Statehood and Enabling Act. Governor Ducey, relying on the opinion of the Republican Party’s attorney, Mike Liburdi, says that Congress does not have to approve Prop. 123.

Here is what is annoying the hell out of me. The lazy media villagers in this state keep reporting this pissing match between the Governor and the State Treasurer, but despite the fact that they both claim to have a legal opinion supporting their position, no news outlet, to my knowledge, has actually published or provided a link to the legal opinion on which each man is relying (perhaps they have not released these legal opinions to the media, which begs the question, why is the media not demanding that these legal opinions be produced to the media?)

The lazy media villagers also keep referencing comments made by the Governor’s office and GOP attorney Mike Liburdi about the 1999 amendments to the Arizona Statehood and Enabling Act, but to my knowledge, they never actually publish or provide a link to the 1999 amendments to better inform the public.

The reporting on this issue is occurring in a vacuum, and the public is being poorly served and ill-informed by the media.

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