Vox

Worth The Paper It's Printed On

I am counting on one of our Arizona bloggers with more insight and political acumen (cough*Edward*cough) to give us an in depth report on the latest from our Governor, Janet Napalitano. I will include the full report I got in the extended entry, but the gist of it is: Napalitano wants some money spent on her pet projects, she goes to the legislature and makes a deal (a verbal deal) to sign some legislation they want if they pass the things that she wants, the legislature holds up their end of the bargain and sends through all three pieces, Napalitano signs the two she originally wanted and vetoes (some reports have her chuckling about it) the bit that she promised to sign in return.

Her word is now worth about as much as the pigeon droppings gracing our capitol building.

My main question here is, why would anyone have expected anything different from her? She has certainly shown herself to be opportunistic and deceptive in the past, I am sure she will continue to be those things in the future. I don't think her word has been worth more than bird poop in decades...but someone must've still believed in her. Look what it got 'em.

Late Friday afternoon, the governor vetoed a measure that would help poor and middle class children receive a quality education via corporate tuition tax breaks. This was part of an early May compromise between the Governor and Republican legislators on key educational issues. In return for the Governor’s support of this pro-education measure, Republicans agreed to her demands to spend more money on All-Day Kindergarten and the University of Arizona medical school.

Despite the apparent agreement, Napolitano vetoed the corporate tuition tax breaks bill, while signing All-Day K and the medical school bills. She claimed there never was an official deal.

“This smacks of pure Clintonism,” said Chad Kirkpatrick, president of the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers. “Instead of arguing what the definition of ‘is’ is, Napolitano is arguing what the definition of ‘deal’ is.”

The typically mild-mannered House Speaker Jim Weiers put it bluntly: “The governor lied to me.”

Senate Finance Chairman Dean Martin also had choice words on the veto. “It’s either her way or the Piestewa Peak Parkway. This is what you get with a trial lawyer as Governor; they will always find a way to weasel out of any agreement that does not serve their special interests.”

Both Speaker Weiers and Senator Martin played key roles in quelling a last minute rebellion of conservative legislators. Led by Rep. Eddie Farnsworth and Sen. Thayer Verschoor, the conservatives argued that Napolitano could not be trusted to side with parents and children over the government school lobby.

Insiders believe Napolitano’s actions only strengthens the conservatives.

Representative Russell Pearce summed up the feelings of many moderate and conservative legislators. “Governor Napolitano apparently does not know the meaning of "Contract" or "I promise." Apparently her word is not her bond and any future negotiations will be very difficult when you have to negotiate with someone you cannot trust to be honest in their dealings.

“Governor Napolitano agreed to this budget that had her top priorities in it (which we had to swallow very hard), and this budget had a couple of very important issues for the Majority in the legislature that she agreed to.”

Via Arizona Federation of Taxpayers

UPDATE: I just went to their site and got a headache. The information is great, the presentation is bafflingly absurd. Someone, somewhere, please give their website an extreme makeover

Posted by Vox at May 21, 2005 02:27 PM | Arizona , Phoenix , politics