Robb: Arizona politicians sometimes seek one post with an eye toward another
From the political notebook: • It’s not unusual for Arizona to have candidates for secretary of state who don’t really have much interest in the job. That’s understandable. Other than setting some...
View ArticleOur Opinion: Where’s gov as bad budget surfaces?
The Legislature’s draft spending proposal slashes education; health care for poor and disabled Arizonans; child protection; and other services to balance the budget without obvious tax increases or...
View ArticleOur Opinion: Legislature flouts will of voters in cuts to education
In its rush to cut spending, the Legislature is ignoring a voter mandate requiring funding for education to be increased annually. This is far more than a legal technicality. This is a requirement...
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Our Opinion: Brewer sitting on sidelines as bad budget moves ahead
Gov. Jan Brewer said she wanted a $1 billion per year temporary tax increase and called that one of her budget "principles" Now she's abandoned that position. So much for principles. What does Brewer...
View ArticleOur Opinion: Steal from one, give to another
There is an interesting dichotomy in a couple of the Legislature’s budget decisions. One way the Legislature proposes to collect more money is by stealing $265 million from impact fees paid to cities...
View ArticleKick the problem down the road
The state budget for next year that passed out of the House Appropriations Committee last week illustrates that a nominally balanced budget can be achieved without a tax increase. Whether that is the...
View ArticleRobb: The myth of Arizona as a low-tax state
From the political notebook: • Within the spending lobby, there is no more firmly held belief than that Arizona is an inexcusably low-tax state. The basis for this belief is a report on state and local...
View ArticleOur Opinion: Legislator is far off-base in saying schools acted illegally
Arizona legislators who have been roundly criticized for slashing education spending, are striking back. Unfortunately, truth was a casualty as at least one lawmaker threw unsubstantiated and...
View ArticleRobb: Day of reckoning coming for Social Security and Medicare
From the political notebook: • The always gloomy report of the Social Security and Medicare trustees was released last week. The news focus was that the date for the Social Security trust fund to go...
View ArticleClean Elections and term limits: Good ideas that aren’t working
On Nov. 4 voters in Legislative District 10 on Phoenix’s Northwest Side elected Doug Quelland to the Arizona House of Representatives. On May 15, an unelected state commission overruled them and...
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