JUNE 23, 2010
Governor forum
Although I didn’t trust the Channel 8 venue, I nonetheless watched the debate of four contenders for the next governor of Arizona. It was one hour long and the moderator was Ted Simons, who throughout the program seemed to favor Governor Jan Brewer and otherwise demonstrated his liberal creds. Interestingly, the Arizona Republic’s article about the event made no mention of Simons, even though he was far from balanced.
The other three candidates were Matt Jette, State Treasurer Dean Martin and businessman Buz Mills.
I went into the debate with prejudices about each candidate. Some were enhanced and some diminished.
I would assume the choice of four rather than the full number of people running was based on poll numbers but I can’t imagine Jette being included. Jette says he is a moderate. Hello! He is a liberal through and through and his only purpose may be so former Arizona Attorney General Grant Wood and other RINOs have someone to cast a ballot for.
Jette is disgustingly for amnesty, although he used a code word, immigration reform. Immigration reform is totally unnecessary; what is needed is enforcement of existing laws and a solid fence backed by sufficient resources to keep illegals out. He was the only candidate who disagreed with SB 1070.
He says he is for education. Who isn’t? But conservatives want good education at a fair price and we are getting neither. More money is not the answer. Kick out the union, AEA, and get rid of layers of fat. Judge the merit of teachers. Weed out incompetents and reward exceptional teachers.
AEA, by the way, just endorsed Democrat Jon Hulburd for retiring John Shadegg’s Congressional seat. All we need is another tax and spend liberal in Washington. But you can see where the teacher’s union is politically. AEA and their fellow travelers can be thanked for the passage of the 18 percent increase in sales tax. The election was bought with $2.5 million while lying that the tax increase was “for the kids.”
That tax increase makes it difficult for me to vote for, or endorse, Brewer. She held up the budget until the legislature rolled over and voted in a public vote about the tax increase. Since we have a representative government the legislature should have voted the tax increase down and let the governor shut down government. I believe she would have blinked and we wouldn’t have the tax increase.
Martin and Mills generally answered questions in a similar way and both represented a conservative view. Both, for instance, were of a mind about tax increases and that is Republicans don’t raise taxes.
For those who think Brewer’s tax increase is positive politically it isn’t except for the groups that won the election and these are unions and others connected with schools or government.
Brewer has gotten nationwide attention and credit for SB 1070. SB 1070 was the brainchild of Senator Russell Pearce and without him it would never have arrived on the governor‘s desk. She seems to gladly accept authorship. She has said publicly she never gave it a second thought before signing. Well it took awhile and most thought she was pondering whether to sign or veto.
The paragraph below was written by Greg Farley who has a letter to the editor this week. You can see the entire letter there.
“By now the people of Arizona should realize that the presence of doubt means the presence of political cancer. Did Brewer sign SB 1070 because it had 70 percent support of the state, giving her a pre-election boost? Did Brewer sign SB 1070 because it would explode into a frenzied call for ‘comprehensive immigration reform’ (amnesty)? Did Brewer negotiate trade offs with John McCain and Grant Woods for political capital?”
Those are good questions and if you don’t think that is how politicians think then maybe you shouldn’t vote.
So tax and spend Brewer is out as far as I am concerned leaving Martin and Mills.
I have read one of the court records about Buz Mills in Florida. Mills was sued by a colleague for the value of his ownership in a company. Apparently Mills had committed 10 percent of the company value to the colleague and sent him on vacation several times while Mills negotiated a sale. Mills sold the company but paid the individual about one tenth of his promise.
When asked about it Mills allegedly said one expects to be sued when you are in business. If that was his answer it didn’t satisfy my criteria for good business practices and as a consequence I refused to meet with him.
Now, seeing his exemplary performance I decided to look deeper, so as some officials say, “stay tuned.”
Dean Martin has conceded his name is a political plus and he has been around the political arena for a long time. He too gave conservative answers to questions and believes tax increases are self-defeating. As state treasurer, Martin is the best suited to understand Arizona’s budget and financial situation.
Martin’s problem is not what he says or what he believes. He is a solid challenger to Brewer.
His problem is he looks like a young, very young choirboy. There is nothing wrong with choir boys but leading a state? So he will have to live that down and show he is tough enough to run the state.
