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Friday, July 10, 2009

Captain Al-Unplugged: Brewer 'pandering' to education community; Taxes 'like Death'

AZ Daily Star - Conservatives versus Jan Brewer

By Daniel Scarpinato
7.6.09

Republican Gov. Jan Brewer has become the unlikely punching bag for conservatives in her own party.

Lately, the examples are endless. And certainly everyone knows by now about the Bob Burns’ statement . But here are a few more from the last week:
Gorman: Brewer’s face “creepy”
After Brewer’s vetoes came down on the budget, state Sen. Pamela Gorman, the GOP whip in the Senate, twittered that Brewer “can play the sour grapes game today with the press, but her integrity with the process is in question.”
After Brewer did interviews with TV reporters, Gorman tweeted this: “Anyone find the euphoric look on Brewer’s face when interviewed about budget debacle a bit creepy?”
Melvin: Brewer “pandering” to education community

In an interview last week, state Sen. Al Melvin, R-Tucson, told me that Brewer has crossed-the-line in her statements about protecting public education, calling her the perfect spokeswoman for the teachers’ union (for Republicans, that’s not a flattering remark).
“Frankly, I think she’s doing everything she can for the education community, to the point of pandering,” said Melvin, who opposes Brewer’s sales tax proposal.
“She’s criss-crossing the state going to every educational group she can talk to.”
Melvin says GOP legislators like himself have done a lot for K-12 education. Their budget cut schools by $220 million. That’s a 5.2 percent cut in state aid to education, and a 2.2 percent cut in their overall spending when you include other sources of funding.
“She’s trying to bend over backwards for them, when I think we’ve done that ourselves,” Melvin said of his Republican governor. “She is catering to them. She is literally throwing us under the bus to do that.
Brewer, though, reiterated her stance Thursday in a meeting with Capitol reporters.
“From the beginning I’ve always said that I’m not going to decimate education, or the most vulnerable of our population, and I still maintain that,” she said.
Crump: Brewer “fair weather conservative"

On his blog over the weekend, state Rep. Sam Crump termed Brewer “a fair weather conservative.”
“Brewer has always held herself out as a conservative,” Crump wrote. “However, now that she has an opportunity to demonstrate her convictions (and keep her promise not to raise taxes) she is sounding like a typical liberal.”
“I was honest when I told my voters that I am a conservative and would not vote to increase taxes,” he concludes. “I meant it then and I mean it now. Unlike the Governor, I am no fair weather conservative.”
Kavanagh: Brewer has put children in “grave peril”
State Rep. John Kavanagh, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said in an interview on Phoenix’s Channel 12 over the weekend that Brewer’ actions have “throw the state and its children into grave peril.”
“The governor has acted, at best, irresponsible .. and probably reckless,” the Fountain Hills Republican added.
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Al Melvin: "Taxes are like death"

by David Safier
Blog For Arizona
July 10, 2009

I heard Cap'n Al Melvin say this on NPR this morning:

"Taxes are like death. Once they happen, they're final."
You gotta love these Republicans. Our budget cuts won't have women and children dying in the streets, they assure us, but taxes are like death. Cuts in social services that harm the most vulnerable among us, and cuts in education that limit children's futures? We shouldn't blow things like that all out of proportion. But increased taxes? They're like death! Death, I tell you!

To be fair, Melvin's point is, there's no such thing as a temporary tax. Once you enact a tax, it's there forever. I guess he's saying the Reagan tax cuts never happened, or the Bush tax cuts. Or the 30% decrease in Arizona income tax rates over the past decade or so.