Written by state Rep. Andrew Sherwood (D-LD26/Tempe)
As the 2014
election draws closer, it’s important to remember that an election
is a job review for elected officials. Let’s review.
The 51st
legislature did almost nothing to achieve a healthy, educated,
prosperous Arizona.
Instead, we got phony proposals, starved
agencies, and bad legislation – all as a result the extremism of
the Republican majority.
Some are zealots
and some were too frightened to object.
So how did the
GOP spend its time in the legislature? Some was spent on a bill to
have government patrol the bathrooms of our state. Every Republican
voted for it. Some was spent trying to control women’s health
care. Republicans also want the state to meddle with our medicine. So
much for getting government out of our lives.
Education --
after 30 years of Republican control, no state spends less on
students and we remain at the bottom of national education rankings.
While Democrats pushed to restore K-12 education funding, Republicans
argued to put guns in schools.
What about jobs?
Each year, Republicans lower taxes and the result is “sub-par”
economic growth. Tourism is at risk. Construction is stagnant.
Housing is dormant again. Transportation is scraping by. Economist
Elliot Pollack called Arizona’s recovery “anemic.”
What about
democracy? Republicans oppose it. They passed HB2305, the “voter
suppression bill”, which added more hurdles for seniors, rural
residents, and minorities to register and vote. Don’t forget that
Democrats helped the 2013 effort to collect signatures for a “citizen
veto”.
Then there is
the so-called Republican leadership. A national embarrassment. The
School Superintendent was recently ousted for insulting Latinos and
the poor as an anonymous blogger. His hidden life had been going on
for years.
Tom Horne’s
unethical behavior got him banned-for-life from securities trading,
but that hasn’t taught him any lessons. Horne has been under
investigation nearly his entire term and we hear constantly about FBI
and state investigations detailing his violations of campaign finance
laws and the mismanagement of the AG’s office.
12 News anchor
Brahm Resnik asked the Republican nominee for governor if he would
have supported the Medicaid restoration. That’s a reasonable
question, right? He repeatedly refused to answer. What kind of
governor would Doug Ducey be if he refuses to answer tough questions?
The
Republican-controlled Legislature passed SB1062 to legalize
discrimination.
It caused a national firestorm of ridicule and
scorn. Lasting damage was done to Arizona’s reputation. Not a
single Democrat voted for it.
Individual
Republican members have been accused of child abuse (Senator Murphy),
of writing laws to pad their own pockets (Senator Yarbrough) and of
living in a different district than the people they represent
(Representative Mitchell).
These people
don’t deserve their offices.
But not all
legislation since the last election was unethical or underwhelming.
Remember the expansion of health care where we get our own taxes back
from the feds? Thank the Democrats for passing that bill.
Republicans
would rather have given away your tax dollars to other states than
accept the political reality that providing health care is morally
and fiscally responsible.
Glenn Hamer, CEO
of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, got grilled while testifying in
support of the expansion. Why? Opposition to the expansion
consistently boils down to the same source: ideology.
Meanwhile,
supporters of Medicaid always cited the same reasons: the math. I
know because I serve on the Appropriations Committee where Glenn
testified. Math vs. ideology; which is best for Arizona? Math- best
of all, it’s working.
Let’s get rid of the extremism in
politics. Make sure to vote early or on November 4th.
A version of this post appeared in the October 18 edition of a community section in the Arizona Republic.
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