AZ Gov. Napolitano State of the State speech - "The Era of Big Government in Arizona has Begun"

HotAZitgets.com ^ | January 9, 2007 | Francais Grenouille

[Bushman43]

Governor Napolitano's State of the State speech yesterday made no pretense of hiding her plans to expand government, it was like listening to one long spendfest. There was no mention of lowering taxes (which was part of the platform she ran on and won on) or cutting spending. So it was unbelievable to hear her say at the end of a long laundry list of new government bureaucracies and spending programs, "Every initiative I have announced can be accomplished without raising taxes one thin dime." Smokescreen and mirrors. She'll blame the Republican-controlled legislature. It doesn't take a fortune teller to predict what she'll say down the road to justify it, "It is the legislature's tax cuts for the rich which have increased costs." However as everyone who knows the slightest bit about economics can tell you, increasing taxes on the rich even more won't make much of a difference; the top percent own a very small amount of the total pie. Instead it's the vast majority of Arizonans in the middle class who have most of the individual state wealth in the state. She also said her proposed budget will keep the rainy day fund intact. This was a very clever choice of words. In reality, she will promise and tie up those funds for years down the road. For example, let's say there is $50 million in the rainy day fund. She will start implementing her new programs using credit promising those funds or others in the future, such as her latest gimmick to spend more money, extending 20 year loans to 30 year loans (Robert Robb exposed this recently).

The speech was interesting for what it didn't say. There was no mention of personal responsibility or accountability. No mention of trying to help people transition off welfare (AHCCCS). The majority of her speech was about education - but there was zero mention of tuition credits for private schools, charter schools, or school vouchers. Her approach is to throw more money at the public schools and public school facilities - she said she's signed another Exec. Order directing more money for facilities (what about that proposition that passed a few years back that sets aside an excessive amount of the state's budget each year solely for school facilities? excessive money is still not enough money?). She said there is no better predictor of a child's success than their teacher. That's funny, research shows that it's the parents who are most responsible for determining a child's success. There was no mention in Napolitano's speech of holding parents accountable; apparently that would get into moral value judgments which wouldn't fit in a liberal speech. The unions are one of the two biggest contributors to Democrats - the teachers union clearly has Napolitano in their pocket and beholden to them as evidenced by this speech. Napolitano said that clubs like math and science clubs are important, but omitted any mention of character building afterschool types of clubs like the Boy Scouts and AWANA's. In fact, there was no mention of God or religion, direct or indirect, throughout the entire speech. Atheists would be proud.

She also said she's going to increase funding for the universities. Apparently ASU is still not big enough, even though it's the biggest public university in the U.S. She announced plans for a new college of construction to train construction managers. Cha-ching - that's her payback to the unions for supporting her. 

She said she wants to "grow our own doctors and nurses" in Arizona, expanding funding by $44 million for residency programs  (even though she acknowledged that Arizona has adequate numbers of doctors and nurses who remain in the state). Sounds suspiciously like taking steps toward government control of healthcare.

There were Marxist terms peppered throughout the speech, such as where she said her programs - many of which she is ordering by Executive Order, instead of recommending them to the legislature as part of a budget for both branches to work out - "are not extravagances but necessities." In other words, the government programs she touts are necessities. The absurdity of this can be seen when you consider that everyone else has to pay for your "necessity." My welfare is a "necessity" (or right) therefore I have a right to have you pay for it. My healthcare is a "necessity" (or right) therefore I have a right to have you pay for it. My abortion is a "necessity" (or right) therefore I have right to have you pay for it. And so on and so forth. Any program the governor likes, she can just label it a "necessity" and force everyone making above minimum wage to subsidize others.

She said it is a terrible thing that teachers cannot tell students about welfare they can get from the state (taxpayers). There was no mention of trying to help bring the children out of poverty, or helping their parents climb out of poverty. Instead, she wants to remove the "gag rule" which prohibits teachers from telling children how to obtain AHCCCS (she calls it "outreach"). This ultimately hurts the children; they need to grow up in an environment where they will learn responsibility so they will be able to take care of themselves and their children down the road. She complained how terrible it was that only five states have a higher rate of children without insurance than Arizona. True, but what Napolitano won't tell you is that this is because of illegal immigration, which she ignores like the big elephant in the closet.

She made no secret that she intends to use her position to dictate her policies to local governments, threatening that she will withhold money from those governments who do not endorse her new restrictions on growth. Her plan for growth? She said that you should "get what you expect" here in Arizona. So, for example, if you move to Arizona, government should give you what you want, even if you choose to live out in the desert where there's no one and the only reason you bought the property was it was dirt cheap. Napolitano said that you should be entitled to roads, water, electricity, etc. This will actually end up benefitting (rich) developers, who will snatch up cheap rural land, build houses on it, then demand that government pay for amenities for these houses instead of paying for the costs themselves. But you didn't hear Napolitano say that. Whatever happened to freedom of choice (apparently it only applies to getting abortions)?

She said she's signed an Exec. Order to require the state to give preference to contractors who make significant efforts to prevent the release of harmful substances into the environment. Can anyone say "Grosscost?"

She bragged about how Arizona's advanced research areas in biotech and science are "leading the way," and how "we need to tell the world that Arizona is leading the way" in these areas (note this is the opposite of her usual complaint echoing Jon Talton of the Arizona Republic who claims that Arizona doesn't have enough intellectual capital and has too many low-paying service jobs) She wants to attract foreign companies to locate in Arizona, "in-sourcing." Doesn't this benefit those exploitative overseas corporations however, which hurts Americans? (she'll take flak from the unions on this - but it's just a throwaway line used to make her look more moderate - she won't take any real action on it)

At the very end of her speech she devoted about 30 seconds to illegal immigration, briefly mentioning human smuggling and the ability of the border patrol to read license plates on cars as they cross the border (weren't they already doing that? I remember her saying this had been implemented awhile back). Obviously illegal immigration, which was ranked by the Associated Press as the biggest issue in Arizona last year, is going to be low on her priorities. She said there were three big issues facing "One Arizona" - education, foundation, and innovation - illegal immigration was noticeably missing. She also omitted any mention of public safety (other than saying that children need to come to school "safe"), which is odd considering Arizona currently has the highest crime rate in the nation. The last lines of her speech consisted of a thinly veiled lecture to Arizonans to welcome illegal immigrants, implying Arizonans were being un-American if they don't.

A couple more spending items
1. Napolitano Is ordering the Dept. of Housing to give away $1 million to rural homebuyers
2. Napolitano is putting the Dept. of Commerce investment (ahem, spending) fund back in place so businesses have access to capital (ahem, handouts/subsidies)

Meaningless, Forgettable Cliches

Napolitano -

"One Arizona"

"Innovation Arizona"

"We need a comprehensive and collaborative approach"

"right invention at the right time"

"The state of Arizona is strong" (uh yeah, like some other state is going to say "our state is weak")

"We can become even stronger" (you can hear Delaware's governor saying "we can become even weaker")

"cultivate and stimulate" (this incredibly vague statement could be used to describe almost anything, from growing plants to the intervention in Iraq to your relationship with your  spouse)

and compare those to the memorable and timeless -

Ronald Reagan - "America will be the shining city on the hill"

[randog]

She announced plans for a new college of construction...

ASU doesn't have mechanical or civil engineering colleges?

[Lucky9teen]

I can't stand this...this...thing. She is so repulsive in everything she says and does (or does not do). I can only imagine how messed up this state is going to be before she's done.

[traviskicks]

bkamkr