Monday, May 19th, 2008...8:55 am
Um…What About That?
Anyone remember how, week before last, the legislature took Thursday off with the implicit promise that the Republican leadership would have a budget to present to the full legislature by the following Monday?
Well, today is the Monday following the following Monday. One more Thursday off for the house, and still nothing.
I’ve talked to a couple of folks at the capitol, including a Republican (Yeah, they talk to me. Suckers!). The sticking point is over bonding. There is a cadre of Republicans who don’t want the state to borrow any money to cover capital expenditures (even though this sort of thing is common in the corporate world, so much for running government like a business) So, at what point do the other Republicans swallow their pride and cut a deal with Democrats?
The other thing I’ve heard is that both Tim Bee and Jim Weiers have so far only had a minimum of participation in the process (I was told this by someone close to the Republican leadership). The reason for this, I’ve been told, is that they don’t sit on the relevant committees so have been staying out of the bulk of the fight. How does Bee, who is campaigning for congress on his record of “legislative leadership,” justify staying out of the most important dicussion this session?
4 Comments
May 19th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
How does Bee, who is campaigning for congress on his record of “legislative leadership,” justify staying out of the most important dicussion this session?
How about:
1. He can dodge blame for the draconian budget that the conservative leadership always comes out of the gate with;
2. He’s busy raising more money that he isn’t supposed to be raising according to the law. Only he isn’t calling it fundraising;
3. He is demonstrating that if he ever gets to Congress he will be perfectly comfortable as a backbencher who rarely actually does anything except rubber stamp the votes of his party’s House leadership.
May 19th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
He’s busy meeting with fundraisers (ie. lobbyists).
The GOP: Wrapping ourselves in the flag and wearing flag lapel pins since before you were born.
-Anon
May 20th, 2008 at 9:01 am
I agree with point #1 on Eli’s list the most. Bee has sold himself to the university down here as being some kind of big friend to higher education. He needs to stay out of the fray if he is to continue to get praise as a “moderate”. He also needs some kind of way of deflecting what will be the most effective campaign ad I can imagine.
Tim Bee led the Senate and was on the watch when Arizona’s economy and state budget went into the tank.
He is in a no-win situation here too. On one hand, he can try to blame the governor for the mess, but he was the one that brokered the compromise and shoved a largely conservative budget (with more spending and much less revenue to finance it) down our throats.
On the other hand, he can try to lay down with the dogs in his base and claim to be a fiscal conservative (this is the tack he is taking now).
Either way, he loses.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:20 am
By the way, if you haven’t heard, the University system is about to take one of the largest hits in the nation on cutbacks. The university President is going to pretend, with the Governor, that it doesn’t hurt that much, but we are going to be forced to do away with programs in the coming year. The budget cuts are going to be more than dramatic in impact…because we have been cutting back over the past seven years.
The capital bond fund is the only real hope for higher education in the future. They MUST pass it.
If they don’t, I can assure you that you will be paying much more for your child to come here…much more…AND there might be fewer spots.
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