What Happened at the Legislature in 2011?
The Sierra Vista Herald provided our community a useful service in publishing “How your state senators/representatives voted” and I commend them for their efforts. With the ending of the first regular session of the 50th Arizona Legislature, the results are in and there certainly is plenty of material to analyze and consider.
Southern Arizonans now know that our LD25 and LD30 legislators, who told voters in 2010 that making state government smaller was really important. By their votes, they actually grew state government. In this session, Reps. Gowan voted yes 88% of the time; Judd, 95%, Stevens, 88.5%; Vogt, 88.9%. Senators Griffin voted yes 87.5% of the time while Antenori voted yes 89.1% of the time. Antenori could have changed that ratio except that he missed 6.5% of the votes.
Just where are these legislators’ priorities? A recent Nogales International’s story, “State senator, representative reflect on an eventful legislative session,” sheds light on why our kids’ classrooms are overcrowded and why it’s going to get even harder to find a nearby doctor for our seniors in rural areas.
As a former state representative, it’s disappointing to see what our current southern Arizona representatives are doing to our education and health care.
Representatives Peggy Judd, David Stevens and Senator Gail Griffin boasted about a budget that cut another $200 million from K-12 education after the biggest cuts to our kids’ schools in the history of the state. Arizona is ranked last in education funding, teachers are being laid off and our classroom sizes are growing and Judd said: “We are spending more money (on public education) in Arizona than we need to.”
Don’t we want our kids to learn and grow in school, and not be lost in a crowded classroom? Funding cuts to education are cuts to our kids’ futures, while investing in good education is the key to brighter futures for our young people. Isn’t it time we invest in Arizona’s public schools instead of bailing out Wall Street and big corporations?
Yet our state lawmakers chose to vote in favor of a corporate bailout package that gives away corporate tax breaks to giant, out-of-state retailers, which won’t create a single job, nor help our struggling small businesses here in Arizona. A jobs bill that won’t help middle-class families in Arizona is not good for any of us.
Many Arizonans are losing their jobs, and having a harder time putting food on the table while our small businesses are closing their doors.
We in southern Arizona know how hard it is to find a doctor in our rural communities. Yet our state lawmakers voted to cut 280,000 people off of health care, resulting in 45,000 jobs lost in the medical sector. Our emergency rooms will flood with those who don’t have access to care, while our health services facilities struggle to recruit and retain medical providers,.
Sadly, many state representatives gloat about balancing a budget without borrowing or using gimmicks, when the reality is that this health-care cut actually is a gimmick. Representatives assume that the courts will go along with cutting hundreds of thousands people from health care, a violation of what voters approved on the ballot, which is also violation of the state Constitution. They also voted to roll forward $332 million in debt to next year, another violation of the state Constitution.
We need to hold LD25 and LD30 legislators, Judd, Stevens, Griffin, Gowan, Vogt and Antenori, accountable for their actions and require straight answers. Griffin, who campaigned in 2010 with securing our borders as her top issue, told Nogales International that she couldn’t remember how she voted on immigration bills and even asked for a “rain check.”
Stevens didn’t return phone calls.
So what are our state representatives doing at the capitol?
Answer: wasting taxpayer time and money, while our children and teachers are forced into even more crowded classrooms and our families and friends who were laid off are having trouble putting food on the table.
We know what true legislative representation should be. Now it’s time for a reality check on what legislative representation truly is.
Pat Fleming is a former state representative of District 25.