Today Scott Smith, Mayor of Mesa, Arizona, lit into the wackadoodles at the legislature who are undermining the state's future with a budget chainsaw that is tearing apart programs that serve the poor and middle class. While they blow a kiss to corporations. What's particularly interesting about this Mayor's announcement is that Smith is a Republican, a conservative who used to be an executive for a large housing firm. He's not exactly Mayor Moonbeam. As a Mormon Republican from Mesa, the state's 3rd largest city, that puts him in bed with Arizona's most powerful politician, Senate President Russell Pearce, also a Mormon Republican from Mesa, and the moon yelper who's leading the Charge of the Dim Brigade at the Capitol.
After a long presentation today by the City's Government Relations Director, who detailed the extraordinary legislative cuts in healthcare, education, and social programs that Mesa will have to absorb, Smith pointed out the reality on the ground that seems to have escaped Pearce and his cronies:
"Just because there are cuts made at the state and federal levels does not mean the costs go away," Smith said. As people lose state-funded medical benefits, "They turn to us as their primary care physician through 911. . . . That will become more and more commonplace as we struggle with the health-care issue." Arizona Republic
The Mayor and some members of the City Council also chafed at the new and improved list of immigration bills coming down the pike, such as Pearce's SB 1611, which essentially makes it illegal to do anything while being brown. The hate mongers at the legislature are good at passing dog-whistling legislation that municipalities will have to abide by but, as Mayor Smith countered, not so good at providing funding to implement the programs.
"Has the state Legislature ever appropriated one cent to the cities for all the mandates they've imposed on us?" Smith asked. "Laws are always cheap if you don't have to pay for them," he said. "These are political statements for which there is no money."
The other day I reported that Republican Mormons in Pearce's own district are turning on him, starting a recall drive. Let's hope more city mayors and councils, regardless of party, begin to call out the stupidity of the legislature's bone-headed and spiteful actions.
Governor To The Rescue
Meanwhile, Governor Brewer was on the other side of the Valley pitching her new economic "reform" package. I'm sure her presentation will make Mayor Smith and other city executives do high-fives when they hear her four-point plan. Ready?
1. The formation of the Arizona Commerce Authority, a public-private organization intended to replace the Arizona Department of Commerce;
2. Educational reforms that allow greater access to data about schools, students and teachers;
3. An update to the state personnel system;
4. Continued effort to forestall federal intervention in state affairs. Arizona Republic
Yep, this will allay Mayor Smith's concerns. Let's look at the four elements of this "plan":
1. This public-private sham eliminates the Department of Commerce and replaces it with a room full of CEOs whose first order of business was to call for more corporate tax cuts. Now that's thinking outside the box!
2. Education "reform" means tracking immigrants in the classroom; it's meant to weed out undocumented kids. Because that's what's going to help the state -- more uneducated children! Forget about investing in education: let's "reform" it by cutting district budgets even more, increasing the teacher-student ratio, and punishing brown families while we're at it. It's not enough that Arizona is 49th or 50th in every important education indicator. No, Zimbabwe and Pakistan are below us, we've got a new goal.
3. This "updated" personnel system is House Speaker Kirk Adams' attack on public-sector pension plans (HB 2726), because those high-paid teachers and cops drove the state into the gutter.
4. Oh, let's not forget: It's those damn federal policies that are holding the state back. Arizona's new "nullification" committee will reject inconvenient federal programs and funding that was intended for the cities, because we don't like Obama's red tape that's attached to the money. Screw Medicaid, keep your $7.5 billion, let Mayor Smith and his counterparts deal with the more than one million who will be without coverage -- half of them children.
So, rest assured Mayor Smith, Governor Brewer, ex officio Governor Pearce, and their Mensa pals in the legislature are riding to the rescue of Arizona cities. They have a 4-point plan and lots more ideas to keep the state dumb but white.
Hey Mesa Republicans! You're learning the Wisconsin lesson: elections have consequences.