Jan Brewer’s voice sounds time for legislators to resume
As Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer delivered her State of the State speech at the Capitol to open this year’s legislative session, there was someone in the background who’d done damage.
Republican Brewer kindly didn’t name the someone, but everyone knew she meant the woman who directly preceded her in the job. The woman Barack Obama whisked away to Washington, D.C., in 2009 to protect, or mismanage, this nation’s homeland security – with the same adroitness she’d applied to pump up Arizona’s disastrous overspending.
Political courtesy may have precluded Brewer from naming former Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano, but the timeline was plain.
“In 2009, Arizona’s budget was irresponsibly drained,” Brewer said in the text of her half-hour speech on Jan. 13 to assembled legislators and other public officials. “After years of unsustainable spending, we had the worst budget deficit of any state… In 2009, Arizona had a $3 billion deficit.”
But certain prudent stewardship, which happened to coincide with Brewer’s time as governor, had brought robust transformation.
“Today, Arizona boasts a healthy state surplus and a replenished rainy-day fund. Most impressively, we ended this past fiscal year with nearly $900 million in the bank,” Brewer continued. “There is no doubt: Arizona is back on track!”
Brewer emphasized an improved business climate in what she called “The Arizona Comeback” in her five years of holding the Executive Office.
“We steered Arizona out of a debilitating recession and implemented historic reforms and long-term structural improvements that secure Arizona’s prosperity for generations to come,” she said.
“…In 2009, Arizona was ranked among the worst states in antiquated, business-stifling tax policies. Today, we’re among the best for attracting and helping our businesses grow and thrive…
“Our message to job creators has been heard,” Brewer said. “Arizona is open for business!”
“…Our focus on job creation continues to pay off,” she said. “That’s because we’ve listened to what businesses need – and what attracts more of them to Arizona.”
Brewer addressed a number of other issues and announced she signed an executive order abolishing the troubled Child Protective Services (CPS) agency, replacing it with a new Division of Child Safety and Family Services.
The governor asked the legislature to take a further step and statutorily establish a separate agency focusing on child safety and well-being, and help for families in distress without jeopardizing child safety.
Another difficult issue, Brewer said, is human trafficking, which “traumatizes 27 million victims worldwide and targets women and children, turning many into sex slaves. It may shock you to know that it happens right here in Arizona.”
She recalled that she established a Human Trafficking Task Force last year, which recommended ways better to protect victims and increase penalties for perpetrators. Its co-chair is Cindy McCain, wife of U.S. Sen. John McCain.
Now, Brewer said, she’s asking legislators to strengthen anti-trafficking provisions “to give prosecutors and law enforcement more tools to combat this evil and better protect victims…
“To the criminal traffickers, I say: Your days are numbered!”
Brewer said Arizona’s economic progress won’t succeed without educational improvement. “By 2018, three out of five jobs in Arizona will require post-secondary training. Our students must be better-prepared for the challenging and competitive world they will soon enter.”
The governor also called attention to the contribution to the state’s economy by military facilities – more than $9 billion annually.
“I remain committed to protecting and enhancing Arizona’s military bases,” she said. “…We must be ready to protect Arizona military installations if the federal government moves to close or realign more bases…
“Protecting our military is good for Arizona, and good for America,” she said.
Drawing to a conclusion, Brewer reminded the assembly that she and they are players for only a short passage of time, and they should make the best of it.
“For this state was built by others before us, and eventually will be left to others who will follow. It is ours to love only for a time. May we love it wisely, and lead it well.”
Before Brewer’s address, which commenced shortly after 2 p.m., the Consul General of Mexico, Roberto Rodriguez Hernandez, delivered keynote remarks to the mostly full House chamber beginning shortly before 12:30 p.m. that also emphasized economic improvement.
He invited Arizona to share in this success.
The Consul General pointed to Mexican reforms that would allow that country to become more competitive in the global market and include Mexico’s energy industry allowing foreign investment.
“We are going to have the opportunity to create a lot of jobs,” he said.
Regarding the rule of law, Rodriguez said, “We know there is much to do in this area, but the right steps have been taken.”
Mentioning an expansion of prosperity, he said, “29 percent of Mexicans are part of the growing middle class.”
Noting Arizona’s planned trade office in Mexico, Rodriguez said, “Let’s work together. Let’s take advantage of the different kinds of opportunities. We are going to get substantial gain.”
ADI asked Rob Haney, immediate past chairman of the Maricopa County Republican Party, for his reaction to Brewer’s speech. Haney took specific aim at what he saw as Brewer’s “political hypocrisy which I always experience when listening to President Obama.”
Haney cited John McCain’s failure to deliver on securing the border and the consequent continued traffic over the porous line.
“[T]o laud Cindy McCain for her efforts to stop human trafficking, while not mentioning her husband’s actions which increase human trafficking, makes me want to sponsor a censure motion, for the governor this time, for failure to represent the citizens of Arizona,” Haney said.
His reference to a censure alluded to the fact that Maricopa County GOP precinct committeemen overwhelmingly voted to censure the “maverick” Senator on Jan. 11 for his betrayals of GOP values.
Haney also took exception to Brewer’s comments about education: “She talked about improving education in Arizona. But, she supports the federal government’s takeover of our education system through ‘common core.’ Those two concepts have been shown to be incompatible.”
While improving business was a major theme in the House chamber, outside on the House lawn a different sort of business was celebrated a little earlier, the facilitation of late-pregnancy abortion.
Events like the legislative opening draw demonstrators, both reputable and disreputable, to the Capitol. Different groups’ signs called for promoting legalized marijuana and for a secure border.
An Arizona Civil Liberties Union representative talked to about 80 people gathered around about “women’s health issues,” “reproductive rights,” then quickly got to what really interested her and tax-funded Planned Parenthood, “the ability to obtain an abortion…
“We’re going to go on the offensive… We’re going to tell them there will be consequences if they vote to roll back women’s health,” she said.
On this same day, Jan. 13, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a decision by the liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals against Arizona’s law restricting permissive abortions after 20 weeks.
Planned Parenthood Arizona head Bryan Howard spoke up next on the House lawn. “I want to start by congratulating the ACLU,” which “had the courage to challenge the 20-week abortion ban.”
Howard said the day’s Supreme Court action “sends a message” to people to just stop trying to pass such laws.
Like the invisible Napolitano in Brewer’s speech, there was someone invisible to Planned Parenthood, too. Twenty-plus-week abortions kill well-advanced preborn babies. Must take a lot of courage to kill them at will – and expose mothers to more serious possible medical consequences.
The same day, Phoenix’s KFYI radio news (550 AM) reported an attorney saying that as doctors’ medical progress continues to lower the age of viability, the high court must address this issue of babies being able to survive earlier.
Indeed, the Washington Post story posted about the high court’s Jan. 13 action referred to abortion standards set by the Supreme Court “40 years ago in Roe vs. Wade.”
Ultrasound images of squirming preborn babies, that anyone can have on the refrigerator today, weren’t even available to the highest judges 40 years ago. Can anyone imagine today’s Supreme Court saying that certain brain-surgery techniques can’t be allowed because they weren’t foreseen 40 years ago?
In a media release reacting to the high court’s Jan. 13 action, the sponsor of the Arizona law, Republican State Sen. Kimberly Yee, said: “I sponsored the Mother’s Health and Safety Act because there is overwhelming evidence that abortion after 20 weeks puts women in harm’s way. What’s more, by this age, preborn children can feel pain, and it is simply inhumane to subject them to an abortion.
“Because the high court decided not to take up this case, they allowed for a dangerous and radical decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to stand that overturned this law,” Yee said. “It is a fundamental responsibility of government to protect life. Today, we’ve fallen short of fulfilling our duty. There is no doubt, however, that today’s announcement will not be the last word on this critical issue.”
As people walked past the House lawn later in the day, they may have seen the ever-tolerant champions of massive illegal immigration had left their mark, an “Arizona Wall of Hate,” with the word “GOP” and the faces and names of prominent Republicans Joe Arpaio, the Sheriff of Maricopa County, Tom Horne, the Attorney General, and Gov. Brewer.
Among the words written below, “They say they are not racists. Their actions say otherwise!!”
Another message written on the “Wall of Hate” was: “We dream big. We won’t settle.”
Sometimes, a person wonders if these big dreamers spent just one-tenth the time improving Mexico that they spend inflicting their impatience on others, maybe there’d be a brighter day in both nations.