State Senator Pam Gorman has resigned as Senate Republican Whip. Her resignation letter is here, courtesy AZCentral.com.
I won't publish it in its entirety here, mostly because it is available on Republican blogs and it isn't the purpose of this blog to serve as an outlet Rep propaganda.
You can read her letter at your leisure, but when you do, you should note one thing - for all over her talk about "ideological and philosophical differences", "solid Republican legislation" and concern for the health and unity of the Republican caucus, nowhere does she express concern for her constituents or the state as a whole.
EJ Montini of the Republic has made pretty much the same observation.
I would like to think that at some point, the Reps in the lege will get tired of spending August in Phoenix, but my cynicism is holding sway over my idealism right now.
I suppose there is one upside to all this, for the Republicans anyway.
The longer they go without doing a budget, the longer it is before the inevitable lawsuits over some of their moves can be filed.
2 comments:
The only real motivation they have for doing anything in August is that the equalization property tax (the permanent repeal of which they made their number one priority going into the session) is due to return.
Contrary to what some are claiming, it is not a 'tax increase' when it does come back, what we got was a temporary hiatus three years ago which is now due to expire, just like if your local supermarket puts an item on sale and when the sale ends on schedule it goes back to its original price.
However, the corporate donors to the GOP who they essentially promised up front they would scrub this tax from the books, will have to start paying it if they are unsuccessful at getting rid of it.
Other than that, you're right, there is little to motivate them to do much right now. Oh, well-- only fifteen months before we can vote the bums out.
You're preaching to the choir here, Eli.
There's maybe a half-dozen GOP legislators that are worthy of respect as public servants. The rest are there to play games and to front for their campaign contributors.
The Senate (and presumably, the House, too) is scheduled to meet on Friday. If there is an effort to get their entire caucus into Phoenix for that, then look for a budget package with an equalization property tax repeal.
If it doesn't happen this week, it could be months before they get their act together...and I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing.
Post a Comment