NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday January 11, 2010
Brewer's State of the State more like a State of Denial
PHOENIX—Gov. Brewer’s State of the State address on Monday included all the usual buzzwords: jobs, education, leadership. But the governor’s actions, not her words, have provided a much clearer state of the state.
“Arizona needs more than tough talk and big promises. We need a governor who will protect our schools, create jobs, fight for our seniors and defend our State Parks instead of abandoning them,” said Don Bivens, Arizona Democratic Party chairman. “As the majority party, Governor Brewer and legislative Republicans have failed to lead the way toward solving this budget crisis. They are responsible for the most devastating cuts in state history,”
With so many failures on their watch, Bivens said, Brewer and the Republicans have succeeded only in pushing Arizona down the wrong track. This often comes at the expense of the middle class as Republicans protect loopholes and tax giveways that benefit corporations and the rich.
In the governor’s speech, the disparity between her words and actions was clear: She pledged to protect education, yet she signed off on the largest cut to education in state history. She bragged about cutting government and pledged to create jobs, yet her entire jobs plan appears to be the creation of a new bureaucracy of task forces, advisory councils and summits.
Brewer made a point to bash the federal government throughout her speech, yet last year, her economic plan leaned heavily on federal stimulus dollars, and she publicized it every time a project received funding (see her press releases on Recovery Act funding: http://az.gov/recovery/news.html).
Bivens said Democrats want to get Arizona back on the right track by preserving jobs while cutting wasteful government spending, closing unfair tax loopholes, reinstating revenue-collection jobs and maximizing federal stimulus dollars.
“Republicans talk about creating opportunity, but they aren’t fighting for things that directly help Arizonans. Opportunity requires a strong foundation rooted in education and quality of life,” Bivens said. “Republicans’ priorities are all wrong, and they’ve been in power for too long. It’s time to make a change.”