Governor Breaks Her Word on Key Part of Budget Deal

(State Capitol, Phoenix) Senate President Ken Bennett and House Speaker Jim Weiers express outrage over the Governor breaking her word to sign SB 1527, the corporate tuition tax credit bill, a major component of the overall agreed upon budget package. The corporate tuition tax credit represents an expansion of school choice in Arizona, allowing corporations to do what individuals can do -- make contributions for private and parochial school scholarships. The Governor's excuses to justify this veto range from utterly absurd semantic games to outright falsehoods. Completely contrary to their claims of last minute, late night drafts, her office had ample opportunity to review all drafts of budget bills for many hours prior to the votes on those bills. In fact, changes were made to address other specific concerns raised by the Governor's staff. The Governor even admits that her senior budget staff person specifically wrote "ok" on the actual amendment, approving the final version of the school choice bill. Days after the legislative budget vote the Governor boasted in the "Arizona Daily Star" (May 9th) that she had made a good deal in exchange for the school choice measure based upon the spending programs she was able to secure. There was no mention of problematic provisions and no mention of a link to Flores ("English Language Learners"). Only after taking tremendous criticism from special interest lobbyists and Democratic party activists did the Governor raise issues with aspects of a bill her staff had approved based on an agreement she had reached. She has even gone so far as to link totally unrelated issues, "English Language Learners" (Flores) and corporate tuition tax credits, in an effort to come up with something else she can use to attempt to justify breaking her word. The two issues were never linked. We did agree to address ELL before completing the session. They worked with Democrat leaders and agreed to the initial funding amount sought by the Governor and Democrat leaders, as well as other first year issues. President Bennett said, "In all my years of public service, I have never experienced a greater example of bad faith than what the Governor did in blatantly disregarding a core part of the budget agreement we had with her. She has acted dishonorably and this veto proves that she cannot be trusted." Speaker Weiers said, "There is only one way to put this, the Governor lied to me. The Governor's legacy can only be termed, Ëœpromises made, promises broken.'" President Bennett and Speaker Weiers stated that trust in future dealings with this Governor will be next to impossible after she failed to keep her word with such deep disregard for what should have been honor among statesmen doing the work of the people who elected them. The President and Speaker made clear that this dismissal by the Governor of the trust placed in her by fellow leaders of Arizona demonstrates an utter lack of leadership on her part, and cannot help but hinder opportunities for the legislature and the Governor to work in cooperation on critical issues.