PHOENIX (By Robbie Sherwood and Chip
Scutari, Arizona Republic) March 22, 2005 -
Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed the Legislature's $8.2 billion
budget plan Monday just 20 minutes after it was sent to her office.
The plan, crafted by Republicans and approved along party lines Friday, offered a "host of false choices" that hurt children and economic development, the governor said.
"This Legislature came back with a budget that is balanced on the backs of children," Napolitano said.
"My budget proposal moves Arizona forward. This one brings our state to a dead stop."
Napolitano and legislators appeared to be only about $60 million apart, a small amount considering the size of the fiscal 2006 budget. She planned to meet again with legislative leaders Wednesday morning to discuss their differences.
Much of the disagreement is over money for children. Napolitano said the legislative budget needlessly pits teachers' pay raises against her plan to expand full-day kindergarten, and money to improve Child Protective Services against a desire to use cash instead of debt for school construction. She also said legislators unnecessarily set cash to start a new downtown Phoenix medical school against money for tax cuts.
"In truth, we can pay our teachers better and offer more children all-day kindergarten," Napolitano told Republican leaders in her veto letter. "We can build a new medical school and provide economically beneficial tax relief to our businesses. And we can invest in both the safety of our children and the fiscally prudent construction of new schools."
She also cited the elimination of social service programs such as general assistance, which helps keep disabled homeless adults off the street as a sticking point. And she disagreed with a lack of funding for a tribal community college and her Commission of Indian Affairs.
Napolitano's move, not unexpected though much quicker than predicted, puts the pressure back on Republican leaders who eschewed Democratic input when crafting the plan.
Republican leaders said Napolitano is "acting with impunity," given that she was elected in 2002 by a thin margin and Republicans dominate the legislature and voter rolls. Recent polls, however, have shown her with a substantial lead over potential Republican opponents in the 2006 election.
House Speaker Jim Weiers and Senate President Ken Bennett defended their budget Monday as fiscally sound, geared toward enhancing public education and public safety and less reliant on borrowing.
Bennett called Napolitano's swift veto "pure politics."
"She couldn't have read all the bills and thoughtfully directed a veto message on each of the bills as is required by the Constitution," said Bennett, R-Prescott. "She had a veto already prepared. She had a veto message in the word processor."
Weiers also said he was amazed by Napolitano's quickness and what he called her lack of candor.
"Somehow, in a matter of 45 minutes, she was able to go through almost 300 pages of budget and do a full-sale veto and come back with a veto message," said Weiers, R-Phoenix. "Either she is at the top of the class with Evelyn Wood . . . or she was less than honest with us when we were sitting in the room."
The governor had met with Republican leaders briefly before issuing her veto.
Though the budget lacks $20 million Napolitano wanted to expand full-day kindergarten, Bennett said the legislative plan outspends Napolitano's by $135 million for public education. That includes $45 million for teacher salaries to help offset rising health care and retirement costs and $70 million for the upkeep of school buildings that Napolitano had not included in her budget.
Weiers said Child Protective Services does not deserve more taxpayer money because of what he called "horrible mismanagement" over the past year. Napolitano wants about $30 million more for the agency to hire more caseworkers and improve adoption services and foster care.
"We gave almost $23 million last year (to CPS) and things have only gotten worse," Weiers said.
Earlier in the day tribal leaders from around the state met at the Capitol and called proposed legislative cuts to a tribal community college and the state Commission of Indian Affairs "another broken treaty" that could permanently hurt relations between tribal and state governments. All told, the cut to Dine Community College would total only $1.7 million and the commission about $200,000.
Business leaders were encouraged that Napolitano did not outwardly position herself against any of the proposed tax cuts in the legislative budget, especially a long-term plan to bring down business property taxes.
The plan, crafted by Republicans and approved along party lines Friday, offered a "host of false choices" that hurt children and economic development, the governor said.
"This Legislature came back with a budget that is balanced on the backs of children," Napolitano said.
"My budget proposal moves Arizona forward. This one brings our state to a dead stop."
Napolitano and legislators appeared to be only about $60 million apart, a small amount considering the size of the fiscal 2006 budget. She planned to meet again with legislative leaders Wednesday morning to discuss their differences.
Much of the disagreement is over money for children. Napolitano said the legislative budget needlessly pits teachers' pay raises against her plan to expand full-day kindergarten, and money to improve Child Protective Services against a desire to use cash instead of debt for school construction. She also said legislators unnecessarily set cash to start a new downtown Phoenix medical school against money for tax cuts.
"In truth, we can pay our teachers better and offer more children all-day kindergarten," Napolitano told Republican leaders in her veto letter. "We can build a new medical school and provide economically beneficial tax relief to our businesses. And we can invest in both the safety of our children and the fiscally prudent construction of new schools."
She also cited the elimination of social service programs such as general assistance, which helps keep disabled homeless adults off the street as a sticking point. And she disagreed with a lack of funding for a tribal community college and her Commission of Indian Affairs.
Napolitano's move, not unexpected though much quicker than predicted, puts the pressure back on Republican leaders who eschewed Democratic input when crafting the plan.
Republican leaders said Napolitano is "acting with impunity," given that she was elected in 2002 by a thin margin and Republicans dominate the legislature and voter rolls. Recent polls, however, have shown her with a substantial lead over potential Republican opponents in the 2006 election.
House Speaker Jim Weiers and Senate President Ken Bennett defended their budget Monday as fiscally sound, geared toward enhancing public education and public safety and less reliant on borrowing.
Bennett called Napolitano's swift veto "pure politics."
"She couldn't have read all the bills and thoughtfully directed a veto message on each of the bills as is required by the Constitution," said Bennett, R-Prescott. "She had a veto already prepared. She had a veto message in the word processor."
Weiers also said he was amazed by Napolitano's quickness and what he called her lack of candor.
"Somehow, in a matter of 45 minutes, she was able to go through almost 300 pages of budget and do a full-sale veto and come back with a veto message," said Weiers, R-Phoenix. "Either she is at the top of the class with Evelyn Wood . . . or she was less than honest with us when we were sitting in the room."
The governor had met with Republican leaders briefly before issuing her veto.
Though the budget lacks $20 million Napolitano wanted to expand full-day kindergarten, Bennett said the legislative plan outspends Napolitano's by $135 million for public education. That includes $45 million for teacher salaries to help offset rising health care and retirement costs and $70 million for the upkeep of school buildings that Napolitano had not included in her budget.
Weiers said Child Protective Services does not deserve more taxpayer money because of what he called "horrible mismanagement" over the past year. Napolitano wants about $30 million more for the agency to hire more caseworkers and improve adoption services and foster care.
"We gave almost $23 million last year (to CPS) and things have only gotten worse," Weiers said.
Earlier in the day tribal leaders from around the state met at the Capitol and called proposed legislative cuts to a tribal community college and the state Commission of Indian Affairs "another broken treaty" that could permanently hurt relations between tribal and state governments. All told, the cut to Dine Community College would total only $1.7 million and the commission about $200,000.
Business leaders were encouraged that Napolitano did not outwardly position herself against any of the proposed tax cuts in the legislative budget, especially a long-term plan to bring down business property taxes.
