IT'S TIME TO COME CLEAN - GOVERNOR

Perspective for your consideration …
What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

Arizona Republic … 9 Oct 08 … by Matthew Benson … State contracts larger than $50,000 on hold… Faced with growing fears about the economy and a darkening fiscal picture for state government, Gov. Janet Napolitano vowed Wednesday to freeze all state contracts larger than $50,000 until they can be reviewed. …. The move immediately applies to all state agencies, and she has asked the state's public universities to do likewise. …. "Hopefully it will not be a roadblock but will be a way to ensure we are only spending what is mission-critical this year," Napolitano, a Democrat, told reporters. With its depressed housing market, Arizona has been particularly hard-hit by the national downturn in the economy. Legislative budget officials have said the state shortfall for this fiscal year, which ends June 30, could range between $550 million and $1 billion. That would come on top of a nearly $2 billion shortfall that legislators closed last spring. …. Napolitano has also asked school districts to find additional administrative savings that can be moved into classroom spending. …. The push is similar to one the governor made soon after taking office in 2003, although she acknowledged the state has recently seen "some slippage" in school-spending efficiency. … The renewed emphasis also may help inoculate K-12 education against significant spending cuts over the next year, when Napolitano and legislators will be looking for savings to manage the budget deficit.
As a businessman who has had contracts with the State of Arizona for amounts equal to and in some cases greater than $50,000, I rise to ask if this is to be the policy of our Governor, how does she expect her constituents will choose to react to this diabolical and draconian action on her part…? Perhaps I do not understand and her actions only apply to those situations where the contract or agreement is not yet signed…? The article is not specific as to what her actions apply.

One can only hope our Governor is not pursuing a policy of terminating signed agreements which will be met with an outcry heard around the globe. A choice to terminate a signed agreement sends the clear undeniable message that the State of Arizona can not be trusted. Is this really the message you want to send, Governor…?

Business did not make the projections upon which you chose to rely in promulgating your most recent illusionary budget. Business and the citizens of Arizona should not be hostage to your politically motivated action to CYA on a budget that you essentially fostered and championed thorough this last legislative session.

You made the mess, Governor, you need to come clean and honestly inform us as to what the real numbers are and how dire is our state’s financial picture under your leadership…?