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While the Republicans and Democrates routinely call each other liars, the truth is they BOTH are liars and thieves.
Campbell: Claims of 'balanced' budget untrue by Chad Campbell - May. 9, 2011 12:00 AM My turn If you think politicians in charge of state government are telling the truth, think again. We're past the point of transparency - it's one thing to hide budgets and actions from the public, but it's another to mislead them. Republican House Speaker Kirk Adams praised himself twice last month in his own op-eds for having a "balanced budget" with no "gimmicks." Not true. The Arizona Republic's Fact Check even proved it: "Adams is inaccurate when he says the budget contains no accounting tricks and gimmicks. The package contains fund transfers, forced payments and rollovers." The truth is that Adams and Senate President Russell Pearce's budget uses gimmicks to roll forward $332 million in debt to next year, in open violation of the state constitutional requirement to have a balanced budget. Adams and Pearce assume that the courts will go along with cutting 280,000 people from AHCCCS, a violation of what voters approved on the ballot, which is also violation of the state Constitution. Yet Adams continues to falsely gloat and feed phony hopes of a "bright future" to Arizonans who are still laid off and struggle to put food on the table or fight foreclosure. The truth is that Arizona still has an unemployment rate of 9.5 percent, and 20,000 of those who receive federal jobless aid while they search for work will no longer get it because Republicans in the Legislature didn't make a one-word, cost-free change to a statute. That's $4.5 million a week that our state's economy will lose. The truth is that Arizona ranks second in the nation in foreclosures. Second. And Republicans have done absolutely nothing to aid middle-class families facing foreclosure. For three years, including this year, they rejected plans to deal with Arizona's housing crisis. The truth is that Adams and Pearce tout a so-called jobs bill. But that's also completely false. It's actually a corporate-bailout package that gives away corporate tax breaks to giant, out-of-state retailers that won't use it to create a single job here in Arizona; rather, rich CEOs likely will keep it to themselves. Adams and Pearce are right about one thing: They sure did "give parents more choices in education" - but by making them choose between buying their kids paper and pencils and being able to pack their lunch boxes. Republicans chose to cut another $200 million from K-12 education after the biggest cuts to our kids' schools in the history of the state. We want our kids to learn and grow in school, not get lost in a crowded classroom. Meanwhile, Republicans spent countless hours on bills that declare an official state gun, make food-stamp cards bright orange, require presidential candidates to prove their citizenship, create a special 'tea party' license plate and allow guns on college campuses. Some bright future that is. Having a strong future begins with holding politicians in charge accountable for what they say and do. It starts now. Chad Campbell, a Democrat, is minority whip of the Arizona House of Representatives. |