http://standupforarizona.com/home/Video_Bloghttp://standupforarizona.com/home/take_action/email_your_legislatorRead email from Jim Pederson below.
After 5 months of talk and posturing about the budget, we have come to a last-minute scramble and game of brinkmanship between the Governor and the Legislature. The Governor has finally, grudgingly, come up with a budget; in response, the Legislature has declared it dead on arrival and is passing its own, which the Governor in turn says she will veto.
They are giving us gridlock and tantrums while the clock runs down towards serious hardship for our state.
I think that by anybody’s standard, the Governor and Legislators have failed to lead us responsibly - especially since June 30th is the constitutionally mandated deadline for having next year’s budget in place. That means Arizona is likely to make its most serious decisions on the quick, with little consideration by the full body of elected legislators and even less opportunity for public comment and involvement.
Several newspapers have already editorialized about the poor planning and lack of scrutiny that led to the lay-off of employees charged with collecting taxes: the state saved $9 million and lost $400 million. The fact that the jobs lost by Arizonans were outsourced to foreign countries simply adds insult to injury.
http://westernmail.lyris.net/t/8304/1798638/45/0/Arizona families are the voices that have been left out of the discussion at the Capitol, but that can stop today. I’m calling on all Arizonans to contact your legislators and let them know how you feel. You can do that through this site right here if you want, or record your message for them on our video blog here. We will be compiling all of your comments to a disc that will be distributed to each and every legislator and to Governor Brewer.
The alternative to standing up and speaking out today is silence in a time of crisis. With schools, jobs, and our state’s future on the line, that’s just not an alternative we can afford.
Sincerely,
Jim Pederson
TAKE IT AWAY DU'ers!