HighGround Public Affairs Consultants

With all due respect to Bob Robb, we think he’s playing a little bit of Monday morning quarterback with his recollection of the Proposition 100 election.  In his Friday column, he claims, “Virtually nothing voters were told about the tax prior to approving it turned out to be true… Voters were told that passage of the temporary sales tax would prevent additional cuts to K-12 education, health and human services and public safety.”

What Robb seems to forget is that the legislature had passed two budgets – one with sales tax revenue and one without.  The alternative budget, as passed, required the state to cut another $1 billion immediately.  In fact, the budget cuts were quite clear and the major impacts were shared prominently throughout the campaign:

• K-12 schools – Cut $420 million
• Higher education – Cut $100 million
• Public safety – Cut $85 million
• Health and human services – Cut $110 million

The voters were left with a binary decision – pass Proposition 100 or face more than $1 billion in additional cuts.  So the reality is Proposition 100 did prevent immediate, impending cuts to K-12 education, health and human services and public safety, just as promised.

No doubt, as he points out, many would have preferred to spend more money on education and public safety.  If that had been the case, the state would have been facing a similar financial hole it was facing three years ago.  All along, Robb has advocated for addressing underfunding in key areas (increased spending) and even called for the extension of the sales tax.

However, just as with any issue, you have to deal with the problem in front of you and plan for the best.  When Proposition 100 was passed, there were no Vegas odds on the Republicans winning a 2/3rds majority in both legislative bodies which gave them overwhelming authority over how Prop 100 proceeds were spent.  Therefore, while the state was indeed saved from nearly $1 billion in impending cuts, the same conservatives who opposed the tax in the first place used the increase in revenue to balance the budget and refill the rainy day fund and the Lord above chuckled about the plans we mortals make.

Certainly, the economic recovery did not happen as quickly as everyone would have hoped.  In addition, there are areas that remain underfunded.  However, having sufficient funds for the government we want is not the same as the voters being misled about what they got for voting for the temporary tax increase.

It is time to address the fiscal realities of Arizona’s future, but it does no good to misrepresent the past in the process.

In their June edition, Sunset Magazine had their annual Best of West piece.  We were pleased as can be to see that Roosevelt Row was named “Best Day Trip.”  We are proud to members of this organization and agree wholeheartedly with Sunset that “Downtown’s hippest neighborhood” is hitting it’s stride.

Read the rest of this entry »

The election post mortems have been steadily streaming in since November 2012.  As we look to next year’s midterms, Republicans retain a significant amount of bitterness over the defeats digested in the last 12 months.  The Supreme Court decision on Obamacare, and the election defeat of Mitt Romney are not left in the past – instead, they have become the fuel for the rancor that emanates from the rank and file of our Party.

With the midterm elections 17 months away, Republicans must pivot and use this opportunity to demonstrate to voters what we represent.  As we have said in this blog many times before, Republicans have to show voters what the Party is FOR.

There is no doubt plenty of failure within the Obama Administration as a whole.  However, as pointed out in this NY Times Piece, attacking the President is likely a losing strategy.  Attack campaigns do very little to motivate key critical swing voter targets which makes all the difference in most swing districts.  Former Senator Olympia Snowe sums it up nicely in the article saying, “If you can’t make that important pivot to what Republicans stand for and how they’ve gotten the message, I think there will be even more damage to the Republican Party.”

The platform continues to be defined by what Republicans oppose, not what they support.  We truly have become the party of no – if you say yes, then it’s likely you’re a RINO or a traitor.

During the Spanish-American War, the men under Teddy Roosevelt’s command were reticent to commence the battle for San Juan Hill.  They wanted to wait for more men, more guns, and more supplies.  Roosevelt wouldn’t take no for an answer.  Instead he replied, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

GOP campaigns this cycle should focus 75% of the time on what we are for and what they can get done.  We have seen that leading is more about providing answers rather than just critiques.

The next 17 months are the perfect opportunity for Republicans to do what they can, with what they have, where they are.  When the American voters see this, they’re likely to follow suit.  Otherwise, the GOP can be relegated to the minority party for the foreseeable future.

In case you missed it, conservative columnist Robert Robb wrote about the fiscal risks that face the State of Arizona if the legislature ignores its obligation to restore coverage to those at or below the Federal Poverty Level under Proposition 204.

Robb writes, “Even if the federal government were willing to continue current funding for the frozen population or a Prop. 204 restoration, it would cost the state more than Brewer’s proposal and cover fewer people. What’s the sense in that?  And if the state ends up having to comply with the Prop. 204 mandate without federal funds, the cost would be $1.4 billion a year.  That’s a much bigger risk than the risk of being left holding the bag if the federal government reneges on Obamacare’s Medicaid funding commitments.”

Read the article for yourself.

As we said in our “Do the Math” video over a month ago, if Arizona chooses to go it alone, the state will be left holding the bag – draining the rainy day fund and potentially taking even more general fund money from education and public safety.

Robert Robb is right:  “Opponents of Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid expansion proposal are recklessly minimizing the risk to the state’s fisc of not participating.”