Budget-Killing Reagan Serving Hard Time in Senate
By Ben Franklin, American Post-Gazette
Not every guilty person looks it. Take Michele Reagan R-Scottsdale) for example. She is a soft spoken, pleasant woman with a kind face, but a few years ago her vote in the Legislature nearly wrecked the Arizona state budget, and threatened to bankrupt us. If Reagan were Democrat, you might understand, even if grudgingly, but this vote for Janet Napolitano's out of control spending plan was incomprehensible. Michele Reagan is a wrecking ball wrapped in velvet.
In the aftermath after Napolitano was called to Washington to serve the Obama regime, the Republican legislature struggled to repair that dreadful budget. Wrestling greased pythons might have been easier. The Democrat money spenders fought hard to keep the ex-governor's wild programs in place at the same time our economy was in free fall due to ludicrous Federal policies. It did not have to be that way. One woman, single handedly, had cast the key vote that destroyed our fiscal responsibility and threatened Arizona's economic stability for several years afterward. That woman was our own Michele Reagan.
When Governor Napolitano took office in 2003, she pushed the Arizona Legislature to increase the budget at an annual rate of 12 percent, much faster than the growth rate of the state's private sector, which expands 7 to 8 percent per year when times are good. State government spending reached 7.01 percent of the state's economy - the biggest proportion since 1980.
With expenditures increasing so fast, it was inevitable tax revenues would fall short and a gigantic deficit would be the result. That gap reached $2.2 billion, the biggest per capita state deficit in the country. Did that sink in? We had the biggest deficit per capita in the entire United States, and Michele Reagan voted for that disaster.
More recently she was at it again. When Governor Brewer signed on to bringing Obamacare into Arizona on the wings of the Medicare system, Reagan once again voted with the Democrats for an expense-heavy medical insurance expansion that would wreak havoc on the state economy. Critics have pointed out that after the first couple of years, state tax payers would be digging deep into their pockets to keep this burdensome monster alive. The monster will then eat us, or at least a large part of our hard earned money.
When Reagan was asked why she voted for the bill, she said she wanted to give the House of Representatives a chance to weigh in also. However, in a subsequent round of voting, Reagan voted against the disastrous legislation. Reagan claimed her switch was due to the elimination of a trigger that would cancel state participation when Federal funding falls below 80%. In other words, she voted for it, and then against it when her vote was no longer critical to passage. Reagan had found cover for switching.
What is wrong with sticking to conservative principals and giving the people responsible government? Surely that can't be too much to ask from our elected officials! Every Democrat voted for this healthcare bill, and Reagan voted with the Democrats on two of the most critical issues of our times.
Now, Michele Reagan wants to become our Secretary of State, but her ultimate goal is to take command on the 9th floor - in the Governor's office. You do not want this to happen! Perhaps the woman is in the wrong party and ought to be encouraged to make a change. Perhaps she should be encouraged to retire. It's OK. She doesn't need the job and will do just fine without her meager state salary. Just think how much better Arizona will be with her out of office.
