Don’t mock; I inherited a financial mess as governor
I was pleased to be the guest of state House Speaker Rusty Bowers and Senate President Karen Fann last month for the opening ceremonies of Arizona’s 54th legislative session. Returning to the Capitol brought back many memories from 10 years ago when I inherited a much different situation after being sworn in as Arizona’s 22nd governor.
At the time, Arizona had a $3 billion shortfall, the largest budget deficit, per capita, of any state in the union. A line from my first inaugural address which summed it up: “It was like showing up after a grand party, all the guests had left and there was a great mess to clean up and I was handed the bill.”
During that tumultuous time, I was guided by the wisdom of my late mother, “Doing the right thing always means doing the hard thing.” I hadn’t been elected to be governor and never really imagined pursuing the office. My mother was prescient about the prospects of life — it is hard, particularly when you want to do the right thing.
Much has been made recently about Arizona’s ability to reduce the debt that was incurred while navigating the worst downturn in our history. It’s helpful to remember the options at our disposal were limited. Arizona has a constitutional prohibition against public debt — we could not borrow our way out of this crisis. Our options were delay spending, cut spending and raise taxes. After being briefed by the best economists, I admitted, all options were on the table.
Republicans called me an apostate and Democrats believed they had a shot to defeat me. To get through the crisis, we proposed cutting a billion dollars, borrowing a billion by leasing back buildings, and raising a billion through a temporary 3-year sales tax dedicated to education and public safety. After vetoing five budgets, suing the Legislature and welcoming five opponents into the GOP primary, the word “hard” no longer seemed sufficient.
We secured the bipartisan votes to pass our budget and voters passed, with 64 percent of the vote, the temporary tax. Arizona was delivered from the brink of insolvency. We went on to do other big things, including creating the Arizona Commerce Authority; reforming our Child Protective welfare system; preventing over 63,000 (including 5,000 cancer patients and 10,000 veterans) from losing their Medicaid coverage; reforming at will employment laws; and putting our state’s fiscal house back on the path to prosperity.
Unfortunately, the economy had not yet fully recovered by the expiration of the temporary tax. So, the state was once again left with a budget predicament — albeit a much more manageable one than one I inherited.
I’m deeply grateful to everyone who helped our state through those very difficult times. I’m grateful that Arizona’s economy has largely recovered from those very dark days. But we should acknowledge the situation we’re in today is the result of many difficult decisions made by those who served before us.
Let’s not make light of “Daily Show” pieces mocking us for having to make those difficult decisions. Let’s dedicate ourselves to the proposition that public service is a noble calling, which when done well requires great self-sacrifice.
I pray that our leaders look at today’s surplus and think long and hard about how to invest that in continuing to grow opportunity. We still have needs in education, health care, transportation and ensuring our long-term water security. As Ronald Reagan once said, “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.”
Thank for permitting me to serve, it was an honor.