By Staff Reporter |
Attorney General Kris Mayes is pushing a false narrative about Gov. Katie Hobbs’ leadership prowess, says Senate President Warren Petersen.
Mayes criticized Petersen over his recent interview remarks revealing the governor has refused to meet with legislative leadership to continue budget negotiations.
“Short memory,” said Mayes in a post with a picture of a 2021 headline describing former Republican governor Doug Ducey’s refusal to sign bills until a budget was approved.
The Republican representing LD14 retorted that Ducey continued to negotiate pending approval of the budget.
Unlike Ducey, Petersen said Hobbs hasn’t been willing to meet with the leaders of the Republican-led legislature at all unless they conform to her plan.
“Ducey didn’t walk away from the negotiating table like Hobbs did,” said Petersen. “We continued to meet with him even though he implemented a bill moratorium. Not the same.”
On Monday, Hobbs said she would veto all bills until Republicans publicized their budget plans.
“I’m ready to talk, but I can’t negotiate with politicians who refuse to show the public their plans,” said Hobbs. “The legislative majority needs to put forward their budget proposal and then join me in good faith negotiations so we can pass a bipartisan, balanced budget like we’ve done the past three years.”
Petersen explained in a Wednesday interview with KTAR that Hobbs wanted to balance the budget based on potential future funding to be accrued from the renewal of Proposition 123 — when, if ever, that comes to pass.
The proposition, passed by voters in 2016, pulled $300 million in annual revenue for K-12 funding from the State Land Trust Permanent Fund. It expired last summer, and the legislature still hasn’t agreed on a replacement renewal plan to put before the voters.
“[Hobbs] basically wanted us to balance something off of Prop 123, something that would have to pass later. We said that was irresponsible, and so she threw a temper tantrum and walked away from budget negotiations,” said Petersen.
Last month the Arizona Senate President and Arizona House Speaker issued a joint statement accusing the governor of “distorting the facts” on budget negotiations.
Part of Hobbs’ plan would “dramatically increase” the funds pulled from Arizona’s Public Land Trust, halving it over the next 20 years and jeopardizing the trust’s intended function to fund K-12 education in the long-term.
“This is not a solution. It is a long-term raid on a critical resource,” said the pair. “We’ve put forward a responsible plan that cuts taxes for working families and funds schools without gimmicks. She walked away from the table because her math doesn’t work.”
What’s more, the president and speaker said the governor’s proposed budget would add $1.5 million more in debt.
Hobbs’ communications director, Christian Slater, offered a different view of their budget plan. He claimed the governor’s proposed budget would lower costs, invest over $1.5 billion in public education, cut taxes for the middle class, and end tax breaks for data centers.
“[Republicans] know [their budget proposal is] unbalanced, unserious, and puts billionaires and special interests ahead of everyday working families,” said Slater. “Legislative Republicans must come clean with the people of Arizona and stop hiding their partisan and unbalanced budget from public scrutiny.”
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