Plan Watch Update

If you recall, back in September, I said, that if you are running for Governor, you need a plan for the budget and you need it ASAP.  So far, the results of the plan offerings have been mixed.  I thought I would take a moment to look around and get updates on what the different candidates are thinking.

Governor Jan Brewer offered her budget which has some deep cuts and still holds out hope for revenues to protect education.  The cuts are hailed by some and hated by others, same goes for the idea of any sort of tax proposal.

John Munger also offered up his own plan (warning – pdf) this week.  Guess what?  It doesn’t raise taxes… I guess…  I mean, it does borrow a bunch of money from something that doesn’t even exist yet, and it also tries to steal money from the Federal Government which may or may not be legal (or feasible).  So is it a plan with two such big fails off the bat?  Probably not, but he is a lot further than the rest of the candidates.

Vernon Parker had touted his “no” plan all the way until he bailed on the race altogether to try for greener pastures in a race he might have a slight better chance of winning.  Sure, he still cares about Arizona, but he’d rather do it from Washington.

Last week, I suggested that “Buz” Mills could perhaps loan the state some money since he was throwing a big wad of cash in.  No word back on that, or his website, which someone said was supposed to be up 10 days ago.  I still have no idea what this guy looks like.

Dean Martin will tell you that he has known about this problem for a year now.  He’ll say he told us so.  What he won’t say is how to fix it.  You can bet when he finally does, it will be chock full of the same tax avoiding gimmicks that we have seen from some of these other folks.

Last but certainly not least is Terry Goddard.  He thinks that the state is in trouble.  What he continues to fail to point out is that his buddy Janet got us into this mess and his Democratic buddies down at the legislature fail to do anything about it.  But hey, if he gets elected, he’ll fix everything.  Perhaps, he’ll go back to budgeting the same way that Napolitano did.

So, as you can see, except for a few people who have taken the time to put their ideas on paper, we are still mired in a race of candidates who will be happy to offer platitudes and empty rhetoric on the budget so they don’t have to be nailed down to any specific program or admit how deep the financial hole really is.  Sometimes the thought of leadership is a lot more glamorous than actually leading.

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