DENNIS DURBAND

Poor First-Term Performance Makes Napolitano Ripe for a November Beating

Aug. 12, 2006

Popular Grand Canyon State wisdom seems to be that Janet Napolitano is a cinch to win re-election. This type of thinking ignores political realities, the governor’s weak first-term record and the strength of her Republican opponent.

In handicapping the November gubernatorial election, let’s cover the most quantitative aspect first.

As of March 6, the secretary of state reported 1,042,000 registered Republicans in Arizona, compared to 890,000 registered Democrats and 17,700 Libertarians. Most of the GOP advantage is centered in Maricopa County.

Based on numbers, a Democrat can only win the governor’s race in a close heat, such as 2002 when Napolitano nipped Republican Matt Salmon by one percent of the vote. Even then, it was liberal “Republican” RINOs who made the difference in Napolitano’s favor.

Enough liberal Republicans crossed over to put Napolitano in office four years ago. She over-performed more in Legislative District 8 – Scottsdale, Fountain Hills and Rio Verde – than any so-called “Republican” stronghold. Despite its GOP leanings, District 8 leans left and elects mostly fiscal/social libs to the legislature, like Michele Reagan and Carolyn Allen. Pulled by the strings of Planned Parenthood, these leftist puppets routinely legislate with the Democratic minority.

Pro-abortion “Republicans” will again vote for Napolitano, but they may not be able to overcome the GOP’s voter registration advantage this time.

Recent news reports also indicate that northwest Tucson has gotten more conservative with recent newcomers. Pima County is the state’s second-most populous county and may not support the liberal incumbent quite as well this time around. Normally, liberals run up the score in Pima County and Republicans run it up in the more populous Maricopa County.

The high cost of vetoes

During her first term, Napolitano smashed the state record for most vetoes by a governor. Despite good legislation paralleling her term, the governor killed many a solid, commonsense bill. She went against public opinion in practically every instance. The past two years have been particularly outstanding legislative sessions. The House and Senate have passed dozens of responsible social and fiscal bills, only to have them swatted down by a liberal hell bent on gifting her minority base.

Napolitano has been relentless in working to expand the size of government and take bigger tax bites out of Arizona families. She has been erratic on border invasion bills, and she has an abysmal record on social issues. While the legislature was passing outstanding bills, Napolitano obsessed on all-day kindergarten. The governor killed numerous bills which would have protected women and children from a myriad of social harms.

It is now time for the governor to pay the piper, to suffer the consequences of her outrageous and indefensible veto record.

Here is a partial list of just a few of the vetos Napolitano made:

HB 2577 – 2006; illegal immigration law
HB 2004—2006; tuition tax credit
HB 2102—2006; opposed state review of an office supply contract, deferring instead to her handpicked staff to prevent the public from gaining adequate oversight of state government
HB 2142 – 2006; prevents sale of human eggs; result is that women will be subject to health risks; anti-woman veto
HB 2254 – 2006; fetal pain
HB 2315 – 2006; increase the burden of proof for medical malpractice
HB 2650 – 2006; prevented legislative control of federal funds; insisting on one person’s right, the governor’s, to control half the state’s funding as opposed to 90 people in the legislature
HB 2666—2006; requires parental consent for minor’s abortion to be notarized; (previously a boy’s email was accepted by a judge; fraud potential)
HB 2701 – 2006; mandated National Guard troops on the border; she wants to wait for federal action—not the sign of a leader to wait when there is a crisis; counting her votes!

Additional blunders

In addition to answering for all those vetoes, Napolitano must answer for her autocratic, out-of-step-with-the-mainstream governing style.

This governor has an anti-family, anti-woman, anti-child record. She vetoed a bill that would have required abortion clinics to level with women on the risks associated. Thousands of woman are now at risk, as a result of this veto. Many women will suffer physical and emotional trauma. We have had deaths and sexual assaults in abortion clinics, and we probably have not seen the last of them yet.

Through an unpopular executive order, the governor made sexual orientation a protected designation in state government.

Napolitano made 13 line-item vetoes for the 2003-2004 budget. She also made line-item additions to the state budget, drawing a lawsuit from GOP leadership in the process. Only her liberal friends on the bench saved her bacon.

This governor incessantly tries to grab more and more of your hard-earned money, pushing for tax increases and a bloated, ever-expanding state government.

Last year, the governor underhandedly used a billboard campaign thinly disguised as PR for a state program. She has no shame.

All of these negatives are off the radar of the liberal mainstream media throughout Arizona. They love her for opposing the conservative legislature, one that has been selected by a conservative majority in this state.

While the majority of Arizonans believe in God, Napolitano was very slow in coming around to supporting the National Day of Prayer.

And let’s not forget her skirting of the law in re-naming Squaw Peak and Squaw Peak Parkway for political purposes aimed at maintaining support from Navajo Democrats.

We haven’t touched upon some biggies:

Crime in Arizona is ridiculously high, and this goes as a black mark on the governor’s record. She did nothing to cut down on the state’s worsening crime rate.

Education has not improved either. Like a good liberal, the governor keeps trying to throw more money at a failed system that produces far too many people who are illiterate, ignorant and inadequate for the labor force. Napolitano’s obsession with all-day kindergarten is just more feel-good-based liberal dart throwing at education, as well as an attempt to give the state more control over parents and their children.

Budget “negotiations” always showed Napolitano’s true nature – as a person whose word means nothing. Her promises and agreements often rang hollow.

This is a governor with an ego the size of the Jack-In-the-Box guy’s head. And she lacks the record to justify her massive ego. In short, she has been a disaster for this state. Change and a new direction are needed.

The governor’s campaign signs tell it all. They omit the fact that she is a Democrat, and they are dark blue … in a red state.

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