State Parks under attack (again)

[PaleoRob]

Looks like the temporary reprieve that the state parks got is going to vanish again. State legislators are planning on shutting all state parks and slashing pay for all state employees (does that include the legislators as well?) in order to save money. Never mind that the state treasurer said that the state could lay off every single state employee and still be in the hole, but oh well.
No much of a person to get on a political rant, but I feel that our legislature over the past decade or so has generally done us a terrible disservice, and their current behavior is right in line with that. Why not let the voters decide themselves if they want a sales tax increase? Uh oh, the uninformed masses might do something that goes ideologically against what you like. Guess what? The public should get the final word, not you. So irritated this morning.

[joebartels]

Instead of voting for people to convey our thoughts the US needs to move government to the people. Cut out the middle man and give everybody the opportunity to vote the whole shebang online.

This is just like Cinch Hook, it's not all about the money. I'm really not one to even visit a State Park or snow play area but I think they're good for the community. If you keep closing shop on positive things where families recreate and such then you end up with gloomy crystal meth towns.

[PaleoRob]

Instead of voting for people to convey our thoughts the US needs to move government to the people. Cut out the middle man and give everybody the opportunity to vote the whole shebang

I couldn't have said it better.

[Jeffshadows]

You'll be happy to know that they are cutting healthcare funding, as well. We already lose about 30% of our COST on every AHCCS patient that walks through the door, have for the last four years since the legislature froze market cost adjustments. More and more people are getting AHCCS. You do the math. My poor state is headed for either: A big disaster, or a real reckoning.

[chumley]

California will lead the way. As soon as they get a huge federal bailout because as a state with the world's 5th largest economy they are clearly "too big to fail" ... then Arizona can request the same.

Otherwise,

My poor state is headed for either: A big disaster, or a real reckoning

is a certainty.

What's interesting is that Arizona and California are almost in exactly the same position, and yet they have been governed in virtually opposite ideologically means over the past 20-30 years. And yet the result is the same. Makes you wonder...

[Jeffshadows]

Politics are irrelevant. Powerful Democrats want to get rich as badly as powerful Republicans do. There are only so many sources of revenue, however...

[Vaporman]

What's interesting is that Arizona and California are almost in exactly the same position, and yet they have been governed in virtually opposite ideologically means over the past 20-30 years. And yet the result is the same. Makes you wonder...

No matter how politically incorrect it is to say, I think the common denominator is we both border Mexico and their people are sucking us dry...

[JimmyLyding]

It has nothing to do with Mexico.
It has everything to do with voter-mandated funding. The legislatures in both California and Arizona have abdicated their responsibility with respect to deciding what gets funded. They don't want to make the decisions to NOT fund certain programs so it gets outsourced to the referendum movement. They don't have the political cojones to say "NO."
Want to get some sort of program funded? One can either lobby the legislature (which costs a lot of money and is only partially-effective part of the time) or hire a bunch of petition-gatherers who stand on the corner asking people "please sign this petition to fund schools/limit taxation/ensure adequate health care/hire police officers, firemen, teachers, etc.... Then it gets put on the ballot where only 30% of the voters actually vote on it, and who can say "no" to not enough teachers or health care? At least with how it's worded.
Instead of our respective legislatures making the decision as to how we should fund schools they are left holding the bag when there's not enough money.
I'm not a fan of either our fair state's- or California's legislature, but it's obvious to me that both bodies have abdicated their responsibilities to ensure financial responsibility.
The voters in Arizona are also to blame. A few years ago there was a measure on the ballot to allow our state's universities to enter into joint partnerships with private entities in order to make money. It's a no-brainer, and is a very common thing across our country. Arizona's voters voted it down for some bizarre reason.

Mexicans aren't sucking us dry. Look at the economic basis of Arizona's economy: construction and tourism. Who does a lot of the construction in this state? Who cleans the rooms in the resorts? Mexicans, whether they're legal or illegal residents. I find it hard to believe that the hotels and construction companies in this state would make as much money if they had to provide wages & benefits that are up to American standards. The illegal aliens who make these industries profitable are also not sucking up welfare dollars because they're far more scared of being deported than not getting food stamps.

[JimmyLyding]

In short all I want is for our elected state leaders to make the decisions they were elected to make, and face an informed electorate as our nation's founders intended.

[azbackpackr]

The legislature DOES remove voter-mandated funding, though! I was on a health program (which the state dept of health's website says still exists, which is a big lie, and the director of the program does not return my calls) called "Arizona Primary Care." It was also known as "Tobacco Tax Health Care" because the funding came from taxes on tobacco. It was initiated via referendum, as I recall.

A lot of working people like myself who were way over the income line to get on AHCCCS did qualify for this program. It was available mostly only in the rural counties. I thought it fitting, also, that taxes on tobacco would go for preventative health care, regular clinic checkups, etc. With a small co-pay you could go to the doctor, have labs done, and it also covered a short formulary of common prescribed drugs, with a co-pay. It didn't cover ER, ambulance, surgery, or anything catastrophic. But it was very helpful. The legislature killed it. And why the State dept of health still maintains on its website that it exists is beyond me. In fact, it never was available at all in Maricopa, Yuma or Pima counties.

My daughter works in a pharmacy and says she wonders at some of the people who are on AHCCCS who own businesses, etc. I myself would not qualify unless my income drops below $400 a month! Can't live on that! There must be a lot of fraud, she thinks.

[Jeffshadows]

My daughter works in a pharmacy and says she wonders at some of the people who are on AHCCCS who own businesses, etc. I myself would not qualify unless my income drops below $400 a month! Can't live on that! There must be a lot of fraud, she thinks.

There's a tremendous amount. The last time we did a risk assessment, we concluded that roughly 26-32% of the cases coming in the door presenting AHCCCS were fraudulent; which is to say that they likely had a large amount of unreported income or were blatant ID theft.

[azbackpackr]

I don't know how you can get away with very much unreported income, though. Any job you have is reported to the state, unless you work for cash. That is why small business owners could qualify, I think. Cash sales could go unreported.

[dysfunction]

It's also based, partially, on family size. So if you had a family of 5 or 6 you'd probably still qualify at about 30k/yr.

[Jeffshadows]

I don't know how you can get away with very much unreported income, though. Any job you have is reported to the state, unless you work for cash. That is why small business owners could qualify, I think. Cash sales could go unreported.

One recent example was a woman we reported to the state after she arrived to pick-up her AHCCCS-funded lab results after having double-parked her pimped-out Escalade in our front loading zone while wearing more bling than Flava Flav. Turns out she was also drawing WIC and had been running a lucrative babysitting business off the books for years. Last I heard the Feds were making her holiday season "bright."

[dysfunction]

Oh you'd have fun having that conversation with my wife.. she used to work in the public housing system in the DC metro area.. the stories she tells...

[PaleoRob]

I think that we should write our legislators. You might find it illuminating if they deign to respond. One of my co-workers wrote Rep. Goodale about the recent changes (not cuts) to education, and got a pretty snarky response in reply.
Here's how you can find your rep, if you don't know: http://www.azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/Ho ... Member.asp

[chumley]

I think that we should write our legislators.

That's funny. It's almost as if you think they give a flying #$*&@ what you think. plz:

[Jeffshadows]

I've had a good track record of response from Paula Aboud. Most of the rest of them flat-out ignore you. Grijalva is a prime offender in that category.

[PaleoRob]

It's almost as if you think they give a flying #$*&@ what you think. plz:

Au contrair. I know exactly how they think. I have gotten responses before (although not from the state legislature) and they tend to be sympathetic. However the response my colleague got from Representative Goodale shows that they could care less about what we (the people that putatively elected them) think. The reason I suggest it is because the responses you get may open your eyes (well, maybe not yours, but someone who has never written their rep before).
It never hurts to fire off a letter or e-mail.

[dysfunction]

I'd recommend snail-mail, for some reason it tends to get a tad more attention than an email does. That is... about 10 seconds more thought before it's promptly ignored, while still being replied to. Until we represent more of a benefit/threat to their re-election than their benefactors do, we'll continue to be ignored...

not bitter though..