A Brief Synopsis of Arizona's Issues

By John A. Buttrick

Here's a quick overview of John's positions.

The school funding "system" in Arizona is a disgraceful mess, long ago declared by the Supreme Court to be unconstitutional. In addition, many government-run schools are still undereducating the students trapped within them. The incumbent legislature has failed to fix either of those fundamental problems.

In my view, we must move immediately to ensure equal funding for each pupil in the public schools. We have to put an end to the disgraceful system where some students attend high schools with domed stadiums and others attend schools with broken toilets. As I mentioned, the Arizona Supreme Court ordered the state legislature to do something about the situation four years ago. Since then, they've done practically nothing and have only started to seriously address the problem when they were threatened with the complete shut down of the schools.

Second, we've got to encourage students and parents who choose to send their children to non-government schools to do so without penalty. At the present time, we are making these people pay twice for the privilege of escaping the government schools. First, they pay taxes and then they pay school tuition. This is unfair particularly to lower and middle income parents who simply cannot afford the private school option. Those families should be able to move their children to non-government schools and receive a tax credit so that they pay for their children's education only once and get to choose the form of education they think is best for their own children.

It's time to face the music and close bad public schools when the students in an area can be better served by non-government schools. Similarly, we have to start thinking about discharging underperforming or unnecessary bureaucrats, administrators, employees and, yes, even bad teachers. We all know that many teachers and other employees in the public schools do a fine job and work extraordinarily hard under very adverse circumstances. But we also know that there are some teachers and bureaucrats who are not doing a good job. What happens to them? In the past, their jobs have been virtually sacrosanct. They get the same pay as the good teachers and have, in effect, lifetime job security. That is not the way real competition works in any other industry. Education is too important a product for our children to be shortchanged. We need to inject a little real competition and one way to do that is to make the government schools more efficient by choosing to reward those teachers and administrators who perform and terminating those who do not. As private schools grow and flourish, we should not shrink from closing underperforming government schools.

Finally, we ought to become "home schooling" friendly for those families who choose that option for their children. Instead of setting up administrative and bureaucratic road blocks to home schoolers, we ought to applaud their efforts and support them.

------------------------------------------------------------

CRIME AND YOUR SAFETY

We all deserve to be safe in our home and on the streets of the city where we live. In my view, in order to achieve a higher level of safety, we have to implement a multipoint program to inject a little more justice into the justice system.

First, it's time to protect victims' rights by giving them veto power over "plea bargains" struck between prosecutors and violent criminals. The victim ought to be able to say "no" in situations where prosecutors want to let violent criminals off with reduced sentences. Also, violent criminals ought to be paying restitution to their victims as a matter of course.

Similarly, we should eliminate parole for violent criminals. At the present time, the so-called "truth in sentencing" provisions in Arizona allow for virtually automatic parole after 85% of a sentence has been served. I'm for 100% of the truth in sentencing. The assumption ought to be that each violent criminal will in fact spend all of his or her sentence time in prison. If they misbehave in prison, the sentence should be extended.

Third, we have to put an end to the drug prohibition that is causing violent crime just as alcohol prohibition did decades ago. By creating a complete underground economy ruled only by the gun, we are reinventing street gangs, street crime and violent activity on an extraordinary scale. No one's personal property is safe while we have large numbers of marauding drug dealers and users whose only "law" is the law of the gun.

Next, we ought to ensure that the United States Constitution and the Arizona Constitution's guaranteed right of self defense to private ownership of firearms is not abrogated by government.

Finally, we have to go to the root causes of most crime and try to eliminate them. By that I mean poor education, unemployment and welfare dependency.

In sum, a great deal of your money is spent to fight crime and you get much too little in results. We can change that, but it will require resolve, commitment and common sense that is now in short supply in the legislature.

------------------------------------------------------------

YOUR MONEY

Unfortunately, you are overtaxed. Arizona government spends far too much of your money and you get far too little in return. Year after year, the state legislature passes more and more laws requiring more and more money to implement. We are now far north of $5 billion a year in state expenditures.

It's time to let more Arizonans keep more of their own money to save, invest or give away to charity.

Let's start with the unfair car tax. End it now.

Let's move to abolish the state income tax, as other states have done.

Let's reduce bureaucracy and end government-run programs on a dollar-for-dollar basis as taxes are decreased.

Next let's stop any more "corporate welfare" schemes like stadium taxes.

Finally, let's always balance the budget and, in the event of a surplus, let's return that money to the taxpayers rather than leaving it in the hands of the state legislators (who we know will simply spend it, probably unwisely).

------------------------------------------------------------

HONESTY IN GOVERNMENT

Are you tired of voting for politicians--Republicans and Democrats alike--and hoping that they will be honest and principled once they are in office? Are you tired of finding out after the election that you were wrong? Are you tired of finding out that the politicians have no principles and that they have only two real goals: to get elected and to get reelected?

If so, then you may agree with me that it's time for a fundamental change in the way we select our representatives.

Before you determine the direction of that change, however, you have to identify the root cause of the problem. The real problem is that almost all politicians elected today owe allegiance to someone other than you and their own ideas. Many of them have ironclad commitments to special interest groups. Those commitments were made long before they were elected or they were made after election to ensure reelection. The politicians who owe allegiance to those groups will vote in such a way as to protect or feather the nests of those groups without regard to political principle.

Other politicians have received enormous amounts of money from political action committees or "PACs." Again, the influence of that money causes the politicians to feel "locked in" by those PACs, beholden to them and obligated to vote in favor of the PACs' posi let violent criminals off with reduced sentences. Also, violent criminals ought to be paying restitution to their victims as a matter of course.

Similarly, we should eliminate parole for violent criminals. At the present time, the so-called "truth in sentencing" provisions in Arizona allow for virtually automatic parole after 85% of a sentence has been served. I'm for 100% of the truth in sentencing. The assumption ought to be that each violent criminal will in fact spend all of his or her sene appointments, etc. In desperation, many of the representatives who chafe under the control of the party leaders try to strike "deals" with those leaders, often trading votes on one issue for commitments of support on another issue or bill. The result is a crazy quilt series of compromises which reflect neither the will of the voters in the district nor the representative himself or herself.

There is a solution to this mess: elect someone who owes nothing to party leaders, nothing to the PACs and nothing to special interest groups. Elect someone who won't vote trade, who is not subject to party discipline and will act as a truly independent voice for the district.

On November 3, I am that independent choice and I would welcome your support.

------------------------------------------------------------

BUSINESS FREEDOM

The State of Arizona is the third largest employer in the state. The City of Phoenix is the sixth largest employer. Maricopa County is the fourth largest employer. Pima County is the twentieth largest employer. When you put these four government agencies together, they employ more than the top 20 businesses in the state. Over 30% of every dollar earned in Arizona is gobbled up by either a state, county or local government.

Even though government is so big, it doesn't feed your family, it doesn't put clothes on your back and it doesn't put a roof over your head. The government keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. But what the government does for you keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller. Big government doesn't work; we need to shut the machine down.

But how? How can we stop the State Legislators from monkeying with virtually every aspect of our lives. In Arizona, the State Legislature passes about 300 bills a year. Those bills tax, regulate, study and control virtually every aspect of your personal and commercial life. The government tells you where you can do business, who you can hire, how much you have to pay them, when you can use your fireplace, how fast you can drive, and even if someone is qualified enough to cut your hair. Whoever told the legislature that it should make these decisions for you? Whatever gave them the idea that the men and women sitting down at the State Capitol are better qualified to make these decisions than you or me? They shouldn't decide. It's your right to decide how you lead your life, run your business and raise your family.

There's only one way to reverse the trend of bigger government interference in your life. That way is to elect someone from outside the two old parties who will speak for you independent of the influence of those parties and those parties' politicians. My name is John Buttrick and that's why I would like to represent you in District 25.

------------------------------------------------------------

PERSONAL FREEDOM

Politicians from the two old parties seem to be fixated on controlling you and your family.

Notice how many of the 300 or so laws passed by the politicians in the Arizona State Legislature are aimed at controlling your behavior even when your actions do not threaten the rights of others.

Politicians are very interested in curbing free speech rights, limiting reproductive rights, sweeping aside your privacy rights and committing wholesale mischief in the personal rights area.

For instance, in 1996, you voted two to one to allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for medical conditions suffered by their patients. But the State Legislature arrogantly refused to enact the law making this possible. Why? Because the politicians think they know more about your health and medication than your doctor. That outrageous act of legislative arrogance means that patients undergoing chemotherapy or suffering from glaucoma in Arizona cannot legally get the medication they need.

I say "shame" on the Arizona State Legislature for ignoring the people's vote on that issue.

But the greater shame will be if we continue to reelect old party politicians on November 3. Please join with me to ensure that doesn't happen.