Governor and state lawmakers share blame for failing to focus on state's budget crisis

 Arizonans should be fuming mad about the lousy leadership from our elected leaders at the state Capitol when it comes to resolving the looming multi-billion dollar budget crisis.

Commentary: Charting Arizona’s economic future

With less than three months left until the end of this budget year, the Arizona Legislature and Gov. Janet Napolitano have failed to stop the bleeding and adopt a plan that would match spending with tax revenues. They didn’t act in October, when budget experts for both branches of the government first sounded the alarm that taxes were coming in much slower than predicted. They didn’t act in early January, when lawmakers held special meetings intended to focus their attention like a laser beam on the problem. And they didn’t act in late February, when a private think tank, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, estimated Arizona faces the largest shortfall in the country when measured as a percentage of a state’s general budget.

Napolitano took much of the credit earlier in her administration when economic times were good and the state rapidly expanded the budget to address concerns she believed had been neglected in the past. So she certainly has to take much of the blame now for the gridlock gripping the Capitol.

For months, the governor insisted the slump in tax collections was a temporary blip that could be finessed without any significant long-term changes. This attitude prompted Napolitano to reject prudent steps from Republican lawmakers, once the Legislature finally got into gear, to temporarily freeze agency spending and promotions even before a final budget plan had been negotiated.

As the head of state, the governor can’t escape her responsibility for an inability to see the financial crisis for what it really was and to forge budget compromises in a timely fashion.

But our lawmakers deserve your ire as well. Republicans whine that voters have tied lawmakers’ hands when it comes to cutting popular programs such as education.

Democrats whine voters have made it too hard to raise taxes. These lawmakers act like they’ve never voted on a budget before, and they ignore the fact that Arizona faced all of these same challenges during the last economic downturn just six years ago.

It appears our state leaders might finally be accepting the depth of the crisis. It’s not a coincidence that spending suddenly dropped in mid-March after state Treasurer Dean Martin warned that the General Fund was going to run out of cash in early May.

Less spending has bought Napolitano and the Legislature a couple of more weeks, Martin said Tuesday. But Arizona still faces an unconstitutional budget deficit by mid to late May.

The governor and the Legislature should be embarrassed that they continue to act on other bills and meaningless resolutions while their most important task remains unfinished. And Arizonans should be fuming mad.