Letters to the editor: Aug. 8

We encourage readers to submit letters to the editor on issues of interest to East Valley residents. Submissions should be no longer than 300 words, factually accurate and original thoughts of the writer. Please be brief and include name, address, city and phone number for verification. Letters and call-in comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Submit your letter to the editor

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

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More Bush than maverick

Congress has an approval rating lower than President Bush. Who could be surprised?

With members such as Sen. John McCain, a self-proclaimed “maverick,” who really has little to show for such a bold statement. During the past four years, he has voted based on what Bush has wanted 94 percent of the time. McCain has also helped the Republican Party through the ever-popular deregulation again and is the best cause of a second wave of banking industry and home mortgage failures. It has even added another $1 trillion to our national debt. McCain helped give the Keating Five a leg up, and I’m sure with the 94 percent voting record, caused this current rash of failures.

What is more amazing about this voting record is that for the past 18 months, McCain has not even earned his pay. He has been missing in action for most of the past 18 months in Congress, where he earns more than $169,000.

McCain is a phony, an angry and confused man, and has a lousy record for being in Congress for more than 30 years. He does not have what it takes to be an occupant of the White House.

BILL DUNLAP

MESA

RENEWABLE ENERGY

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Suit challenges ACC

Recently newspapers across the state have printed editorials and letters to the editor concerning the Goldwater Institute’s lawsuit against the Arizona Corporation Commission questioning the commission’s authority to enact the Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff rules. These editorial pieces have tended to portray the lawsuit as an attack on the merits of renewable energy.

However, a careful reading of the institute’s petition will show that the core issue is whether the commission exceeded its authority in enacting the REST rules. The thrust of the lawsuit is outlined in the introduction to the petition, as follows:

“The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) is established under the Arizona Constitution with limited power to regulate utility rates, but over the years it has expanded its powers beyond its constitutional jurisdiction. Last year, ACC adopted sweeping new rules requiring utilities to derive a specified share of its power from alternative sources. The rules rely in part on the voluntary actions of third parties, over whom utilities have no control, and have resulted in rate surcharges to residential and business customers. Last month, ACC approved a surcharge for Arizona Public Service. That surcharge, imposed upon over one million customers (including Petitioners) resulted from the rules that are the subject of this special action.

“Regardless of whether the rules constitute sound public policy, ACC has no legitimate power over renewable energy policy, which is a legislative determination. Petitioners seek to enforce the Arizona Constitution’s separation of powers and limit ACC’s authority to ratemaking as defined in the Constitution on behalf of ratepayers and taxpayers who are tangibly harmed by ACC’s actions.”

The lawsuit does not attack the REST rules as bad energy policy, but instead, challenges the validity of the rules on the grounds that the commission lacked authority to enact them.

MIKE GLEASON

CHAIRMAN, ARIZONA CORPORATE COMMISSION

CHILDREN’S HEALTH

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Programs were protected

Many Arizona leaders have shown that being uninsured is a children’s health problem they are ready to cure. In late June, Sen. Jay Tibshraeny, R-Chandler, and Sen. Carolyn Allen and Rep. Michele Reagan, both Scottsdale Republicans, voted yes for a new state budget that keeps health coverage strong for children in working families.

These leaders rejected proposals to cut funding for KidsCare health coverage; they said yes to improving children’s health chances of success at home, in school and in the future.

Today we need state leadership and commitment like this to keep children’s health coverage moving forward. This kind of vision by leaders across party lines over the past 10 years has helped Arizona increase our rate of children with health insurance from 74 percent in 1997 to 83 percent in 2005. Together, Arizona’s political leaders, businesses, parents, government agencies, doctors, private health plans and citizens have covered more uninsured children through two strong public programs — the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System and KidsCare.

KidsCare is exactly the kind of investment we want from our tax dollars: an investment that pays off in healthier kids, stronger families, fewer expensive visits to hospital emergency rooms, better performance in school, and more federal tax dollars in Arizona.

DANA WOLFE NAIMARK

PRESIDENT AND CEO

CHILDREN’S ACTION ALLIANCE, PHOENIX