Gov. Katie Hobbs' veto triggers Republicans into phony (read: laughable) hysterics
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Gov. Katie Hobbs whipped out her trusty veto stamp 13 times on Thursday, prompting Republicans to immediately collapse onto their fainting chairs over the surprise and the utter agony of it all.
“Governor Katie Hobbs just VETOED the Arizona Bipartisan Budget,” tweeted a rather theatrical House Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci, R-Lake Havasu City. “This budget kept schools open, law enforcement paid, streets maintained, Healthcare in place, & our southern border protected. Instead, she wants $40 million for illegal immigrants to attend Universities.”
Because apparently, it’s an either/or thing. We can either have open schools, compensated police, pothole-free streets and a protected border … or we can offer scholarships to “Dreamers.”
“Apparently, she wants the state to close and Fentanyl to continue pouring over the border,” moaned an absolutely inconsolable Rep. Rachel Jones, R-Tucson. “She is NOT working for the citizens of AZ.”
Yep, I’m quite sure Hobbs lays awake nights plotting new and creative ways to slip fentanyl into the state, hoping to poison a few more constituents.
“With her veto of a bipartisan budget looks like Katie Hobbs wants a government shutdown – I never knew she was an anarchist!” proclaimed Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale.
Sure, because if Hobbs doesn’t accept a budget rammed through the Legislature by Republicans, one passed without a single Democratic vote, she’s obviously promoting the overthrow of government and our very way of life.
GOP wants Hobbs to get all the blame
We pause this vastly over-emoted performance for a friendly announcement to the Arizona Legislature: Get a grip.
Arizona has a divided government, as decreed by Arizona voters. Deal with it.
'Insult to Arizonans':Hobbs vetoes Republican-backed budget
And by deal with it, I mean Republican legislators should quit spending all their days devising ever-new ways to make Hobbs look bad. End your three-month temper tantrum, passing meaningless bills that will never become law, and do something to actually move the state forward.
Our Democratic governor and our Republican Legislature have until June 30 to approve a budget, yet here we are in mid-February and Republicans are already setting the stage so that Hobbs gets the blame for a shutdown that is three and a half months away.
“Every single Dem in #azleg voted for this budget in 2022,” Rep. Joseph Chaplik, R-Scottsdale, whined.
And yet Rep. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, who opposed the 2022 budget, told the Arizona Mirror he supported this “skinny budget” because it doesn't include roughly $2.3 billion in one-time funding allocations that are a part of the current spending plan.
Even moderates say Hobbs won't engage
Regardless, Republicans could not have expected Hobbs to sign this budget (any more than Hobbs expected Republicans to go along with her plan to fund scholarships for undocumented immigrants).
This is theater, carefully choreographed to try to pin Hobbs as an uncaring, immigrant loving, fentanyl spreading anarchist who wants to shutter state government.
It’s worth noting that several of the Republicans who I consider part of the party’s non-hysterical wing complain that Hobbs is the one playing games.
“Some of us have been working and others have been offering platitudes about open doors and such,” tweeted Sen. T.J. Shope, R-Coolidge, a reply to Hobbs’ veto. “Arizonans deserve better than what you’re selling them, which isn’t much.”
“Unfortunately, it’s the governor herself who has been rude, dismissive, and unprofessional,” said Rep. Matt Gress, a Phoenix Republican who was then-Gov. Doug Ducey’s budget director. “She and her staff have made no attempt to work with the Legislature – Republicans OR Democrats. She talks about bipartisanship but she fails to ACT with bipartisanship.”
How to get the governor to the budget table
Speaking of rude, dismissive and unprofessional ...
“Katie Hobbs’ veto shows she’d rather shut the state down than do the right thing for every citizen of this state,” Chaplik ranted. “Hobbs’ veto proves once again that she cares more for illegals than Arizonans and is an unserious obstructionist. She’ll let every school close over petty politics while promising free university education to illegal immigrants. Voters should be demanding an impeachment.”
Republicans might find it easier to get Hobbs to the table if they dial back the hysterics and muster up a shred of respect for the fact that, like it or not, she is the governor.
In fact, it’s time now for both sides – the Republicans, with their one-seat legislative majorities, and Hobbs, with her ever-present veto stamp – to focus on that which they can achieve.
Otherwise, prepare for long, long months of our so-called leaders playing a game of political chicken.
One that may well leave all state employees and all of us, really, as sitting ducks.
Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Katie Hobbs' budget veto triggers phony hysterics from Republicans
