Published Friday, January 20, 2006 in East Valley Opinions of the Arizona Republic as “Shift electoral dynamics, make legislture more representative” (other versions emphasized other areas of the state)
The most astonishing result in the Arizona Republic’s recent scientific statewide poll wasn’t that Republican voters were almost twice as likely to be “very confident” in Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano as they were in the Republican-controlled legislature. On several policy issues the poll showed elected Republican state legislators are out of step with their own party-members.
Two-thirds of Republican voters “think the state or federal government should create a system so that every citizen has access to the medical care they need.” While vague on details, conceptually this is a clear message for more government involvement, not less, but chances are the universal healthcare bill proposed by Rep. Phil Lopes (D-Tucson) won’t even get a hearing, much less an up or down vote. In 2000, after years of Republican legislative refusal, voters had to resort to an initiative simply to expand the state’s medicaid system to cover everyone below the poverty line.
Nearly three-quarters of Republican voters back a minimum wage hike, yet Republicans in the legislature annually block hearings on bills dealing with the minimum wage. Republicans were the strongest backers of the statewide smoking ban initiative, but the Republican legislature last year stymied efforts to take it on. Read the rest of this entry »