Consumer Goods

Return to Article

Ariz. Gov Said To Back Possible Campaign On Budget

The Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — Gov. Jan Brewer favors a $225,000 campaign being considered by a business group to encourage Arizona legislators who have proved reluctant to back her budget approach, a Brewer spokesman said.

A strategy memo prepared by political consultants for the group, Building a Better Arizona 2012, calls for using radio ads, automated phone calls and other campaign tools "to create a concentrated and sustained effort to encourage legislative support for a balanced budget approach."

The memo was prepared by High Ground Inc., a firm whose members include several with long-standing political ties to Brewer.

Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said Thursday such a campaign would be "a natural extension" of the governor's efforts to win legislative approval for her budget approach. That approach includes a temporary tax increase to balance the budget, along with spending cuts and use of federal stimulus dollars.

Senseman noted that Brewer has traveled around the state to plug her budget approach.

However, it's almost June "and there's yet to be a GOP plan that is a comprehensive and long-term balanced budget so, yes, she is considering a pretty aggressive outreach effort that would be in support of a comprehensive solution of a balanced budget," Senseman said.

Cary Pfeffer, a spokesman for Building a Better Arizona 2012, said no decision has been made on implementing the recently recommended strategy. "It's not a planned set of actions that have been decided upon," he said.

Pfeffer said the group hasn't taken a position on the proposed tax increase but welcomes Brewer's offering of a broader range of options than are being considered by the Republican-led Legislature.

The tax increase "is a worthwhile discussion at this point because of the extreme nature of the budget crisis," he said.

A check of the Secretary of State's Web site did not list a political campaign under the name of Building a Better Arizona 2012, but the group was registered with the Arizona Corporation Commission as a corporation on April 8.

Listed corporate officers include executives or leaders of such business organizations as the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, Pinnacle West Capital Corp. and Associated General Contractors' Arizona chapter.

The memo's existence was first reported by an online publication of the Arizona Capitol Times and by the Arizona Guardian.