Governor Napolitano to Put National Guard Troops on Border
Napolitano seeks National Guard to patrol border, tax cuts
She wants expansion of all-day kindergarten, pay hikes for teachers
Robbie Sherwood
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 9, 2006 02:50 PM
Riding a booming economy, Democrat Gov. Janet Napolitano vowed on Monday to cut taxes, get tough with border security and give both state employees and teachers a pay raise.
Napolitano kicked off the 2006 legislative session and her own re-election bid by once again taking ideas from the GOP playbook as she did last year when she called for tax cuts. This time she called for a three-day sales tax holiday on school supplies, an idea that failed when pushed by Republican lawmakers under the Hull administration. And she called for putting National Guard troops at the border to discourage illegal immigration and sanctioning businesses who hire undocumented workers, moves that might strengthen her shaky credibility among Republicans on border issues.
"We will strengthen the border with the people and equipment we need to fight crime and increase border security for lawful commerce, tourism and legal immigration," Napolitano said.
But in her fourth State of the State address, Napolitano mostly played to her past strengths, asking to increase spending for in her signature full-day kindergarten program, to improve health care by luring more doctors to rural areas, and to make college more affordable by increasing financial aid. Napolitano challenged the Republican-controlled Legislature to spend more than $100 million to provide expand full-day kindergarten to all schools in the state this year instead of by 2009.
"Young minds are hungry for information and develop quickly - the more they learn, the more they can learn," Napolitano said. "Let's offer voluntary full-day kindergarten to every parent who wants it, and let's do it this year."
Napolitano is facing the best economic outlook of her tenure, climbing from $1 billion deficits in her first two years to an expected surplus of $850 million this year. Napolitano congratulated lawmakers and herself for getting out of the fiscal crisis with few scars and vowed to be prepared for the next downturn.
"We were lean, but never mean," Napolitano said.
In addition to asking for spending increases for education, Napolitano also said there is enough money for tax cuts, though she made no mention of deep property and income tax reductions being pushed by Republican lawmakers. Napolitano called for a cut in Arizona's vehicle license tax, with the biggest share going to drivers of fuel-efficient vehicles.
"The better gas mileage your car or truck gets, the bigger the cut in the license fee," she said.
She also called for a three-day sales tax holiday for school supplies, clothes and up to $1,000 worth of computer equipment.
Napolitano had already pledged to give state workers a long-awaited pay raise, but she also said she'd fight to help school teachers as well.
"Let's give a pay raise to every teacher in Arizona," Napolitano said.
She said her budget would increase the base salary of teachers to $30,000 a year.
Outside the House chamber, a group held a rally for immigrants rights. The group, Immigrantes Sin Fronteras, or Immigrants Without Borders, stood around a makeshift stage to listen to a steady stream of speeches, mostly in Spanish, that called for compassion in immigration laws. One man beat a drum that puncuated chants, in Spanish, that said, "We're here. We're not going away."
Capitol Police estimated the crowd, which spilled west along the House lawn, at 2,000 people.
But inside the House chambers, Napolitano was instead pushing get-tough immigration proposals.
In poll after poll, Arizonans have expressed frustration about crime springing from illegal immigration. In a move to address those concerns, Napolitano proposed a plan with a $100 million price tag to crack down on illegal immigration.
Napolitano said she would ask Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to invoke a law allowing the federal government to pay Arizona to station National Guard troops at the border. But she said her plan won't stop immigrants from trying to cross.
"We are going to get real about one of the root causes of this problem - people come here because they want to work and employers here are willing ot hire them," Napolitano said. "If we want to stop illegal immigration, we've got to stop the demand."
She proposed "substantial fines and penalties" for businesses that intentionally hire illegal immigrants.
