As I have written before, Maricopa County government is a dysfunctional mess. I have also written about my proposal to fix the problem. I know that I am but one voice among so many, but what the hell does the Arizona Legislature think they are doing even contemplating requiring county boards to give lump sums of tax payer monies to the departments of elected officials without any oversight authority.
Instead of dealing with the State of Arizona's budget issues, the Arizona Legislature is instead providing cover to their two favorite sons, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County and Sheriff Paul Babeau of Pinal County. Both of these sheriffs have had budget fights with their respective county boards and both are champions of draconian anti-illegal immigrant policies.
That doesn't excuse the reckless micromanaging by county governments and it certainly doesn't excuse their total disregard of the voters. We don't vote for the legislators to deal with county issues, we vote for county supervisors to do so. We don't vote for the legislators to give political cover to sheriffs who can't operate within the oversight of the county boards.
What we need is real reform of our county governments, not this political mockery of the voters. Too bad the Arizona Legislature is too fucked up to realize that.
No comments:
Post a Comment
When you comment, please be civil and don't spam.