Pearce, Adams, and others should let Mesa voters decide

Governor Brewer is going to address the legislature tomorrow and before she even says a word, Mesa Senator Russell Pearce and others are "drawing a line in the sand" against any new taxes. However, before Senator Pearce, Speaker Adams, and others make a stand, they may want to remember the City that they live in.

When President Obama came to town, we presented a case on why the President and others should look to Mesa as a model for economic recovery. The two parts of this successful effort so far is that Mesa has been able to make dramatic cuts and raise a temporary tax.

As legislators representing Mesa, they are probably well aware that Mesa has had some of the biggest budget problems, to the point of having to make cuts to services such as fire and police, not too mention deep cuts to parks, libraries, and other quality of life items. Still, even with all of these dramatic cuts, Mesa needed to seek more revenue to keep up with growth.

The same Mesa voters who voted to elect Pearce, Adams, and others in November, are the same ones who voted overwhelmingly to support Mesa's bonds and the first property tax in 50 years. Why? Because people recognize the current economic reality and realize that some things are going to have to change, at least temporarily, if we want to keep our quality of life.

For pete's sake, look at the stock market. It has hit a record low. More cuts to education are not going to be acceptable to anyone. Plus, how long before we are mortgaging our future and the education of our children to pay off our debts of today? Clearly the conservatives didn't make this mess, but they are the ones who are going to have to clean it up.

The new Mayor and Council had to do the dirty work, but they have actually gained even more goodwill from the voters because of it.

No one asks for more taxes. The voters of Mesa, especially in those Republican primaries, most likely look for candidates who have signed the no tax pledge. However, in this case, there are probably a lot of realistic people who would be willing to make an exception.

We already saw it once in Mesa with the bond package. The key is keeping it temporary and focused on the essentials. Encourage your legislators to keep everything is on the table at least for now. Shutting down negotiations before they start is an obstructionist tactic that robs our Representatives of all of their bargaining power and essentially leaves Mesa's residents out of crafting or supporting Arizona's long-term solution.

If nothing else, let the voters of Mesa decide this issue.