Jeff Flake Fails Aerospace in Arizona

Experts say that the state needs a coordinated effort to expand and be competitive in the aerospace industry.  We agree that more can be done to bring people together for a coordinated strategy to help use all of the tools available to help Mesa and the State be a national leader in aerospace and defense.  With Mesa taking over the Air Force Research lab and the Arizona Aerospace Institute at Gateway, the pieces are there to make a strong effort.

However, there is one part of the article that seemed far off base.  In the article, one of the experts claimed, "We have not done a good job coordinating with our federal delegation."  They claim that the failure is in not keeping the congressional delegation "in the loop."  The reality is, Mesa doesn't really have congressional representation in Washington. 

Jeff Flake's "hands-off"  approach to serving his constituents natually leaves him out of the loop.  He is not concerned with helping anyone in his district and wouldn't engage in any coordinated effort to participate in bringing aerospace to Arizona for fear it might besmirch his "no pork" reputation.  Therefore, the result is that state and local leaders are forced to go it alone or seek help from other members of Congress.  The result from the outside is that local leaders are keeping congress at arms length when, in fact, the absolute reverse is true.

As we have said before, Jeff Flake is the reason that Arizona is a donor state. Flake’s crusade against earmarks all but guarantees that Arizona remains a donor state. Like sending money to Washington and only getting 80% back to Arizona? Then, Flake is your guy. He has been asked to support Arizona businesses and projects – and time and again he hides behind his anti-earmark stance. When was the last time you heard Jeff Flake talking about jobs, helping the State out in the Medicaid fight with the federal government of defending the State against attacks from the left on immigration? That’s right, Jeff Flake is a libertarian. That’s fine, but that’s not what we need in the US Senate. He has not done a single thing to bring a job to Arizona.