The following letter was distributed to newspapers under the subject line "Governor vetoes science education". On April 13, the Arizona Republic published it (page 17A) under their own heading of "Unfortunately, Arizona's kids have no high-powered lobbyists". The Republic focused the blame on lobbyists who make their living by defeating the will of the people.
In 2010, the Arizona Historical Society gained control of the formerly top rated mineral museum in Phoenix. At the time the museum was serving over 40,000 children a year with earth science education programs. School buses came from as far away as Yuma. In 2011, the AHS locked the doors for no apparent reason, even though they continued to receive and spend the annual state budgetSenate bill SB1200 would have corrected the problem by assigning mineral museum assets to the Arizona Geological Survey, an agency capable of and willing to restore services. The obvious merits of the bill generated overwhelming support in the legislature. It received 58 votes out of 60 in the House and 25 out of 30 in the Senate. Unfortunately, the AHS used lobbyists and other political connections to secure the Governor’s veto. Unfortunately, the children had no lobbyist.
That short blurb is very powerful and summarizes well how questionable the Governor's veto was. It could have been written with the AHS lobbiest looking over Ducey's shoulder. News articles about the veto are all over the place and very favorable to the MMM supporters and kids.
ReplyDeleteThat lobbyist who appeared in front of the committee was a third stringer. Where did they find him?
ReplyDelete