State government would move to right if Brewer becomes governor

PHOENIX - The anticipated departure of Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano would elevate an often partisan Republican Jan Brewer to governor and drastically change the face of government in Arizona.

And it would move it to the right.

Brewer, 64, spent much of her 14 years as a state legislator criticizing the size and growth of government. For example, Brewer objected strenuously to the budget being adopted in 1992. She called it "reeking and squealing with pork."

More to the point, Brewer specifically objected to a maneuver to balance the budget by raiding a host of special funds, exactly the same maneuver used this year in the budget pushed by Napolitano. Brewer said that amounted to tapping these dedicated accounts to create a "general revenue grab-bag."

As Senate majority leader a year later, she blasted efforts to expand coverage under the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, this state's Medicaid program.

"It just eats us for more money," she said of the program, which currently consumes about $1 billion a year of state funds. "We as legislators want to include more and more things, so it just keeps eating at us like a cancer" Brewer explained at the time. "AHCCCS will never be satisfied."

And she voted against another proposal in 1995 to further expand eligibility by using tobacco tax revenues.

But Brewer herself supported a special legislative session in 1995 to allow the program to pay for lung and heart-lung transplants.

She also worked closely with then Gov. Fife Symington to control the overall size of the budget, even trying to drum up support for a plan by the governor to veto the budgets of the state universities which he had called "bloated and inefficient." In the end, though, both the Republican governor and Brewer found themselves outvoted, even though both chambers of the Legislature were controlled by the GOP.

Brewer also sponsored various bills to reduce taxes during her time in the Legislature.

In her personal biography, Brewer also takes credit for her time as a Maricopa County supervisor in dealing with a budget crunch similar to - but smaller than - the one now facing the state, saying she fixed the problem while lowering taxes. But one of her foes in the 2002 race for secretary of state said that while tax rates went down, the county actually took in a lot more money because of rising property values which translated into higher tax bills.

As a legislator, Brewer also took on causes unrelated to money.

For example, she backed a proposal to scrap the current "merit selection" of judges in Maricopa and Pima counties where applicants are screened by a special panel and the governor has to choose from that list. The system also means judges stand for re-election only on a retain/reject basis and do not face actual competitors.

Brewer also opposed efforts in 1996 to allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medicine to dying people.

"America is a civilized, ethical and Christian nation," she said. "I don't think that we, as citizens, can determine who lives and who dies."

She also has backed new restrictions on abortion, gaining the endorsement of Arizona Right to Life when she ran for secretary of state in 2002.

More recently, Brewer sought to use her current position to craft ballot language for Proposition 102 that was favored by those who wanted to amend the Arizona Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. After getting a fight from Attorney General Terry Goddard, the pair agreed to a compromise.

And she introduced a measure to urge Congress to amend the U.S. Constitution to make the burning of the nation's flag a crime. She also showed her colors as a legislator from Glendale, opposing a measure to revamp how state highway funds are divided up.

"Pima County is the tail wagging the dog," she complained at the time.

Brewer also is on record as wanting more power for the state's chief executive, sponsoring legislation sought by Symington to let him fire various appointees who otherwise would serve fixed terms, like members of the Board of Regents. Brewer said that the governor should be able to get rid of people who no longer support his policies.

The idea of Brewer as governor drew praise from Symington.

"She's very direct and told you how she felt," he said. "People appreciate her candor and strength."

Brewer also had a reputation among Democrats for being fiercely partisan as a legislator. But former Senate President John Greene, a Republican like Brewer, said he didn't see it that way.

"A lot of people mistake her intensity and her passion for partisanship," he said. "I always viewed her as someone who was focused on getting things done."

But Brewer certainly did have her partisan moments. She praised former President Clinton after he pardoned Symington of federal charges of fraud, eliminating the possibility that the former governor would have to be retried after the first guilty verdict was overturned. But she did it in her own way.

"That's the first thing Clinton has done that's been right," she said of the departing president. "That (prosecution) was a witch hunt."