The Voice - Student Newspaper

Brewer takes Napolitano's spot as AZ Governor

Just as the national government has begun to lean more to the left, Arizona's state government has veered back to the right.

With Democratic former Gov. Janet Napolitano's appointment and confirmation as President Obama's Secretary of Homeland Security, Arizona's Secretary of State Jan Brewer has filled the gubernatorial position.

Gov. Brewer, a staunch Republican and veteran Arizona politician, was sworn in Jan. 20. and held her inaugural celebration the next day in Phoenix, where she delivered her inaugural address.

Toni McClory, a political science professor at GCC, required her students to read transcripts of the governor's speech, analyze it and discuss it in class.

"I thought that her inaugural address was not very good," said Calahan Campton, an engineering student taking McClory's class. "It wasn't very informative and it was basically a slam on Janet Napolitano for leaving the government in a bad situation."

Campton worries about the new direction that Arizona politics may go in with the Republican Brewer and Republican-majority legislature working together to pass bills.

"I'm kind of scared because of her conservative values, along with the conservative legislature," said Campton. McClory remains neutral on such issues, but does emphasize the importance of Gov. Brewer's succession and how it will affect state government.

"This will be a very significant change in terms of ideology, from a more liberal governor to a more conservative one," said McClory. "I would describe her (Brewer) as a conservative lawmaker, using conservative in terms of both social and economic issues."

With Arizona's economy mirroring the disastrous state of the national economy, many have speculated about how the new governor will address the financial situation while also attempting to accomplish her political agenda. Talk of education cuts, more job losses, the dissolution of state programs and the expanding state budget deficit has been rampant in recent months, with unemployment at 6.9 percent as of December 2008.

"Truthfully, the fiscal problems are so enormous that it may override both political ideologies," said McClory. "We're in the middle of our fiscal year and we're short about $1.6 billion.

What do we do? We have students in universities, salaried professionals in prisons, highway projects, etc.

So we have a big problem.

All the other issues take a backseat to solving the fiscal crisis." McClory urges students to educate themselves on the issues and about Gov. Brewer so that they can play a more active role in Arizona politics.

"The state government has a huge impact on our day-to-day life – schools, health, crime, law enforcement, environment, the look and feel of our cities and towns, labor laws," said McClory. She recommends National Public Radio, the television program "Horizon" on KAET (Channel 8) and the legislature's and governor's official websites – azleg.gov and azgovernor.gov, respectively – as good information sources.