Sen. Pamela Gorman Resigns as Majority Whip

NOTE: Sen. Pamela Gorman has stood up to protect the taxpayers of Arizona. We applaud Sen. Gorman for her courage to stand up for what is right. Here is the letter she sent to Sen. Bob Burns:

Dear President Burns,

I’m writing today to tender my resignation as Senate Majority Whip. I believe our ideological and philosophical differences on important issues like taxes and spending make it necessary for me to resign my position.

As you know, I was a strong supporter of your successful candidacy for the Senate Presidency and I remain a strong supporter of your leadership as Senate President. However, I simply cannot support Senate leadership’s position on the sales tax and the budget when I continue to believe that raising taxes in a recession is the wrong thing to do.

Reflecting on our 1st session as a leadership team, I realize we have accomplished impressive results. Together, we have passed THREE budgets, one budget trailor bill and numerous pieces of solid Republican legislation we can all be proud of. As such, I do not leave this position feeling we failed, by any means. On the contrary, we made history as our state faced an unprecedented financial crisis in part due to the worldwide economic situation, coupled with six years of out-of-control spending by our previous governor which put Arizona in a precariously weak position as the markets began to collapse.

I look forward to working successfully with you and the rest of our caucus on policy that is in line with our shared Republican values, as reflected in our Senate Majority Program document. We have a terrific group of legislators in the 49th class, and I am honored to have the opportunity to work with them to accomplish great things for Arizona over the next year, including helping to maintain and strengthen our majorities in the legislature and key offices throughout the state.

We have more in common than not in our Republican membership, but this tax increase issue is tearing our otherwise strong caucus apart and is "taking on a life of its own" that is not healthy for our caucus, nor our party. Given that I cannot support the position of Senate leadership on these tax increase and spending issues, I feel it is appropriate that I resign my position as Senate Majority Whip effective immediately.

Respectfully,
Pamela Gorman