Millionaire Buzz Mills Must Have Missed Massive Budget Cuts

For Immediate Release: April 19,2010

Contact: Douglas Cole, 602-686-9712

Millionaire Mills Must Have Missed Massive Budget Cuts; Maintains Spending Millions on Misleading Messaging

New ‘Shameful’ Buz Mills ad again fails to offer budget plan or tell truth about budget

Phoenix – Just days after acknowledging spending over $1.2 million in television ads to promote his candidacy, millionaire Buz Mills in a new ad continues to completely disregard the fact that Governor Jan Brewer and the legislature have cut state spending by over $2.2 billion and have balanced Arizona’s budget.

"Perhaps it’s time for Mr. Mills to catch up with the news," said Former Attorney General Grant Woods, "Slapping a 12-week old newspaper on the table in a TV ad to make a misguided point shows that he has no connection with reality."

Mills has been busy buying over $1.2 million in TV advertising and sending out slick mailers talking about making "hard decisions" while offering no suggestions of his own. While Brewer and the legislature have made the real difficult choices, Mills has been
mum on specifics of his still allusive plan.

"It’s ironic that just two weeks later in the February 5th edition of the Arizona Capitol Times, Buz Mills talks about the budget in terms of waiving magic wands," remarked Woods. "I’m sure when he finally gets around to reading that story, he might be a little embarrassed. I wonder if that will finally motivate him to offer any specifics."

Like his previous efforts, Mills’ latest commercial relies heavily on production and very little on substance. Mills fails to acknowledge the balanced budget or the fact that the passage of Proposition 100 prevents triggered cuts to education, public safety, and healthcare – allowing voters to have a choice in funding the state’s core services.

Once again, Mills has been challenged to put his money where his mouth is on the state budget.

"Buz Mills is being disingenuous to the Arizona voters," said former United States Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters. "Not only does he refuse to come out with a plan of his own, but he is purposely ignoring the largest budget reductions in state history. Once again, we have to ask: Where’s Buz Mills’ plan? Voters deserve to know what specific additional cuts Buz has in mind."

On several occasions, Mills has been offered budget briefings to understand the current financial status of the state. Mills originally agreed to a gubernatorial briefing before reneging on his commitment. To date, Mills has not attended a single briefing or any legislative hearing pertaining to the state budget.

"Mr. Mills says he is a businessman, but would he buy a company without taking a look at their books? Does he think backers would invest without hearing his plan for a takeover?" concluded Peters. "Maybe it’s time for him to get out from behind that fancy TV production studio desk and see what is really going on in Arizona.

Perhaps then he would see that Jan Brewer has made more budget ‘hard choices’ than any Governor in Arizona’s history."