LD28 candidate forum held by the Sunnyslope Village Alliance this past Tuesday saw a hard charging State Representative Amanda Reeve setting the record straight.
A lot
of LD28 is the former LD11, which has had one Democrat filled seat since
2006. Twice, Republicans have tried to
knock out Liberal pro-abortion Eric Meyer.
Meyer
has been on the Scottsdale School Board while serving the current and previous
term in the Legislature - it seems one elected office is not enough (but allowed
under state law). This time Meyer is not
running for the school board seat again, but he is looking to get a third term
as a Democrat in what is otherwise a Republican district.
Not if
Amanda Reeve can help it. Reeve, first
appointed by County Supervisors three years ago to the LD6 house seat vacated by
Sam Crump, got re-elected then moved this past year by redistricting into the
new LD28. Republican Kate Brophy McGee
is the other LD11 turned LD28 House member.
McGee led in the 2010 LD11 House race winning her first term, now seeking
her second.
Meyer
has won in 2008 and 2010 by slightly more than 1% of the vote. Tuesday night, he talked more like a
candidate for school board then a two-term veteran legislator. He painted a dreary picture for education
funding, blamed the Republicans for everything from poor graduation rates to
poor SAT scores.
The
reality is in the last session none of the bills Meyer was the prime sponsor of
saw the daylight. He is in the minority,
yet somehow the Phoenix Chamber endorses him and then he backs taxing
professional services and other ideas that generally Arizona businesses
oppose.
But
Meyer's nattering nabob of negativism litany did not go unchallenged
Tuesday. Amanda Reeve took it head on
like an Army Ranger charging taking ground and said the Legislature has done a
lot of good and Eric is painting a bad picture unnecessarily.
Amanda
Reeve spoke to inheriting a Janet Napolitano budget that the state could not
afford and after years of tough cuts, cuts that Reeve said affected her
personally, the state is now solvent again.
"We
went from having the second worst state budget deficit in the country -
California was the first - to now being in the black," Reeve said Tuesday night
to an audience filled with community activists.
Reeve
cited that they passed significant legislation that helped increase the school
standards and has put in place new measures to bring common sense accountability
to public schools. She challenged Meyer
that his sinking ship analysis is flat wrong.
On
point, she said Arizona is now in the top three in new small business starts and
solar energy - far cry from Meyer's "sky is falling" song.
Also
at the forum were the two Maricopa County District 3 Supervisor candidates -
Republican incumbent Andy Kunasek and Democrat Lilia Alvarez. Alvarez attacked Kunasek and the sitting
supervisors for not doing enough on EPA air pollution rules.
Reeve took her on. Reeve is a
paralegal with a major environmental law firm in Phoenix and probably the one
Legislator out of 90 that knows more about environmental law. Alavez was reduced to unqualified squeaking
and no basis in fact by Reeve setting the record straight. Alvarez bragged about having a masters in
public health and recently graduating from law school, but could not cite any
job she has had, other than some type of community organizer.
Amanda
Reeve cited that the Legislature has passed laws to bring equity to an otherwise
run-away Federal attempt to impose more rules that do nothing for air quality
and everything to cost Arizona businesses jobs and income. After Tuesday night, she might think twice
before stepping in front of the Amanda Reeve Fact Express.
Eric
Meyer says he is a physician - in fact, he no longer has a license to practice,
having not renewed his license in 2001 after only 13 years of practice. Meyer, who got a subsidized taxpayer paid
education at the University of Arizona Medical School, did not stay even 20
years - the reason Arizona subsidizes Arizona kids who get accepted to its own
medical school, trying to keep them as doctors.
Meyer has "Dr." on his signs, but he can't write a prescription for
anything. There may be a "doctor in the
house," but he now can do little more than CPR.
Perhaps the best Rx for LD28 is let Dr. Meyer go home and let a hard
working Arizona woman who knows about women's health care, knows about
environmental law and generally knows what it is like to work her way through
school - let her take the lead.
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