Tick, Tick, Tick....

My favorite page in my high school yearbook is a comic book "cover" with some of us from the yearbook staff working while the storyline for the "issue" reads"25 People in a Battle to the Death with 'THE DEADLINE'" next to a picture of the Grim Reaper.

I actually thrive on deadlines. As a writer, a ticking clock keeps me focused and helps me hone my words. Even after all these years, I find the tighter the deadline, the better the copy.

Not everyone works that way. Take the Arizona Legislature. After convening in mid-January, legislators had a deadline to have a budget in place by June 30. In the Senate, bills were filed but not heard as President Bob Burns kept the budget front and center.

So what happened? Did we have a budget early, say April (as has often happened)? No. May? No. Early June? Try a budget that appealed to the most conservative members of the Legislature that passed in both chambers in the wee hours of June 30. It really was July 1, but Sen. Burns literally turned the clocks off and locked the doors, so time stopped for the Senate.

Did Arizona get a budget? No, because most of the bills were promptly vetoed by Governor Jan Brewer. They contained cuts she did not want and did not refer a sales tax increase to the ballot, which she had requested. So despite the fact that the majority party in both chambers plus the executive branch are all Republicans, the unity of party registration did not produce a budget for Arizona.

A few days later, the Republicans let the Democrats join the talks and some progress was made, with the Governor signing bills to keep some critical areas running. However, holes remained and a full budget was still needed. Leaders from both parties worked together and close to the end of July, they were about $500 million apart but still talking.

Then the talks stopped and the Dems were frozen out when the Republican legislators decided to work out a deal with the Governor. She would get her sales tax referral, but in exchange she agreed to tax cuts for corporations and higher income earners and much reduced funding for education, children, health services, seniors, and more -- funding she had pledged to protect in far larger amounts. And even though the sales tax referral would go through, the revenues realized from it would no longer be dedicated to education.

According to the longest-serving legislator in Arizona, this was the worst deal he had ever seen. So is this the deal Arizona got? Well, not yet. While it eked out of the House, it has not been voted upon in the Senate. They wanted to do this with just Republican votes, and the simple majority of 16 votes weren't there. Out of 18 Republican Senators, two balked at referring the sales tax and a third will only vote to refer the sales tax and nothing else. A fourth appears to be a possible holdout on some bills as well. That's where the situation stood when the Senate adjourned last week.

They reconvene on August 4 and the word is there may not be enough Republican votes present to pass this budget. If so, where does that leave Arizona? No budget, a deeper and deeper hole of decreasing revenues, and a citizenry tired of what feels like a really bad version of Groundhog Day playing over and over again.

We elect public officials to serve the public. We expect them to do so in a professional manner, and that means hitting their deadlines, especially in this, the most important task they have. If the votes aren't there, this budget wasn't meant to be. There has to be one that is. Work together to create it, pass it, and sign it. The clock is ticking.