PHOENIX — A proposal asking voters to hike the pay of state legislators by $11,000 a year is getting a decidedly cool reception from Gov. Jan Brewer — as is her own party’s nominee for state superintendent of public instruction.
Brewer acknowledged Wednesday that lawmakers, paid $24,000 a year, have not received a pay boost since the last one was approved by voters in 1998.
But the governor, who served 14 years in the Legislature in the 1980s and 1990s, said the request for a 46 percent pay hike is not good.
“I think it’s extremely difficult times and we’re still not out of the woods,” Brewer said of the economy. “There’s a lot of people out there who have not received a pay increase.”
Still, the governor said she will not actively oppose the measure, which will appear on the ballot in November as Proposition 304, as she did four years ago.
Brewer thwarted the issue from even going to voters that year: She refused to appoint members to the Commission on Salaries for Elective State Officials, leaving the panel unable to meet and even put a recommendation on the 2010 ballot.
She relented two years ago and made her appointments. The commission, however, voted not to even seek a pay hike.
Now, Brewer said, while she thinks the timing of that pay hike is poor, she’s leaving the ultimate decision up to those who go to the polls in November.
“And whatever they decide, good for them,” she said.
Brewer essentially is taking the same stance in the race for schools chief.
The governor has endorsed all the Republican nominees for statewide offices except for Diane Douglas, who defeated incumbent John Huppenthal for the GOP nomination for superintendent of public instruction.
“I don’t think I’m going to participate in that race,” Brewer said. And she spurned requests to provide specifics.
“I just decided not to talk about it or participate in any dialogue in regards to it,” she said.
The decision is not really a surprise, as Douglas has made repeal of the Common Core academic standards, the ones implemented by Brewer, the centerpiece of her campaign.
But Brewer is not going as far as the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry which, on Wednesday, endorsed Democrat David Garcia. Chamber President Glenn Hamer said that was a logical move as Garcia, like his organization, endorses the kind of rigorous academic standards encapsulated in Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards, the new name that Brewer gave to Common Core.
And Douglas?
“It’s fair to say that Diane Douglas, on the issue of standards and the other issues, provides a pretty stark contrast,” Hamer said.
The decision to back a Democrat for statewide office, while unusual for the chamber, is not unprecedented: His organization backed incumbent Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano in her 2006 re-election bid over Republican nominee Len Munsil.
Common Core aside, Hamer said there would be other problems in electing someone like Douglas as the state school superintendent.
“A big part of that job is administering different grants,” Hamer said, including those from Washington, many of which come with conditions.
“So it is a little bit odd to me that someone would actively seek the office that would probably have a very difficult time administering some of the different requirements of the job,” he said.
