Unlike countries based on blood or territory, the United States of America is based on principles โ โrule of lawโ and โequal protection under the lawโ are just a couple of examples.
Alas, in these modern times these two principles in particular hold little sway.
Recently, the state of Arizona agreed to provide loan guarantees to two charter schools, enabling them to borrow at a lower interest rate. The idea was to assist high-performing schools with expansion projects to improve education in the state overall.
But it seems to me the deal violates the plain language of Article 9, Section 7 of the Arizona Constitution, commonly known as the gift clause. That clause states, โNeither the state, nor any county, city, town, municipality, or other subdivision of the state shall ever give or loan its credit in the aid of, or make any donation or grant, by subsidy or otherwise, to any individual, association, or corporation โฆโ
I am not a lawyer, but it looks pretty straight-forward to me.
An article by Howard Fischer of Capitol News Services notes that when Gov. Doug Ducey announced the charter school deal, no mention was made of the gift clause.
When asked about it last year, Richard Stavneak of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee said, โThatโs a sort of open legal question.โ
It seems like the only people concerned with whether the clause being violated were not Republicans, but Democratic Sen. Steve Farley of Tucson and Tim Hogan of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, a left-leaning public interest law firm.
Another case, closer to home, is the controversial lease/purchase deal between Pima County and World View Enterprises. Pima County was sued by a number of Tucson residents who were accusing it of violating the gift clause and Arizona law regarding the sale of government property and procurement. The plaintiffs prevailed, but the county is appealing.
The Tucson business community fell all over itself defending Pima Countyโs actions, arguing in favor of county governmentโs development deal to a speculative private business startup.
Many Tucson businesses came together and sent a letter to the Goldwater Institute, which is representing the plaintiffs, asking it to drop the suit. The letter made no legal argument in favor of the deal, it only argued that it was good policy.
Like with the charter-school loan deal, the only people who seemed to care about the violations of the state law and constitution were those who objected to the policy.
The apparent disregard by both the government and the people toward these principles is deeply troubling.
Laws must not be changeable on the fly, and decisions about whether a project should go forward should be based not on politics, but on an impartial reading of the law.
