Dismissed as a “no brainer” by the editorial writers at the Arizona Daily Star, Proposition 400 was promoted as a technical matter. By itself, approval of the proposition wouldn’t have raised taxes. But it would have allowed city officials to set their own spending limits in a variety of categories that otherwise are confined to strict limits set by the state. Those limits, by the way, date back to 1980 when the state’s voters approved of a constitutional amendment to limit annual expenditures of Arizona cities and towns.
Four years ago Tucson voters had approved of the idea, which is called Home Rule. To keep it going, state law requires voters to approve of the idea every four years which is why it came up again this year.
|
|
It seemed like everybody who voiced an opinion on Proposition 400 supported it. City officials who had locked horns with the Tucson Association of Realtors over Proposition 200, the controversial Public Safety First Initiative, even made a point of saying the two sides were in agreement on Home Rule. The closest efforts to opposition to Proposition 400 was a sign campaign by the Pima Association of Taxpayers urging “vote no on all propositions” and a similar statewide effort by the Goldwater Institute, but both of those were really targeting override measures put forth by school districts.
Despite virtually unanimous public endorsements, Proposition 400 ran into trouble and was defeated, according to nearly complete election results. (Pima County election officials were still tabulating thousands of early voting and provisional ballots late into the week with the measure failing by just 783 votes.)
It shouldn’t have been that way. What happened?
Trust — or more specifically lack of it by voters — of both the elected officials and bureaucrats in government. It’s not necessarily that these government leaders are intentionally doing something wrong — most likely it’s that they simply don’t understand or share the same priorities as voters. We’re all going through this economic recession together, so why is it that government isn’t having to face the same stark cuts as the rest of us?
This lack of trust played out elsewhere on the ballot:
• In a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-to-1, Republican Steve Kozachik snatched victory from incumbent Nina Trasoff.
• As Karin Uhlich looks forward to her second term and a likely bid for mayor two years from now, she must deal with the reality that given the opportunity more than 50 percent of the city’s voters did not choose to re-elect her in a three-way contest.
• To combat the public’s innate suspicions about the city’s priorities when it comes to public safety, a massive effort had to be launched to defeat Proposition 200.
Tucson government leaders would be well-advised to take heed of the lesson from Election Day 2009: These things would be so much easier for you if you gave voters a reason to trust you.
Comments