A liberal looks at a budget surplus and sees an opportunity to spend more of other people’s money. A conservative looks at a budget surplus and sees taxpayer money that was not needed and should be returned.
Janet Napolitano can pretend to be something other than a liberal, but her own words continue to betray her. With a billion-dollar budget surplus — which only exists because Janet Napolitano’s previous spending proposals have been completely ignored — Napolitano sees an opportunity to spend more money. Here is her email update from yesterday:
“This year, Arizona is faced with an unprecedented opportunity: a nearly $1 billion budget surplus. Because of smart fiscal policies in recent years and a vibrant economy, our state’s revenue is up, and we need to decide how we should spend this money.”
Of course she fails to mention that those “smart fiscal policies” were not hers. But more importantly, the thought of returning our overpayment of taxes to the taxpayer apparently does not even cross her mind. It’s all about how to spend more money.
There is nothing moderate in Janet Napolitano’s liberal approach to government spending.