The news that Gov. Napolitano may leave Arizona to head up the Department of Homeland Security is met with a decidedly mixed response from conservatives.
Gov. Napolitano’s strategy for border security these past six years has been to blame the federal government, especially Homeland Security. Now she has a chance to take care of the things she’s been complaining about, and we will discover whether she really cares about border security or was simply looking for a scapegoat for her own failings.
Given our state’s problems with fiscal mismanagement, job loss, poor education results and a high crime rate, I’m not sure what would lead President-elect Obama to believe she will be successful in defending the homeland. Nevertheless, if she takes the post we all will be praying for her success.
The good news for Arizona is that we will finally have a conservative Governor to work with a conservative legislature. Secretary of State Jan Brewer is anti-tax, anti-illegal immigration, pro-life and pro-family. Working with a strongly conservative legislature, there is great opportunity for Arizona to move forward by setting our state’s fiscal house in order after six years of overspending. In addition, Gov. Brewer can help Arizona families by promoting school choice, devoting more resources to border security, and signing reasonable and popular pro-life bills that Gov. Napolitano vetoed. She can look at tax cuts to stimulate economic growth in our state.
Given that conservatives probably won’t like any of Sen. Obama’s appointments, we should be grateful if at least one of his cabinet picks ends up being the best thing to happen to Arizona in quite some time.
