AZ Needs Leadership

When the Arizona Supreme Court decided to punt Governor Jan Brewer’s suit to have her party surrender the passed budget, a red flag went up in my mind.

This state is in real trouble. Not because we are in a 2 billion dollar budget hole, but because Jan Brewer lost all of her political leverage with that ridiculous lawsuit. What’s worse is that she has to go back to the bargaining table with the stain of being an ineffectual leader.

This state can’t afford to have a bunch of wannabe Barry Goldwaters or Janet Napolitanos to guide us into the future. A new person must take the mantle and the onus of leading this state with clear and definitive goals that make Arizona financially stronger, economically stable, and with a strong and active business community rallied behind that person.

But don’t hold your breath.

The time is now for someone to step up and have a vision for Arizona. As a state, we cannot continue down a current path of electing political heroes that have only live on their mediocre deeds of the past, talk about what needs to be done today and not have any plan for the future.

It’s down right pathetic that renewable energy companies have passed over Arizona time after time. We should be the leader in solar and renewable energy business and yet, places like Canada and Oregon are luring more business than we are. And they think that glowing orange orb in the sky is a UFO, not the sun.

We keep electing people who want to lead by committee, leaving the tough decision up to someone else. As an electorate we have settled, and no one cares. It is more than troubling when our own governor can’t get along with her own party. Political party in-fighting, partisan hackery, whether on the Left or the Right, is kryptonite to the well-being of any party and that toxicity and lack of clear leadership trickles down to us, the voters who care more about the future of this state than our own elected political heroes.

Time is running out for Jan Brewer. I hope she doesn’t run in 2010 because even her own party doesn’t support her – or she doesn’t know how to gather people on the steps of the Capitol, hold a press conference and actually show the people who think her plan for the future of Arizona and the budget is a solid, productive plan.

Nature abhors a vacuum. Let’s hope there is someone who emerges from the political thicket to take Arizona where it needs to be – into a bright and sunny future, not just sticking fingers in the wind and guessing which way the wind blows.