Jan Brewer

Jan Brewer

Brewer, Jan (Republican)

Phone: (602) 633-4526
Email: info@janbrewer.com
Website: www.janbrewer.com
PO Box 3976, Phoenix, AZ 85030

Age: 65 (9/26/44, Hollywood, CA).

Arizona since: 1970.

Occupation: Governor since 2009 (succeeded Janet Napolitano, who was appointed secretary of Homeland Security by President Obama); AZ secretary of state, 2003-09; Maricopa Board of Supervisors, 1997-02.

Marital: Married (John, small businessman).

Children: 3.

Religious preference: Lutheran.

Education: Attended, Glendale Community College, 1976; Valley Medical and Dental College (CA), 1962-63; licensed (now lapsed) radiological technologist.

Political experience: Precinct committeeman since 1970; delegate to Republican National Convention (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008); campaigned for G.W. Bush, G.H.W. Bush, Reagan, Goldwater and Congressman Stump; AZ Senate, 1987-96 (majority whip for two terms); AZ House, 1983-87.

Memberships have included: Presidential appointee, Council of Governors; AZ State Rifle & Pistol Association; NRA; founding member, Luke Fighter Country Partnership; Governor’s Military Task Force; vice-chair, AZ Criminal Justice Commission; vice-chair, WESTMARC; board of directors chair, Recovery Innovations of Arizona; co-chair, Continuum of Care; helped creation of Maricopa County Homeless campus.

Interests: Spending time with family and friends, gardening, professional sports.

Issues:

Political influence: Ronald Reagan. I started my public service while he was president, and his conservative ideals still guide me to this day.

Budget: Working with my budget office, I have established the Commission on Privatization and Efficiency (“COPE”). COPE’s first report is due this summer and its final report by the end of the year. I will implement the commission’s recommendation by executive action where possible and seek legislative authority for the rest in my FY 2012 budget. Also, one of my biggest surprises as governor was the difficulty the executive branch, let alone the general public, had getting clear and up-to-date financial information on government expenditures. During my time if office, significant progress has been made using accountability systems set up to track federal stimulus money. These systems have received national attention and will become the platform for further transparency efforts. In the very near future, I will be unveiling a significant initiative that will allow the public access to additional expenditure information. I also signed into law H2282, which will increase local government transparency through a state web portal.

Other concerns: Job creation: My efforts to date have already resulted in the creation of over $1 billion of new capital investment and nearly 2,500 new jobs in our state. The new Arizona Commerce Authority, which will replace the current Department of Commerce, will provide the long-term economic strategy that will survive different administrations and have the sole focus of job creation and retention. My basic philosophy is that government needs to get out-of-the-way of job creators — our innovators. Securing the border: I have a consistent record over my career of upholding the rule of law — from enforcing voter ID requirements at the polls to limiting government benefits to citizens only. We need the federal government to step up and do its job. While it has been the mantra for years in Arizona that this is a federal responsibility, I have taken our case to Washington, D.C. and the nation to get some action. And we are starting to get some results.

Fiscal philosophy: In my 28 years of public service, I have consistently led the charge for streamlined, efficient government. State government not only needs to do more with less, but simply do less in general. In addition, an over-reaching state government in its desire to do good should never crowd out private sector initiative. Part of my fiscal philosophy is that we need to prevent the next fiscal crisis by adopting a series of constitutional budget reforms, impose fiscal discipline and put permanent fixes in place to prevent a repeat of this fiscal crisis. On the revenue side of the equation, I believe reductions in marginal tax rates will increase our economic competitiveness, especially in those areas where we do not compare favorably with our neighboring and competitor states nationally.

Background & experience: I have learned in my life that making the right decision is almost always the hard decision. I have always applied that lesson in my public service — focus on doing what I view as the right thing and let the political consequences follow. Arizonans, and Americans in general, want leadership telling them the way it is, providing a reasonable solution to the problem and then getting results. Arizona’s current fiscal crisis is not my first time leading a turnaround effort. When I served as chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, we were bogged down so deep in debt that the county had used short-term borrowing just to meet cash flow. At the end of my tenure as a supervisor in 2002, the county had one of the strongest financial positions of any county in the nation and was proclaimed by Governing Magazine as “one of the two best managed large counties in the nation.” My goal is to have the same said about the management of the State of Arizona in four years. As governor, we have started what I believe will be a great comeback to kick off Arizona’s second century. We have made many hard decisions by streamlining state government and passing Prop. 100. Many hard decisions still lie ahead. Under my leadership, the State of Arizona has a clear path forward to greater prosperity and fiscal stewardship where none existed before.

Voter Protection Act: I do not support an outright repeal of the Voter Protection Act. I believe we need to amend the act to give the governor and Legislature some means of suspending the protection for voter-approved measures impacting the budget during a state fiscal crisis.

Underfunded agency: No. We must fit our state government to the budget we can afford.

Prop. 100 sales tax: I favored Prop. 100, as did 64 percent of voters in the May special election. Why was this necessary? Arizona went on a fiscal spending spree for roughly five years before I took office, and I inherited the worst fiscal crisis in modern Arizona history, and one of the worst in the nation. From my years turning Maricopa County back from the brink of bankruptcy in the 1990s, I know you can’t turn a fiscal mess like this around in a single year. I came forward with a comprehensive multi-year fiscal recovery roadmap in March 2009 including budget cuts, a temporary tax increase, fiscal reforms and long-term tax reform. In my time in office, we have permanently reduced state general fund spending by over $2 billion, the state employee count by more than 15 percent, and state personnel expenditures are down by nearly 20 percent since the spending peak in 2008. But, as I have repeatedly said, Prop. 100 is not a cure-all. Many hard budget decisions still need to be made. However, Arizona now has a roadmap to recovery and fiscal stability. Applying proven conservative economic principles, I have made, and will continue to make, the hard decisions necessary to fix this fiscal mess and help prevent it from happening again.

Campaign finance: public.