Arizona’s schools are starving, and the leadership within our business community is telling them, “Go eat cake.” Starvation won’t kill our schools all at once, but Arizona’s schools are gradually wasting away for want of less than one added penny.

There is also a campaign to silence business groups on Prop 480. Political consultant Chuck Coughlin, whose firm is running the pro campaign, sent letters to board members of the Mesa Chamber of Commerce and Arizona Chamber of Commerce to let them know it “behooves” them to stay on the sidelines on this one and let voters decide.

While most of the candidates who are running for governor this year are touting their experience in the private sector, two stand out as favorites of the business community and recipients of their financial largesse.

Members of a panel tasked with studying Arizona’s personal income tax system said that while flattening or doing away with the income tax may be a popular talking point, the state’s current system is reasonably fair and may not need a major overhaul.

New campaign finance laws could restore clout of business community

Business interests that once served as the gatekeepers of Arizona’s elections may be regaining some of the clout they lost during the Clean Elections era.

Small businesses in Arizona employ 46 percent of the private-sector workforce. They are an important economic engine to the state, and to the nation. But the uncertainty in Washington makes it difficult for them to live up to the full potential that we all know small business can be. When I was voted CEO of the Arizona Small Business Association (ASBA), I made it a priority to engage our more than 11,000 member-companies to lead and educate them on a number of factors that are vitally important to their businesses, including the ever-changing policy and fiscal environment. But now I find myself at a loss for answers to questions about the future of the nation.

Arizona Capitol Times reporter Luige del Puerto talks about how the business community coalesced behind an agenda they were largely able to achieve during the most recent legislative session.