Yesterday I wrote a post condemning Ducey’s decision to take money donated to help living post-9/11 veterans and use it to keep cemeteries for veterans running. My headline was, Vets Join Arizona’s “Budget Balanced on the Backs of” List. A line from the post:
Let this be a wake-up call to people who think these sons of bitches hold anything—other than cutting taxes for corporations—sacred.
I sent it to Chelo Grubb, the Weekly’s web editor, for her to put on The Range. A little while later, she sent me an email saying Ducey had backed down, so my post was on hold. Consider this a replacement for that post and a retraction of the above unpublished quote.
Contrary to my assertion, Ducey & Co. do consider something sacred other than corporate tax cuts: their heads, which were nearly bit off by veterans groups and Republican legislators. Parents and educators can yell all they want about Republicans withholding funding from schools. No problem. Courts can even tell the legislature its cuts are illegal to the tune of $330 million. Republicans appeal the decision, and Ducey talks tough but does nothing. College students and their parents can raise a fuss over regular increases in college tuition because state funding for universities keeps getting cut. Ducey says students need to pay their fair share of the cost of college. The governor can brush off those complaints with a quick swipe of his hand. But he learned an important lesson from his latest attempt at a funding sweep. Don’t mess with vets.
Ducey’s change of heart shouldn’t be the end of this story about the donated money. It says on the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services web page, the money “directly impacts the lives of Arizona’s heroes,” and that’s what it should do. But it’s not happening. Ted Vogt, Ducey’s chief of operations, said the original plan to sweep the fund wasn’t such a big deal (a word of advice to Ted: Never use a phrase like “not a big deal” when referring to veterans) because the fund has $5 million in its coffers. He failed to mention the reason for the unused balance. The advisory committee hasn’t decided how to spend the money—because, I guess, they figure Arizona’s veterans are doing just fine. The $5 million unused balance is a scandal which was brought to light by the hubbub over Ducey’s proposed sweep. The governor’s next move should be to make sure the committee does its job and spends the donated funds to offer veterans much needed, and much deserved, help.
This article appears in Jan 15-21, 2015.
The first mis-step of many.
As a VET….sorry….but I dont see that as being balanced on OUR backs.. Its part of EVERYONES budget….and VETS are NOT a protected class….nor should they be. We did not serve for FREEBIES.. or ACCOLADES….
GuiseppeKnows, the funds that were going to be swept were from tax credit donations, and the donors were told the money was to be used to help 9/11 vets, not to maintain veterans cemeteries. I would say taking those funds would be balancing the budget on the backs of vets who can use the assistance, especially since the donors were told that was where their money would go.
It’s completely unethical to take DONATIONS for a charitable purpose and then divert them to another use. The governor better stay backed-down on this one. I have never in my life heard a citizen complain about their tax dollars being used to maintain a veteran’s cemetery so there was no need to make that a budget cut. Gov. Ducey needs to hang out with some real people instead of always hobnobbing with corporate executives and their lobbyists.
I agree with GuiseppeKnows, David because he is more right. First it was “three hots & a cot” and ending with a flag draped coffin for that “last foxhole”. The Phoenix vet’s cemetery is beautiful in it’s typically military spartan look but these things still take money. Let the vet’s take umbrage and, no matter what, don’t hate this governor on the backs of the veterans.
There are two issues one of which the commenters have not yet picked up on. Whyinhell was there a $5 million dollar balance in the fund? Don’t we have post-9/11 vets that need some of those funds? How ’bout the Wounded Warrior project that my wife and I contribute to – they seem to need money. Why is this sitting unused while an advisory board ponders? The point is that letting money sit in a fund like a red flag where the gov and legislature can sweep it is just asking for it,
Michael Ellegood; thank you so much for your generosity on behalf of our wounded warriors. I cannot answer why the money was there but I suspect there is a good reason which could have been found out instead of posting an incomplete and obviously inflammatory story right here.
All that being said I would very strongly encourage you to look into the amount of the money you donate that is actually put to use. An alternative closer to home is at the VA where they have desperate and continuing need for books, socks and other things your money can buy that you can be sure will go directly to the vet. I have picked up a couple wheel chairs, a bumper mounted motorized wheel chair lift locally all for less than $100 through local auctions & estate sales purely for the use of veterans.
Thank you so much for commenting here and for your tremendous generosity. We are all thankful.