Arizona Governor

S.B. 1070 changed a lot of things in the political world.

It brought national attention to Arizona.

It caused the Obama administration to bow to the far-left liberal base (in suing Arizona), giving the Republicans a major card to play against Democrats in the upcoming November elections.

It spread the spirit of true illegal immigration enforcement to other states.

It knocked two Republicans out of the Arizona GOP Gubernatorial Primary.

It effectively signed, sealed, and delivered a re-election victory to Governor Jan Brewer.

It's difficult to remember, but before S.B. 1070, Jan Brewer was pushing through Proposition 100 (a one-cent sales tax increase), which was perceived to be extremely unpopular amongst conservatives in the state. At one time (months ago), due to Governor Brewer's insistence for a sales tax increase, State Treasurer Dean Martin was considered to be the best GOP nominee to take on the Democrat front runner, Terry Goddard.

To Brewer's defense, she did inherit a large budget deficit from her predecessor, who fled the state at an opportune moment to take a position in President Obama's deficit. Not only was there a huge budget deficit, but there was an unwillingness from state agencies to put up with the massive budget cuts that would have been needed to close that deficit. Brewer needed to do something to quickly resolve the budget crisis that Arizona faced.

Unfortunately, Governor Brewer and her staff came across as too dictatorial to many of the conservatives in the Arizona Legislature, who banded together to oppose any tax increase proposals coming out of the ninth floor. It even appeared to me at one point that the infighting in the Arizona Republican Party might cost them dearly in the 2010 elections, and I felt that Governor Brewer was mostly to blame for the public perception of "Republican incompetence."

Then S.B. 1070 happened, and Governor Brewer became the media-appointed spokeswoman for the Arizona GOP. To her credit, she has been a wonderful voice for Arizona, and her leadership abilities have shined in the midst of the Obama administration's inept handling of the entire situation. Governor Brewer had her tax increase passed overwhelmingly by the voters, and little opposition was raised - a stark contrast to what might have occurred in a world without S.B. 1070.

Jan Brewer made a decision (in signing S.B. 1070) that may have paid major political dividends for her, but she has proven that she will do the dirty work for Arizona, fighting the forces of liberalism who dare to tell the leaders of our state that we have right to do what is in our best interests. She is also an extremely strong social conservative. However, Governor Brewer must still earn the trust of conservatives by promoting a small government agenda. She's made the tough decisions on illegal immigration; she must make more of the difficult decisions when attempting to balance the budget in the future.

Although the choice was made extremely easy by Dean Martin's and Buz Mills' departures from the Primary race, Politics In AZ strongly supports Governor Jan Brewer for Governor in Tuesday's election. Arizona is very fortunate to have her in place as the Governor of our great state!

(For more information about Governor Jan Brewer, please visit her website, http://www.janbrewer.com/.)