Jobs

As Governor, your number one priority should be finding ways to grow and attract jobs to get Arizonans working again.   It should always be Job One.  Instead we see political games being played at the Capitol -- closing highway rest areas, shutting down state parks, attempts to abolish health care for low-income children, arguments about how long traffic lights should stay yellow.  These games don't build Arizona or attract new investment.  Arizona is on the wrong track.

As an Arizona native who has spent much of my life working to improve our state, I am angry to see how the current leadership is mortgaging our children’s future by irresponsible financial management, squandering our resources, increasing the structural deficit, and dealing with our long-term problems with short-term attempted fixes. They don't balance the budget or improve schools.  Our current “leaders” just waste time and make Arizona look silly. 

It’s time for Arizona leaders to act like adults.  

After almost two years with this lack of leadership, our state has no plan to restore the over 300,000 jobs that Arizona men and women have lost.  We get Arizona working again first by diversifying Arizona’s economy. For too long we have relied on sheer growth for economic development. That’s not economic development - that is a migration pattern.

To diversify our economy, we need to establish a private sector organization run by professionals to promote Arizona and work with the Governor and legislature to enact policies that will help grow Arizona jobs and attract new jobs from out of state.

As part of growing and attracting new jobs, Arizona needs to be able to close the deal to make that happen. While some would give tax breaks, I propose that Arizona create a deal closing fund that will assist new and growing businesses with public infrastructure that will help them be more successful.

We must not abandon our mainstay industries in Arizona. Tourism, health care, and agriculture have been neglected for too long. Their budgets have been cut and programs ignored; we need to reenergize these economic development engines.

We must reinvest in programs like Science Foundation Arizona, which has a proven track record in leveraging state, federal and private dollars for research and development here in Arizona. We must attract science-based, research driven industries, incentivize industries that export products, and ensure that our growing biosciences sector leads the way.

We must focus on what matters to Arizonans: A good job to support a family, a great education system to prepare our children for the future, open space to enjoy the beauty of Arizona.

Governor Terry Goddard will provide the leadership to get Arizonans working again.