Governor thinks transit sales tax proposal will make ballot
by The Associated Press on Aug. 14, 2008, under Elections, Local, SpecialNapolitano says voter signatures will check out
PHOENIX – Gov. Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that she believes Arizona voters will get to decide in November whether to raise the state sales tax by a penny for three decades to pay for a $42 billion transportation plan
While a sample of the signatures collected to put the measure on the ballot showed fewer signatures than supporters needed, a larger review will hit the mark, Napolitano said.
“That’ll work its way out,” Napolitano said. “I think the voters of Arizona deserve the opportunity to express their views on it . . . and I’m confident they’ll have the chance to make that choice, and I’m confident they’ll make the right one come November.”
Napolitano supports the measure, saying it will provide a transportation infrastructure for Arizona’s population growth, relieve traffic congestion and create jobs in a sluggish economy.
The Secretary of State’s Office had said supporters fell nearly 15,000 signatures short of the almost 154,000 needed to put the issue before voters on Nov. 4.
The campaign for the measure planned to sue the Secretary of State’s Office this week, said deputy campaign manager Katie Hutchinson.
She said the campaign will ask a judge to find that thousands of the signatures the Secretary of State’s Office found invalid were actually valid. For instance, she said some were found invalid because voters signed their names in two of three required areas.
“We believe that those meet with substantial compliance with the law, and we’ll be making the case as to why they should be put back into the mix,” she said.
Supporters say the measure would fund highway construction projects, and rail, transit and other transportation work. They failed to get the Legislature to put a transportation proposal on the ballot, which is why they collected signatures to do so.
Kevin Tyne, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office, had not returned a call Wednesday seeking comment.
