Officially #1, but no cheering!

Well I think it is official that Arizona is the WORST run state in the nation! We are faced with some 3.5 billlion dollar deficit and the Governor does not know what to do, so she decided she will cut expenses by reaching into the pockets of the employees that make the state keep running and siphon up to 5% of our pay! Not only that, she says close all of juvenile corrections, close all state parks, and sell the prisons. So effectively she is pushing the custody of juvenile prisoners into the hands of the counties, she is closing one of the few state agencies that actually MAKE money (people PAY to enjoy the State Parks) and turn over the custody of housing inmates to the hands of private companies so they can attempt to make a PROFIT from the incarceration of people.
I have worked in private industry and the currently in the public sector. When I worked in the private sector - we got raises every 6 months to a year - based on our performance. It might have only been 25 cents/hr increase but we saw a little more on the paycheck. In the public sector, raises have to be passed by legislation, and it has NOTHING to do with performance. You can be a waste of skin with a state job and make the same pay as the next person that busts there ass and works hard. Now here's the thing: they want to take up to 5% of our pay. The last raise we had in our department was 3 years ago, it was like 2% (cost of living goes up at least 3% per year). The raise before that was 5 years before that one, and only about 2%. So a 5% loss of pay, will, in effect, set state employees back about 10 to 12 years in pay. I am not even including the increase in the cost of living.
I vote to raise the sales tax by 1% and leave my pay alone. They take our pay - the greedy bastards will NEVER give it back! Also, did they (legislators and the executive officials and Directors of Departments) include themselves in the pay reduction? I mean 5% of $200K is much more than 5% of 35K.
Hmmmmmmm, my guess is a resounding "NO". Hell, they were crying foul last summer because their pay was so low at $24K for 100 days of required work. They wanted an INCREASE! That comes out to about $55K if it was an all year, full time job.
It disgusts me how nonchalant the lawmakers are about the future of the livelihoods of the approximate 80,000+ state employees. Well, we vote,and expect a job waiting for you past the next election!