Laurie Roberts

opinion columnist



Well, it appears some semblance of sanity -- a microscopic shred, at least -- remains at the state Capitol.

Our leaders are balking at a plan to provide a(nother) $225 million subsidy to the Arizona Coyotes.

It seems Republican Sen. Debbie Lesko – when she’s not contemplating how to siphon ever larger amounts of public money into private schools – has reservations about another publicly funded arena far, far from her home district in Peoria.

ROBERTS: A $225 million subsidy for the Coyotes? Really?

GOP Sen. John Kavanagh – when he’s not plotting ways to stop people from protesting via threats of arrest and seizure of assets – is also not too keen on the idea.

Meanwhile, Senate President Steve Yarbrough -- evidently seeing no way to get a piece of pie as he does with tax credits for private schools – has “serious reservations”.

"You are using taxpayers' money to prefund a significant private enterprise," Yarbrough told The Republic’s Craig Harris. "And those don't always turn out so well."

OK, so I’ll just skip right over the jokes about using taxpayer’s money to fund private enterprise and get right to the point.

It's 'not easy' because it's dumb

The lack of support from Lesko, Kavanagh and Yarbrough should be enough to kill the Coyotes’ plan, given that 16 of the Senate’s 17 Republican votes likely will be needed. Democrats have long been more interested in funding schools than in funding professional playgrounds.

Still, Senate Bill 1149’s sponsor, Sen. Bob Worsley, isn’t throwing in the towel.

"We are still working on it. It's not easy," he told Harris.

Perhaps the reason it isn’t easy, senator, is because it’s a dumb idea to commit future public funds to building another hockey arena when you can’t properly fund public schools.

And because it’s not wise to pit other cities against Glendale, whose taxpayers are still on the hook for $145 million for the Coyotes’ current 13-year-old hockey arena.

Yes, yes, we know. Glendale rescinded that deal so it’s Glendale’s own fault it’s about to be the proud owner of a Gila River White Elephant. It’s what happens when politicians’ heads are filled with promises of future sports glory on their own apparently innocuous home turf, if only they pony up massive amounts of public cash to make it so.

They're not giving up (no wonder)

Well, look how that turned out? With a deal that was terrible for taxpayers. By the time Glendale’s residents are thoroughly squeezed for that horrendous mistake, they will have dumped a half a billion dollars into keeping an NHL team in town.

Curiously, despite evidence of doom in the state Senate, Coyotes Chief Executive Anthony LeBlanc isn’t giving up his tin cup.

“There are a lot of moving parts in this legislative process and everything is malleable and open for discussion until the very end,” he told Harris. “We will continue to educate lawmakers about a complex project that creates a true public-private partnership and offers the Coyotes an economically viable solution to remain in the Valley for the long term."

Hmm. Might one of those moving parts have to do with the Coyotes’ lobbyist, Jim Norton of Axiom Public Affairs? Jim Norton, who just coincidentally is still pals with his former fraternity brother from ASU?

Yeah, a guy named Doug Ducey.

Eyes wide open, Arizona.