A group upset over Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposed spending cuts for state social service programs and education has started a recall effort to force a new election.
The Committee to Recall Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said it wanted to remove the Republican governor from office for her “gross mismanagement of Arizona’s finances.”
The committee filed notice of the effort with the Arizona secretary of state on Friday. It must collect 432,021 valid signatures by May 28.
The group’s website,
“That even one life should be sacrificed so that our great state can service its debts and balance its budget is outside the boundaries of common decency, respect for human life, and our inalienable rights,” the recall committee said.
Brewer’s proposed budget for fiscal 2012 would remove 28,000 recipients — mostly childless adults — from the state medical insurance program to save $541.5 million next year and more than $1 billion in fiscal 2013.
The state government plans to halt funding in October for an organ transplant program at a savings of $800,000 in fiscal 2012.
The recall committee also criticized Brewer’s proposal to cut state aid to local education by $300 million.
Brewer began her first full four-year term Jan. 3 after easily defeating her Democratic opponent in November 2010.
