BREWER QUICK TO IGNORE WILL OF PEOPLE WHEN IT SERVES HER

Will the real Jan Brewer please stand up?

The governor has come far since she made her name globally by signing
Arizona's divisive immigration law. Criticized at first for riding SB
1070's coattails into office for a full term as governor, she earned
our respect for supporting the Proposition 100 temporary sales tax
increase for education funding, and standing up to the more radical
local elements of the Republican Party.

But she's also made a name for herself with partisan squawking and
knee-jerk reactions to slights, both real and perceived, from
Washington. Now it's getting out of hand - and it's getting old.

Brewer has ordered Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne to seek a
federal judge's ruling on the legality of the state's own medical
marijuana law, which voters approved in November. She says it's
because a memo from the federal prosecutor assigned to Arizona points
out the drug's sale and use remains illegal under federal law, which
she interprets to be a threat to the state employees charged with
carrying out the law.

But U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke's letter never mentioned state
workers, and in an interview with Capitol Media Services reporter
Howard Fischer described the lawsuit and the press conference held by
Brewer and Horne as political grandstanding.

"I believe in the will of the people," said Brewer, who personally
opposed Proposition 203 in November. "Unfortunately, with this piece
of legislation, there are some pretty serious consequences if we
don't get them resolved. And I, as governor, am not willing to put
those people at risk."

Horne, for his part, said this is different from his fight with the
feds over SB 1070 because the goals of the state and federal statutes
are in clear conflict in this case, making it inappropriate for him
to defend it as vigorously.

Even Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery is involved, advising
county leaders to halt the permitting process until the matter is cleared up.

All of this appears to be based on a distortion - mistaken or willful
- - of the risk of federal prosecution.

Call us cynical, but could the real issue here be that medical
marijuana is simply less popular with the Republican officials' base
than the immigration crackdown?

Prop. 203 was the third time Arizona residents have said at the
ballot box that they want a legal way for the very ill to have access
to medical marijuana. Perhaps one problem is the governor is looking
at the matter as, in her own word, "legislation," rather than the
initiative of voters to amend state law. Initiatives are one of the
cornerstones of Arizona politics, a defining element of our
independent Western nature that venerates public sovereignty. And the
actions of Arizona lawmakers and governors have long displayed an
utter disdain for this power of the people.

Medical marijuana is no panacea, and it's not without its problems -
ask our neighbors in California and Colorado about that. But the
people have spoken, and Brewer and Horne - who are so quick to hiss
at Washington when they feel oppressed by the feds - should be
defending the will of the voters of this state, while at the same
time properly educating themselves on its ramifications. It's their job.

Our top state officials have gone from thumbing their noses at the
federal government every chance they get to inexplicably thumbing
their noses, instead, at us.