Yesterday, Gov. Jane Dee Hull signed into law Arizona's Legislature-approved 2002 budget, which included a uniform $1,450 pay raise for state employees. The move was just another in the series of politically motivated quick fixes that drive our state's government and, in turn, drive our state into a deeper and deeper monetary hole.

Last year, Hull promised a 5 percent pay raise to all state employees for 2002. Then the events of Sept. 11 unfolded, and the recession hit hard. Hull, like everyone else, obviously couldn't have seen the terrorist attacks coming Yet, she still should have had the foresight to realize that, since the nation had already entered a recession prior to Sept. 11, such a promise would be unwise and unreasonable.

The state Legislature - particularly the Senate - also acted foolishly. Senate Democrats vowed to pass the 5 percent raises despite the state's $1 billion budget shortfall. If passed, it would have put the state an additional $124 million in debt. The Senate, as is the case in our state all too often, put populism ahead of fiscal responsibility.

The Republican-controlled House, though proposing a scaled-down version of the raises, was also playing politics with the taxpayers' money. They refused to suggest eliminating the raises altogether, which would have been the most common-sense approach to take, in an effort to not draw too much heat from the other side of the aisle.

It's important to keep in mind that 2002 is an election year for all state legislators. Instead of concerning themselves with what they should have been concerned with - the 2003 budget - they decided to take the too-often-traveled route of making people happy right here and right now instead of looking ahead and realizing the state will likely be in the exact same financial rut a year from now.

The easy way out is being taken once again. Instead of attempting to appeal to Arizonans' intelligence by explaining why pay raises are unfeasible, Hull and the Legislature have decided to dish out even more money the state doesn't have and hope few people notice. It's time to nix this ridiculously political approach to our tax dollars. Now.