Forum raises points for county split

Big government is not only wasteful and unnecessarily intrusive. It also becomes unwieldy and unresponsive, too complex and remote for most people to grasp its total scope and application. Then you've got real trouble.

At that point, even the most concerned citizen begins to "rationally detach" from part or all of the political process.

Special interests move in with agendas that frequently aren't those of the general public and get their way _ with the public's resources _ because the public has virtually checked out.

Professor Shirley Svorny of California State University, Northridge, outlined this view Wednesday at a Tribune-cosponsored forum at Phoenix's Goldwater Institute on the possible creation of an East Valley county.

That Maricopa County has a vast and complicated government receives little argument. Currently the sixth most-populous county in the United States, Maricopa has more people than 21 states.

Although the East Valley's representatives on Maricopa's Board of Supervisors, Fulton Brock and Don Stapley, have praised county government for its recent efficiency, bigger has not proven better for the East Valley.

The Tribune's discovery of shortfalls in funding county parks near Fountain Hills and Queen Creek while those in the west are amply provided for is one example of Maricopa's failure to equally serve our side of the Valley.

Gilbert Road's remaining unwidened near the newly opened interchange with Loop 202 is another clear example of county officials being unable to effect a timely response to reasonable public needs.

Svorny's fellow forum panelist, state Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said Maricopa County's enormous size has meant residents of Glendale and Peoria are not very well apprised of the issues in the East Valley, just as few here are familiar with major concerns facing the West Valley.

Pearce said he intends to introduce a bill in 2003 to start the county-creating process.

Another panelist, Mesa Mayor Keno Hawker, outlined some predictable pitfalls of a new county, including the possibility of duplication of agencies such as the county jail. But Pearce said the East Valley lacks many services as it is _ under just one county _ and even though we pay 38 percent of Maricopa's tax funds, we receive only 8 percent of the resources.

Wednesday's forum represented the early stages of the new-county debate. Much more needs to be examined. But the idea of a new county that is leaner and more responsive to its East Valley constituents can no longer be rejected out of hand.