What would Grover do?

Back when Martin was still in the Senate, a handful of people gathered in the Ice Cream Parlor of the old Capitol for a meeting he organized with Grover Norquist, sometimes referred to by Democrats as Arizona’s shadow governor.

According to a lawmaker who attended that meeting, Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said a Republican voting for a tax increase was the equivalent of finding a rat in a bottle of coke. Both would equally diminish an established brand and make no one ever want to purchase it again – or vote for it, as the case may be.

The Martin-Norquist relationship has continued since. In August, Norquist told the Arizona Daily Star this about Martin: “He’s a good guy…. He’s a serious political leader.”

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