Attorney Brian de Vallance has been named by Governor Napolitano to man Arizona’s new office in Washington, D.C. The office is set to open early in 2004.

Mr. de Vallance in 1999 was appointed by then-U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to direct the Department of Justice’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Mr. de Vallance served as Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson’s deputy chief of staff and then managed the mayor’s campaign for governor in 1994.

He also served as an aide to former Governor Bruce Babbitt, was a board member of the Maricopa County Sports Commission and served as treasurer of the Committee for Juvenile Justice Reform.

Ms. Napolitano wants someone who will work closely with Arizona’s congressional delegation, identify grant and loan programs and monitor legislation that affects the state’s fiscal health, according to one of her advisers.

“There is strong interest by the business community in Arizona and a recommendation by our military task force to have someone there helping out the state,” said Dennis Burke, the governor’s chief of staff in charge of policy.

The state’s military bases have an economic impact of $5.6 billion a year and employ more than 83,500 civilian and military workers. A governor’s task force says the Washington office would help protect the state’s bases from Defense Department plans to close some military installations.

The cost of opening an Arizona lobbying office has not been determined, but money could come from the budgets of agencies that stand to benefit, Mr. Burke said.

House Majority Leader Eddie Farnsworth, R-Dist. 22, said he is not yet sold on a Washington, D.C., office.

“The benefit would have to outweigh the costs,” Mr. Farnsworth said. “I would have to be convinced that it would benefit the state and not just Governor Napolitano’s political ambitions.”

More than 30 states have lobbyists in Washington, according to the Governor’s Office. The state’s three major universities and the Arizona Department of Transportation also have lobbyists in the nation’s capital. —