Primary elections are just around the corner. This is the time when most candidates are hard on the campaign trail.

But for 17 candidates there’s no pressure at all. They have no opposition in either the primary or general election and are virtual locks to win seats in the 47th Legislature. And incumbents in two districts face only minor-party opposition and are considered all but re-elected.

Here’s a look at how two lawmakers are spending their political down time.

Sen. Verschoor Has More Time For Work

With no opponent in his campaign for re-election, Sen. Thayer Verschoor, R-22, said he has more time for his work and his family.

“I’ve been able to spend some more time with the family,” he said, “but mostly I’ve been doing a lot of work.”

Mr. Verschoor said he has spent much of his time “earning a living for the family.” He works as a print broker – selling printing services to companies in need of direct mail pieces or door hangers.

Meeting with constituents and listening to their concerns also has been a priority, Mr. Verschoor said.

“Even though you don’t have a race, you still get out in front of your constituents,” he said. “My job is to help my constituents.”

District 22 residents have concerns about charter schools and the development of the 10,200-acre San Tan Park near Queen Creek. They want the development to serve all users, he said.

He is watching several legislative races this year. The goal is for the GOP to build its numbers at the Capitol, he said. Currently Republicans hold a 39-20 advantage in the House (there’s one independent) and outnumber Democrats 17-13 in the Senate.

Important to that goal is keeping incumbent GOP lawmakers in office, and Mr. Verschoor said he is helping in the re-election campaigns of Rep. Russell Pearce, R-18; and Rep. Warde Nichols, R-21. In addition, he is working to elect Sen. Mark Anderson, R-18, who is running for a House seat, and Rep. Karen Johnson, who is termed out in the House and is running for Mr. Anderson’s Senate seat.

He also said the party is keeping close tabs on several contests: the Dist. 5 Senate race, where the GOP can pick up a seat if termed-out House Speaker Jake Flake defeats Cameron Udall; the Dist. 12 Senate contest, where GOP Sen. Robert Blendu faces a challenge from Democrat Kathi Foster; and the Dist. 20 Senate Republican primary between incumbent Slade Mead, who voted for Governor Napolitano’s budget, and Rep. John Huppenthal, who opposed it.

On a national level, Mr. Verschoor is an alternate delegate for the Arizona Republican Party and will be attending the GOP National Convention in New York City Aug. 30 through Sept. 2.

Mr. Verschoor said that in next session he intends to introduce bills to stimulate the business environment in the state. The combination of deregulation and lowering corporate taxes, he said, could be an economic boon for Arizona.

“We would be able to attract more businesses, and especially manufacturing,” he said. “We’re not competing on a state-to-state market – we’re competing on a global market.”

Business property taxes in Arizona, he said, are the third highest in the country, and make it difficult to keep current businesses and attract new ones.

“The struggle there is, how do we help the businesses and not harm our residential tax rate?” Mr. Verschoor said. “To me, that’s more important than a lot of the ‘window-washing’ things, like building a trolley,” he said referring to the transportation tax and light rail issue that will appear on the ballot.

The fate of any corporate tax or deregulation legislation, he said, is dependent on who is elected to the Legislature. This type of legislation is not coming from the governor’s office, he said.

“They talk about ‘closing loopholes’ – a nice way of saying ‘raising taxes,’” Mr. Verschoor said.

He also plans to reintroduce a bill vetoed last year by the governor (S1081) that would add animal- or eco-terrorism to the racketeering statutes and a bill for educational choice scholarships that would give parents more control over where their children are educated.

Within the majority caucus, Mr. Verschoor is running for whip against Sen. Jay Tibshraeny, R-21. The whip last session, Sen. Marilyn Jarrett, R-19, decided recently to withdraw her name for consideration.

Mr. Verschoor said he already has the support of some GOP senators and said the caucus’s decision will come down to who would be a better negotiator.

“He [Mr. Tibshraeny] and I have two different viewpoints,” Mr. Verschoor said. “I think we’re both good choices – it just depends on what the caucus wants at the negotiating table.”

‘Political Junkie’ Biggs Watches GOP Races

By his own account, Rep. Andy Biggs’s life is pretty boring. His summer has been spent returning phone calls, taking his kids to school and doing chores around the house.

“I’m kind of a dull guy. What can I say?” he said.

He did take his family on vacation. Scores of Arizonans head to southern California each summer, escaping the desert heat by lounging beachside in a coastal town. Not Mr. Biggs — he took his family to Palm Desert, Calif., for six days.

“It’s the only place we could find that was hotter than Phoenix,” he said.

Speaking of heat, Mr. Biggs, R-22, said he is watching the legislative races like a hawk.

“Any contested race in the Republican primary I’m watching,” he said.

The House of Representatives race in District 3 particularly is intriguing to Mr. Biggs because both incumbents decided to run for the Senate seat vacated by Linda Binder, who is not seeking re-election. It’s the only House race with both seats open, and two Democrats and three Republicans are vying for them.

He also is following the District 20 Senate race between incumbent Slade Mead and Rep. John Huppenthal as well as Senate and House races in District 18.

“If you’re a political junkie, these are interesting,” Mr. Biggs said.

The outcomes of the elections also might thin the field of GOP candidates for speaker of the House. Mr. Biggs said he has heard six lawmakers will run for the position if they are elected: Reps. Eddie Farnsworth, R-22, Tom O’Halleran, R-2, Gary Pierce, R-19, Bob Robson, R-20, Steve Tully, R-11, and Jim Weiers, R-10. The primary elections, he said, “will give you a real idea of where leadership will be.”

When the session begins in January, he said he plans to introduce bills that didn’t make it into law last session, including one that would include eco-terrorism in the racketeering statutes. Last year, S1081 would have done that, he said, but the governor vetoed it, saying it was unnecessary.

He said he has been collecting news articles and other research that shows how real the threat is.

“It was characterized as being some sweeping criminal law which would bring environmentalists under the auspices of criminal law,” Mr. Biggs said. “That’s just not the case.”

Originally, he said, the bill did have both criminal and civil components, but it was amended to remove the criminal portion.

In her veto, Governor Napolitano wrote that the bill’s provisions “are so broad they will … unnecessarily threaten protected speech.”

Mr. Biggs said the bill was not intended to curtail environmental activism or demonstration, but merely to set limits as to what could be done.

“We wanted people to realize [that] you can go too far,” he said. —