Senate Republicans are expected to pick up conservative muscle in November but the new caucus may be divided on how hard a line to take in dealing with Governor Napolitano.

Some Republicans who oppose abortion and same-sex marriage are planning to revive those issues in the next Legislature, in part, they say, to put the governor on the record for the 2006 elections.

At the same time, a number of Republicans expected to win in November are more cautious when it comes to talking about tearing down the governor’s pet programs, such as full-day kindergarten and say that while they may pick up a seat, they won’t get the 20 votes they need to override gubernatorial vetoes.

Legislative primaries ousted five Republican incumbents who listed themselves as pro-choice or have voted against restrictions on abortion. Pro-life candidates replaced them on the general election ballot.

In that election, “the Flake race is key” on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage, said Sen. Thayer Verschoor, R-22.

If termed-out Speaker Jake Flake defeats Democrat Cameron Udall to replace Minority Leader Jack Brown in the Senate, Republicans will gain an 18th seat in the 30-member body, assuming all other seats stay as they are. Mr. Brown, termed out in the Senate, is running for the House.

This past session it was in the Senate that defeated a Republican House measure supporting a federal ban on same-sex marriage (HCM2004). It fell two votes short of the 16 needed for passage, with two Republicans, Sens. Carolyn Allen, R-8, and Toni Hellon, R-26, voting No and two other Republicans, Sens. Slade Mead, R-20, and Linda Binder, R-3, skipping the vote.

Next year will be different: Ms. Allen and Ms. Hellon will be back, but Ms. Binder and Mr. Mead won’t. She decided not to run for re-election, and he was defeated in the primary, and their replacements are much more conservative on “family values” issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage.

The marriage memorial, a message or “postcard” to Congress, passed the House 41-19 before falling in the Senate. It was supported by Mr. Flake and sponsored by Rep. Warde Nichols, R-21.

Same Sex Marriage To Come Up Again

Mr. Nichols says supporters of “one-man-one woman” marriage will be meeting soon to plan a strategy on the issue for the new session in January.

“My instincts tell me… it’s going to be on the table one way or another,” Mr. Nichols said. “We need to decide if the postcard is the best way to go or attack it a different way. It’s alive and well.”

Passage of a memorial does nothing to put Gov. Napolitano on the record because memorials do not go to the governor’s office. They are recorded by the secretary of state and forwarded to their intended recipients, in this case Congress. But supporters say it at least would have put Arizona on the record against same-sex marriage.

Abortion Consent

On abortion, both the Senate and House passed S1077, which required that a woman wait 24 hours after receiving medical information about the procedure before giving her consent for an abortion. It was one of eight bills Ms. Napolitano vetoed last session.

On most bills, two-thirds votes of both chambers are required to override a gubernatorial veto — 20 in the Senate and 40 in the House. Despite the odds against overrides, says Rep. Linda Gray, R-10, who is seeking a Senate seat, pro-life Republicans are going to pursue abortion restrictions to put Ms. Napolitano “on the record” a year out from the 2006 elections.

She said she expects the Senate will have 16 pro-life votes, and passage of an informed consent abortion bill again “puts the governor on record on where she stands on women being told of the effects of abortion.”

Senate President Ken Bennett said the pro-life position was “strengthened somewhat” by the primary elections, but it is too soon to tell what will happen with issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage, as well as the governor’s pet programs, such as full-day kindergarten.

“I don’t think the conservative strategy has been collectively set right now,” he said. “I’ve not been part of any discussion as to whether there’s an advantage politically” to send previously vetoed bills back to the governor or scale back or repeal some of her programs.

Kindergarten

Mr. Bennett said there is no way to know at this point how freshman Republicans, along with incumbents who opposed the governor’s voluntary full-day kindergarten program, will approach the issue next year.

The Legislature this year approved $21 million for the first year of what Ms. Napolitano hopes will be a statewide full-day K program by 2010.

Mr. Verschoor and Rep. John Huppenthal, R-20, who won a Senate seat in the primary, both voted against the voluntary program but say repeal is unlikely.

“Realistically, there’s a chance to scale it back,” said Mr. Verschoor. “Repeal will be tougher.”

Sen. Dean Martin, R-6, chairman of the Finance Committee, said abortion and same-sex marriage issues will come up again, but education will be a major focus next year.

“I don’t know if there is a will for repealing full-day K,” he said. “It will be a question of whether there is a better place to spend education dollars. We may actually have a balanced budget, with no new gimmicks or tricks.”

Would Republicans send tax reductions to the governor?

Mr. Martin said he will reintroduce legislation to reduce business property taxes without raising taxes on home property “no matter who’s in the Governor’s Office.”

Mr. Verschoor said the Legislature needs to structure bills with the governor in mind.

“We need to write bills she can sign,” he said. “She has the opportunity to work in a true bipartisan way or not. If she doesn’t, that’s when political legislation happens — NRA (National Rifle Association), pro-life, family values stuff.”

One way to get around vetoes, Mr. Verschoor said, is to bypass the governor and send measures she opposes to the ballot.

He said, however, he is going to reintroduce his “animal and ecological terrorism” bill, which was vetoed, and he hopes to convince her the legislation is needed.

The bill would expand the state racketeering laws to include such activities as violence against medical researchers who use animals in their experiments. Ms. Napolitano said such crimes are already covered in the criminal code.