They’re lining up for the president’s seats, plural.
As the District 1 senator and president of the Senate, Ken Bennett has two seats in the upper chamber — one on the floor and one at the dais. His days in both are numbered by term limits, and candidates are lining up to replace him in both capacities.
To date, four people have filed for his Senate seat, which represents Sedona, Prescott, Cottonwood and other parts of north-central Arizona, and five incumbent senators say they would like to be the Senate’s presiding officer.
Mr. Bennett, who came to the Senate in 1998 and became president in 2003, decided earlier this year to forgo a run for the Republican nomination for governor, citing obligations to his family, business and the Senate. At an Oct. 14, 2005, news conference, he said he would not have relinquished his Senate seat had he decided to run. On the chance Mr. Bennett would have chosen to step down as president had he become a candidate, there was buzz around the Capitol about who might replace him. Asked about that, he replied at the time, “The buzzards are circling, huh?”
It’s more than a buzz now as two Senate leaders, Majority Leader Tim Bee of Tucson and Whip Jay Tibshraeny of Chandler, say they’re in the race for Senate president, as do Rules Chairman Robert Blendu of Litchfield Park and Appropriations Chairman Bob Burns of Peoria.
Former House Speaker Jake Flake of Snowflake says he also is interested in replacing Mr. Bennett, who appointed him president pro tem to replace the late Sen. Marilyn Jarrett.
Were Mr. Bee elected president by the majority caucus, he would succeed as only the third president from outside Maricopa County in the past 15 years. Rep. Pete Rios of Hayden served as Senate president from 1991 to 1992, when Democrats lost control of the Senate.
Sen. Thayer Verschoor of Gilbert says he will run for majority leader when the caucus meets to choose its leaders shortly after the Nov. 7 general election.
Other races
Meanwhile, three Republicans and one Democrat have filed for the District 1 Senate primary, including Rep. Tom O’Halleran, a Sedona Republican who has served in the House since 2001.
He and Republicans William Stoll, a Camp Verde pastor, and Elise Townsend, the owner of a Prescott area construction company, are all running privately financed campaigns.
As of the last campaign finance reporting period, Dec. 31, 2005, Mr. O’Halleran reported cash on hand of $2,764, Mr. Stoll reported he had loaned his campaign $8,259 and had spent $7,847 and Ms. Townsend, who announced her candidacy at the Capitol this year, had not filed a financial report.
Ms. Bennett, who has not ruled out a future run for state or federal office, had $18,843 on hand as of the end of the reporting period.
Democrat Jo Kelleher of Chino Valley has filed as a Clean Elections candidate, but has not yet qualified for the ballot. She is a part-time teacher at Northern Arizona University and moved to Arizona 10 years ago from Rhode Island.
About District 1
In the 2004 primary and general elections, Rep. Lucy Mason outpolled Mr. O’Halleran by more than 1,000 and more than 800 votes, respectively. In the 2004 general election, Mr. Bennett beat Democrat Susan Friedman by more than 16,000 votes. The March voter registration totals for District 1 were: Repblican, 47,573; Democrat, 27,194; and other, 28,345.