Squealing about spending Senators Ron Gould and Jack Harper showed up at the Capitol in early May with rented pigs. Their message? They were not happy about the proposed $10.2 billion budget.

This year’s legislative session, the fifth longest in state history, will be remembered for more than its length.
The second regular session of the 47th Legislature brought a precedent-creating campaign finance decision, the dramatic rescue of a legislator taken ill, and the death of another.
There were lighter moments, like the arrival of two oinkers named “Tax” and “Spend,” and a host of other extraodinary events watched by Capitol insiders.
The Arizona Supreme Court in January put Rep. David Burnell Smith into the headlines by making him the first elected legislator to be removed from office in the nation for campaign finance violations.
Mr. Smith had been ordered in March from his District 7 seat for overspending his primary election campaign by greater than 10 percent by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC).
In response to the finality of the court’s decision, Mr. Smith, who had previously ran four unsuccessful campaigns, made it known he would be seeking re-election — without public funding.
“I felt like an outsider looking in, just watching my bills,” he said, describing the feeling of losing his position. “I learned the lesson that you have to be there to make a difference.”
During Mr. Smith’s battles against the CCEC, friction emerged when Howard Sprague, a friend and former campaign aide of Mr. Smith, announced that he would be seeking a District 7 seat in the House of Representatives.
The pair will also be competing against Rep. Nancy Barto, the district’s Republican Party chairwoman, who was selected by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to fill the seat left vacant.
After losing a slew of court decisions against the CCEC, he recently filed another lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court, alleging that Arizona’s system of publicly funded campaigns is unconstitutional. He bases the claim on a June 26 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down campaign contribution limits established in Vermont.
Rep. Barnes collapses on the House floor
Mr. Smith would not be the only District 7 representative to not finish the session. Republican Ray Barnes suffered a heart attack on the House floor on June 5.
He was revived by colleagues Ted Carpenter, Cheryl Chase, Colette Rosati, 17-year-old House page Ashley Mazur and lobbyist Mike Williams.
While recovering from bypass surgery in St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix, Mr. Barnes, jokingly chastised Ms. Mazur for ripping his shirt open to apply a defibrillator. He has recovered.
Sen. Jarrett dies after stroke
Senate president pro tem Marilyn Jarrett suffered a stroke in her office March 9.
The 67-year-old Mesa senator, known for her friendly and principled nature and for legislation pertaining to forestlands, public safety and justice court reforms, died on March 10. She served in the House and Senate for 11 years.
Mrs. Jarrett was lain in repose in the Capitol Rotunda March 19.
Lawmakers’ pig props
Sens. Jack Harper, R-4, and Ron Gould, R-3, in May paid $100 to rent pigs to bring to the Capitol as part of a protest against budget priorities they deemed excessive.
The animals, named “Tax” and “Spend” were used as props to demonstrate the senators’ dislike for budgetary items such as Governor Napolitano’s request for $150 million to use toward bioscience projects and funds for all-day kindergarten.
Later in the session, Sen. Edward Ableser, D-17, a frequent presenter of lengthy floor speeches, rose in preparation to address his colleagues when he found his microphone duct-taped to his desk.
Mr. Ableser still made his views known, dropping to his knees to speak into the microphone that would not budge.
Tax cuts, passed the Legislature and signed into law by the governor, were also of great interest to one insider closely monitoring upcoming elections.
Stan Barnes, a Republican former state representative and senator, views the match-up between the “ambitious Democratic governor and a conservative Legislature” as a throwback to the 1980s when Democratic Governor Bruce Babbitt sought re-election while the Legislature remained in Republican control.
“It’s like a solar eclipse,” he said. “It only comes around every generation or so.”
The session, though very long, has been one of most entertaining to watch in his experience, Mr. Barnes said. By sending the governor record tax cuts to sign, the Republican majority may have delivered a “great victory” for GOP philosophy and the state, but may also have given themselves an unintended consequence, he said.
“They actually helped Janet Napolitano get re-elected,” said Mr. Barnes, president of Copper State Consulting Group. “She signed the biggest tax cut in history. It’s good policy but it insulates her from attack.”