About 1,200 people packed the Mesa Kimball Stake Nov. 9 for the funeral of Jeff Groscost, the former state House speaker and a dominating figure in Arizona Republican politics.
U.S. Sen. John McCain delivered the eulogy. Former state senator Rusty Bowers sang. Governor Napolitano also attended and speakers included several of Mr. Groscost’s children, and his mother, Catherine.
Mr. Groscost was a prominent conservative lawmaker who was the architect of legislation that produced the state’s costly alternative fuel vehicles subsidy legislation. He died Nov. 3 at his home. He was 45. He is survived by wife, Dana, and six children.
Mr. Groscost was first elected to the House in 1992 to represent Mesa and served as speaker for two years, beginning in 1997 when Don Aldridge resigned as speaker.
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-22, called Mr. Groscost’s death a “tragedy” for his family.
“He was a man of great passion and conviction,” Mr. Biggs said. “It’s a real loss.”
Gilbert Mayor Steve Berman, a friend of the former speaker’s, said Mr. Groscost had recently undergone gallbladder surgery. During the examinations, he said doctors discovered a virus that was damaging Mr. Groscost’s heart. Mr. Berman said he was given medicine to slow his heartbeat.
“He said it felt like he was running in chest-deep water,” Mr. Berman said.
Mr. Biggs, a longtime friend of Mr. Groscost’s, said the former speaker’s death was unexpected.
“This is really a big surprise,” he said. “I just talked to him about a week ago and we chit-chatted a bit.”
Rep. Mark Anderson, R-18, a former legislative colleague, said Mr. Groscost told him that he had gallbladder surgery in late October that resulted in the detection of blocked arteries and insertion of a heart-assist device.
Mr. Groscost seemed fine at a political event about five days after the surgery but then said several days later he did not feel well, Mr. Anderson said. “He sounded rather tired.”
Mr. Anderson and other former legislative colleagues described Mr. Groscost as brilliant at legislative strategy and willing to share his expertise with lawmakers working on a variety of policy issues.
“He was a brilliant political mind. He made a couple of mistakes,” Mr. Anderson said. “Obviously the one that we’ll all remember was alternative fuels. He absorbed all of the blame for that because it was his idea, but in reality it should have been spread around.”
Mr. Groscost engineered the ill-fated alternative fuels program that was approved by the Legislature in 2000. In April of that year, he achieved passage of the program on the last day of a protracted legislative session by amending the language, written with direct input from alternative fuel entrepreneurs, onto a bill that had already gone through committee hearings.
The bill also contained other clean air provisions favored by Democrats and moderate Republicans, earning votes that might not otherwise have materialized.
State budget experts, believing that the new program would mirror other unsuccessful attempts to wean drivers from gasoline, projected a cost of only about $3 million.
Unbeknownst to the governor and most lawmakers, Mr. Groscost and Nathan Learner, the owner of one of the fuel conversion businesses that would profit from the new law, had been lobbying the Environmental Protection Agency to allow 2000 and 2001 model vehicles to be converted.
That exponentially increased the number of vehicles that could be converted under the program.
Warnings that the program was financially out of control finally sounded in September. Not long after that, The Arizona Republic revealed that Mr. Groscost was in debt to Mr. Learner for several alternative fuel vehicle purchases, two of which had been written off as part of Mr. Learner’s 1998 bankruptcy and another provided at a discount with no payment due until January.
The implication and voter outrage over the potential cost combined to crush Mr. Groscost’s political career. He was resoundingly defeated by Democrat Jay Blanchard in his bid for a state Senate seat in 2000 despite a 2-1 Republican voter registration advantage.
Mr. Berman said he admired the way Mr. Groscost handled his political fall from grace.
“The biggest fall guy in history for that alt-fuel thing,” he said, “and he never once tried to share the blame.”
Mr. Groscost’s election loss cost Republicans outright control of the Senate for two years, putting them in a 15-15 tie with Democrats and forcing an awkward power-sharing arrangement that left GOP lawmakers frustrated with their diminished power.
Then-Governor Jane Hull, a Republican who left office in 2003, said at the end of her term that the alt-fuel episode was a blemish on her gubernatorial tenure because she signed the original bill without anticipating its potential costs.
“There was enough blame to go around. Certainly the bill shouldn’t have been hustled through the process,” Mrs. Hull said when asked whether she blamed Mr. Groscost. “Everyone learned something from that exercise.”
As speaker, Mr. Groscost was known for loose scheduling of House proceedings that sometimes forced fellow lawmakers to stay at the Capitol late into the night for anticipated floor sessions that could either last for hours or be canceled without notice.
Mrs. Hull said Mr. Groscost was “full of life, full of fun.” She recalled he was nicknamed “Captain Chaos.”
After his election loss, he resigned as House speaker before his term was up and the state House Ethics Committee dropped plans to pursue complaints against him for his role in the subsidy legislation.
Even after leaving office, Mr. Groscost remained active in politics behind the scenes. When he died, he was Republican Party chairman for Legislative District 18 in Mesa.
Arizona Republican Party Chairman Matt Salmon released a statement praising Mr. Groscost as a good-hearted person. “He was a strong man with a strong backbone,” Mr. Salmon said. “He had a keen understanding of human nature and was always able to motivate people.”
The funeral was Nov. 9 at the Mesa Kimball Stake Center. A college scholarship fund has been established at Chase Bank for Mr. Groscost’s six children. The family requests donations to the fund in lieu of flowers.
Governor Napolitano ordered all flags at the Capitol to be lowered to half-staff Nov. 9 in honor of Mr. Groscost.
Arizona Capitol Times reporter Christian Palmer and Associated Press reporter Paul Davenport contributed to this story.