A
It’s not often a new senator lands a seat on the Appropriations Committee.
But that was the plum for Paula Aboud, the Tucson Democrat appointed Jan. 3 to fill the District 28 seat vacated by Gabrielle Giffords, who won the 8th Congressional District seat left open by the retiring Jim Kolbe. A University of Arizona basketball standout, collegiate tennis coach and immediate past president of the Democrats for Greater Tucson, Ms. Aboud was the unanimous choice of Pima County supervisors to replace Ms. Giffords.
“I’m going to take one day at a time,” said Ms. Aboud, a veteran of Democrat politics and a Tucson City Council candidate in 2001. Ms. Aboud was re-elected to the Senate Nov. 7, beating her opponent, a write-in, 40,878 votes to 30.
On the first day of the 2006 session, she introduced her partner, who was seated in the gallery. Was that symbolic that Arizona has made some advancement in the acceptance of gays and lesbians or was it, in some sense, a defiant gesture? “Oh, no. I was just introducing my partner. I was being myself.”
• • •
Democrat Edward Ableser was appointed to the Senate on March 29 to fill out the term of Harry Mitchell in District 17. Mr. Mitchell resigned to challenge J.D. Hayworth for the 5th Congressional District seat. (The former Tempe mayor ended up beating the GOP incumbent 101,838 to 93,815.)
“Harry’s stature and legacy is unprecedented… I can’t even attempt to fill his shoes,” said Mr. Ableser, who was selected by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors over District 17 Rep. Meg Burton Cahill.
“It was a shock,” Mr. Ableser said of his appointment. “I sat there next to Burton Cahill, and she was stunned as well. … She is one of my closest friends,” Mr. Ableser said.
They will end up trading places in January. Mr. Ableser ran for the District 17 House seat and won. Ms. Burton Cahill was elected to the Senate.
• • •
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors appointed Kirk Adams, already a candidate for a House seat, to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Rep. Chuck Gray, a fellow Mesa Republican. Mr. Adams was sworn in March 21.
Mr. Adams, an insurance agency owner, was one of three candidates nominated by Republican precinct committee members in Legislative District 19 to replace Mr. Gray, who himself was appointed a senator on March 15 to replace the late Sen. Marilyn Jarrett. Ms. Jarrett died March 10, one day after being stricken in her legislative office.
Mr. Adams was elected to represent District 19 on Nov. 7, along with newcomer Rich Crandall.
• • •
Shiny shovels hit hard dirt on Sept. 20 to kick off construction of the long-awaited Polly Rosenbaum State Archives and History Building.
The freshly turned dirt — and the dust stirred up by a brief gust of wind — was a welcome sight for Vince Murray, president of Arizona Friends of the Archives, a support group that has been lobbying for a new archives building for 10 years. It will take two years to complete the building.
“This is incredibly important to us,” said Mr. Murray, a historian by trade. “The state archives was designed in 1937 to last 30 years. It ran out of space by 1965.”
The archives and library collections now sit in old additions to the original state Capitol building — with overflow documents stored in a warehouse. The Legislature approved final funding for the $38 million building during the 2006 session.
The building will stand on the southwest corner of Madison Street and 19th Avenue. In a brief speech, Senate President Ken Bennett credited the building’s namesake — Polly Rosenbaum — and Marilyn Jarrett for taking the lead in pushing for the new building. Ms. Rosenbaum, who had served 45 years in the House, was known as a staunch advocate for teaching Arizona history. She died in 2003 at the age of 104. Ms. Jarrett died after collapsing in her Senate office in March. She was 67.
“Polly and Marilyn are not here with us now, but they’re hopefully looking down on us pleased with what we’re doing with this site,” Mr. Bennett said.
B
Rep. Ray Barnes R-7 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 during several tense minutes before paramedics arrived.
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, won re-election and will be back when session resumes Jan. 8.
• • •
It took until the end of June to finally hammer out the details, giving some lawmakers and officials concern that the state may shut down on July 1, but the largest budget in state history was agreed to this year.
Record revenues and a surplus of more than $1 billion led to a budget in which both sides got most of what they were seeking. While Governor Napolitano was successful in getting funding for the full implementation of full-day kindergarten and additional money for teacher salaries, Republican leaders managed to secure the largest tax cut package in the state’s history.
The overflowing coffers also allowed the state to dedicate $345 million to speed up highway construction across the state.
C
Campaigns in the big ballot year of 2006 ranged from the down-in-dirty slog match known as “Hogwash” to the most polite drive for the office of state treasurer by Democrat Rano Singh Sidhu.
Ms. Singh eventually lost to Sen. Dean Martin.
Efforts to keep candidates and issues off the ballot were fought in courts in the form of signature validity challenges and single subject violations for ballot initiatives pertaining to gay marriage and eminent domain.
The Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) also became Daddy War Bucks when candidates crying foul sought matching funds for mean-spirited push-polls on spousal rape and who fathered children out-of-wedlock.
Sen. Toni Hellon was defeated in the primary after a campaign that included mailers that paired the moderate Tucson Republican with images of Hillary Clinton and Edward Kennedy. She refused to join the fray. “As long as negative politics in campaigns work, we’ll continue to see more and more escalation of it, until the voters decide they’re just not going to accept it,” she told Arizona Capitol Times.
The CCEC also pored over countless offensive or pat-on-the-back political mailings to determine who gets more dollars and who gets shown the door.
State political contribution records were set on the federal and legislative level. U.S. Senator Jon Kyl raised $12.4 million by the end of September, and Arizona House Speaker Jim Weiers accumulated $200,000 to help save his seat.
Donors didn’t forget their checkbooks and Arizona voters didn’t forget their identification when they cast ballots at the highest rate for a non-presidential election in 24 years (60.5 percent).
• • •
The once widely attacked Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) drew less criticism and more praise under the guidance of Executive Director Todd Lang, who insiders credit for impartiality and a candid nature. The former assistant attorney general emphasized candidate and campaign manager training over whip-cracking enforcement.
While acknowledging existing flaws in the Clean Elections Act, Mr. Lang refused to alter commission rules despite pleas from candidates and complaints from lawyers. He redirected responsibility for fixing drawbacks that shortchanged privately funded candidates back to the Legislature, which has failed to smooth out the edges of the controversial act passed in 1998 by citizen initiative.
The commission patiently heard a wide variety of complaints this year, ranging from the legally hazy use of consultants by both candidates for governor to the alleged hiring of illegal aliens for campaign commercials by a candidate for attorney general.
The most severe penalties were implemented against candidates using primary election funds for general election periods, but the CCEC avoided headline-grabbing inquisitions and instead opted to quietly deduct funds from the accounts of various candidates.
Generally, the commission carefully navigated the rough political waters associated with campaigns and avoided being used as a political weapon in 2006. “They love the money, but they hate the rules,” said former commission chair Gene Lemon, of candidates’ sentiments about Arizona’s system of publicly funded elections. “Or they abhor the use of public funds, but they love the complicated rules for the opportunity to embarrass violators.”
D
After waiting in the wings for years, Arizona Democrats in November gained two seats in the U.S. House, seven in the Legislature and secured the governorship for four more years.
Former Democrat state senators Gabrielle Giffords of Tucson and Harry Mitchell of Tempe won congressional seats and helped put their party in the majority in Congress, and legislative victories could give Democrats — with the aid of moderate Republicans — enough juice at the state Capitol that could force majority leadership to bring them to the table on every major issue.
Ms. Giffords defeated former state Rep. Randy Graf in the race for Congressman Jim Kolbe’s old seat, and Mr. Mitchell stunned Rep. J.D. Hayworth in a race observers said helped East Valley Democrats pick up seats.
With the help of socially moderate and liberal House Republicans and Governor Napolitano’s overall clout, the state House — and the Senate, for that matter — could produce some very close or tie votes.
In the Senate, Rep. Amanda Aguirre of Yuma won Sen. Bob Cannell’s seat in a very close race with Republican Rep. Russ Jones to hold that seat for the Democrats, and Charlene Pesquiera of Tucson becomes the 13th Democrat in the Senate.
Add GOP moderates Tom O’Halleran and Carolyn Allen to the mix, and you could have a lot of 15-15 votes in the upper chamber.
In effect, Ms. Napolitano scared off a long list of potentially formidable opponents in 2006 and easily won re-election with 60 percent of the vote over Len Munsil. As did Ms. Giffords, Mr. Mitchell and the national trend against Republicans, the governor provided coattails for her party’s candidates.
The resultant balance of power at the state level portends a long session.
• • •
One political battle that shows no sign of ending is one that features the state commission that draws the boundaries of Arizona’s legislative districts.
The Independent Redistricting Commission will appeal a judge’s order that its legislative maps were drawn without giving preference to creating competitive districts.
The outcome of the court battles could determine if the same district lines will apply in the 2008 and 2010 elections or whether they will be changed.
The Independent Redistricting Commission, which voted Nov. 17 to appeal the decision, had rejected an offer from the Arizona Minority Coalition for Fair Redistricting to work out a compromise and end the ongoing legal challenges.
Paul Eckstein, the attorney for the coalition, suggested that slight boundary changes to two legislative districts might resolve the issue of whether the state has enough districts where candidates stand roughly equal chances of being elected, regardless of party registration.
Those two are District 11 in northeast Phoenix and Paradise Valley, and District 26 in northern Pima County.
Arizona voters in 2000 created the Independent Redistricting Commission, with the idea that it would take the politics out of the once-every-decade exercise of drawing congressional and legislative boundaries.
E
Nationally, it was the Year of the Democrat, and Republicans lost control of Congress in the November election. The Democrat gains trickled down to local races, as well, and translated into a pick up of seven legislative seats for the Arizona Democratic Party. In the House, Democrats gained six seats, shrinking the Republican advantage to 33-27, while Senate Democrats took one seat away from the Republicans, knocking their advantage to 17-13.
Across the country, Democrats picked up 321 legislative seats in November and now control 56 legislative chambers nationally, compared with the Republicans’ 41. In 23 states, Democrats control both chambers of the legislature, with 15 states controlled by Republicans. In terms of total control, where the same party has control of the legislative and executive branches, Democrats again hold the lead over Republicans, 15-10.
The Arizona ballot this year also featured a record number of propositions, as initiatives and legislative referenda resulted in 19 laws and constitutional changes needing approval from the electorate. In all, 12 passed, including a statewide smoking ban, the establishment of English as the state’s official language and the creation of a state minimum wage. Among those that failed were an effort to conduct future elections by mail-in ballot, creating a “voter lottery” to encourage voting and constitutionally defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
• • •
After more than a decade of trying, proponents of a manual audit of election returns got their wish.
Distrustful of voting machines or simply believing it wouldn’t hurt to double check results, they helped push through S1557, which received the go-ahead from the U.S. Justice Department just before the general election and resulted in hand counting of votes in 2 percent of county precincts in at least four contested races as a spot check against computer tabulations. It also established a Vote Count Verification Committee, which set acceptable margins of error between the machines and the hand counted totals — 1 percent for votes cast at the polls and 2 percent for mail-in ballots.
The push for election reform this year was aided by the resurgence of a controversy surrounding the 2004 House primary recount election in District 20, where now-Rep. John McComish won nomination over his opponent Anton Orlich, after trailing in the original vote. The FBI seized the recount ballots for that race, but the Justice Department found no tampering had occurred
Sen. Jack Harper prevailed in an ethics complaint against him for his involvement with the New Times in the District 20 controversy.
In the end, the hand counts showed few voting machine glitches.
F
Two Republican-backed bills to fund English learners were vetoed in the opening weeks of session and a concurrent special session was opened to deal with the lingering lawsuit Flores vs. Arizona. Fines against the state began accumulating after a funding formula wasn’t in place by the deadline set by the courts. Eventually, Governor Napolitano allowed a Republican plan to pass into law without her signature, saying she was confident it would be rejected by the courts as inadequate.
A federal judge did just that, and ordered $21-million in fines to be used to fund ELL programs this year. The rulings were appealed to the 9th Circuit Court in San Francisco by Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne.
A three-judge panel ruled that Judge Raner Collins should have held an evidentiary hearing and made findings of fact in the case before invalidating the ELL funding law because the landscape of educational funding had changed significantly since the original 2000 ruling. The appeals court dismissed the fines and sent the case back to the federal district court in Tucson. It did not rule on the merits of the funding formula that was invalidated.
The federal judge in Tucson has set an evidentiary hearing for Jan. 9 to Jan. 12, 2007.
G
Former Speaker of the House Jeff Groscost died Nov. 3 after suffering a heart attack in his home. The 45-year-old father of six had undergone gallbladder surgery the previous month. During the examinations, doctors discovered a virus that was damaging his heart and likely led to his death.
He was best known as the engineer of the ill-fated alternative fuels program approved by the Legislature in 2000. 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. Ultimately, the program cost the state $140 million because new vehicles were eligible for rebates if converted to run on propane or natural gas, exponentially increasing the number of vehicles eligible.
Voter outrage over the potential cost signaled the end of Mr. Groscost’s political career. He was soundly defeated by a Democrat in his bid for a state Senate seat despite a 2-1 Republican advantage in the district.
About 1,200 people packed the Mesa Kimball Stake Nov. 9 for the former lawmaker’s service. U.S. Sen. John McCain delivered the eulogy.
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 gave uo the leadership post.
Rep. Mark Anderson, R-18, recalled Mr. Groscost. “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.”
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.
H
The Legislature passed a bill that allows business owners to receive up to $1,000 or 50 percent off, whichever is less, of each employee’s annual insurance premium.
They also may receive up to $3,000 or 50 percent off for employees who want family coverage, all under H2177, a health insurance measure that was among a package of tax incentives enacted this year
Rep. Phil Lopes, D-27, introduced H2752 for a statewide health care plan, but it never got out of committee. Under his bill, the state would have been able to seek a federal waiver to combine federal Medicare and Medicaid funds into this plan, and an independent commission would have the authority to negotiate prices with private providers. Businesses could choose to either provide private health insurance or participate in the plan.
Governor Napolitano vetoed a tort reform bill in May, a measure that would have changed current law from a requirement that it takes a “preponderance of evidence” to prove malpractice in emergency cases to the more stringent “clear and convincing” evidence.
Sen. Carolyn Allen has filed a similar bill for the 2007 session.
After a big public relations event to kick off a malpractice reform initiative, the Arizona Medical Association later decided not to pursue a ballot measure to limit damages in malpractice awards.
I
Maricopa County Schools Superintendent Sandra Dowling was indicted following a yearlong investigation into alleged malfeasance in office. The 25-count indictment accuses Ms. Dowling of theft, misuse of public funds, conflict of interest and procurement fraud. Four others, including Ms. Dowling’s son, also were named in the indictment.
Ms. Dowling pleaded not guilty during her arraignment Nov. 29. Her supporters said she is the target of a political vendetta. In July, Ms. Dowling filed a $22 million claim against the county, saying accusations of criminal misconduct had destroyed her reputation.
The threat of a lawsuit is the latest chapter in a battle between Ms. Dowling and the county that started earlier this year when the Sheriff’s Office began an investigation into Ms. Dowling’s management.
Last January, sheriff’s deputies searched the home and offices of Ms. Dowling, who is also the sole governing board member of the Regional School District for Maricopa County. The district is composed of five regular schools and several alternative-learning institutions for homeless or otherwise troubled children.
Sheriff’s deputies served a warrant on her offices on suspicion of bid rigging, misuse of public funds and nepotism. A preliminary audit later found the county school district had a nearly $5 million deficit and didn’t follow proper contracting or record-keeping procedures. The audit also found that the district hired four of Ms. Dowling’s children and a son-in-law, a practice allowed by district policy but not state law.
Ms. Dowling has been elected to five terms as the county school superintendent, whose duties include serving as the fiscal agent for school districts, maintaining records for home-schooled students, and providing services to school districts and private and charter schools.
• • •
State Mine Inspector Douglas K. Martin was indicted on three counts of theft, three counts of fraud and three counts of procurement code fraud, Attorney General Terry Goddard announced Dec. 14.
The indictment alleges that Mr. Martin, 67, between September 2004 and March 2006, illegally bought four vehicles for the Arizona State Mine Inspector’s Office, according to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office. The purchases were in violation of both the Arizona Procurement Code and a 1993 intergovernmental agreement, which required the agency to acquire its vehicles either from federal agencies or from the Fleet Management Office of the Department of Administration (DOA).
The indictment also alleges that Mr. Martin illegally disposed of five agency vehicles in violation of regulations that prohibit a state agency from trading in or otherwise disposing of state vehicles without written authorization from DOA. He donated one vehicle, a 2002 Chevrolet Astro Van, to the Arizona Mine Emergency Association, a private entity for which Mr. Martin served as a director and treasurer.
Mr. Martin asked the court commissioner Dec. 27 for additional time to determine whether he qualified for a public defender or if he needed to retain a private attorney. He will be back in court Jan. 10.
He was termed out and did not run for re-election Nov. 7. Republican Joe Hart was elected and will take over the office in January.
• • •
More than 100,000 marchers, mainly dressed in white, arrived at the Capitol April 10 in support of immigration reform and to protest federal legislation that would criminalize illegal immigration into the United States.
The peaceful demonstration rally effectively shut down government at the Capitol on that day.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Arizona’s Hispanic population, including illegal immigrants, increased to 27.8 percent in 2004 from 25.3 percent in 2002. Bureau demographers project that more than 50 percent of the state’s population will be Hispanic by 2097.
• • •
Despite being the top priority for many at the Capitol, for the second year in a row virtually no immigration reform was achieved. And, for the second time in as many election cycles, voters voiced their frustration by overwhelmingly approving measures aimed at restricting benefits for illegal immigrants.
A trio of bills were vetoed, including a measure that would have allowed illegal immigrants to be prosecuted for felony trespassing. Ultimately, the decision was made the final night of the session to move some of the vetoed measures to the ballot, and voters easily passed propositions that: deny bail to illegals charged with serious felonies; prevent illegals from suing for punitive damages; make English the official language; and expand the public program restrictions of 2004’s Proposition 200.
• • •
Whenever there is a swing in power in an election, the incumbents are the ones who take it on the chin in favor of new faces. Though Arizona didn’t see as dramatic a shift as other states, the seven-seat legislative swing still affected a number of incumbents.
The primary election saw two incumbents, Rep. John Allen, R-11, and Sen. Toni Hellon, R-26, defeated by fellow Republicans. In the general election, Reps. Laura Knaperek, R-17, and Doug Quelland, R-10, both lost to Democrats.
J
Sen. Marilyn Jarrett died March 10, one day after suffering a stroke in her office. Her Senate colleagues mourned her the following Monday during an emotional floor session largely devoted to tributes to the 11-year Republican lawmaker from Mesa.
On March 13, with some of Ms. Jarrett’s bills up for Senate consideration, lawmakers started wading through some legislative fallout from her absence.
Republican leaders were asking fellow senators to volunteer to start shepherding Ms. Jarrett’s bills through the rest of the legislative process, but things got a little sticky when senators offered amendments to a Jarrett-sponsored elections bill (S1395).
Normally a bill’s sponsor will weigh in — and often be consulted in advance — regarding proposed changes to his or her bill, but Ms. Jarrett hadn’t been available to do that since she was stricken in her office late in the afternoon March 9.
When Sen. Bill Brotherton, D-14, proposed an amendment to add a requirement that copies of a voter’s identification be submitted with an early ballot, a Republican senator questioned whether Ms. Jarrett had agreed to that amendment. Mr. Brotherton said she hadn’t, and the Senate rejected his amendment.
While still working on Ms. Jarrett’s bill a short time later, Sen. Dean Martin, R-6, assured senators that Ms. Jarrett would have supported an amendment by Sen. Linda Aguirre, D-16, to require the cities of Phoenix and Tucson to post election results and campaign-finance reports on the Internet.
“It is definitely within her character and her support of previous type efforts,” Mr. Martin said.
The senator presiding over the floor session then stepped in.
“We should not be guessing what Senator Jarrett might have wanted and might not have wanted in debate,” said Sen. Barbara Leff, R-11.
Later, Ms. Leff said she felt she had to draw a line because Ms. Jarrett’s former colleagues couldn’t state her position on an issue unless they’d actually discussed it with her.
“My concern was that people were using her name to make a point,” Ms. Leff said.
K
Eighth District Congressman Jim Kolbe chose not to run for re-election, bringing down the curtain on a 22-year run representing southern Arizona. The Republican based his decision to leave Washington D.C. on three distinct factors.
“One, I wanted to get out of Congress while I was still young enough to do something else,” said Mr. Kolbe, 64. “I’m hoping to do some teaching. And in too many more years it’s not going to be something I’m going to be able to do.
“Second, I wanted to get out while people were still urging me to stay. Get out at the top of my game, not when people were pushing me toward the door. And third, I wanted to get out while I could walk out, and not be carried out. I am convinced this was the right time to do it.”
Ask Mr. Kolbe about his accomplishments in Congress, and he had a two-part answer. “If you’re talking about legislative accomplishments, certainly I would put my work on NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, as one of those, and other trade agreements that I’ve had a role in. Secondly, the various land conservation programs that we’ve initiated down here in southern Arizona, including the expansion of Sahuaro National Park, the creation of the Las Cienegas National Conservation District, and the San Pedro National Conservation District. These are things that I think have really made a difference in terms of preserving some of the very special land that we have here in southern Arizona.
“A third one in that category would be the Social Security reform, which we haven’t accomplished, but at least we have made the public and, I think, the nation aware of the need to have real Social Security reform, to fix Social Security for the long haul. We have really heightened the awareness of that and at least we have laid the groundwork for what eventually is going to have to be some fix for Social Security.”
• • •
Facing the deep pockets of Jim Pederson, Republican Sen. Jon Kyl outspent and defeated the wealthy real estate developer and former Arizona Democratic Party chairman, winning a third term.
The race was easily the most expensive in Arizona history. The candidates spent a total of $29.9 million, with Mr. Kyl doling out $15.3 million, a tad more than Mr. Pederson’s $14.6 million. Nearly $10.9 million of Mr. Pederson’s war chest came from his own pocket. In the end, Mr. Kyl won handily, attracting 814,398 votes or 53.3 percent of the total. That was 150,257 more votes than Mr. Pederson’s total of 664,141. Mr. Kyl carried every county except Apache, Coconino and Pima.
A major issue in the campaign was combating illegal immigration. Mr. Kyl had co-sponsored legislation that would give illegal immigrants up to five years to leave the country. Once there, they could apply for permanent residence or be guest workers. Because Mr. Kyl’s proposal was opposed by Arizona Senator John McCain, Mr. Pederson tried to use the issue as a way of dividing the Republicans in Arizona. Controversy also arose when each candidate accused the other of supporting the amnesty provisions in a 1986 immigration bill, although both candidates denied ever having taken that position.
When the U.S. Senate resumes Jan. 3, Mr. Kyl will have the added responsibilites as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, making him the No. 3 Republican in the Senate.

To read L through Z return to Top Stories on the homepage