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Sen. Michele Reagan is taking sides in Scottsdale’s contested Republican primary for the House of Representatives, despite an earlier pledge that she would stay out of the race.

Rep. John Fillmore has defended a former lawmaker who was accused of domestic violence. And he’s asked the courts to be lenient on another legislator who was convicted of defrauding a children’s charity.

But the Apache Junction Republican says his political challenger, Sen. Rich Crandall, should be subject to an ethics trial, removed from his committee chairmanship and ultimately ousted from office because Crandall threatened to kill future legislation backed by Fillmore’s House colleague.

The top Democrat in the House of Representatives, who is leading the charge to have embattled Rep. Daniel Patterson ousted from office, is married to the sister of Patterson’s assistant – and he is seeking to have the woman removed from Patterson’s office out of fear for her safety.

As if there just hasn’t been enough scandal at the Arizona Legislature this year, political observers will get a fresh look this week at two salacious stories that will begin to further unfold.

The top-elected officials from Arizona’s largest cities are sending a strong message to the state Legislature: Stop interfering with local decision-making.

In an effort to clear his name of allegations that he roughed up his ex-girlfriend and former campaign manager, Rep. Daniel Patterson turned over documents today alleging the woman has a criminal history involving drugs, domestic violence and theft, and was barred from practicing law in California.

The turmoil over the slew of measures introduced last week to dismantle public-sector unions in Arizona was fierce, but it was also limited to the legislative committee that heard the bills.

If Republicans go along with House Speaker Andy Tobin’s plan to force a special election that would seek to change the state’s legislative and congressional maps, it will cost Arizona more than $8 million.

As if Arizona’s political world isn’t abuzz enough, two major developments are expected to take place this week. On Tuesday, the Senate Ethics Committee is scheduled to meet to hash out details about how the ethics investigation of Sen. Scott Bundgaard will move forward. And on Wednesday, Maricopa County’s top prosecutor is expected to unveil the findings of his Fiesta Bowl investigation.

The Senate Ethics Committee has hired a former federal prosecutor to investigate whether Sen. Scott Bundgaard broke ethics rules in a roadside scuffle with his ex-girlfriend.

And the attorney, Kory Langhofer, appears to be aggressively pursuing the case: He said he will likely call witnesses to testify in the ethics trial next month, including alleged victim Aubry Ballard, police officers and other eye witnesses to the domestic-violence incident.