Arizona Capitol Times Your Inside Source for Arizona Government, Politics and Business

Although he was removed from office in a historic recall election in 2011, former Senate President Russell Pearce is still trying to influence his former colleagues - and is doing so from his official county email account at his new job at the Maricopa County Treasurer’s Office.

The power vacuum U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick will leave behind as she runs for the U.S. Senate is drawing many familiar faces into the contest for Arizona’s 1st Congressional District – including well-known politicians who live outside the district’s boundaries.

A committee made up of law enforcement and criminal defense officials, members of the media and lawmakers had its first meeting on Oct. 7. It mulled over the issue of police body cameras in preparation for legislation Sen. John Kavanagh expects will be introduced next year.

The GOP primary in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District is officially a crowd. Speaker of the Arizona House David Gowan and Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu both entered the race today, ending months of exploring by the two and bringing the number of Republicans vying for the nomination to five.

Education funding fever has gripped the Arizona Capitol, and just about everyone has a plan. Republicans spent the week huddling in small groups to discuss the House speaker and Senate president’s four-point education funding plan, while Democrats stood outside the Capitol buildings doing TV interviews to announce and rally public support for their own education funding proposal.

In response to education funding plans proposed by the governor and legislative Republicans, Democrats today released their own school funding plan, boasting that their proposal would raise nearly $4 billion dollars over 10 years without increasing taxes.

Members of the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys’ Advisory Council spoke frankly about their strategy for killing a bill proposed by Republican Rep. Bob Thorpe of Flagstaff during a recent meeting to discuss possible law enforcement related bills. Thorpe has said his goal is to add transparency and accountability in the civil forfeiture laws.

Experts warn that the future of transportation is changing fast, and Arizona must come up with a 21st century plan to fund the massive infrastructure needs the state is facing.

Tomi St. Mars is the chief of the Office of Injury Prevention at the Arizona Department of Health Services. She started as a medic and emergency nurse 25 years ago, but after seeing the trauma people suffer from easily preventable conditions, moved into the injury prevention field.

Back in the mid-1990s, Republican Sen. Sylvia Allen was a rebel. A Sagebrush Rebel. Long before she was a state lawmaker, Allen was pushing back against environmentalists and the federal government as part of a long-standing movement to force the federal government to turn over federally-managed lands to the Western states.