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Recent Articles from Hank Stephenson
Adrian Fontes: Maricopa County Recorder-elect, a win for Democrats
Adrian Fontes is a first-time politician who unseated 28-year incumbent Helen Purcell by a razor thin margin in the November election. He’s the first Democrat to hold any countywide office in decades.
House retreats feature 2 approaches: Fun for GOP, frugal work for Dems
House Republicans and Democrats held caucus retreats this month to prepare for the upcoming legislative session – but while Democrats hunkered down to discuss policy, Republicans just wanted to have fun.
Campaign finance reform kills dark money bot – for now
Arizona’s dark money bot, the Twitter account set up by the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting to blast out notices when dark money groups spend in political campaigns, has sent out its last tweet – for now, at least.
Candidates got away with ignoring big-dollar disclosure requirement
Statewide and legislative candidates widely ignored a requirement to disclose big-dollar contributions during the final days of their campaign, and election officials are in no mood to go after them.
Provisional ballots drop but higher percentage thrown out, canvass shows
Secretary of State Michele Reagan issued the election canvass today, putting an official end to the 2016 election.
Once a warrior against dark money, Secretary of State Reagan does an about-face
Back when she was a lawmaker and chair of the Senate Elections Committee, Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan made it her top priority to hold political campaigns accountable and shine a light on dark money.
Democrats announce House committee assignments
Democrats in the Arizona House of Representatives announced their caucus’ committee assignments today, finalizing the list of which lawmakers will serve on which committees for the next two years.
3 departing lawmakers leave words of wisdom to new class
Rep. Bob Robson is one of the 32 current lawmakers who won’t be returning to the Capitol in January, more than one-third of the entire Legislature. Some left of their own volition, others, like Robson, lost their re-election bids.
House committee assignments announced as Mesnard revives budget subcommittee
In a departure from the much-bemoaned recent norm at the Capitol of a top-down approach to crafting the state budget, incoming House speaker J.D. Mesnard announced he was reviving budget subcommittees in 2017.
East Valley district provides rare bright spot for Dems
LD18, which spans parts of east Phoenix, Tempe and Chandler, was one bright spot for Arizona Democrats in an otherwise dark evening.
It’s official: Mesnard will be House speaker
The Arizona House Republican caucus met today to select the chamber’s next majority leadership team, and as expected, the caucus selected Rep. J.D. Mesnard to run the chamber.
Thorpe poised to win re-election, while Barton hangs on in Northern Arizona’s House race
After a brief scare for the Republican incumbents, Reps. Bob Thorpe and Brenda Barton won re-election in northern Arizona’s Republican-dominated Legislative District 6.
