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

A trend that began after Arizona started letting independents vote in partisan primaries reached fruition this month when they officially became the largest voting bloc in the state, outnumbering registered Republicans by a few thousand.

Conservative lawmakers who are leading the fight to upend Arizona’s Common Core education standards are unlikely to achieve any victories this year, not as long as the governor who ushered in those standards still resides on the Ninth Floor.

Attorneys for the defense and prosecution submitted their closing arguments in the campaign finance case against Tom Horne in the hopes of persuading the administrative law judge who must decide whether the attorney general and a top staffer illegally coordinated during the 2010 election.

Lawyers for Attorney General Tom Horne and ally Kathleen Winn alleged that an FBI agent who served as the prosecution’s key witness against them in their campaign finance case perjured himself on the witness stand and that his testimony should be thrown out.

Gov. Jan Brewer returned to the place where the first seeds of her political career were planted to announce her retirement after more than 30 years in public office.

An Arizona Supreme Court ruling that struck down a 2011 pension reform law as unconstitutional is leading lawmakers and public safety employee groups to consider new possibilities.

The removal of a controversial provision didn’t go far enough to bring critics of a livestock cruelty bill on board, but the House of Representatives still narrowly passed the legislation.

A bill that would clarify and clean up last year’s campaign finance law overhaul hit a snag after an unexpected about-face by legislative Democrats.

A former investigator from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office will receive a $99,999 settlement from the state in her lawsuit against Tom Horne and a top deputy, whom she accused of retaliating against her for launching a campaign finance investigation against Horne.

A Scottsdale businessman is challenging Rep. John Kavanagh for the Republican nomination for their district’s open Senate seat.