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

It was the year of the protests at the Arizona Capitol, but lawmakers and a professor disagree on whether the political movements that took hold this year will have a lasting effect.

Francisco Meneses, Jr., remembers watching televised boxing matches as a child with his aunts and uncles at family parties. More than 20 years later, Meneses serves as executive director of the Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts Commission

Gov. Doug Ducey could upend elections in two major Arizona cities by effectively doing nothing.

The Legislature is working to revive 10 House bills that Gov. Doug Ducey vetoed last month as he played hardball with lawmakers over his teacher pay raise plan.

Kurt Altman, the state director for Right on Crime, a group that pushes conservative solutions to reduce crime, went to college to play baseball, but he ended up an attorney whose career has taken him from facing down and defending criminals in county and federal courtrooms to lobbying for “Right to Try” legislation in 46 state Capitols.

As teachers around the state prepared to strike, legislators sat nearly idle for four days as they got into a stand-off with Gov. Doug Ducey over how to give teachers pay raises.

With little work to do on the Arizona House floor, members spent more than 90 minutes debating the offensiveness of rap lyrics.

Democratic lawmakers face a political conundrum: Vote in favor of Ducey’s proposed 20 percent teacher pay increase and give the governor a political win or fall back on a campaign promise to increase overall education funding.

Expelled lawmaker Don Shooter alleges that the speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives and staff members in Gov. Doug Ducey’s office conspired to remove him from office.

During his time at MAG, Dennis Smith was instrumental in developing the region’s 911 system and led the charge on passing two successful transportation taxes.