Gov. Jan Brewer is seeking to fundamentally alter the way state employees are hired, fired and managed.

In short, the governor wants to make it easier for administrators to hire and fire workers.

In a two-page outline of her “personnel reform” proposal, obtained by the Arizona Capitol Times today, newly hired rank-and-file employees would no longer be considered “covered,” meaning the state would strip away some protections and rights to appeal they are currently afforded.

Arizona earned high marks for its school-choice policies this week in separate reports from two national organizations, which had particular praise for the state’s education savings account program.

Gov. Jan Brewer is seeking a big funding boost for the Arizona Office of Tourism so it can step up efforts to market the state.

The $30 million that Arizona received this week from the Obama administration will help the state develop and design a health insurance exchange website that can seamlessly interact with Medicaid.

But the pot of money, particularly given its size, potentially poses legal and political complications for Gov. Jan Brewer, who is against the federal health care overhaul and led Arizona in suing over its constitutionality.

Some view Brewer’s decision to seek the grant as tantamount to surrendering Arizona’s case.

Police used pepper spray on a crowd of protestors, and arrested six of them, outside a a Scottsdale conference center today that was attended by dozens of lawmakers from around the country.

The roughly 150 demonstrators showed up at the American Legislative Exchange Council summit in Phoenix, to protest what they see as undue corporate influence in government.

Community members and organizations are planning protests Wednesday against groups of conservative lawmakers meeting in Scottsdale. Various organizations ranging from labor to civil rights groups plan to protest against the American Legislative Exchange Council's States and Nation Summit.

The American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative organization whose corporate largesse and influence over policy have become a flashpoint for liberal criticism, has a deep reach into the Arizona Legislature.

When the group kicked off its 2011 summer conference in New Orleans on Aug. 3, 29 of Arizona’s 61 Republican lawmakers were in attendance.

A group of frustrated voters from across the political spectrum is hoping to reform the way the nation elects its president, and Arizona will be on the front lines in that fight next year. The only question remaining is whether the state’s conservative lawmakers are willing to abandon the current constitutionally established election method that is as old as the nation.

Once employed for such mundane issues as inmate transfers, natural resource management and state boundary definitions, interstate compacts have suddenly become the latest tool for legislators looking to buck the federal government on a slew of controversial topics.

Two incongruent personalities. Two divergent political agendas. The stage is set for a showdown, and if that happens, Capitol insiders expect the 2011 legislative session to be an epic power struggle.