Sign In
Free Newsletter
Burns plugging holes as senators resign to run for Congress
Faced with the resignations of Jim Waring and Jonathan Paton, Senate President Bob Burns may have to appoint freshmen committee chairs or pick from the veteran lawmakers who are on his naughty list. Burns has other options as well, but none of them are ideal.
Former TV exec tapped as Senate communications adviser
The Senate has hired a former TV executive as its new communications adviser. Mike Philipsen replaced Laura Devany, who joined the Senate during the tenure of former Senate President Tim Bee.
Gorman resigns from Senate
Sen. Pamela Gorman, who represented District 6 in the Senate since 2007, has resigned her seat to run for Congress.
GOP leader hopes to persuade, not ‘twist arms’
Bob Burns' first year as Senate president was trouble-ridden, to put it mildly. His task was to balance a budget that was billions of dollars in the red by rounding up 16 votes for a spending plan that nobody was going to like.
Democratic leader won’t rule out voting for GOP budget
In all probability, Republican legislative leadership and the governor will need Democratic votes in the Senate to pass a referral to increase the state sales tax. If bipartisan talks take place, the job of negotiating the terms will fall on Jorge Luis Garcia, the Democratic minority leader from Tucson.
Price of new caucus room: $46k
Republicans held their first caucus meeting in a newly-renovated room on the first floor of the Senate building on Jan. 12.
Media coverage at Capitol gets more difficult
A room that for the past 30 years has hummed with the staccato typing on keyboards as reporters scurried to meet deadlines has been refurbished and hollowed out to accommodate rows of chairs and a large conference table. And the room is no longer a media headquarters; instead it be used by Senate Republicans to hold caucus meetings.
Burns removes two from Senate Approps
Senate President Bob Burns has reduced the size of the Senate Appropriations Committee to 9 from 11 members, removing Sen. John Huppenthal and Sen. Albert Hale. Huppenthal, a Chandler Republican, was appointed temporarily to the committee last year to replace Sen. Pamela Gorman. He requested to be removed for the 2010 session.
Senate staffer to run for House
A Senate policy adviser is leaving his post to run for the House. Javan Mesnard, who has been working for the Senate for eight years, has opened a campaign committee to run for Legislative District 21.
Burns dissolves Gould’s committee
Senate President Bob Burns terminated a committee chaired by Sen. Ron Gould, a Republican from Lake Havasu City, on Dec. 10. Gould later told the Arizona Capitol Times he has been stripped of his committee chairmanship. Gould has been chairman of the Senate Retirement and Rural Development Committee.
Burns says strategy worked, but he won’t block non-budget bills in 2010
Senate President Bob Burns has decided to avoid the failed budget-first strategy that locked up his chamber last session and led to an unhinged, last-minute push to pass hundreds of non-budget bills. What he has in mind for the 2010 session is, in some ways, back to the basics. Most committees, for instance, will be free to debate and vote on legislation unrelated to the budget.
Preparation for special session No. 5 underway
Legislative leaders have started asking individual members when they would be available to meet again in December, the Arizona Capitol Times has learned. They are eyeing a special session that would begin Dec. 15 or 16. It would be the fifth special session of the year.
