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Rep. Matt Kopec: He’s the new kid on the block
As Democratic Rep. Matt Kopec was being sworn in as the newest member of the Arizona House of Representatives on Jan. 20, his fellow Tucson Democrats jokingly suggested that the 27-year-old had his entire life ahead of him, and shouldn’t throw it away as a Democrat in the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature.
Celeste Plumlee: New lawmaker advocating for liberal changes
Celeste Plumlee came to the Legislature following a domino appointment process to fill former Sen. Ed Ableser’s seat in the east Tempe and west Mesa Legislative District 26, and she filled former Rep. Andrew Sherwood’s seat when he moved to the Senate.
Cap Times Q&A: Clarence Carter: Adding a trampoline to the safety net
Clarence Carter came to Arizona in 2011 to put his ideas for reforming the way government runs human services into action, but he found a backlog of child welfare cases that became synonymous with his time as the head of the Department of Economic Security.
Cap Times Q&A: Tony Bouie: Bringing New Life to the Arizona Lottery
Tony Bouie, the former NFL-player-turned-politician-turned bureaucrat, is shaking things up at the Arizona State Lottery, where as executive director he has hunkered down to privatize some of his agency’s work, posting subcontracting jobs online and increasing the percentage of contracting work that’s being done by in-state firms.
Cap Times Q&A: Charlie Levy: Cultivating an Arizona-centric mix of cocktails and politicians
A vital cog in the Arizona music industry for two decades, Charlie Levy is the owner of the promotions company Stateside Presents, which books acts for various venues throughout the Valley and Tucson.
Cap Times Q&A: Tomi St. Mars – A career built on preventing injuries and death
Tomi St. Mars is the chief of the Office of Injury Prevention at the Arizona Department of Health Services. She started as a medic and emergency nurse 25 years ago, but after seeing the trauma people suffer from easily preventable conditions, moved into the injury prevention field.
Cap Times Q&A: Petra Falcon – ‘We promised that we would keep fighting’
Petra Falcon is a woman of stories. Stories not just her own, but of the thousands of people she has connected with over the more than 20 years she has spent as a community organizer in Arizona, working with farmworkers, in border towns, and rallying the Hispanic community around civic engagement.
Cap Times Q&A: Leah Landrum Taylor – Karaoke, taekwondo and no more politics
After 16 years in the Legislature, Leah Landrum Taylor is enjoying her time away from elected office just fine. She has zero plans to throw her hat back into the ring – she’s having too much fun doing karaoke and watching her three kids grow up.
Cap Times Q&A: Justice Rebecca White Berch ‘Our highest joy is to read the law’
Arizona Supreme Court Justice Rebecca White Berch is ending 17 years on the bench, 13 of them on the Arizona Supreme Court, with her retirement on Sept. 28.
Cap Times Q&A: Lobbyist Wendy Briggs recalls being a ‘haole’
Let’s face it. Lobbying isn’t the most popular of professions. Often, the only times the public hears of lobbyists are in connection with something unsavory. But inasmuch as Americans need politicians to bargain with each other on their behalf, so, too, lobbyists play a crucial role in America’s experiment in democracy.
Cap Times Q&A: Julie Erfle – ‘Just a little bit snarky’
Julie Erfle has gone from a journalist who suppressed her fascination for politics to a political operative, beginning work in July as executive director of ProgressNow Arizona, a liberal advocacy group.
