Capitol Quotes: Jan. 13, 2012
This week's most outstanding quips, gibes and utterances.
Pierce says AZ is ‘bootstraps’ state; Dems working on ‘jobs’ plan
Shortly after he was formally installed as Senate President, Steve Pierce set the tone for the work ahead by telling fellow lawmakers it’s time to pull up their bootstraps.
Lawmakers return to Capitol amid major changes
Expect more of the same substance from the Arizona Legislature during lawmakers' regular session this year — but maybe not as much sound and fury.
Sinema’s resignation to trigger changes at Capitol
Kyrsten Sinema’s resignation from the Senate triggers a replacement process that will create a domino effect at the state Capitol.
Revamp of legislative sessions proposed to get business interests more involved
Seeking some new perspective at the Capitol, a handful of politicos are looking at ways to bring more structure and efficiency to the legislative session in the hope that more people — particularly those in the business world — would be able to run for office.
Republican, Democratic leaders show partisan split on redistricting
The partisan legislative maneuvering over Arizona’s redistricting process may be over for now, but the arguments lived on as Republican and Democratic leaders spent more than two hours on Wednesday making their cases to the remapping commission.
IRC maps on agenda for final OK
Agendas for the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission’s meetings for the week now include the possible approval of its new maps, and the final vote could come within the next few weeks.
Constitutional provision raises question of recall reimbursement for Pearce
Even after the last ballot has been counted, the Legislature may still be getting one more request from outgoing Sen. Russell Pearce: a check for campaign expenses.
A little-known provision in the state Constitution says that an elected official subject to a recall may be reimbursed for “reasonable special election campaign expenses.”
GOP staffer claims IRC gerrymandered maps; Dems promise complaint
A Republican legislative attorney claimed today that the state’s redistricting commission gerrymandered its maps to benefit certain Democratic incumbents and harm GOP politicians.
Democratic leadership from both chambers of the Legislature promised to file a complaint that the testimony to the committee represents a violation of the prohibition against state employees being involved in pa[...]
GOP lawmakers create panel to scrutinize redistricting maps
House and Senate Republican leaders announced this evening that they have each appointed three lawmakers to a committee charged with scrutinizing the maps created by the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission.
Rocky start for Commerce Authority has fiscal hawks looking to rein in power
Outraged by what they see as exorbitant spending and questions of transparency, some lawmakers are considering taking back some of the power they gave the Arizona Commerce Authority last session.