Being part of the massive entourage that Janet Napolitano brought with her from Arizona to the Beltway has been a great career move for some of her loyalists.

Robes and gavels were a large part of Arizona’s political scene in 2011. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a landmark election law case that came out of the state and agreed to hear SB1070. The state Supreme Court resolved conflicts involving the Independent Redistricting Commission and trial courts were busy with lawsuits contesting cuts to Medicaid and the candidacy of a Mesa woman in the recall election of former Senate President Russell Pearce.

Republican lawmakers told Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday to fire some Justice Department subordinates over the flawed arms-trafficking investigation called Operation Fast and Furious.

The Congressional committee investigating Operation Fast and Furious described the role that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona played in the gun-running scandal as “striking” and demanded documents from top officials in the office.

Dennis Burke’s resignation as U.S. attorney for Arizona may reverberate through the 2014 elections, when Democrats who eyed him as one of their strongest candidates for statewide office fall back on a bench that was thin to begin with.

U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke resigned today with praise from Washington D.C. and no mention of Operation Fast and Furious, the disastrous and deadly gunrunning scandal that has plagued his office for months.

Burke’s resignation letter was vague in his reasoning to step down and so was his final message to his staff.

Prosecutors say they found no state or federal criminal violations in the travel spending and handling of inmates' cash by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office.

The May 24 announcement that the state’s top Republican officials would be filing a lawsuit in federal court over Arizona’s new medical marijuana law surprised many, but not the man who came up with the idea: Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, a strident opponent of the new medical marijuana law.

Dennis Burke, the U.S. attorney for Arizona, said prosecution of state employees was not mentioned in the letter sent to state officials because it was never intended to indicate that.

“They're saying, ‘I can't believe he's going after state employees.’ It's not in my letter.”