Arizona lawmakers vote overwhelmingly against successful debt-limit deal
WASHINGTON – Arizona’s congressional delegation voted overwhelmingly Monday to oppose a bill to raise the debt limit, which nonetheless passed the House by a comfortable margin and could be taken up by the Senate Tuesday.
Tobin, House GOP support Kyl and McCain’s Wallow Fire recovery legislation
House Speaker Andy Tobin and 24 other House Republicans have sent a letter to Sens. John Kyl and John McCain voicing their support for legislation introduced earlier this week to help eastern Arizona recover from the Wallow Fire.
Arizona gearing up to raise cash for border fence
Arizona officials are gearing up for a July 20 launch of a website to accept donations to pay for construction of additional fencing along the state's portion of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Pearce highly unlikely to lose Senate presidency over recall effort�
Organizers of the recall effort against Senate President Russell Pearce said their filing last week of more than 18,000 signatures would make it impossible for Senate Republicans to allow him to remain in the chamber’s top post.
Pearce now faces possible recall vote
State Sen. Russell Pearce was riding high last year, notching wins that include enactment of a second Arizona law to crack down on illegal immigration and then his selection by fellow Republican senators as the chamber's new president.
This year, things haven't gone so well for the tough-talking former lawman.
Obama puts immigration in Congress’ court
With a re-election campaign looming, President Barack Obama is pushing Congress to overhaul the immigration system, but lawmakers seems to have little appetite to take on the issue.
Phoenix prosecutor says Bundgaard case still open
The city prosecutor in Phoenix says a decision on whether to charge anyone in a case involving state Sen. Scott Bundgaard could be weeks away.
Pearce recall drive may use entire petition period
A leader of a recall campaign targeting Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce says the effort may use all the time possible to collect voter signatures prior to a May 31 deadline to submit petitions.
GOP-led Legislature focused on ‘sideshows,’ not mainstream agenda
If this unfortunate legislative session has to be remembered in years to come, it will be recalled as a time that politicians put sideshows ahead of seriousness. Birther bills, birthright citizenship, and tea party license plates are great at getting partisan activists riled up.
Distractions? Yes. Distracted? Probably not too much
Every circus has its sideshows. And this year, the state Capitol was crawling with them.
For the first time in more than a decade, lawmakers wrapped up their work in 100 days. And they did so in spite of distractions that came in the form of a roadside fracas that cost a Republican leader his post, a college football scandal that ensnared more than a dozen elected officials and a trag[...]
Tea Party Influence: New GOP legislators pushed ideological needle to the right
Friendly to faith-based legislation and deeply rooted in a small-government and fiscally disciplined philosophy, Arizona’s new legislators helped define and successfully push a conservative agenda at the Capitol.
Biggs, as Senate majority leader, less vocal in opposing bills
On several occasions, the Senate majority leader voted with the losing side — and against the majority in his caucus.
Those occasions are a stark reminder that the man Republicans picked as caucus leader is a fiscal conservative with a libertarian streak, who backs or supports measures depending on how they hew to or diverge from his reading of the U.S. Constitution.