Douglas’ top campaign aide squashed a rumor that is gaining steam at the Capitol that Murphy is a shoo-in to land a spot on her staff since they served on the Peoria School Board together and are friends. Murphy gave our reporter a non-answer when asked if he aspired to work at the Dept of Education or if he’d been asked, saying it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on a request that hasn’t been made of him.

Sen. Rick Murphy won’t seek reelection to the Arizona State Senate, and will instead run for the Peoria City Council.

Democratic Sen. Ed Ableser of Tempe regained his title of most absentee lawmaker this year, showing up for only 62 percent of Senate floor sessions, though he voted on 70 percent of all the bills put before the chamber.

Although the 2014 election season is just heating up, a quieter campaign has been continuing for months — the election of legislative leadership.

The Arizona Senate wasted no time amending a $9.24 billion budget approved last week by the House, claiming that a consensus had been reached among the two chambers and Gov. Jan Brewer on a spending plan that more closely resembles the one senators approved on March 20.

The Arizona Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a $9.13 billion budget package fiscal 2014-2015 on Tuesday afternoon, with all votes breaking on party lines as the chamber’s Republican majority took charge.

State elections officials asked the Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday to investigate allegations that Sen. Rick Murphy violated a campaign finance law.

Murphy essentially admitted today that he had filed erroneous campaign finance reports by reporting payments that were never made, failing to reflect certain expenses and making no mention of the more than $8,000 he owed his former political consultant.

State elections officials believe there’s enough merit to allegations that Sen. Rick Murphy violated campaign finance laws that a complaint against the Peoria Republican will be forwarded to the attorney general on Monday.

The Senate today gave preliminary approval to a bill that will prohibit the state from using the Common Core learning standards.