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With Arizona’s jobless rate hanging stubbornly at 9 percent, next year’s election will come down to one issue that trumps all others: jobs.
And as dozens of lawmakers gear up for the campaign season — including the 25 freshmen elected last year — they know that voters will be expecting them to do something about it.
8 GOP senators who voted against immigration bills get business backing
Eight of the nine Republican senators who bucked their party and played a pivotal role in defeating a package of immigration bills last session have the backing of the business community going into next year’s election.
Bundgaard ethics investigation postponed
The inquiry into whether Sen. Scott Bundgaard breached ethical rules involving his roadside fight with an ex-girlfriend has been put on hold pending the resolution of a separate complaint he filed against three members of the ethics panel.
Ethics panel splits on party lines, opts for higher burden to punish Bundgaard
The panel of senators investigating whether Sen. Scott Bundgaard breached ethical rules split along partisan lines today, with Republicans adopting a higher standard of proof that could make it more difficult to remove the Peoria Republican from office.
The why of Yarbrough’s vote
Gould and Landrum Taylor’s votes in favor of holding a formal investigation of Bundgaard were expected, so observers at yesterday’s meeting were most interested to see how Biggs and Yarbrough would vote.
Bundgaard faces full-blown ethics investigation
Sen. Scott Bundgaard avoided a criminal trial, but a decision today by his colleagues to hold a full-blown ethics investigation ensures he won’t escape the political wringer.
Key absence could quash Bundgaard ethics hearing
A full-blown investigation of Sen. Scott Bundgaard’s infamous freeway fight seemed certain to take place when an ethics complaint was filed against him last month.
But one member of the ethics panel won’t be around when the committee meets today to decide whether to proceed with an inquiry. And that missing vote could neutralize efforts to investigate Bundgaard.
Student-funding proposal faces tough road
A proposal by the Commission on Privatization and Efficiency would radically alter the way school budgets are determined, but may face insurmountable hurdles if it surfaces in the Legislature.
Appellate judges threaten suit over pension reforms
Two Arizona Court of Appeals judges filed a notice of claim July 21 over last session’s pension reform bill and said they intend to challenge two provisions in the new law.
Debt reduction is next fiscal hurdle
After policymakers borrowed heavily to keep government afloat amid a festering fiscal crisis that blew holes in the state’s budget for four years, a former Senate president tried to put into place a mechanism to rein in politicians’ appetite for debt-financing.
Keep to the right: Does tea party politics mean yesterday’s conservative is today’s moderate — or a statesman?
Months after the red wave from last November, with the tea party gaining steam both in the streets and at the Capitol, some veteran conservative legislators are doing a double-take at where they now stand in their caucuses.
And for some, having a party morph around them, and seeing perceptions shift from “staunch conservative” to “moderate statesman” isn’t necessarily a welcom[...]
Public safety employees eying possible pension reform lawsuits
Unions representing police officers, firefighters and other public safety employees worked with lawmakers for months on the Legislature’s marquee pension reform bill, but that may not stop them from suing the state over it anyway.
