Arizona Politics

Odd bedfellows have been bountiful in Arizona politics since 1881 and the Gunfight at the OK Corral. When it was all over but the burying, Tombstone Town Marshall Virgil Earp, brother of Wyatt, was fired. City elders believed his shootout was motivated more by personal revenge than by good law enforcement. Subsequent years have produced numerous echoes: * Shortly after the Arizona Territory became the 48th state in 1912, Gov. George Hunt lost reelection by 30 votes.

Arizona: hits and misses Regarding "First-Rate Journeys in the 48th State," Feb. 12: I wasn't sorry that the Travel section missed the best places for Mexican food in Phoenix and Tucson. We'll keep those to ourselves. But really, how could you miss the absolutely coolest place in Arizona? The historic Weatherford Hotel in downtown Flagstaff. A family-friendly restaurant for weary travelers and a comfortable hangout with loads of local color. Great food; great bands; great, great staff.

It is politics as usual in Arizona. Bob Barnes, a conservative Republican running for governor, has challenged his counterparts to submit to lie-detector tests on a variety of unsubstantiated items he regularly alleges--ties to organized crime and dishonesty the most discreet among them. He offered to recommend good polygraph examiners.

When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of an Arizona campaign finance law last week, the court divided along ideological lines — with a five-justice conservative majority opposing the way Arizona uses public money to finance campaigns, and four liberals supporting it. But in Arizona, the greatest beneficiaries of the state's Clean Elections Act have been conservatives. Consider newly elected state Sen. Steve Smith. A talent manager in exurban Phoenix who had never run for public office, Smith beat a better-known Democrat last year with the help of $36,000 in government funds he received under the law. "Turns out, all I needed was that Clean Elections money and the grace of God," Smith said.

A small revue is playing the loft at the Mill Avenue Theater in Tempe, a red brick and adobe college town a few dry miles east of here. "Guv: The Musical," plays off the strange history and disordered present, the frequently corrupt and often unbelievable nonsense of Arizona politics. With such a fertile and constant fount, say the show's producers, their two-hour belly-laugh could outlive the Grand Canyon.

BACKGROUND: On Sunday, View reported on Arizona's splotchy political record: one governor impeached, seven state legislators accused of bribery, and a $140-million federal suit against Gov. J. Fife Symington III for his part in the alleged mismanagement of a failed savings and loan. UPDATE: Arizona's political melodramas continue. Tuesday it was revealed that Annette Alvarez--aide and close friend to Arizona Gov. J.

At the state Capitol here, 95-year-old Edwynne C. (Polly) Rosenbaum is regarded as an institution--an indefatigable Democratic lawmaker who has been around so long that she can claim friendship with the first governor. So it was with a deep sense of loss among old-guard politicos that the state representative was defeated Nov. 8 after serving 22 consecutive terms. She has held her seat since 1949, when she replaced her husband, William G.

When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of an Arizona campaign finance law last week, the court divided along ideological lines — with a five-justice conservative majority opposing the way Arizona uses public money to finance campaigns, and four liberals supporting it. But in Arizona, the greatest beneficiaries of the state's Clean Elections Act have been conservatives. Consider newly elected state Sen. Steve Smith. A talent manager in exurban Phoenix who had never run for public office, Smith beat a better-known Democrat last year with the help of $36,000 in government funds he received under the law. "Turns out, all I needed was that Clean Elections money and the grace of God," Smith said.

Former Gov. Evan Mecham said Tuesday that his political fate is not sealed by the impeachment conviction that hurled him into the history books. "Of course, this is just another chapter in a book and this book isn't near the end," Mecham said at his first public appearance since the Senate ousted him from office Monday. Mecham said he was considering whether to try appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court or running in the special gubernatorial election May 17.

If the political career of former Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham were a movie, for many Arizonans it would be the latest Rambo sequel, with Mecham as the gung-ho hero, back again in the electoral underbrush to wage war on those who threaten such "true American values" as motherhood, apple pie and the right to school prayer. For many others, however, it would be an episode of the horror film "Friday the 13th," with Mecham as Jason, the monster who, time after time, is stabbed, slashed, drowned, burned, buried and seemingly vanquished, only to return to life in time to wreak havoc in the next sequel--or in Mecham's case, the next gubernatorial election.

A sizable majority of Americans said they did not believe that harsh political rhetoric was the reason a gunman opened fire over the weekend in Tucson, killing six and wounding 14, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, according to a CBS News poll released Tuesday. The finding comes as Republicans and Democrats have sparred over whether  recent heated political rhetoric may have been a factor in the shootings. Giffords was among 20 lawmakers targeted in campaign literature by Sarah Palin, the conservative icon who may be considering a presidential run in 2012.

In a year that sees incumbents across the country dropping like flies, an unlikely one is in a very comfortable position: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. Only six months ago, Brewer presided over a state with a dire budget deficit. She had two dozen challengers in the Republican primary and her approval rating was well below 50%. Then a tough new immigration law landed on her desk. Brewer signed SB 1070 and became the biggest defender of Arizona's get-tough stance on illegal immigration.

Voters in Arizona's Maricopa County narrowly approved a measure Tuesday that would provide most of the money for a $331-million stadium for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals. With 98% of the precincts reporting, 51% were in favor of Proposition 302 and 49% against. Joe Yuhas, executive director of Arizona Wins, the group backing the proposal, stopped just short of claiming victory, citing about 40,000 absentee ballots that have yet to be counted. But, he said, "Do the math.

Opening a potentially controversial era in American politics, a federal judge Tuesday gave the Arizona Democratic Party the green light to hold the nation's first binding election that will accept ballots from the Internet. After nearly 10 hours of testimony, U.S. District Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt ruled that the Voting Integrity Project of Arlington, Va.

John McCain scored twin victories Tuesday in Michigan and Arizona, bouncing back to seize the momentum from George W. Bush in a seesaw Republican contest that now barrels into California. Three days after a lopsided defeat in South Carolina, McCain resurrected his candidacy in Michigan by drawing enormous crossover support from Democrats and independents, managing to overcome Bush's strong backing from Republican regulars. "What a difference a couple of days make!"

In this fastest-growing city in one of the fastest-growing states in the country, you can literally watch the desert disappear before your eyes. Stand at the Home Depot in the middle of town, and you can see bulldozers in every direction plowing scrub into subdivision. New homes are more common than cacti. Ask folks how long they've lived here, they look at their watches.

When he first ran for governor, Fife Symington promised to run Arizona like his own business. In 1989, that was welcome news. Symington was a high-flying, conservative Republican real estate developer and scion of fortunes. The economically depressed state was reeling from the impeachment of Gov. Evan Mecham, who had diverted inaugural ball donations into a loan for his ailing auto dealership.

In this fastest-growing city in one of the fastest-growing states in the country, you can literally watch the desert disappear before your eyes. Stand at the Home Depot in the middle of town, and you can see bulldozers in every direction plowing scrub into subdivision. New homes are more common than cacti. Ask folks how long they've lived here, they look at their watches.

If any place fits the unorthodox political style of John McCain, it is Arizona--the cactus-studded desert frontier where independent-minded voters turn partisan politics upside down and many winning candidates have cross-over appeal. The demographic mosaic of veterans, retirees, developers and ranchers who have settled here since World War II has made Arizona a sagebrush hybrid that elects governors as diverse as liberal Bruce Babbitt and conservative Evan Mecham.

A state lawmaker has apologized for telling a colleague, "You can't be Jewish. You don't have a big hooked nose." Rep. Barbara Blewster made the comment last week to Rep. Barbara Leff as Republican leaders were asking them to stay at the Capitol into the evening during negotiations over the state budget. Leff and other Jewish lawmakers left to attend traditional Passover dinners. Leff said she told Blewster: "Not all of us have hooked noses, oh prejudiced one."