Once upon a time Jay Lawrence was the 1-900 voice of Arizona freedom, rocking KTAR late nights for liberty lovers. Now, he’s a member of the State House of Representatives.
Once upon a time Jill Norgaard was doing something else. Now, she’s a rising Republican star in the same House of Representatives.
One of the first things lawmakers learn is how challenging it can be to stay true to one’s philosophical moorings. Some 1,000 bills per year come at the honorables. And most aren’t black and white issues on abortion, guns, civil rights, energy, taxes or other issues that are typically found on campaign web sites and direct mail pieces.
There are issues like last year’s reinvention of payday lenders into something more innocuously called “flex loans.” The pushers are cockroaches of commerce. Yet, in that case, Lawrence and Norgaard rightfully didn’t focus on the who, they focused on the what. That is, if people want or need such monied instruments then such financial choice is the citizen’s to make. The two lawmaker’s support was principled. To mangle Sir Thomas Moore a bit they may not agree with the business at issue but they defended their right to do it. It’s easy to prop a sexy, popular company like Uber when the freedom fire needs to burn a bit brighter . It’s much more difficult when it’s people predators making the argument.
That’s why we’re scratching our heads a bit at the two’s agnosticism to HB2523. The Goldwater Institute-backed measure extends from one to two or three years the time a contact lens user must endure a costly and state mandated annual visit to an optometrist. We have written about its merits previously.
We get that the state’s 400 optometrists don’t want to see their special interest subsidy watered down a wee bit, but the state’s 700,000 contact lens wearer’s would probably appreciate the disassociation with such an antiquated law. After all, if Republicans aren’t eminent endorsers of consumer choice and convenience, what do they stand for?
Norgaard and Lawrence are two of the most interesting legislative voices in Arizona today. They help all see Republicanism and freedom more clearly. We can’t think of a more topical bill for them to lead the march again.