By Ronald Sampson In what is almost certainly one of the biggest blockbusters in party infighting in recent Arizona memory, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer has officially put his foot down in one of the most gutsy ways possible: he is suing Kari Lake for defamation. You don’t need to be an insider (or even an Arizonan) to guess why. … Read More
Another Dysfunction Bombshell from the Katie Hobbs Administration: Her Chief of Staff is Pushed Out
To say that it has been a tumultuous first half year of the Governor Hobbs administration would be an understatement. In the process of alienating many in her own caucus she has lost several high-level staffers, both through their own mistakes and being unwilling or unable to carry out the mission in the midst of what some saw as failed … Read More
Can We Finally Be Done With This?
By Alexander Lomax Here we go again…Kari Lake manages to get in the news again. Lovely. To give some added context, the ongoing embarrassment that is Lake’s election denialism has been nearly completely smacked down in the courts (courts which have been largely packed by Doug Ducey, i.e. not exactly leftist ideologues) but the most recent judgment left one little … Read More
Governor Hobbs’s Internal Crisis: Alienating Her Own Just to Pass a Budget
Photo Credit: Time MagazineBudget time at the Arizona Capitol is always an interesting place to be, but perhaps no more so than now. It had already been a rough month or so for Governor Katie Hobbs (get up to date here), but the budget negotiations (or relative lack thereof) look like they will make “tamale-gate” look like a walk in … Read More
Gov. Hobbs’s Spokesperson Forced to Resign: A Cautionary Tale of Chasing Clout and Failing Up
Governor Katie Hobbs has generally done a good job of hiring department leads who are not idealogues, who have a significant amount of experience and don’t appear to be the result of political favors or seeking the path of least resistance. But for the choice of her Spokesperson, that did not seem to be the case, it blew up in … Read More
The Kari Lake Electoral Anchor: How She Is Arizona Republicans’ Biggest Problem
By Alexander Lomax Groundhog’s Day was last month, but you almost wouldn’t know that’s the case in Arizona. Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Kari Lake claimed election fraud and judges told her that she has almost no case whatsoever. And yet she keeps trying, bless her heart. And the biggest winners? Arizona Democrats. Just like they made the … Read More
A New Era Begins: Republicans Quickly Reminded That They Can and Will Get Vetoed
By Alexander Lomax It’s been the dawn of a new day for Democrats in Arizona: out from under the thumb of Republican domination with several significant statewide wins, they now have a degree of power. With Governor Katie Hobbs in the 9th Floor, they’re no longer an afterthought in governance. Even though they do not control the House or Senate, … Read More
Ruben Gallego is Running for the US Senate: What a Potential Three-Way Race Means
Senator Kyrsten Sinema has been quite the magnet for attention. She has relished her position as a swing Senator, one of the very few of the 100 senators that is a genuine question mark on many votes. She seems to enjoy the spotlight, with her fashion and mannerisms often getting the press’s attention. But one very clear point of attention … Read More
Both State Parties Chooses Their Leadership. What Differences Will We See?
Photo Credit: AZCentral.com This past weekend was the culmination of the post-election festivities in Arizona: the state party reorganization meetings. They serve as a referendum on the performance of the party and provide insight into where the parties might go for the next few years. We outlined the candidates for party leadership in a recent article that you can read … Read More
Chaos at County Reorganization Meetings: What Does That Portend for Next Two Years?
The political election cycle is a standard and predictable one: first there are primaries, then there are generals. Then there is either celebration or disappointment, followed by co-opting of credit or the pointing of fingers. And then…re-organization. Where the parties signal their level of satisfaction or anger with the direction of their party and choose their leadership accordingly. As is … Read More