One of the most explosive local issues in recent memory, the Rio Verde Foothills water crisis, has been moving forward in this year’s legislative session (get up to date on our coverage here). Unfortunately for its residents, it’s not going too well…yet. Indeed, the one bill to help alleviate the crisis has been vetoed by Governor Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s new … 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
The Delicate Dance Continues: GOP Learning How to Work with Gov. Hobbs
Governor Katie Hobbs has had a relatively tumultuous short reign in the 9th floor; facing GOP majorities in both the state House and the state Senate, her powers have largely been limited to her veto pen, which she has used to an unprecedented degree so far. Recently there have been issues within her own caucus, i.e. “tamale-gate” (you can read … Read More
Infighting Amongst the Arizona Dems: Fractures Show Between Gov. Hobbs and Her Caucus
Arizona Democrats have had to relearn what power means considering how long they had been relegated to an afterthought in Arizona politics. Since they are in a one vote minority in both the state House of Representatives and state Senate, the most powerful tool in Hobbs’s arsenal has been her veto pen, as we have covered here. One would assume … Read More
Rep. Joseph Chaplik Getting Heat Over Liz Harris Expulsion: The Genie Isn’t Always Friendly Outside of the Bottle
By Alexander Lomax Specifically in the social media age, it is common in politics to whip your base into a frenzy. After all, they are more inclined to become your foot soldiers and to spread the good word if you get them all nice and fired up. That’s all well and great, but when that genie is out of the … 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
Governor Hobbs’s Veto Parade Continues, and Not Even Our Schools are Exempt
By Ronald Sampson It’s a new-ish day for Democrats in Arizona. Having finally captured the Governor’s seat they finally have some degree of legislative power. But since they couldn’t get a majority in either the Arizona House or the Arizona Senate, that legislative power is nearly purely relegated to the power of Governor Hobbs’s veto pen. While the ability to … Read More