By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings
Note: The first part of this post is here. That one was mostly about abbreviations; this one will have some of that, but it is more about the specifics of Arizona politics, particularly regarding the state capitol.
Again, let me be clear – neither this post nor its predecessor is meant to be considered definitive or complete. They're just primers.
Some of the players and forces at play at the Capitol:
– Arizona's governor (currently Jan Brewer) is handicapped by the fact that Arizona, like most western states, utilizes a "weak executive" model of government. The governor's two biggest political tools are the veto pen and the job title, and the public soapbox that goes with it. Otherwise, the governor can't do much that isn't specifically approved by the legislature.
The current governor isn't known as the brightest light in the nighttime sky, but she's bright enough to have held office (of one sort or another) since the early 1980s. Not sure if that is evidence that she is underrated intellectually, or that the intellectual requirements necessary to get into elected office in Arizona are overrated.
Brewer ascended to the governor's office, which is physically located on the ninth floor of the Executive Tower at the AZ Capitol (hence, the occasional use of "the Ninth Floor" to describe the administration/governor's office in general) when her predecessor, Janet Napolitano, accepted the job of US Secretary of Homeland Security in 2009.
Brewer won election to her own term in 2010 after she signed SB1070, the infamous anti-immigrant law that has basically been eviscerated by the courts. However, the bill was a strong enough sop to the nativist wing of the AZGOP to clear what had been a crowded primary field, and to propel her to a general election victory over Democratic nominee Terry Goddard.
She has basically been a rubber stamp for the Republican caucus in the lege, wielding her veto pen only on certain extreme measures where the legislative support for a measure was weak enough that her veto wouldn't be overridden.
She is term-limited and will not be able to run for re-election in 2014.
The main "power behind the throne" is well-connected lobbyist Chuck Coughlin. Reputed to be the brains of the Brewer political operation, Couglin was/is employed as a lobbyist by the Corrections Corporation of America, which just received a contract from the state for private prison cells that the state doesn't need.
