Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I have heard from reliable sources, but I have not been able to confirm, that John Munger will announce in the near future that he is a candidate for governor. Munger is a partner in the law firm of Munger Chadwick, PLC. Munger is a former State Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, a former member of the Republican National Committee, and former Pima County Republican Chairman. He has also served as president and member of the Arizona Board of Regents.
Munger recently established ImagineArizona, a political action committee, indicating that he has higher political ambitions.
Those of us who live in Tucson are familiar with Munger as the GOP talking head on the Arizona Illustrated (PBS) segment "Face Off," in which he squares off against Vince Rabago, former Pima County Democratic Party Chairman and a current vice chair of the Arizona Democratic Party. Munger has proven himself adept at reading off the GOP talking points of the day and is not shy about lying his ass off to stick to his talking points. I respect his skills as a lawyer. But as a politician Munger is a unprincipled political hack. He is painful to watch.
If Munger is planning to announce his candidacy for governor, I will take this as a clear indication that Jan Brewer has, in fact, decided not to run for a full term as governor in 2010. Munger would never challenge a sitting Republican governor, he is a team player.
The consequences to Jan Brewer being a "lame duck" will be immediate: the GOP controlled Arizona Legislature is going to run over her with its cleats on. Brewer's "5 point plan" for a state budget, calling for a "temporary" tax increase to be submitted to the voters in a special election, is dead. A state government shut down on July 1st due to the lack of a state budget is becoming more of a probability with each passing day.
With an open governor's race, this raises the question whether Congressman Jeff Flake and/or Congressman John Shadegg will be enticed to run for governor as well. (Democrats had better be recruiting some strong congressional candidates to run in their districts). There are a host of other Republicans who believe they should be governor. To parody a phrase Jon Stewart and The Daily Show coined, this could be a "Clusterf#@k to the Governorship."