The importance of State Legislature races

Sometimes, it seems like only us political junkies and policy wonks are the ones interested in down-ballot campaigns. Take, for example, the State Legislature. I sometimes think a large number of Arizonans don't know or care what legislative district they live in or who is their state senator or representatives. For another large portion of citizens, it's only at election time that they become aware of who those people are and what they've been doing in office for the preceding two years.

Even so, most Arizonans see - on a daily basis - the effects of the legislative process even if they don't know the bills that have been passed or who has been responsible. They see school dropout rates and know that our educational system is lagging, even though they don't know which legislators have voted to de-fund public schools over the years. They see the growing illegal worker problem, but don't know which legislators have voted consistently to give a pass to employers who knowingly or negligently hire illegal workers.

It is, again, generally during the election season that these kind of issues come to the fore. Part of the campaigning process is to educate voters on how incumbents have voted and where they stand on issues. And another part of the process is for incumbents to place the best spin they can on their record, sadly even to the point of obfuscating or indicating quite the opposite of what their record shows. I've written a fair bit on that where Senator Huppenthal is concerned, for example.

I've also written about the unnecessarily polarizing behavior of the Republican majority in our state legislature and its impact on undermining sound legislative progress for our state. In looking back over the past four years, I shudder to think if we'd had a Republican Governor who would have just rubber-stamped what had come out of the lege.

Fortunately, we've narrowed the partisan gap in the State House, and our Governor has won a huge majority, giving her a mandate to govern. The East Valley Trib states it well:

Voters gave Napolitano a resounding victory but did not give Democrats control of either house in the Legislature. In fact, it appears the party might lose one seat in the Senate, although it gained House seats. That means the Legislature will remain heavily tilted in favor of the GOP.

Prior to the election, Republicans held such a large advantage in both houses that the party could pass measures without relying on a single vote from the opposition. In fact, the large majority led to what was known as the rule of 31 and 16 — the number of votes needed to pass a measure in the House and Senate respectively.

Then, the GOP held a 39-21 advantage in the House and an 18-12 edge in the Senate. With such a wide majority, Republicans could pass bills without any Democrats — and often did. GOP leaders said routinely they wanted to adopt Republican bills and a Republican budget and shut the Democrats out of the process.

Official results from last week’s election aren’t in yet, but it appears Democrats have narrowed the GOP’s advantage to 35-25 in the House. And with Republicans retaining an advantage in the Senate, just how much can Democrats accomplish?

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, R-Phoenix, said she will continue using a strategy that’s worked for many Democrats in the past: Finding a Republican to back certain measures. By doing that, she said, it’s easier to pass laws.

If that plan doesn’t work, Democrats still have the governor to back them up. “We’re still out-manned and we’re still out-gunned, but we still have the governor. And the governor wields a lot of power,” said Rep. Pete Rios, D-Springerville.

During her first term, Napolitano used her executive veto authority a record number of times — 116 by the end of last session — to reject GOP-led legislation. But last week, Napolitano and the Republican leaders pledged to work together during the upcoming session. At the same time, both sides were declaring mandates to push their agendas.

Fortunately, we have backed away from a veto-proof Republican majority in the House. And the Governor's mandate is quite clear. Hopefully, this will translate into a State lege that is more willing to be bipartisan and engage Democrats, rather than trying to shut them out of the legislative process.

If not, count on Governor Napolitano to keep her veto stamp well-inked, and rightly so.