Biggs’ Day of the Dead

You’d think that Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, in his quest to become governor, would want to break from the past and project a fresh start — especially considering his greatest political patron, President Donald Trump, is mired in historic unpopularity.

But Biggs is a nostalgic romantic, as evidenced by five-star reviews of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” on his Goodreads account.

He just can’t let go.

And that nostalgia also applies to his legislative agenda, apparently.

In a recent sit-down interview with ABC15, Biggs made it clear that — if elected governor — the foundation of his legislative agenda would be digging up the graveyard of 541 bills that Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has vetoed throughout the past four years.

Hold up — let’s break that down.

Biggs can’t actually sign bills that Hobbs vetoed. They’re long gone.

In practice, it means Biggs would have to get legislative Republican leaders to copy and paste Hobbs’ vetoed bills into new ones in January.

Of course, that doesn’t take into account the fact that Democrats have a good shot at flipping a chamber of the Legislature, which would render the plan impossible. (Nor does it take into account that Biggs has a very poor chance at winning the Governor’s Office.)

But since we explored the theoretical idea of Democratic governance in the House, we might as well explore the idea at the core of Biggs’ plan: a Republican trifecta in the Executive Tower, the Senate and the House.

Why not?

It’s pretty well recognized that Hobbs isn’t the strongest of candidates — even as she is highly favored by betting markets.

But if anything can explain her projected likelihood of winning and make the case for her reelection, it’s Hobbs’ prolific veto pen.

Turns out, the lion’s share of those vetoes was related to election administration — the topic on which Biggs pretty much made his bones in the MAGA movement.

We’re not sure exactly which “dozens, if not hundreds” of bills Biggs wants to use his first week in office to breathe life into.

So we’ve picked out 10 of the wildest, wackiest, strangest bills that could rise from the dead if Biggs realizes his dream of total GOP control.

Here they are:

Pre-election peril: Gov. Katie Hobbs and her family received an “execution threat” last week, she said during an appearance on KTAR’s “Outspoken with Bruce and Gaydos.” It’s the latest in a wave of political threats ahead of the general election — Democratic U.S. Reps. Greg Stanton, Yassamin Ansari and Adelita Grijalva received letters with white powder over the weekend, Cronkite News’ Sophia Braccio reports, days after a similar letter forced the evacuation of the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. Federal investigators are looking into suspicious letters sent to congressional and election offices across at least 32 states.

SAVE yourself: The Attorney General’s Office is threatening to sue Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap unless he restores the voter registration statuses of 24 voters his office incorrectly flagged as noncitizens, the New Times’ Morgan Fischer reports. Heap previously flagged 60 potential noncitizen voters using the federal SAVE system, but Republican Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell found only eight weren’t citizens. With Election Day two weeks away, two dozen eligible voters are still listed as “Not Eligible,” including 18 who should have already received their early ballots.

Talk is cheap: Democratic Congressional District 8 candidate Bernadette Greene-Placentia isn’t impressed by her opponent, Republican U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh, offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of two men suspected of sexually assaulting her, the Republic’s Laura Gersony reports. Hamadeh announced the reward with a statement touting his background as a “former prosecutor who has fought for survivors of sexual assault.” But Greene-Placentia’s campaign pointed to the congressman’s past opposition to extraditing Andrew and Tristan Tate to Britain, where they face dozens of charges related to rape and sex trafficking.

Political porch pirates: Immigrant rights group LUCHA fired the woman caught on video stealing a package from the front porch of a Marana home while canvassing, the Republic’s Stacey Barchenger reports. The homeowner said she only intended to alert neighbors, not make a political statement. Still, conservative groups made one for her and circulated the video as evidence against Hobbs, though LUCHA is an independent group supporting her reelection campaign.

Empty desks: Enrollment across Arizona’s public schools is plummeting, schools are shutting down and there’s little agreement on what to do about it, the Capitol Times’ Jakob Thorington reports. Part of the problem is declining birth rates, which are affecting schools nationwide. Arizona’s superintendent of public instruction candidates have different solutions: Democrat Teresa Leyba Ruiz wants to rein in the state’s billion-dollar Empowerment Scholarship Account program, while Republican Kimberly Yee says districts should spend their money more wisely.

Inside the Issues is a nonpartisan series from the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission about the issues shaping Arizona’s future — the ones that are complex, consequential, and easy to overlook.

Each episode brings voters into the conversation with experts, public officials, and community leaders who explain what’s actually at stake and what decisions are ahead. No pundits, no party line — just the context you need to walk into the voting booth informed instead of guessing.

Arizona is home to the nation’s newest national park after President Donald Trump signed the Chiricahua National Park Act on Tuesday, upgrading the roughly 12,000-acre national monument in Cochise County.

The bipartisan effort (Republican U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani introduced the legislation in the House, while Democratic U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego championed it in the Senate) gives the park’s towering volcanic rock formations a promotion, but not much of a raise.

The Trump administration has cut National Park Service staffing by roughly 25% and blocked millions of dollars in funding for park projects, per the Washington Post.

But we’re pretty tired of bad news.

So, in the spirit of celebrating something for once, we went looking for the rock formations that make this place so special.

We weren’t disappointed.

We present to you: Duck on a Rock.

The Grand Canyon also has a “Duck on a Rock” formation, but Chiricahua’s is clearly better.