Skipping work is bipartisan

But perfect attendance is a Republican trait …. Shady astronomy money … And get a burner account, fellas.

Only five lawmakers out of 90 had a perfect attendance record for the 2024 regular session, and two of those don’t really count.

Republican Sens. T.J. Shope and Sine Kerr and Rep. Teresa Martinez didn’t miss a day of work during this year’s legislative session. 

Technically, neither did Democratic Reps. Deborah Nardozzi and Junelle Cavero, though they were appointed to their seats in April, during the dwindling months of the session.

This year’s session ran from January 8 to June 15 — a total of 160 days.¹

But keep in mind, attendance only counts for the days lawmakers are actually at the Capitol, and they actually worked fewer than 12 days per month.²

Our art intern, ChatGPT, has a thing for Russian-style domes.

To be fair, the job does extend far beyond just showing up to vote on the House or Senate floor. Attendance records don’t take into account countless hours potentially spent writing and researching bills. And lawmakers only earn a base salary of $24,000 per year.

But on top of that base salary, most Maricopa County lawmakers are pulling in an additional $5,000-$10,000 per year in mileage and per diem payment (not to mention the cush state benefits and retirement system).

And lawmakers from beyond Maricopa County pull in far more thanks to a 2021 law change that significantly increased their per diem payments. On average, they’re pulling in about $70,000 per year for their labor, including about $45,000 for per diem and mileage.

In total, Lawmakers met on the floor of the House and Senate for fewer than 60 working days this year. But even that was too much for most.

• Senators met 59 days this year.

• In the House, there were a mere 56 working days.

  • The House officially closed up for a few days so lawmakers could take an all-expenses paid trip to Israel.

So, who played hooky the most this year?

• Republican Sen. Jake Hoffman had a dismal 56% attendance rate, the worst in either chamber.

  • But his score jumps to 80% if you count the days he was “excused and seated.”³ If you don’t count those days, he’s only the second worst in the Senate, trailing Democratic Sen. Eva Diaz.

• In the House, Republican Rep. Jacqueline Parker and Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez are tied for most absences, with 18 each, putting their attendance rates at just 67%.

  • Hernandez’s sister, Consuelo Hernandez, did slightly better than her sibling, showing up 75% of the time. 

  • Parker’s mother, Barbara Parker, had a markedly better attendance rate than her daughter, showing up 93% of the time.

• House Speaker Ben Toma missed eight working days, though all of those were listed as “excused.” (He’s the one who grants excuses.)

• Senate President Warren Petersen only missed one workday, and that was listed as “excused and seated.”

How did your lawmakers stack up? We’ve posted a spreadsheet for our paid subscribers on our website. 

Unlike some lawmakers, we show up for you!
In the last 365 days months, we’ve sent you all 265 emails.
Click the button to keep them coming.

A win for public records: Lawyers for two Prescott men suing the state over lawmakers' allocation of $15.3 million to the Prescott Rodeo and $15.6 million for astronomy projects argued the state retroactively came up with a grant-processing program for legal cover, and emails seem to back that claim, the Republic’s Ray Stern reports. A state treasury official sent an email asking for “as much legal cover as possible" for the payments, and those employees knew the astronomy organizations would be getting the money before it went through a request for proposal to be allocated. 

Whoops: After prosecutors asked the judge in Arizona’s fake electors case to protect the jurors’ identities over safety concerns, a defendant’s attorney publicly filed a court document leaking jurors’ names and transcripts of their proceedings, the Republic’s Jimmy Jenkins reports. The document filed by an attorney for Christina Bobb, an attorney for Donald Trump's 2020 campaign, was later sealed. 

Unconfirmed and concerned: A Maricopa County Superior Court ruling declared Gov. Katie Hobbs has to work with the state Senate to get her agency leaders confirmed instead of labeling them as unconfirmed “executive deputy directors” as she’s been doing. But there’s still no ruling on whether the actions those directors have made are legally binding, per KJZZ’s Camryn Sanchez. That opens the door to lots of litigation on directors’ decisions. 

Confirm your paid subscription today to ease our financial concerns.

A new directive: U.S. Customs and Border Protection told its agents to stop throwing away migrants’ belongings after an April report from the Government Accountability Office documented patterns of agents tossing birth certificates, cash and clothing, Cronkite News’ Mia Osmonbekov writes. The ACLU expressed concerns there’s still no policy that ensures migrants get their belongings back after they’re moved from a facility. 

Sky patrol: Scottsdale police are launching a “drones as first responders" program that can send drones to crime scenes within 85 seconds, making it the first Arizona agency to deploy drones without an officer on the scene, Axios’ Jessica Boehm reports. Officers can watch the drone’s view from a live stream, and the unmanned aircraft are programmed to respond to license plate detectors for stolen vehicles or Amber Alerts. 

Fighting back: Six Saguaro High School students are suing the school district for preventing them from transferring to different football programs after the school’s principal used the n-word in an email, per 12News’ Sean Rice. Principal Anne Achtziger sent an email to a coach last December complaining about football players using the word, and 13 players asked the Arizona Interscholastic Association to help them transfer. The lawsuit alleges the school’s athletic director sent a text saying "If they want to leave, we will fight them."

Not surprising: A free speech advocacy group is suing Surprise over a woman’s arrest after she criticized the city’s attorney at a city council meeting, Axios’ Jeremy Duda writes. And Surprise Mayor Skip Hall is receiving death threats after the video of the woman being detained went viral, Jason Stone reports for the Daily Independent. 

We could make a whole section of this newsletter called “Politicians and the Thirst Traps They Follow on Instagram.”

Today’s edition of that section would be about Republican Maricopa County Sheriff candidate Jerry Sheridan. While there are a healthy number of thirst trap accounts we could highlight from his “following” list, Bilbo__Bagginz has the best username.

1. The legislative session is supposed to wrap up within 100 days.

2. A normal, full-time employee works about 22 days per month, assuming you don’t work weekends or holidays.

3. Essentially, lawmakers call in absent but then show up before the end of the day’s floor session.