They're Called Lawmakers for a Reason

Priya claps back ... Fred demotes himself ... And Kari is embarrassed.

Some Democratic lawmakers understandably didn’t love our recent story about how some Democratic lawmakers have failed to pass any bills in the GOP-controlled Legislature.

And some of you readers complained that it’s unwise at best, and “naive and damaging” at worst, to gauge a lawmaker’s worth by how many of their bills become law when there is so much more that they do.

The story left Democratic Sen. Priya Sundareshan “feeling kind of down, thinking ‘OK, I’m not accomplishing much as a legislator if I don’t have any bills that are moving forward.’” But being a lawmaker doesn’t just mean making laws, she reminded herself.

In today’s data-driven political environment, a lot of attention is paid to polls, stats, campaign finance and voter registration numbers. But not all aspects of politics — or the job of being a politician — are so easily quantifiable. And not all successes in politics go up on the scoreboard.

Our art intern, ChatGPT, tells us this is a “political command center where success is measured in innovative and comprehensive ways.” Neat!

Sundareshan pointed to the effort to fix the state’s election schedule, which was thrown off by a recount law that put Arizona’s Electoral College votes at risk.

Although her name wasn’t on the bill that Gov. Katie Hobbs eventually signed into law, Sundareshan and her Democratic colleagues convinced Republicans to amend some of the worst provisions out of it. At the top of the list was getting rid of provisions from Sen. Wendy Rogers that were “irrelevant” or “disenfranchised voters.”

As for the 26 bills that did have Sundareshan’s name on them, none made it through crossover week last month, which culled hundreds of bills that were never scheduled for hearings.

She’s a progressive Democrat focused on voting rights and water, reproductive care and childcare, so her bills never stood much of a chance in the GOP-controlled Legislature.

But those bills are still worth filing, she said, to show constituents that she’s working for them. For example, her first bill of the session would have extended funding for the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and Blind for 10 years. That funding was the subject of fiery debate last year before legislators agreed to a four-year extension. She filed the 10-year bill again this year to say “Look — we haven’t forgotten about you.”

Plus, it’s a signal to voters at large that these types of bills, such as the right to contraception, would get hearings if Democrats had the majority, she said.

With complicated, politically charged issues like groundwater management, she files bills “to have these ideas out there” and show voters “here’s how I would solve the problem.”

The thrust of our story, beyond simply showing what Tucson lawmakers had, or hadn’t, accomplished, was that voters should consider how effective their lawmakers are when they decide whether to re-elect them.

Shouldn’t voters expect their lawmakers to make laws?

Getting your own bill signed into law is still the “shining star goal of a lawmaker,“ she said. But politics often gets in the way and Republican legislators refuse to hear the majority of Democratic bills. 

“It's not exactly a crapshoot, but sometimes it feels that way,” she said.

By our count, just 15% of bills filed by Tucson Democrats got a hearing and advanced, while Tucson Republicans saw nearly 70% of their bills advance.

“Just to get your bill scheduled for committee, you have to be incredibly lucky, or maybe you have made some relationships,” she said, which is “more likely for folks who have been here longer.”

Some of the Tucson Democrats whose bills haven’t fared well, like Sundareshan and Rep. Nancy Gutierrez, are in their first term. Veterans like Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales are more successful, although longevity doesn’t guarantee effectiveness. Longtime lawmaker Rosanna Gabaldon fared as badly as some of the freshmen.

When it comes to building relationships and making deals, Tucson Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez, is known for it. She’s a mover and shaker who is known for joining and organizing junkets, including this month’s planned spring break junket to Israel. She still has eight bills moving at the Capitol.

“I think perhaps there may also be the willingness to make deals with Republicans in exchange for your bill getting heard,” Sundareshan said.

Fred just can’t get ahead: Arizona Board of Regents Chair Fred DuVal is stepping down from his leadership position (but not his seat on ABOR) amid the University of Arizona’s $177 million budget shortfall and harsh criticism from Gov. Katie Hobbs about infighting and “failure of leadership” on the board, per the Daily Star’s Ellie Wolfe. Executive Director John Arnold is taking a leave of absence but will continue to work as the UA's interim chief financial officer. DuVal recently sent a cease and desist letter to UA Faculty Senate Chair Leila Hudson for accusing him of a conflict of interest for his previous role at an investment firm that invested in universities and said he’s resigning “to create space for collaborative efforts toward real solutions."

Another scholarship scam: A group of five former Department of Education employees were indicted for defrauding the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program of at least $600,000 using fake birth certificates for nonexistent children with special needs, the Republic’s Mary Jo Pitzl reports. Superintendent Tom Horne pulled his favorite response and blamed his predecessor for hiring the employees and said his office alerted Attorney General Kris Mayes about the potential fraud in December. Critics of the school voucher program are using the latest example of ESA dupery to renew calls for oversight of the program.  

"It was very easy for these individuals to do this," Mayes said. "We have to ask the question, 'Are others replicating this?'"

Twice the democracy: The November ballot in Maricopa and Pinal counties will be at least two pages long thanks to all the resolutions and initiatives that elections officials expect, and it could grow to a third page if lawmakers keep sending more stuff to the ballot, per Pitzl.  

Second try, partial conviction: A jury found former Democratic Sen. Tony Navarrete guilty of one count of sexual conduct with a minor, but found him not guilty of the heavier charge of child molestation and a second charge of sexual conduct with a minor, Fox10’s Kenneth Wong reports. Navarrete’s first trial ended in a mistrial. His sentencing, which could be anything from probation to two years in prison, is scheduled for next month. 

Infighting over Israel: State senators voted to block a group of 17 representatives from taking a 7-day trip to Israel this week and criticized the group for leaving the Capitol when a state budget deal, and financial shortfall, has to be hammered out. As a workaround, House Speaker Ben Toma told Capitol scribe Howie Fischer the House can have the speaker pro-tem gavel in every three days with at least one other lawmaker present as a workaround to the Senate’s vote, and the group can still take its mid-session spring break. The whole thing has sparked an interesting Twitter beef between Rep. Alma Hernandez, who’s leading the trip, and Sen. Anthony Kern, who’s said he’s "appalled'' the House would request to adjourn. 

The fix isn’t in: When Arizona lawmakers fixed the potential election timeline disaster scenario last month, they screwed up another part of the law and now city and town clerks have to be open the weekend before an election for no good reason, Votebeat’s Jen Fifield writes. Elections officials are calling on lawmakers to fix the screwup in the fix. 

Worthy of at least one statue: The nation’s first female Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor, is not worthy of a statue, according to MAGA Republicans in the state Legislature who voted against a measure to urge Congress to erect one, per the Arizona Mirror’s Jerod MacDonald-Evoy. Democrats also voted against the idea, noting there’s already another statue in the works to honor her at the U.S. Capitol. 

 “We cannot allow the distinguished members of this body to have to suffer walking by such an undistinguished jurist when they enter here in the morning,” Rep. Alexander Kolodin, said, per MacDonald-Evoy, who helpfully notes that the statue “would not have been placed at the Arizona Capitol, but instead inside Statuary Hall in the nation’s Capitol in Washington, D.C.”

Let them dream: Ryan Winkle, who was kicked off the Mesa City Council in 2017 after getting an extreme DUI, wants back in. But this time, he wants to be mayor, Axios Phoenix’s Jeremy Duda reports. There are already seven people vying to replace outgoing mayor John Giles, including former mayor Scott Smith. Meanwhile, Payson Roundup’s Peter Aleshire checks in on former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez’s bid to unseat freshman Republican U.S. Rep. Eli Crane in Northern Arizona. 

Is this your dream job?: Arizona is officially hiring a “heat officer” who will coordinate between state agencies to create preparedness, mitigation and disaster plans. Hobbs announced the new statewide position alongside her new extreme heat preparedness plan, which outlines her vision for navigating summers ahead. 

You may have noticed a fair number of typos in the Agenda of late. We lost our copy editor, Tracy Townsend, in January when she got busy taking over Skywolf, our bill-tracking and legislative intelligence service. 

We love having the chance to respond to the many, many emails you eagle-eyed subscribers send about “Audubon/Autobahn” or “have/half” or “to/too” or the time Hank wrote that the Senate Democratic campaign arm had endorsed Kari Lake (yeah, it was the Republicans). 

Unfortunately, starting tomorrow, you should have fewer reasons to email us. 

Please welcome Jasmine Demers to the team!

She’s an investigative reporter at Louisville Public Radio who received her master's degree in journalism from the University of Arizona and worked at the Arizona Daily Star for a spell. 

She just moved back to her home state of Arizona and will be helping us out for a while by editing and proofing the daily email, so you should see fewer typos going forward.¹ 

AZFamily’s Dennis Welch is an election denier who just can’t let go of 2020 and 2022, and Kari Lake is totally embarrassed for him. 

1. Tomorrow is her first edition, so don’t blame her for today’s typos.