Terri Proud, a Tucson tea party type and freshman Republican legislator, has introduced HB2657, a measure to require that all municipal and school board elections be conducted as partisan affairs.
Ummmm. OK. Really.
I just wonder if, before she sacrificed a tree to put her brilliant idea onto paper, she spoke to any of the other Republicans in the legislature. Or even those from her district in Tucson.
I suspect not, because anybody who can recall the deepest parts of Arizona history...or at least back to 2009.
SB1123.
Sponsored by a slew of southern AZ Republicans, including her current seatmate Vic Williams, it prohibited municipalities from holding partisan municipal elections. It was targeted at Tucson, which was the only municipality in the state that held partisan elections.
The measure was a going-away gift from former Sen. Jonathan Paton, who would soon resign from the lege in order to focus on a run for Congress (he lost in the R primary to Jesse Kelly).
Paton and the Tucson Republicans were overjoyed at SB1123's passage, not because they opposed the idea of partisan elections, but because they almost always get their butts kicked in Tucson when they run as Republicans.
Proud's measure would roll back that perceived gain.
As of this writing, the bill has not been assigned to a committee, and since most of the House R leadership has been around a while and aren't forgetful, I don't expect this bill to go far.
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