Tobin in as AZ House speaker, Adams out and running for Congress

In a bit of a surprise (to me, anyway), Rep. Andy Tobin (R-LD1) was elected Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives.

From the Arizona Republic story written by Mary Jo Pitzl -

The Arizona House of Representativesgot a new leadership lineup Thursday when members elected Rep. Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, as speaker and Republicans chose Rep. Steve Court, R-Mesa as their majority leader.

Tobin replaces Kirk Adams, who resigned from the House and promptly announced his bid for an open congressional seat in the southeast Valley. Adams revealed U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl as his honorary campaign chairman.

The reason that I was a a little surprised by Tobin's elevation to the speaker's post isn't that I think he is less qualified than the other Republicans (hey - I'm a Democrat, so I think *all* of the Rs are unqualified for the job :) ), but he's a rural Republican, and generally, the center of Republican power in AZ is Maricopa County.  The House hasn't had a Speaker from a rural district since the late Jake Flake in 2003/2004. 

However, the election of Rep. Steve Court as Majority Leader does maintain the rural/urban balance.

The election of Tobin does signal one thing:

Arizona will continue to be the country's embarrassment.


From the press release emailed by the Republican House caucus -

Last – but certainly not least – Speaker Tobin is a devoted Yankee’s [sic] fan...

So, in addition to the anti-immigrant hysteria, the pro-gun fetishism, the "birther" insanity, and more abominations, Arizona has now solidified its position as the America's shame -

We have a Yankees fan in high public office.

...So sayeth the lifelong Red Sox fan... :))