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arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.28.2007
PHOENIX — If passing legislation is the measure of a lawmaker's worth, Southern Arizona finds itself with a dud of a delegation.
Tucson-area legislators are ineffective at getting their bills heard — much less passed — according to an Arizona Daily Star analysis midway through the 2007 legislative session.
Maybe it's a party thing.
Out of 18 senators and representatives from Southern Arizona districts, only five are Republicans.
Of the remaining 13, all Democrats, only three of have managed to get a bill approved by their own chamber of the Legislature. Four of them haven't even been able to get a bill passed out of committee.
Democratic Rep. Manny Alvarez and Sen. Vic Soltero, both experienced lawmakers, have introduced only one bill apiece, neither of which has made it out of committee.
Newbie Sens. Paula Aboud and Charlene Pesquiera have also failed to get a bill out of committee, but it's not for lack of trying. Aboud has filed 25 bills for consideration and Pesquiera eight.
On the other side of the aisle, Republicans are a minority of the Southern Arizona delegation, but as part of a statewide majority, they've enjoyed significantly more success.
Republican Sen. Tim Bee is the Senate president and has gotten eight of the 10 bills he sponsored approved by the Senate. Twenty of the 50 bills Rep. Marian McClure filed and 12 of 19 bills offered by Rep. Pete Hershberger won House approval.
One Democrat who appears to have found a way to get things done is Sen. Marsha Arzberger from Willcox, who has managed to push seven of her 22 proposals through the Senate.
Democrats say their ideas are dismissed simply because they are in the minority party. At this point in the session, they admit the prospect of reviving non-budget-related bills, or introducing new ones, is slim.
But Republicans maintain Democratic bills fail to receive hearings because — in the partisan world of politics — they're bad public policy.
Dead on arrival
Rep. Lena Saradnik, a freshman Democrat representing a usually Republican district, introduced five bills this session — all of which are now dead.
Saradnik, who took over for Republican Steve Huffman, a former committee chairman who successfully pushed through tax cuts, says her term is still meaningful.
"Getting bills passed is sometimes not the most effective way to have influence," she said. "Sometimes I think passing bills can be a detriment."
More-experienced Democratic hands are faring no better. Rep. Phil Lopes, House minority leader and a Tucson Democrat, had no more luck with his eight bills.
"It has nothing to do with the merits of the bills," Lopes said. "I think it all has to do with wanting, first, to have Republican bills heard, and secondly, wanting to show us they still have the power."
One Democrat who got statewide attention for some of his ideas was Tucson Rep. Steve Farley. But despite generating some buzz, his bills, which included banning text messaging while driving, are all now dead.
"I went after big politics, big money, big oil," said Farley, a freshman. "Now, I know how much work it takes. You've really got to pare down what you've got."
Democratic Rep. Olivia Cajero Bedford, who got one bill through the House and is working with Republicans on others, says it takes bipartisan work.
"We all come up here with the idea of making things better, then we're shocked that we can't get 59 other people to agree with us," she said.
The veteran Soltero, who has been in office since 1991, says dropping dozens of bills isn't his forte. This year he introduced one.
"I think we already have a lot of laws on the books, and I've never been one to think that I have to sponsor a lot of legislation," Soltero said. "I like to vote on issues that I feel are good for my constituents and vote against issues that are not good for my constituents."
Finding a role
Arzberger, the Willcox Democrat, regularly gets bills passed.
"You don't just drop a subject," said Arzberger, a moderate. "You go do the research, make sure the language is right."
And Democrats say they serve other functions at the Capitol.
With more members this year, party leadership was especially hopeful going into this session that they could block Republican bills, if not pass their own. But that's been harder than anticipated.
"If you look at stuff the majority is doing, that's generally stuff that folks in Tucson don't like," said Rep. Tom Prezelski, a Tucson Democrat fighting to get one of his 14 bills out of committee. "So opposing that stuff, getting the arguments out in public, that's important."
Behind the scenes
Still, getting bills passed isn't a partisan issue, said Republican McClure.
"I think sometimes, especially freshmen, tend to run bills they know are going nowhere," said McClure, so far the Southern Arizona lawmaker to pass the most bills through the House. "It's their way of making a statement."
But McClure says: "The bills are the icing on the cake. The cake is fighting for Southern Arizona and if you're effective, that is every bit as important."
Former state Rep. Ted Downing, a Democrat, managed to pass a number of bills in his last term by teaming up with Republicans.
"You have to reduce your ego and not want to be first, and in a pool of sharks everyone wants to bite everyone first," said Downing. "You have to realize that no one five years from now will remember who was state representative or senator, no matter what they did."
But while working behind the scenes might be a great way to get bills passed, it doesn't provide much publicity for the true sponsor. In the end, Downing ended up losing a bid for state Senate last year.
● Contact reporter Daniel Scarpinato at 307-4339 or dscarpinato@azstarnet.com.
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