Steve Farley

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After avoiding a possible ethics violation Thursday, state Rep. Steve Farley spent the rest of the day doing some soul searching and meditation.

The whole incident started when Farley, D-Tucson, grabbed his mic on the House floor and complained that Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, had used a procedural tactic to amend a bill after it had gone through committee. The amendment threatened Farley's pet cause: mass transit.

In efforts like Tucson's 2006 Regional Transportation Authority vote, Biggs wants voters to be asked to vote separately on things like roads and public transit rather than bulking it altogether.

Farley called it "an underhanded trick that should be shot down now."

With that, Biggs said Farley had "impugned" him, and Farley was ruled "out of order" since House rules state that you can't "arraign motives of members."

A couple of minutes later, Farley backhandedly apologized, saying: "I did not mean to impugn you by calling it what I called it. In fact, I meant to call it a very clever maneuver that I'm going to learn from very carefully next time I have a bill in committee that doesn't go to the floor."

That wasn't the end of things. Later, he provided a more sincere apology on the floor, and if that wasn't enough, he apologized again personally to Biggs — dodging an ethics violation.

"Frankly, since that event last afternoon, I have done a lot of soul searching," said Farley, who often complains about House partisanship. "I can do better, and I'm taking it as a soul-searching way to see how I can be much more open and work better and play my part."

Democrat Barack Obama isn't the only one getting help from Gov. Janet Napolitano — she came to the defense of Republican congressional candidate Tim Bee this week.

A couple of weeks ago, Democrats launched some grenades at Bee, president of the state Senate, after he attended GOP events in D.C. in preparation for his quest to unseat Democrat Gabrielle Giffords.

But Republicans soon countered Napolitano, a Democrat, had left the state in late January to campaign for Obama. She also spent this past Monday and Tuesday in D.C. — both for the National Governors Association conference and to make some national television appearances on Obama's behalf.

Napolitano said: "With all respect to the Democratic Party, I just disagreed with them."

"I'm A, not critical of President Bee for going back, and B, for me, these are important meetings," she said.

Pressed on the issue, the Democratic Party's spokeswoman Emily Bittner said, with attention split between campaigning and running the government some balls are bound to be dropped. She just wants to make sure it's never the one "moving Arizona forward and giving our children a better future."

Given this line of logic, we asked the obvious: "How can Gabby focus on her job in Congress when she's running for Congress? Should she resign?"

"Well, in doing her job she's constantly talking to and communicating with voters," Bitt- ner retorted.

Well, hello, isn't Bee doing the same thing?

Anyway, as for the notion that Bee is putting his campaign needs ahead of his Senate duties, from our spot in the Capitol press room — roughly 50 feet from Bee's office — these raised eyebrows haven't seen it yet.

He was too engrossed in budget negotiations last week to engage in a publicity stunt drummed up by Capitol press aides, and he's even made a point of doing campaign-related interviews outside the building.

Beginning March 1, Republican blogger Tom Dunn will relieve himself of his online duties at a friendly place called thinkrightaz.blogspot.com to focus on serving as press secretary for the Bee campaign.

"Sen. Bee can actually get things accomplished," Dunn said of why he's jumping on the campaign, "and right now in Washington, D.C., nothing is getting accomplished."

Nothing like getting off on the right foot with the press corps you'll be working with. Over the past year Dunn has playfully asked whether Giffords paid the newspaper to write stories and suggested the Star's political reporter (and Notebook columnist) had been "fully duped" into printing "anti-Tim Bee propaganda."

But hey, welcome to the campaign, Tom.