Posted by
Steve on Wednesday, November 09, 2011 11:13:10 AM
Yesterday was an election day in Arizona. We had two notable elections, one for Mayor of Phoenix and the other a recall election of the Senate President.
The election of the Mayor of Phoenix went pretty much as expected. The Democrat won. Democrats have run Phoenix for at least the last 15 years and probably longer. The election is supposed to be non-partisan, but everyone knew that one was a Republican and the other a Democrat. Little was heard from either candidate during the campaign period, other than signs.
The other election has more significance as our Senate President was defeated in the recall election. That is the first time in Arizona and I understand it is the first time in the history of the United States that a sitting Senate President has been defeated in a recall election.
This election created a lot of press. There was the incident where someone threw a padlock at the person running against the Senate President. A sham candidate was entered into the race. She was definitely lost when contacted by the press. She was finally declared a sham candidate by the court, but not removed from the ballot. One reason she was not removed was it was too late to reprint all the ballots.
Given that both candidates are members of the same LDS ward, you would think that civility would rule the roost in the election. That was far from the case. Name calling and other nefarious acts were committed. It was one of the dirtiest campaigns ever run in the history of Arizona. That means it was really bad. There have been some truly dirty campaigns in Arizona. None of the campaigns were ever as bad as New York or Chicago, but bad enough.
The problem with the former Senate President is that he had represented this district for a long time. He had never lost an election. In fact, he really had never been challenged in any election. He had gotten the proverbial big head and thought himself invincible. His supporters thought that they had carte blanche to do anything to keep him in office. That is why the campaign descended into the depths of name calling. Jerry Lewis, the challenger, tried to run a clean campaign but that is difficult when your opponent is constantly pushing the envelope.
Politically there is not much difference between the new Senator and the old Senator. Their political philosophy is much the same. The old Senate President was more of a hard liner when it came to issues. Everything was either black or white to him. Jerry Lewis is less of a hard liner on most issues. His core values are similar, but his approach is more accommodating. I think he will be a good addition to the Arizona Senate. I did like the old Senate President, but he was running his own kingdom. A change at the top was really needed. It remains to be seen how things will work out, but right now things are looking pretty good in Arizona district 18 and in the State of Arizona over this election.
In Phoenix, the failed policies of the previous two Mayors will be followed. That means Phoenix will continue to decline. The suburbs will continue to grow in power and influence as they are all better run than Phoenix. Again, it remains to be seen how things will play out. Right now, I am not very optimistic about how Phoenix will fare over the next four years.