Republican Senator broke ranks with party on recent issues

Senator Boyer broke ranks with the GOP when he was the only Republican to vote ‘no’ on holding the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in contempt over an audit. Boyer had co-sponsored the resolution to hold the supervisors in contempt for refusing to comply with two wide-ranging subpoenas for all 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa County in the November election, along with ballot tabulation machines and other equipment and data, but ultimately voted ‘no’. He also is making headlines for voting ‘yes’ for expanded school vouchers and again for breaking ranks and voting ‘no’ for expelling the permanent early voter rolls. We talked with Boyer about this.

Boyer said he thought about it and had raised concerns before so it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise.  He said he voted no because the Board of Supervisors believes they are following the law.  We also talked about the bill removing some early voters from the early voting list.  The bill is meant for house cleaning and a way to keep the voting list current. He said he is concerned about casual voters and college students. He said he said “no” so he can talk through it.

Boyer’s bill about expanding the school voucher program passed the Senate and was on its way to the house but was recalled by Boyer’s Republican colleagues. We asked if this was revenge or a way to get back at him. He said he does not know why they recalled the bill but that only she can say. He hopes this is not them sending a message to them because he feels it is really only hurting the children. Boyer said this bill has not been voted on before. We asked why low-income students are not the sole focus. Boyer said that he is going to make them the sharp focus but he is taking the federal approach. He will be making it focused on title one students, not title one schools.