Journalists’ Roundtable: 2-12-21: AZ Senate vs. Maricopa County, Lawmakers Target Executive Power, Guns in Government Buildings

The Journalists’ Roundtable includes a look at the state senate’s continued fight with Maricopa County over elections information. Roundtable guests: Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic and Bob Christie of the Associated Press.

• AZ Senate vs. Maricopa County
• Lawmakers Target Executive Power
• Guns in Government Buildings
• Rogers Could Face Harassment Suit

AZ Senate vs. Maricopa County

Laurie Roberts: “One of the Republican senators had an attack of sanity over the weekend. He talked to some of the supervisors and some other people and thought about it and decided that civility was the way to go and working together was the way to go with the Republican-run board of supervisors and try to work this thing out. So, Paul Boyer, when the time came, was a no vote. You should’ve seen the senators’ faces when that happened. Senate President Karen Fann and the rest of them were clearly not expecting this to blow up in their faces.”

Bob Christie: “He [Paul Boyer] could not, that’s a bridge too far to go and arrest the board of supervisors, which was what that vote could’ve lead to. Once they vote to find them in contempt of a subpoena, they can go arrest the board of supervisors. He just couldn’t go there. I’ve talked to him multiple times and he just said, listen, we got to work this out and the courts is the way to work this out and the courts is the way to work this out and the vote wasn’t going to get us there.”

Lawmakers Target Executive Power

Bob Christie: “It’s kind of silly. It’s a referral to the voters, which wouldn’t go on the ballot until 2022. I think they’re pushing that because it gives them cover for the fact they don’t have the votes to change the law now and rescind the governor’s powers.”

Laurie Roberts: “I don’t think the law that we have contemplated an emergency that would drag on for more than a year. I think when you think of an emergency, you’re thinking a flash flood is coming, something horrible is about to happen and it’s going to happen and have a definite end date. I think the better question is are they prepared to say, in the event of an emergency, they want the 90 members of the legislature to each weigh in on things. These people can’t agree that it’s Friday.”