Journalists’ Roundtable 06-11-21: Budget Hiatus, Special Session

Time now for the Journalists’ Roundtable and joining us this week to discuss the governor’s call for a special session on the wildfires, along with an update on the budget stand-off, we welcome Howie Fischer of Capitol Media Services and Jim Small of Arizona Mirror.

This week’s journalists’ roundtable covered:

• Special Session on Wildfires
• Budget Hiatus
• Election Audit
• 2022 Election Overview

Special Session on Wildfires

Howie Fischer: “It makes the governor look like he’s doing something…but in the end, you still have June 30th glooming in the horizon there, and I have no idea, and neither do they, how they’re getting there.”

Jim Small: “I think that what they’re looking for is to find a way to direct some resources to the communities that are being ravished by these fires.”

State Budget Hiatus

Jim Small: “They were trying to publicly shame him (Representative Cook) into supporting a budget that he had been very vocal about opposing, and they thought that if they put it up to a vote, that his talk about opposing the budget would melt away and that he wouldn’t actually stand there and be the only Republican to vote against the budget.”

Howie Fischer: “I’m not sure what leadership is thinking. I think they’re at the point now: ‘let’s just keep trying something to make it look like we’re in leadership.'”