Political Insider:
If Gov. Doug Ducey must appoint John McCain’s replacement, what happens next?
Sen. Doug Ducey? ... If Sen. John McCain — or Sen. Jeff Flake, for that matter — were to vacate his U.S. Senate seat, the governor is required to appoint a replacement.
And yes, that could be the governor himself. There is nothing in state law that forbids a sitting governor from claiming the seat for him or herself.
Gov. Doug Ducey’s been mum on the topic. But say there is a vacancy in the next year, a possibility given McCain’s brain-cancer diagnosis. If Ducey were to take the Senate seat, Secretary of State Michele Reagan would become governor, and she would get to appoint her replacement.
It wouldn’t be the first time. When you look at Arizona’s history of secretaries of state becoming governor, we’re about due. Roughly every 10 years, the person elected to man the official filing cabinet for a raft of campaign and business documents ascends to the state’s top spot.
Most recently, it happened in January 2009, when then-Gov. Janet Napolitano left to join the Obama administration and Jan Brewer became governor.
Here are other occasions where the SOS became the Guv, a feat that happens almost with the regularity of the swallows returning to Capistrano:
1997: Jane Hull becomes governor upon the criminal conviction of Fife Symington.
1988: Rose Mofford takes the office after Evan Mecham is impeached and removed from office.
1978: Bruce Babitt (who was attorney general at the time) becomes governor when Wesley Bolin dies. Bolin had moved into the governor’s seat when Raul Castro left to fill an ambassadorial position in the Jimmy Carter administration. Because Bolin wasn’t elected governor, the post went to the next office in the line of succession, which is AG.
» Extra-hard time ... Normally, people lose their jobs when they go to jail. But could jail time save Mesa Councilman Ryan Winkle’s job?
The councilman pleaded guilty to one count of extreme DUI this week and accepted an offer that included more jail time than is typical for the offense. Much more.
Winkle will spend six days in Lower Buckeye Jail and 49 days on home detention. He will be able to leave the house 12 hours a day during home detention. According to DUI attorney Russ Richelsoph, who was not involved with Winkle’s case, on average a person with the same charges would likely see four days in jail and five days of home detention.
“Why in the world would he agree to so much jail time?” Richelsoph said.
His attorney, John Phebus, said Winkle’s plea deal was “a fair compromise and an appropriate resolution,” that brought closure for the city of Mesa and the councilman himself.
Winkle was arrested in May after police officers saw him nearly hit three pedestrians. His blood-alcohol content was 0.22 percent. Eight years earlier, he was arrested for another “super extreme” DUI.
“Councilman Winkle wanted to move forward and wanted to accept responsibility with as little fuss and controversy as possible. Doing so brought closure to himself and the citizens of Mesa and, hopefully, set a good example of the sort of accountability that the councilman expects of himself,” Phebus said in a statement.
Is his acceptance of responsibility enough to keep his council seat? Winkle hopes so.
He’s been on a voluntary suspension since May and the council will decide his permanent fate next month. They could remove him from office.
After he accepted the plea offer, Winkle told The Arizona Republic he hopes his colleagues say, “Hey, this guy’s been put through the wringer. Let’s give him a punishment and move on and get some work done.”
» Moneyball ... The campaign rhetoric is fiery. But in terms of fundraising prowess, the race for City Council in east Phoenix is a lopsided fight, to put it mildly.
Incumbent Councilman Sal DiCiccio has a Titanic-size financial advantage over challenger Kevin Patterson in the city’s Aug. 29 election — to the tune of about $540,000.
DiCiccio has raised more than $567,400 for his re-election campaign, according his latest filing. Patterson raised a paltry $27,700 in the last period.
The candidates were required to file finance reports last weekend, disclosing their any activity through June 30. The report was Patterson’s first since jumping into the race in late April.
DiCiccio’s fundraising is a record for a council member, surpassed only by mayoral candidates. His campaign would not comment on the haul.
Political insiders have long doubted Patterson’s chances of unseating DiCiccio, and the money gap reinforces that perception. Nevertheless, Patterson’s campaign is optimistic.
“A lot of political insiders thought Hillary Clinton was going to be the next president of the United States, too,” quipped Randy Perez, Patterson’s campaign manager.
Perez said Patterson has grass-roots momentum, evidenced by the support of hundreds of volunteers, because residents are fed up with a lack of progress under DiCiccio.
DiCiccio and Patterson are vying for the District 6 council seat. The district encompasses Ahwatukee Foothills, Arcadia, Biltmore and other parts of central and east Phoenix.
» Sugar buzz ... Nineteen of Arizona’s state lawmakers traveled to Denver for a conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council, largely underwritten by corporate interests.
For the first time the National Cannabis Industry Association was among the interests attending the gathering, where politicos and corporations mingle and talk policy.
Following a speech by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, the association, which advocates for the cannabis industry, treated lawmakers and other attendees to ice cream.
Arizona’s GOP delegation may oppose marijuana legalization for recreational use, but they sure ate up what the cannabis association was serving.
“Was there marijuana in that ice cream?” Rep. Don Shooter, a Yuma Republican known for his saucy personality, asked Insider the next morning.
Asked if he got a buzz from the chocolate treat, he said he didn’t think so.
But how would he know, Shooter added. He said he has never tried cannabis.
» Tweet of the week “I greatly appreciate the outpouring of support - unfortunately for my sparring partners in Congress, I’ll be back soon, so stand-by!” — Sen. John McCain, who revealed last week that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer.