Arizona Primes for GOP Governor and Different Path

Wednesday, January 21, 2009 6:30 AM

PHOENIX -- Former Gov. Janet Napolitano's appointment to head the Homeland Security Department leaves Arizona's top office in new hands - and the state likely on a very different path.

Napolitano, a Democrat, leaves her state post halfway through her second four-year term. Her elevation means Republican Secretary of State Jan Brewer now seizes the governor's office.

The change comes at a time when the Republican-leaning state faces a budget crisis and will likely mark a major change in how Arizona tackles it.

The swap of Brewer for Napolitano also will put a social conservative _ and abortion foe _ in the governor's office. In addition, Napolitano has set career and legislative records for vetoes by an Arizona governor by killing bills passed by the Legislature on topics ranging from abortion and private school vouchers to border security and eminent domain.

Brewer plans an inauguration in front of the Old Capitol on Wednesday. Workers on Tuesday erected a stage, rows of chairs and several grandstands in the plaza, which is located between the House and Senate buildings where Brewer served as a state legislator in the 1980s and 1990s.

Brewer, a 64-year-old Glendale resident, was elected secretary of state in 2002 and re-elected in 2006. Arizona does not have a lieutenant governor, and Brewer is the fifth secretary of state to become governor through succession.

Napolitano enjoyed strong popularity ratings with Arizona voters but had stormy relations with the Republican-led Legislature, with many GOP lawmakers blaming her for current state fiscal woes.

With tax collections hammered by the recession, the state faces a projected revenue shortfall of nearly $1.6 billion in the $9.9 billion current budget. A shortfall twice that size is projected in the next fiscal year's budget.

Napolitano has resisted Republican proposals for spending cuts deep and wide in programs throughout state government. Instead, she pushed for more borrowing and use of accounting gimmicks that Republican lawmakers regard as unacceptable in the face of several years of anticipated shortfalls.

Brewer has not spelled out any specific positions on budget issues but has said the state has spent beyond its means and needs to tighten its belt.

Brewer, who already was acting governor because Napolitano was absent from the state, responded to her predecessor's resignation Tuesday with a brief letter, thanking Napolitano for her service to the state.

Brewer has announced her selection of former state Senate President Ken Bennett, R-Prescott, as her replacement as secretary of state.

However, because Bennett isn't elected to that post, he is ineligible for the line of succession to fill another gubernatorial vacancy. Instead, Democratic Attorney General Terry Goddard is next in line.

Goddard, who will be barred by term limits from running for re-election to his current office in 2010, is regarded as a potential candidate for governor that year. He ran unsuccessfully for that office in the 1990s.

http://www.newsmax.com/politics/arizona ... 73548.html