Governor Doug Ducey has named former House Speaker Andy Tobin to the Arizona Corporation Commission.
Tobin has been the governor's utility player of sorts, heading the Departments of Weights and Measures, Insurance and Financial Institutions. Tobin said he also has something going for him that Ducey wanted-- a rural presence on the five-member commission.
"There's no rural people on this commission," Tobin said. "I thought about it and I said, 'You know what? There's a lot of water issues, there's a lot of power issues, a lot of things that, folks, if you don't live there, you just don't get it."
Tobin replaces Susan Bitter Smith who is quitting the commission in the face of allegations by Attorney General Mark Brnovich that her outside jobs created a conflict of interest. He will fill out the balance of her term through the end of 2016.
Tobin, who lost a congressional bid last year to Ann Kirkpatrick, said he's not inclined at this point to seek a full four-year term.
"It just hasn't been on the back of my mind to be a candidate again," he said. "I just haven't gone that road. I know how to lose a race. So I've done that part."
Tobin said it will take him two to four weeks to wrap up his current state jobs before he can start his new gig on the commission.