KJZZ’s Friday NewsCap revisits some of the biggest stories of the week from Arizona and beyond. On this last Friday of 2024, we look back at some of the biggest political stories of the year — from the state capitol to the U.S. Capitol to the campaign trail.
To review, The Show sat down with Chip Scutari of S+C Communications and former state lawmaker Jen Longdon, starting with the legislature, and what broadly stood out about this year’s session.
Conversation highlights
Looking at the Arizona Legislature in 2024
JEN LONGDON: For me, I think it was the rancor, right? There seemed to be little opportunity for compromise overall. And like last year at this point in time, I thought I was going to be serving for this term. I dropped bills. I did have 1/3 read vote. I did not expect to leave the Legislature when I did, but you know it was a great opportunity for me, so, I was pretty caught up in my new job through a good part of the Legislature.
MARK BRODIE: When you talk about rancor, are you referring both to sort of the prevalence and the importance maybe of the ethics committees and also the sort of the policy fights?
LONGDON: Thanks. You know, I thought it was over my PTSD and then you mentioned that. [LAUGHS]
BRODIE: Sorry.
LONGDON: Right, Chip?
CHIP SCUTARI: Yeah. [LAUGHS]
LONGDON: So yeah, I think it was the, for me it was, there seemed to be on both sides of the aisle, a lot of inner-caucus issues as well as a lack of bipartisanship. And sometimes it really felt like a lack of decorum. And decorum is so hugely important to keep things moving along. It's, it's how you're able to disagree without, you know, literally beating each other up. And I found that disturbing and unsettling.
SCUTARI: Yeah, I was going to say, you know, remember the former House Speaker Tip O'Neill had that famous quote, All politics is local. I think that's been turned on its head that almost all politics now is national.
So we have these cultural fights and it's not localized issue, it's national issues, and I say that because of the abortion debate, you know, the 1864 law, I think that stood out to me because it kind of resonated with the regular public, not just political insiders who follow the Capitol day by day.
And I agree with Jen that, you know, just the lack of civility and another example of that is, you know, Gov. Katie Hobbs trying to get her agency directors confirmed, which when I was covering the Capitol, you know, back during the Nixon White House, you know.
BRODIE: It wasn’t that long ago. [LAUGHS]
SCUTARI: But it was pretty long ago. It was almost a done deal if you were qualified and competent, you know, regardless of party, you would get confirmed. And I think that that played out and that was very rancorous debate, you know, went to the court where the governor actually lost the court case. Just you didn't see those things, you know, probably a decade ago, maybe even five years ago, before this crew of lawmakers. And I think that the national contentiousness has spilled over into state capitols, not just in Arizona but across all America.
BRODIE: Well, so you did cover [Gov. Janet] Napolitano the last time that a Democrat was elected governor and maybe you remember something different than I do. I don't remember her having really any trouble getting her agency directors confirmed.
SCUTARI: No, none at all. I mean, there's a few who backed out at the last second. I won't say who, but there was never that they weren't going to be confirmed because they weren't qualified or competent.
And I, you know, Gov. Napolitano was a different type of, of leader, I would say, probably more in your face and not afraid of a fight or confrontation. And the other thing that was radically different back then is we had, you know, this word moderate, it's like a nasty, naughty word now we had using, using air quotes.
We had, there was a lot of moderate Republicans like Deb Gullet, Linda Binder from Lake Havasu, and others that, Sue Gerard, that were totally different. They'd probably be Democrats nowadays, so it was just a different atmosphere and a different environment for politics at the Capitol.
LONGDON: And the procedure. You know, you used to go to the committee of, committee of reference … for confirmation. That's where the hearing was held by the experts in that policy area. And now we have DINO and it is, you know, it's all bread and circuses.
Governor vs. the Legislature
BRODIE: Jen, let me ask you, when you talk about the rancor. You know, the second year of Gov. Hobbs’administration, she had fewer vetoes than in her first year, but as Chip pointed out, there was the lawsuit about her agency directors. She tried to get around some of that. I'm curious what you make of the relationship as it stands right now between Gov. Hobbs and the Republicans who control the Legislature.
LONGDON: Well, I'd like to see it settle down I think in the first year it was all about those opportunities to, you know, create division and, you know, throw red meat at the base, and I think in the second half of the term, folks settled down and got, got to the business of the people to some degree. And, and so that was helpful.
I'm concerned about what it's gonna look like again. We have a whole new host of legislators who didn't get their opportunity to, you know, take a shot at the governor last year. And so I think when you have a big influx of new legislators come in. And we've had a significant shift in the power dynamics in, in, in both bodies. I think those folks are gonna wanna, you know, they're, it's gonna be silly season for the entire first half of the term. They're going to, you know, try to make their own mark and then I think next year they'll settle down to the business of the people.
But in the meantime, you know, we Arizonans have to deal with ridiculous extremist bills and maneuvers and that sort of thing.
SCUTARI: I think if we were sitting here six months ago, a lot of people were predicting that the Democrats would either take the state House or the Senate, and they're, the Republicans did way better than anyone thought, so now they control that, the state House and the state Senate. So if anything, they'll be emboldened to send more bills up to Gov. Hobbs' desk maybe just to get a veto out of it for social media purposes or for clickbait.
But the one issue that they do have to handle or prepare for immediately is Proposition 123, which is the education funding issue from state trust land. I believe they want to get it done by the end of January because the 10-year expiration date is May of 2025.
BRODIE: It has to get reauthorized by the voters.
SCUTARI: Yeah, so it has to go to a special election. So that's something Gov. Hobbs and Republicans and Democrats at the Capitol would have to tackle pretty quickly or else that'll be a real fiscal cliff for schools. So that's one thing that I don't think they can play politics with. They can, but it would be a big hit to our school and our kids.
Hobbs going into 2025
BRODIE: Chip, where do you see Gov. Hobbs right now? Because as you both pointed out, the Legislature is more Republican now than it was, and Gov. Hobbs put a lot of and a lot of money into trying to elect more Democrats to flip one or both chambers given that not only did she not do that, but Republicans actually did better than expected in the election this year. Where does that leave the governor?
SCUTARI: Yeah, this is just my humble opinion, and she's not going to listen to me, but I'll offer it to the KJZZ audience. I think she has to pick three or four key areas, education, water, elections, you know, health care, where she's gonna lead, you know, where she's gonna put forth a bold agenda starting with the State of the State.
And we talked about Governor Napolitano back when I was covering the Capitol, she was a Democratic governor with a Republican House and Senate, and she led with different topics and she'd say, here's my red line in the sand. Here's what we're gonna do. So I think the governor has a golden opportunity to do that, you know, on affordable housing on water, the ag to urban bill, the elections, having common sense solutions that we can speed up the, the counting process but not disenfranchise. So there's a golden opportunity for her, but she has to make her mark right off the bat from the State of the State.
BRODIE: Jen, what do you think about that? I mean, where do you see Gov. Hobbs politically right now given that she's in the middle of her term and she just spent a lot of time, effort, and money to try to win the Legislature and she didn't.
LONGDON: Yeah, I think that was a national issue all the way around. I don't think it's a particular weakness of this governor. And as Chip was talking, I was wondering, you know, I came in in like the largest Democratic freshman class in a couple of decades just six years ago. And were we having these conversations about, you know, Gov. [Doug] Ducey midterm, you know, that has he lost power because we've shown up?
I think Gov. Hobbs has learned a lot and, you know, the first half of this first term, I'm looking forward to her second term. And I think, I think she's ready to play.
SCUTARI: Yeah, and also the, the backdrop to this, as we all know, it's going to be 2025. It's a year before the statewide elections. There's already Republican candidates out there, you know, kind of getting their teams together and getting ready to launch. Everything she does at the Capitol, meaning Gov.Hobbs, will be under a microscope, and this is leading up to the 2026 reelection campaign.
Housing in 2024 and moving forward
BRODIE: So Jen, Chip mentioned a couple of the issues that Gov. Hobbs could potentially lead on, and many of them were issues that the Legislature dealt with this year as well in terms of housing and water and education. Was there one or or maybe even two issues that really stood out to you this year as ones that kind of in your mind dominated discussion at the Capitol?
LONGDON: Well, I think,, dealing with the territorial ban on abortion certainly took up a lot of oxygen in, in the Legislature this term, and that was important. But substantively I think housing was probably one of the big issues, you know, I think that they really took a good swing at, at some things. No one got exactly what they want.
You know, they passed a couple of bills that will,, work to increase inventory, require cities of a certain size to amend their building codes so that you can put ADUs, accessory dwelling units, casitas, mother-in-law apartments, whatever you wanna call them. Or build like even as much as a fourplex in some places. The thing that they didn't do was required that that be affordable housing so there are places where we may see more luxury housing, you know, luxury apartments, and I say that in air quotes, built. But again, adding to the inventory is ultimately going to lower the cost of apartments, housing in the state.
SCUTARI: And I, I think this is going to be a really good year, a much better year for affordable housing in 2025. The reason I say that if you look at some of the recent stories that are projecting Phoenix as a housing hotbed again, you know, there's, you know, more available inventory. Our vacancy rate was really, really low. It was like 2.4%. That's that, that's like historically low. That will bump up.
I think there'll just be more opportunities for cities and towns to partner with the governor on affordable housing, and I just think the, the housing pipeline will improve dramatically. And I think once again the governor can lead on that by just putting a framework out there, putting a vision out there we want, you know, people like, you know, first responders, nurses, teachers all to be able to afford or either rent or own, you know, a place.
