In Arizona if you are a Democrat this past election may have left you feeling gleeful. If you are a Republican this election may make you feel a little glum. As an independent this past election cycle may just make you confused.
Arizona Republicans grew despondent when the BIG RED WAVE crashed on the rocky sholes of reality. People can debate why this happened, but the top three state-wide positions of governor, secretary of state and attorney general appear to have gone to Democrat candidates. As I write this, the attorney general’s race is still too close to call although Democrat Kris Mayes has led most of the way.
Reality
Photo by Heinschlebusch
Thanks to the influx of Californians, early voting, ballot drop-off boxes and ballot harvesting, Arizona politics have turned purple. Yes, supposedly ballot harvesting with a few minor exceptions is illegal in Arizona, but with ballot drop-off boxes as part of the mix, it is very difficult to enforce.
While Democrats had cause for celebration, independents might wonder why even though the big races, including the US Senate race, went for the Blue team the Red team held onto both houses of the legislature. Since Republican leaning legislative districts slightly outnumber Democrat leaning districts Republicans have almost routinely held legislative control. It continues, however, to get closer and closer.
In state-wide contests newcomers, changes in election law and an Arizona media that have grown more left-of-center has aided Democrat candidates. In days of yore the Arizona Republic was considered a conservative newspaper. That started to change over 30 years ago.
OH, DID I BURY THE LEDE?
One bright spot, at least for me, was the passage of Proposition 422 in Cochise County. Voters passed this initiative which will establish an Active Management Area in the Douglas Basin with 54.3 percent of the vote. On the flip side, voters rejected a similar measure, Proposition 420, by a 2-1 margin to establish an AMA in the Willcox area.
The local grassroots group, Arizona Water Defenders, won a great victory by becoming the first group to establish an AMA by citizen initiative. In the Willcox area, however, large corporate interests together with the Arizona Farm Bureau established a well-funded political action committee to defeat the measure. Cochise voters approve one groundwater plan, reject another (azcentral.com)
The Douglas area currently lies within an Irrigation Non-Expansion Area (INA), but the Arizona Water Defenders contended the INA allowed for too many loopholes such as grandfathering existing commercial wells (those pumping more than 35 gallons-per-minute) on properties while allowing the deepening and expansion of wells on that same property. An AMA will stop the proliferation of large commercial wells. Additionally an AMA plan will also usually call for the area to come into “safe yield” so that the amount of water pumped does not exceed the amount of water replenished.
Arguably, the Willcox basin needs an AMA even more than the Douglas basin. Rep. Gail Griffin, who represents the area, has repeatedly blocked legislation to deal with the over-pumping and land subsidence that has resulted from the arrival of large out-of-state mega farms attracted to the lack of groundwater regulation in her district. After years of overpumping Cochise County residents look to regulate usage (abc15.com).
State and local Farm Bureau opponents have spoken out of both sides of their mouths in opposing the implementation of AMAs by characterizing this regulatory tool as the most restrictive type of water regulation in the state. (Ibid) What they do not say, however, is that they also have routinely opposed a less restrictive measure, the Rural Management Area (RMA), at the state legislature for three years-in-a-row!
The Rural Water Assurance (RWA) PAC led the effort against the AMA in the Willcox basin. On its website the group states, “We all agree that water is vital for our community but creating an Active Management Area is not the way.”
The RWA also has concerns that an AMA “will remove local control.” More disingenuous statements you will not find since a) passage of the RMA bill would have given them local control and b) these groups never say what they would support to protect rural groundwater supplies from over-pumping.
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What I find even more amazing is that in testifying against the RMA in committee during the last legislative session, Arizona Farm Bureau lobbyist Chelsea McGuire argued against local control when it came to groundwater regulation.
This election and recent events have shown us that as Arizona grows its politics have become more complex, diverse, sometimes contradictory and harder to decipher. Go figure . . .