They are carving out new fronts in an old war over the value of railroads themselves.
These senators think railroads are profitable.
Cities that thrive on railroads to drive development and transport citizens to city center jobs believe railroads are essential and the need for expansion urgent.
About a quarter of the passengers come from mostly conservative enclaves in the East Valley, where some of the conservative legislators live.
The pandemic hit light rail riders hard, but it’s back. In a normal pre-pandemic year, the East Valley had approximately 17 million light rail riders annually.
MAGA Republicans, led by Senate President Warren Petersen, are hostile to towns and cities that focus on light rail.
They are the epitome of sullen, unyielding Donald Trump populism. They have also rejected the 2020 election results.
they would rather make enemies and lose friends MAGA Republicans are generally not interested in working well with others. That’s not the Trump way. So it’s not theirs.
Like the transportation plan, they want to push through the opposition, even if that opposition is populated by Republicans and Democrats and a vanguard of political and economic leaders in the Valley with whom they will need to work together in the future. I believe.
That’s how you make enemies and lose friends. In this way we can derive the cumulative count that he would hold three consecutive national elections.
Thus, Arizona’s Republican Party lost two seats in the Senate—Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General—despite having outnumbered its rivals in party registrations.
The far right can thwart this plan, but at a cost Prescott Republican Senator Ken Bennett, who, like most of his party, has bowed to Trump Republicans, gave Petersen some good advice earlier this year, according to Ray Stern of the Arizona Republic.
Bennett was president of the Senate when Democratic Janet Napolitano was governor.
He suggested the key to moving forward under a Democratic governor would be to rally the Republican and Democratic majorities and focus less on people on the “far right and far left.”
Right now, the far right is in control of regional transportation planning. They have the power to stop it.
So they have a choice. They can brutally sabotage the plans of Phoenix’s broader stakeholders, or they can work together constructively and rationally to advance their plans.
If not, the Brand Republican Party will be hit hard again. And another maxim will begin to take hold in the halls of power.
“what goes around comes around.”
Phil Boas is an editorial columnist for the Republic of Arizona.send him an email phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com .