Alan Greenblatt is a GOVERNING correspondent.
E-mail: mailbox@governing.comTwitter: @governing
If Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is, in fact, appointed to the Obama cabinet, her current job would be filled by Jan Brewer, the secretary of state. Arizona doesn't have a lieutenant governor.
Brewer, 64, is a Republican first elected in 2002, after having served in both chambers of the state legislature and as a Maricopa County supervisor. The GOP currently controls the legislature and so the party would have free rein to shape next year's budget, which looks to be a mess.
AP reports, ungrammatically, "Brewer had already been regarded as a likely Republican candidate for governor in 2010, when term limits would bar both she and Napolitano from running for re-election to their current posts."
An Arizona source tells National Review Online :
We will now have a Republican governor because the Secretary of State is Jan Brewer. Since we control both of the houses of the legislature, a lot of bills that were vetoed by Napolitino will probably pass. Personally I can't imagine the Dems giving up a governor's mansion.
The Democrats have lost their best candidate in Arizona. Napolitano was a canny politician who knew how to outflank the GOP. I think going to Washington and taking up Homeland security will not be a boon to her future political career. Several Republicans were lining up to run for governor in 2010. With Jan Brewer as an incumbent, they may modify their plans.
A quick look on Nexis suggests that Brewer has drawn what have become standard complaints for secretaries of state that she was partisan when it came to vote-counting controversies. But the Arizona Republic endorsed her 2006 reelection bid, saying she had run the department well, updating voting machinery and doing a good job implementing an initiative to require voters to show ID at the polls.
She has what looks to be a not incredibly active MySpace page.
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