Goldwater Institute

For decades, the ASA's traditional role has been to serve as an advocacy group for Arizona's public university students. But in 2012, the student funded 501(c)(4) applied its money and manpower to assist a constituency that even universities are prohibited from helping: A political committee formed to launch a statewide ballot initiative.

Three law firms dominate the legal work that goes into issuing state and local government debt in Arizona, according to a review of bond documents done by the Goldwater Institute. That finding is consistent with what bond lawyers and government officials have said in interviews about the industry.

State and local governments in Arizona owe more than $66.5 billion in outstanding debt and unfunded obligations, according to official estimates in disclosure reports scattered across various agencies. That figure is based largely on annual reports from government agencies and pension funds that run through June 2011. Numbers that have been updated since have only gotten worse.

Unruly, inept and ineffective state workers would face more swift and sure discipline under an overhaul of government personnel rules being pushed by Gov. Jan Brewer.

Natasha Nimer had a simple question: As a trustee in a local labor union representing City of Phoenix employees, did she have a duty to check the books of a taxpayer-funded insurance account it managed? So she asked the executive board of AFSCME Local 2960. The response was an emphatic “no.” She dropped the matter and thought it would end there. She was wrong.