Republican state Senate President-elect Andy Biggs announced today who's going to be heading up the Senate's committees, and all we could think about was the strippers.
As you may recall from a few months back, the lobbyists at the Center for Arizona Policy wanted anyone running for a seat in the Legislature to tell the group whether they support banning the "touching or tipping" of strippers.
See also:
-Center for Arizona Policy Now Concerned About People "Touching or Tipping" Strippers
-Republicans Tell Center for Arizona Policy Their Beliefs About Hardcore Porn, Strippers
-Steve Court Proposes Alcohol Ban at Strip Clubs
More than 80 legislative hopefuls answered the surveys from CAP -- which usually are a good indication of the morality cops' agenda for the next legislative session -- and just two then-sitting Republican legislators said they opposed the ban on stripper-touching and tipping.
One of those legislators opposing that ban was Senator-elect Chester Crandell, who's going to be the chairman of the public-safety committee in the Senate -- a committee that deals with a lot of the nanny-state legislation, as you can imagine.
Crandell, in circling the option that he "opposed" this type of ban, also wrote on the form, "How can it be enforced?"
As chairman, Crandell could avoid having the bill ever being discussed in the committee, and can effectively flush it right down the toilet -- along with the embarrassment that would come along with it.
A similar bill, introduced earlier this year by Republican state Representative Steve Court, would have banned alcohol and private rooms from these establishments, regulated the size of stages, and redefined the terms "nude" and "seminude," among other changes.
The bill was held from the start -- never becoming an actual topic of discussion, and if Crandell's opinion on the survey holds true, the same might happen if legislation like this comes to him.
We're looking out for you, "exotic dancers" (and the guys who like to interact with them).
The rest of the committee assignments in the Senate can be found by clicking here.