Every now and then, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer raises her lips from the conservative feeding trough and spits something out.
Last year, she halted the passage of a bill that would have required presidential candidates to prove they were eligible for the post before their names would have been placed on the ballot. The bill allowed candidates to display their circumcision certificate, if they had one, to Arizona officials as one of the pieces of evidence that they were qualified to lead the nation. She also zapped a gun bill that would have let folks pack heat on "public pathways" near schools.
She vetoed another gun bill last month, to accolades from liberals, that would have allowed people to visit police stations, city halls and other government buildings while fully armed.
Yesterday she threw another elbow jab at her right-wing peers, vetoing a zany piece of legislation that aimed to seize Arizona's federal lands.
The bill had zero chance of actually acquiring federal lands, but that didn't stop State Senator Al Melvin from sponsoring it. Melvin and other supporters seem to have felt that, at the least, the bill would whip up support from income-tax-evading militia members and other target voters.
Brewer told Reuters news agency that the law did not "identify an enforceable cause of action to force federal lands to be transferred to the state."
In other words, it had less teeth than you'd find at the Mesa Senior Center.
She added: "I am also concerned about the lack of certainty this legislation could create for individuals holding existing leases on federal lands. Given the difficult economic times, I do not believe this is the time to add to that uncertainty."
Xanterra employees can now rest easy.
