Arizona House Majority Leader John McComish (R-Ahwatukee) has found a polite way to tell freshman Representative Rae Waters (D-Ahwatukee) that her often loopy legislating could use a little work.
Last week, McComish recommended Waters, who has an almost deer-in-the-headlights charm about her, participate in the Western Legislative Academy, a four-day training program for lawmakers in Western states who are in their first year on the job.
"It is a true honor to be selected for this academy, to have the opportunity to learn from legislators from other states and to hone my lawmaking skills to build stronger bipartisanship in our state Legislature," Waters says. "We need to work together now more than ever."
Waters, who serves on the House Education and Transportation and Infrastructure committees, has introduced groundbreaking legislation over the past year, including HCR 2036, which officially stated that Arizona doesn't like the killing in Iran. Yes; the Arizona Legislature actually spent time debating this.
Among her other achievements, Waters has made attempts to clean up the streets. We're not referring to serious crime here. Literally clean up the streets. HB2138, which Waters co-sponsored, makes it a petty offense for a minor to be in a possession of materials like spray-paint and other materials used to do graffiti.
While Obama has "Change you can believe in," Waters might consider her own catch phrase: "Ray Waters: Change that really won't affect you."
Also attending this year's legislative preschool, House Democratic Whip Chad Campbell and Representative Cecil Ash.
Why now you ask? How about sending our legislators to school before they go to work? Even McDonald's has an exhausting pre-employment training regimen; it doesn't just hand fry responsibility over to just anybody.
