What do Arizona's "rural" senators do while on hiatus?

While cashing in on $119/day in per diem, some senators don't have anything on their calendars.

As I’ve been reporting, Arizona lawmakers are keeping the meter running on per diem and mileage reimbursement payments while refusing to end the 2023 legislative session –– the longest in state history.

Today (July 26) is Day 199 and lawmakers aren’t going to be back until July 31 and nobody has any real idea when the session will sine die.

Since Governor Katie Hobbs and the Republican-led legislature passed a bipartisan budget, there have been two long hiatuses where no state business was happening. The first break lasted one month. The current break will hit the week eight mark by the time they gavel in next week, but taxpayers are still footing the bill for all 90 lawmakers (at least those who have not opted out of their subsistence payments¹) to receive their daily allowance and those who travel to/from the Capitol for legislative business still get their miles reimbursed.

Arizona Senate mileage reimbursements

Mesa lawmaker claims nearly $30,000 more in per diem and miles than she should

Maricopa County lawmakers receive $10/day (down from $35 after the 120th Day of session) and those in any of the 14 other counties (considered “rural” lawmakers) are earning $119/day (down from $238).

• Miles are reimbursed at a rate of $0.655 per mile.

The Arizona Senate currently has 11 legislators whose permanent residences are out of Maricopa County². (Each senator below is hyperlinked to their calendar between May 16- June 12, the previous hiatus before the current one.)

• Ken Bennett

• Sonny Borrelli

• Brian Fernandez

• Sally Ann Gonzales

• Rosanna Gabaldon

• David Gowan

• Theresa Hatathlie

• Wendy Rogers

• TJ Shope

• Priya Sundareshan

• Justine Wadsack

Collectively during the 74 total days of hiatus, these 11 senators received $96,866 (each received $8,806 at $119/day). This doesn’t cover miles reimbursed.

So how do their calendars match up? Let’s dive in.

• This only covers the first hiatus, which was 27 days long and totals $35,343 for the 11

Senator Ken Bennett, a Republican from Prescott, has 24 days on his calendar with something listed, which seems good in theory until you look a little deeper. Half of those days he stayed in Prescott and some days he only had one thing listed like attending a local Republican meeting or a book signing.

Senator Sonny Borrelli, a Republican from Lake Havasu City and Senate Majority Leader, only had 9 days worth of items on his calendar and most of them were just one thing during the day. Like virtual meetings or Zoom interviews with the communications director.

Senator David Gowan, a Republican from Sierra Vista and the main reason per diem rates increased to what they are now, had almost nothing on his calendar.

A few days were redacted, some had just lunches or dinners³

Likewise, Senator Wendy Rogers of Tempe Flagstaff, had a barren calendar. She only had two days of the 27 with legislative business, but it’s arguable to consider what she did as legislative business.

On May 25 and 26, she had the Novel Coronavirus Southwestern Intergovernmental Committee.

If you’re not familiar with what that was, read about the two-day event featuring “experts” who frequently spread Covid disinformation and other conspiracy theories like the polio vaccine not working, from the Arizona Mirror’s Jerod MacDonald-Evoy.

It wasn’t just Republicans whose calendars didn’t have much on them

Senator Brian Fernandez, a Democrat from Yuma, had nine days worth of “legislative business,” one of which was for a movie night with the Maricopa County Young Democrats, political events for Kris Mayes and Mark Kelly and some days that just say “busy” but nothing else listed.

Freshman Senator Priya Sundareshan, a Democrat from Tucson, had a more filled out calendar than many of her rural colleagues with something on 17 of the 27 days. She participated a lot of the time virtually, but typically had multiple meetings back to back.

Normally this is the time of year lawmakers can do whatever they want during their summer breaks, including campaign fundraising. However, since the session has not gaveled out for the year, taxpayers are paying more than ever in per diem and mileage reimbursement, so some scrutiny is warranted for the so-called decision makers in the state who are for the most part deciding to not opt out of their daily allowances and are deciding to not fill up their calendars with state or legislative business.

I can think of at least one better use of your hard earned dollars:

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Here’s an update to my recent post: Mesa lawmaker claims nearly $30,000 more in per diem and miles than she should

I issued a correction to remove a paragraph describing Jacqueline Parker buying a property in Queen Creek in 2020. A spokesman for the Arizona House tells me it’s a different Jacqueline Parker and not the lawmaker the story is about. Parker still refuses to comment for the story, but asked a spokesman to relay she wants the story to be retracted.

Additionally, the House provided me with more records into her mileage reimbursement and subsistence. She alerted the House of her intention to move back in December 2022, but records originally reported show she still did not truly live in the new address until around May or June. See the new records here.

1. As far as I know, it’s still only John Kavanagh and Sine Kerr, both Senate Republicans. No members of the House have opted out.

2. Rogers likely lives in Maricopa County and her resident is frequently a topic of discussion. Also one of the worst kept secrets in Arizona politics and government is that Shope lives full-time with his wife in the Arcadia neighborhood of Phoenix; not Coolidge, but he has legit stake in the area unlike Rogers who parks a mobile home in Flagstaff and calls it her residence for political purposes.

3. They don’t say where, but I’m assuming probably Durant’s. IYKYK.