Konopnicki to run for Speaker of the House
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With his stock rising rapidly in the Legislature, District 5 Rep. Bill Konopnicki will try for the Speaker of the House position.
Awarded recently by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry as one of two winners of the "Representative of the Year" award, Konopnicki (R-Safford) made the announcement at the Good Morning Breakfast Thursday.
"A lot will depend on the elections," Konopnicki said. "If those were to develop the right way, (I) would have a significant shot at leadership in the House."
Konopnicki expressed gratitude for the support he receives from his home district and said he has been encouraged lately to push for a leadership role.
"One of the reasons I put my name in the hat is I had a lot of people around the state asking me to do it," he said. "We'll just have to see how it goes."
Konopnicki discussed the failures and successes of the state Legislature this term while also emphasizing the importance of the 19 different initiatives that will be on the ballot this fall.
He expressed particular frustration with an immigration bill vetoed by Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano earlier this year.
"What was the saddest about this is that we could have had a very significant immigration bill passed," Konopnicki said, "(but) it was more important for the House leadership to get a veto from the governor. That kind of posturing really hurts the state of Arizona."
Konopnicki said there were several bills pushed through to the governor's desk in vain, because the governor vetoed 43 bills in the recent legislative calendar year.
"Quite honestly - and I'm a solid, strong Republican - were I the Governor, I probably would have vetoed most of them too," Konopnicki said.
He talked as well about other disappointments, such as the failure of the four-year Eastern Arizona College bill, opposed heavily, he said, by the University of Phoenix, which lobbied for its defeat. Konopnicki promised to reintroduce the bill next session.
With mid-term elections due in November, Konopnicki spent a good portion of his talks on issues voters will see on the ballots this fall.
Among the major issues he addressed were two initiatives dealing with smoking bans, an initiative that would change the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.75 and a repeat initiative that has failed twice already asking for a salary hike from $24,00 to $36,000 for state legislators.
"I obviously don't do this because of the money," Konopnicki said. "People don't realize what it costs to live in Phoenix. Moving that salary up could make a difference in the state."
The breakfast, put on by the Graham County Chamber of Commerce, was held at the Graham County General Services building.
