{"id":1383,"date":"2021-07-06T20:44:28","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T00:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/?p=1383"},"modified":"2021-07-06T20:44:28","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T00:44:28","slug":"a-visit-to-the-arizona-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/2021\/07\/06\/a-visit-to-the-arizona-legislature\/","title":{"rendered":"A Visit to the Arizona Legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"

This summer vacation brought me to Phoenix Arizona. \u00a0Not quite our usual family trip to the beach, but we are attending the Irish Step Dancing National Championships. \u00a0While my daughters practiced, I had a chance to visit the Arizona Legislature<\/a> (kind of).<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the old Capitol Building, which now houses the Arizona Capitol Museum was still closed due to Covid-19 restrictions. \u00a0It is an impressive building with a copper dome (copper mining has been a huge part of Arizona\u2019s history) and the Winged Victory statue on top.<\/p>\n

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Purchased for $150, Winged Victory changes direction with the wind\u2014a feature drunk cowboys would take advantage of for fun. \u00a0After drinking in one of Phoenix\u2019s saloons, the cowboys apparently would try to make Winged Victory spin by shooting it with their revolvers.<\/p>\n

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The House and the Senate are in separate 1960s-era concrete buildings on either side of the old building.<\/p>\n

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I had a chance to see the House chamber with its decorative panels of the Grand Canyon.<\/p>\n

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The House also had a sculpture of its longest serving member, Edwynne Culter \u201cPolly\u201d Rosenbaum (1899-2003).<\/p>\n

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Rep. Rosenbaum (D-Globe) started her legislative career in 1949 when her husband Rep. William \u201cRosey\u201d Rosenbaum passed away and she was appointed to fill the rest of the term. \u00a0She served for the next 45 years until 1994\u2013an incredible record that will never be beaten unless Arizona\u2019s 8 year legislative term limits are repealed.<\/p>\n

The House staff was welcoming\u2014especially Steven at the front desk who was very knowledgeable.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I could not get into the Senate chamber. \u00a0Apparently, Senate President Karen Fann<\/a> (R-Chino Valley) still has not lifted her Covid-related closure of the building<\/a>. \u00a0Perhaps this will happen after her \u201caudit\u201d of the 2020 Presidential election in Maricopa County<\/a> is finished. \u00a0In a funny moment, I asked several staff members in the House Building where the Senate\u2019s audit was taking place. \u00a0One said the ballots were now in Montana; yet another said the ballots were in Florida; one staffer said he thought the audit was finished. \u00a0It\u2019s really hard to believe this process has been called into question!<\/p>\n

The mall in front of the government building had several touching memorials: There is a statute honoring the Navajo Code Talkers who were so key to victory during World War II,<\/p>\n

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the anchor from the USS Arizona,<\/p>\n

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the Bill of Rights carved into large standing stones,<\/p>\n

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and a life-sized statue of a family with one parent handing the other a baby.<\/p>\n

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This statue, titled \u201cEl Pasaje\u201d is a tribute to the workers of Arizona, who have been injured while working. \u00a0This is an especially poignant memorial given the recent political battles over immigration.<\/p>\n

Although it was too bad I could not see everything I wanted to, it was still worth the trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This summer vacation brought me to Phoenix Arizona. \u00a0Not quite our usual family trip to the beach, but we are attending the Irish Step Dancing National Championships. \u00a0While my daughters practiced, I had a chance to visit the Arizona Legislature (kind of). Unfortunately, the old Capitol Building, which now houses the Arizona Capitol Museum was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10087,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10087"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1383"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1388,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383\/revisions\/1388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}