PHOENIX — Senate President Karen Fann, who spearheaded the unprecedented and controversial audit of the 2020 election returns, is getting out of politics.
But just not quite yet.
The Prescott Republican said Monday she has decided not to seek a fourth two-year term in the legislature in 2022 even though she does not have to leave the Senate due to term limits until the end of 2024. She will, however, serve out the balance of her current term which ends in January 2023.
But Fann, who has been at the center of the political whirlwind about her decision to audit the 2020 election returns in Maricopa County, said the controversy surrounding that and the criticism she has taken from some over how that was conducted have nothing to do with ending her political career. Nor is she having any second thoughts.
“In the big picture, if you asked me would I do this audit all over again?” she said. “I would. Absolutely.”
If nothing else, Fann told Capitol Media Services, she has learned a lot about what it takes to do this kind of review. And Fann said she remains confident that, when all is said and done, that the examination will lead to changes in election laws, including new requirements for more extensive hand counts, “especially on a close race.”
“Everybody wants to know that their vote counted,” she said.
“Everybody wants to know that we did our job, we did it right, and everybody followed the rules,” Fann continued. “And after all of the headaches we've gone through, and all of the arrows I’ve taken in my back from the media and everything else, if we can establish a good, safe, secure election process with accountability, and every election people say, ‘I am comfortable,’ then that's terrific.”
But Fann rejected criticism that the audit itself was flawed.
That started with the choice of Cyber Ninjas to conduct the review despite that fact that CEO Doug Logan had previously made statements questioning the fact that Joe Biden had won the election. And most of the cost of the review was paid not by the Senate but by organizations tied to Trump political supporters.
Still, there have been audit-related things that have taken their toll.
Fann, who has been the focus of almost constant coverage over the audit, had some barbs to throw at “the media” for what she said is the failure to provide unbiased information “and let people make up their own mind.”
“You and I both know, the media's changed a lot over the last two years as well,” she said.
“It seems like almost every reporter might as well be working for the opinion side as well, because I can’t really tell the difference between the opinions and the news articles,” Fann continued. “I hope they will realize they're doing a disservice to the public and the industry.”
But Fann also found herself facing two separate lawsuits after she refused to release records related to the audit. Since that time two separate judges have rejected her claims that many of the documents are protected by legislative privilege.
There have been other recent frustrations.
One was trying to operate the Senate in the middle of the COVID outbreak and find ways to conduct hearings and take public input through video meetings.
Then there was the fact she has a bare working majority in the Senate, with just 16 Republican votes in the 30-member chamber. A similar situation exists across the courtyard where the GOP has just 31 of the 60 seats.
“And then there’s the fact that politics is just different,” Fann said, particularly in the last three, four, five years.
“The rhetoric has just gotten so loud, right?” she said. “We’ve somehow got to bring some stability back to the floor of the chambers and debate.”
Fann said that her decision not to run again has nothing to do with the possibility that Republican senators — assuming they maintain control of the Senate after the 2022 election — might not choose her for a third two-year term as their president.
“I told them in the spring I would not run for another term (as president),” she said, even before all the controversy over the audit and other internal battles within the GOP caucus. “Somebody else needs to step up.”
She has been around awhile.
There was a four-year stint on the Prescott city council. She also served on the council in Chino Valley, including three years as mayor.
Fann was elected to the state House in 2010, serving three terms there before moving to the Senate after the 2016 election.
Among what she believes are her biggest accomplishments is this year’s measure boosting the state’s maximum unemployment benefit to $320 a week starting in July 2022, the first adjustment to that cap since 2004.
As part of that same package, people will be able to earn up to $160 a week without forfeiting some of their benefits; the prior limit had been $30 before deductions were made.
Fann said she also is proud of work she did in the state House to craft new rules for how rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft can operate in the state without drivers having to comply with the same regulations that govern traditional taxi companies. Fann said that has become a model for similar legislation enacted in other states.
So why leave now?
She sold her business, Arizona Highway Safety Specialists, earlier this year. And she said while her husband, James McKown, is content to play golf while she finishes the 2022 session, “he wants to play somewhere else.”
Howard Fischer
@azcapmedia |
Mr. Fischer, a longtime award-winning Arizona journalist, is founder and operator of Capitol Media Services.
Twitter: @azcapmedia
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