STATE CAPITOL: LET THE CHAOS CONTINUE

posted by Michael Chihak

Arizona state senators were prepared to go all night Wednesday and into the morning hours Thursday to get their version of the state budget passed. As it was, they voted on and approved the 13 appropriations bills with nearly an hour to spare on Wednesday night, finishing shortly after 11 o'clock.

Our Arizona Public Media crew headed up early Thursday to set up in a Senate conference room for interviews with two and possibly three legislators. We spoke with Senate Minority Leader David Schapira and House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Kavanagh, both of whom showed up right on time.

Senate Majority Leader Andy Biggs, who doubles as Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, was another story. He was scheduled in at 11:30 a.m., but didn't walk into the Capitol's Senate wing until nearly 1 o'clock. And then he went straight to a hearing room for an Ethics Committee meeting.

We staked out the room, asked Biggs to come visit us after, and he said he might.

When the hearing ended after just 20 minutes, the crew cranked up the lights and cameras, and we ushered Biggs into our little makeshift studio to grab off 10 or 11 minutes of discussion about the Senate's passage of the budget.

As we stretched it, Biggs leaned over to interrupt and said, "This will have to be the last question, because they already rang the bell" for the Senate floor session. We asked, he answered, and away he went.

A bit chaotic, but just the right amount of edginess to keep our whole crew on alert.

Watch the results tonight on Arizona Week, 8:30 p.m. MST on KUAT-TV Channel 6 in Tucson, 10:30 p.m. MST on KAET-TV Channel 8 in Phoenix and online at azweek.com, starting at 8:30 p.m. MST.