Author

Jim Small is a native Arizonan and has covered state government, policy and politics since 2004, with a focus on investigative and in-depth policy reporting, first as a reporter for the Arizona Capitol Times, then as editor of the paper and its prestigious sister publications. He has also served as the editor and executive director of the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.
Arizona Senate hires a ‘Stop the Steal’ advocate to lead 2020 election audit
By: Jeremy Duda and Jim Small - March 31, 2021
The audit team that Senate President Karen Fann selected to examine the 2020 general election in Maricopa County will be led by a company owned by an advocate of the “Stop the Steal” movement who repeatedly alleged on social media that the election was rigged against former President Donald Trump.
Editor’s Thought Bubble: Ducey doesn’t care if we get sick
By: Jim Small - March 29, 2021
Make no mistake: The Ducey administration does not care how many of us get sick. Their entire mitigation strategy isn't built around protecting your well-being, but around making sure enough of us don't get sick that we fill up hospital beds.
Karen Fann owns this farcical crusade to prove Trump isn’t a big loser
By: Jim Small - March 22, 2021
Senate President Karen Fann is too weak or too gullible or too ambitious to have done the right thing and stood up for our elections.
Gosar allies with racists, making it hard to take his ‘white racism’ denunciation seriously
By: Jim Small - March 12, 2021
Congressman Paul Gosar is no stranger to palling around with bigots and racists, making it hard to place much stock in his denunciations of “white racism” after he gave the headline speech at a white nationalist conference and sat through a blatantly racist speech given by the organizer.
A counter-majoritarian party and its radically anti-democratic plan to keep power
By: Jim Small - March 11, 2021
It’s little wonder that the Republican Party is embracing counter-majoritarian policies: They know full well that they will lose their grip on power at the ballot box if they are forced to run on their actual ideas and records, so they’re going to rig the system so they can control the nation’s direction as a […]
Pandemic aid bill means more than $16 billion to Arizona governments, schools, workers
By: Jim Small - March 10, 2021
More than $16.1 billion is headed to Arizona in the pandemic aid package that was passed by Congress Wednesday, including billions of dollars for local governments, schools, health care and businesses.
Arizona teachers have the lowest wages in the nation, report finds
By: Jim Small - February 15, 2021
A new report shows that the nearly 53,000 teachers in Arizona have the lowest wages in the nation on average.
Editor’s Thought Bubble: It’s definitely not what it looks like
By: Jim Small - February 12, 2021
In what is totally not a concession that their subpoena authority doesn’t allow them to demand that counties turn over ballots and election equipment, Republican senators are now pushing a bill to change state law to force counties to turn over ballots and election equipment if lawmakers subpoena it. And don’t dare think that the legislation undercuts the […]
Editor’s Thought Bubble: The cruelty is a feature, not a bug
By: Jim Small - February 11, 2021
The heartfelt pleas of parents who are downright scared for their children’s lives meant nothing to Republican legislators yesterday in the House Government and Elections Committee, as they brushed aside their concerns to make damn sure that government in Arizona will cruelly fail to recognize them for who they are. The bill in question, as Laura […]
Editor’s Thought Bubble: Will the Senate continue to lie to voters?
By: Jim Small - February 8, 2021
Today is the day we’ll find out just how terrified Arizona Senate Republicans are of their voters: Will they vote to hold the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in contempt, subjecting them to arrest and criminal charges, because they are challenging a Senate subpoena in court? If they do, make no mistake that it is […]
Arresting opponents of the Big Lie is now the Republican way
By: Jim Small - February 5, 2021
Make no mistake: Devotion to Donald Trump is still the foundation upon which the Republican Party is built. You don’t need to look any further than the Arizona Senate to see the lengths to which GOP elected officials will go to prove their fealty to both Trump and the Big Lie that the election was stolen from him.
Editor’s Thought Bubble: GOP senators want to arrest people to prove the Big Lie
By: Jim Small - February 4, 2021
Any notion that the Republican Party was no longer beholden to Trump now that he isn’t president and doesn’t wield the bully pulpit afforded by the office (or by Twitter) was laid to rest yesterday by the Arizona Senate. In service of the Big Lie that Trump really won the election but it was stolen from […]