Lawmakers Caught Up in Web of Greed and Corruption

In a bitter spectacle that unfolded in the hallowed halls of the Arizona State Legislature, lawmakers clashed over two contentious bills with far-reaching implications for the state’s workers and economy. On February 16, 1931, the Senate committee of the whole voted 11-9 against Senator Frank T. Pomeroy’s intangible tax proposal, which would have slapped a tax ranging from one-quarter of one percent to five percent on all intangible property. The measure was vehemently opposed by many, who saw it as a thinly veiled attempt to fleece the state’s citizens of their hard-earned cash.

Just a day earlier, Representative Rena Jennings’ bill, aimed at making industrial occupational diseases compensatory, suffered a crushing defeat in the House. The vote was a staggering 363 to 39 against, with many lawmakers seemingly more concerned with appeasing their corporate benefactors than protecting the welfare of Arizona’s working class. Jennings herself pointed out that the Democratic Party had explicitly called for inclusion of occupational diseases in the compensatory list during their last fall’s platform, and that Governor Overton Hunt had recommended similar action in his message to the legislature.

The heated debate that ensued was a stark reminder of the deep-seated corruption that had taken hold of Arizona’s politics. Jennings accused her opponents of engaging in a grudge against the state’s commissioners, while Cowperthwaite shot back, suggesting that the real motivation behind the opposition was the presence of ambulance-chasing lawyers who had inserted a plank into the bill for their own gain.

As the dust settles on this contentious chapter in Arizona’s history, one thing is clear: the pursuit of power and profit has once again taken precedence over the welfare of the people. The people of Arizona deserve better, but it remains to be seen if their voices will be heard in the corridors of power.

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