Arizona’s Brewer softens hard line

PHOENIX – Not long ago, when the tea party was in full boil, Jan Brewer became a heroine to conservatives across the country with her finger-jabbing defiance of President Barack Obama and the signing of Arizona’s tough, show-me-your-papers immigration law.

But lately the state’s Republican governor has confounded many and angered others by moving decidedly leftward, proposing a Medicaid expansion under Obama’s health care overhaul – financed by a new tax – and tempering her tone as Washington debates the combustible issue of immigration reform.

For longtime observers, it is a fitting close to a lengthy political career that has defied easy pigeonholing – if, in fact, the end is near. Contrary to the overwhelming weight of legal opinion and even the counsel of some of her own advisers, Brewer has refused to publicly rule out a run for re-election in 2014, despite Arizona’s voter-passed term-limits law.

(As the next in line, then-Secretary of State Brewer became governor when Democrat Janet Napolitano left office in January 2009 to join Obama’s Cabinet. Brewer won re-election in 2010 and suggests she might be eligible to run again because her first term was less than four years.)

Brewer may be recalibrating as the tea party’s influence wanes and Latinos gain political strength. Or she could have an eye on her legacy as she quietly prepares to leave public life after more than 30 years in office. Either way, her moves have proved Brewer to be a far less predictable politician than the caricature – accidental governor, ditzy ideologue – would have it.

“Where people were kind of chuckling and mumbling about her first year, she walks into a room now and there is genuine regard and applause,” said Jason Rose, a Republican strategist who has never been a part of Brewer’s circle. “That says a lot about her resilience.”

Others are less kind. The conservative world has rung with denunciations since Brewer announced her support for expanding Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor and a frequent target of Republicans. A “spectacular flip-flop,” sniped the Wall Street Journal editorial page. “Opportunistic,” tutted National Review.

Brewer declined to be interviewed. But the governor has repeatedly said her decision, dropped as a bombshell in last month’s State of the State address, was grounded in sound fiscal policy.

“I’ve never been a supporter of the Affordable Care Act,” Brewer said at a Yuma news conference, part of a statewide tour to sell her Medicaid plan to a hostile GOP-run Legislature. In fact, Arizona was one of the states that sued to overturn Obama’s health care law. Having lost in the Supreme Court, she suggested, it was time to move on.

“Our decision is about whether we will take the action that most benefits Arizona families and businesses,” Brewer said. With $1.6 billion in federal funding, the state could provide health insurance for an additional 240,000 residents and continue insuring 50,000 childless adults, according to the governor’s office. Arizona would pay for its share through new fees on hospitals, which stand to gain from the increased number of insured patients.

A Medicare expansion would restore some of the cuts she made – painfully and regretfully, Brewer said – to balance the state budget during the recession.

“I don’t think she’s as far right as people have painted her,” said Earl de Berg, whose Rocky Mountain Poll has surveyed Arizona opinion for more than 40 years. “I think this demonstrates her more moderate conservatism.”

Many believe a desire to appease conservatives led Brewer to sign Senate Bill 1070, the controversial crackdown on illegal immigration that raised fears of racial profiling and led to a Supreme Court case. Advisers deny that and insist she would have won re-election even if she hadn’t signed the immigration bill, most of which was blocked by the justices.

Regardless, there is no doubt she benefited from her decision, which turned Brewer overnight into a political celebrity and national tea party favorite. She solidified her folk status by wagging a finger at the president during a heated Arizona tarmac exchange.

Since then Brewer’s rhetoric has grown more measured, as passions surrounding illegal immigration have cooled somewhat. The border is more secure. The state economy has picked up.

“Even the wacko wing of the party is a little sensitive about fighting battles that’ll put the Democrats back in power in 10 years,” said Mike Hellon, a former state GOP chairman.