by Robert Amedee L’Ecuyer

Getting Started in Politics 

 After law school I went to work for Judge Donofrio in the Court of Appeals, and that’s only the beginning of the story. The court was on the third floor of the old Arizona State Capitol building, the one in the center with the dome. As you look out of the buildings, the House of Representative was to the left and the Senate was to the right. 

While I was working there, I made it a point to introduce myself to some of the House Democrats. They were in the minority for the first time in a long time. I offered to do some research and one person who accepted was Tony Carrillo from Tucson. In those days the minority had no staff at all, and they couldn’t accomplish much research officially. I was still working at the Court of Appeals, so this was volunteer at first. 

When I finished my year at the Court, the minority lead in the house offered me a job during the session, usually three or four months. But it started expanding and the role got to be about six months of the year. During this time I was introduced to Sam Goddard, who had been governor. He was recently defeated by Paul Fannin, a Republican, so he opened a Phoenix office of Goddard, Gin and Gianis, his Tucson-based law firm. 

Sam and Judy stayed in Phoenix, they had a lovely home in the foothills. I got to know Sam and started working for him in Phoenix and was getting work at the House at the same time. That made me important to Sam by re-establishing his relationship to members in the House. I was a contact back and forth in those days. 

On Wednesday before the Thursday and Friday votes on bills, the minority would get together in their caucus room on the third floor, which was their only room. My desk was in there so I ended up being a part of their caucus every Wednesday. First they started by asking questions because I had read all the bills. Then I began to offer more ideas and opinions. Eventually they came to rely on me for research. More and more I was involved in the  discussions, participating equally in a way that was unusual for that time. In fact, I was the first staff person to be hired by the minority in the House. 

Once Frank Kelly, the Republican leader of the House, figured out that I was helping the Democrats and making it more difficult to pass their bills, he figured out how to get rid of me. He wasn’t used to the minority having staff. Later on when I was working for Stump, he and I became friends and he included me as an insider. Tony Carillo introduced me to a brand new state Senator from Tucson named Joseph Castillo, and Joe coordinated for me to come over to work in the Senate. Harold Giss was the leader of the State Senate at that time, so I began working with a guy who had dominated Arizona politics for decades. There’s a state highway named after him in Yuma. 

Jack Brown was another influential state Representative from Apache county. Later on, we connected because he was the older brother of Brent Brown who was in charge of government relations at ASU, and was Claudelle’s boss. I knew him because I had worked with his brother in the House years before. 

I met Bob Stump when he was in the House, but then he ran for State Senate and won. He and I became a pair. I was technically assigned to Harold but spent more time with Stump. He became minority leader and later on President of the State Senate when Democrats won control back again. Stump was President of the Senate and there were six other Senators who were Democrats and conservative, and they became committee chairs. So in a way, I ended up as the de facto head of majority staff.  

Eventually, Bob Stump ran for Congress and was elected as a Democrat, though he was among other conservatives from Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. At the time, the Speaker of the US House was a liberal from Massachusetts, and he didn’t appreciate the conservative Democrats much. John Rhodes offered Stump a chance to change parties and maintain his committee assignments. I was working with him so I changed parties as well. 

All of a sudden I am working full-time for a US Congressman in a different party, who represented the Northeastern corner of Maricopa County all the way to the border with Utah and New Mexico. I already knew the Democrats up there and then I got to know the Republicans too. I became the main contact person and anybody who needed help from Stump would come to me first. 

Stump’s staff person in DC was Lisa Jackson and she saw a way for me to be useful in Washington about three months a year, so I got established working with DC people as well. The two US Senators from Arizona were Barry Goldwater and Paul Fannin. Goldwater had run for President and went back to the Senate after that defeat. John Rhodes was the Speaker of the House. Mo Udall was in the House too. I knew him when he was county prosecutor in Tucson before he was elected to Congress. 

I was able to relate to both Republicans and Democrats, and the whole Arizona delegation.  Mo Udall was one of the five most liberal and Stump was one of the five most conservative, but they had to work with each other on Arizona issues. The distinction between parties back then was about how much the government got involved in everyday life and spent on programs. Conservatives wanted the government to stay out as much as possible and the progressives wanted to spend every dime they could get. 

The issues of the day in Arizona had a lot to do with federal land. Conservatives had to ensure that was funded (even though they didn’t like spending federal money). What Arizonans could do on federal land was another issue, Republicans favored opening land to leases with ranchers, and the Democrats were opposed to that. In one year, there might be 1100 bills introduced and about 200 got serious consideration. Each side was trying to get as much for their team as they could. They had to work together, very differently than now. 

About once a month John Rhodes would have dinner at his house and both the Rs and Ds would come. He was at least a minority leader and sometimes in the majority. That became a tradition, everybody got together for dinner at Rhodes’ house. This was staff and Members and we could talk to each other casually as we were eating. So we had social relationships even though we might be politically opposed. 

I had an agenda of my own too that I had built up over the years. I don’t remember the specific issues now but I do remember that I couldn’t do anything in conflict with the members of my caucus. There were other meetings that you could get involved in, too. 

There was an immense amount of help that could be had at the Library of Congress. The staff was available to do research and they had often worked in Congress too. My circle expanded through the Library of Congress and I made key contacts in the Senate and House. That shifting back and forth meant that we got to know each other. 

The staff kept growing as Members realized they could be more influential by expanding their staff. The US Supreme Court and Court Appeals staff was always around too, and that gave a way to be in on court issues too. Then they would go work as lobbyists or with private organizations. It got to be a big deal to be staff on the Hill. 

After working there for quite a few years, I had a long list of DC contacts that I’d gotten to know. I spent a third of my time in Arizona out in the district, about a third in the Phoenix office in the federal building, and a third of the time in DC. It was a big deal to be able to do that. It wasn’t common. When traveling around Arizona, I was mostly listening for priorities, what I should tell my guy to concentrate on and who he needed to work with. Visiting attracted prestige and attention to local candidates’ own elections. We found we could influence state politics in Arizona too.  

The staff in DC was mostly concentrating on legislative matters, getting bills passed or defeated. In Arizona it was about getting votes out or generating public support for issues. I was working on both. I saw what was going on in Washington, in Phoenix, and in the Arizona district. It gave me an opportunity to become influential, not just with Stump but with John Rhodes and Mo Udall and their staff. We didn’t always agree but we knew each other and could ask questions. Even if you were opponents you had to ask questions about their positions. 

I did that for twenty years, maybe. My sense of time may be off. It’s harder to remember the exact time looking back. But you can imagine how that might affect a marriage. It did put an immense strain on family life. It was consuming and that was part of what led to the breakup of my marriage with Barbara. We were in different social situations and that didn’t help either. We grew apart. 

I became more conservative and she became more liberal. At one point she was president of Democratic women and I was moving toward a more Republican base. I am still very fond of Barbara. I know a number of things I could have done, but I didn’t. I let myself drift away. I would do that differently. I owe a debt to Don Nordlund who made her life whole again, and also Claudelle came along and she picked me up too. 

I was involved with the leadership of Arizona for 40 years or so. It was possible to continue that way because I was always behind the scenes. If you were defeated in an election that could put an end to your career, but I could move from one position to another. I didn’t have to win all the time to still be involved in politics. I worked with a number of people that lost but they expanded my context and gave me more opportunity. There was a long period of time I was battling Barry Goldwater, Paul Fannin, and John Rhodes, and then I worked with them. When Bob Dole ran for President, Paul Fannin and I were campaign co-chairs in Arizona, and he was a friend of Uncle Roy too. I wasn’t that close to Barry Goldwater but I worked with him on various projects. 

Some losses are understandable when one party is so dominant. It was that way for Republicans for years until after WWII. Then the Republicans thrived and the Democrats struggled. If you were a staffer, you did your best and the next election you chose somebody else. I worked either formally or behind the scenes for all kinds of people over the years and enjoyed it immensely.

do things I like to do. That’s a luxury.