Quit the legislative twofer and act like adults

House Republicans just passed a package that couples new voter ID rules with restrictions on congressional stock trading. The Arizona Mirror reports it cleared the U.S. House 232 to 198, with all Republicans and 13 Democrats voting yes. It is also described as part of President Donald Trump’s push for major federal involvement in elections.

The short-term politics are obvious. Wrap a broadly popular curb on congressional stock trading around election rules Republicans prefer, then dare Democrats to vote no. You can call that clever. You cannot call it clean governing. When you bundle two weighty questions, you blur the mandate on both and guarantee the argument becomes process, not policy.

The consequence is trust, or the lack of it. Congress trading stocks while regulating the economy is a trust killer. Unclear election rules are a trust killer. Tie them together and you do not fix trust twice, you risk casting doubts on both results. If the goal is to rebuild credibility, pass each reform on its own merit and own the vote.

Meanwhile, Arizona Republicans have a different trust problem in miniature. The Arizona Globe reports that despite the Associated Press calling the GOP attorney general primary for Senate President Warren Petersen, Rodney Glassman had not conceded as of Wednesday morning, according to a senior Petersen campaign official. Returns showed Petersen building a clear lead that would set up a race against Democratic incumbent Kris Mayes, the Globe noted.

That primary was described by the Globe as one of the nastiest in recent state politics, with relentless personal attacks and heavy spending. The story says Glassman still pulled roughly 200,000 votes, which is precisely why a prompt concession matters. In a close statewide environment where, as the Globe pointed out, Republicans remember a prior attorney general race decided by a razor thin margin, keeping the family feud alive is malpractice. If you want to beat Mayes, accept the count and move forward. Petersen told supporters he will fight crime, defend the laws and the Constitution, and root out fraud, waste and corruption, and has talked up a government efficiency style effort. He will need every Republican voter to test that agenda in November.

Back in Washington, there are two discrete questions on the table. Should members of Congress be barred or tightly limited from trading individual stocks while in office. And should there be new federal voter ID rules. My answers, as a conservative who likes sunlight and simple rules, are yes and make the case. On stock trading, the conflict of interest is obvious to normal people. On voter ID, most Americans think you should prove you are you. Neither requires legislative origami.

What I do not like is nationalizing the entire election space by clever packaging. The Mirror characterizes this as part of Trump’s push for major federal involvement in elections. That might yield a win today, but it also invites states to become spectators, not stewards, of their own systems. Arizona has done plenty of election arguing already. If Washington wants to weigh in, do it the right way, with a clean bill and a clear debate. Force everyone, including Democrats, to take an up or down vote on ideas they claim to support. No excuses, no riders, just accountability.

There is a useful contrast in a very different policy arena. In the Arizona Capitol Times, Phoenix grocer Bob Barno argues for targeted tariffs on beer imported from Mexico to protect American breweries. He writes that foreign imports control nearly a quarter of the U.S. beer market, that more than 80 percent of those imports come from Mexico, and that Mexican brewery workers earn a fraction of what American union brewery workers make. You can agree or disagree with tariffs, but at least that is a single, legible proposal. Voters can read it, weigh it, and decide.

Congress should try that. Put the stock trading curb on the floor, alone. Then put voter ID on the floor, alone. If either one only passes when lashed to the other, that tells you something about sincerity. If both pass clean, the country gets two bites of restored trust instead of another round of choreography and cable paneling.

Arizona Republicans should try the same spirit at home. Finish the count, concede when it is over, and go make the argument to the middle of the state. If you think the current attorney general’s office is, as critics claim in the Globe piece, too political in rhetoric and priorities, then the way to fix that is not more drama, it is more votes. Adults do the hard things in daylight. That goes for Congress on stock trading and voter ID, and it goes for our own party after a bruising primary.

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