Democrat picked by peers even though she faces re-election fight

Gov. Janet Napolitano has been named chairwoman of the National Governor’s Association. She is the first woman and Arizonan to hold the post in its 98-year history.

Others who have held the post include former President Bill Clinton while he was governor of Arkansas.

Colleagues voted Napolitano to the head of their table even though the Democrat faces a re-election challenge this year, the group announced Monday. She will spend the next year pushing the association’s agenda devoted to economic development and innovation. The bipartisan group is a cross between a lobbying group and a policy think tank.

Napolitano, Vice Chairman Tim Pawlenty, the Republican governor of Minnesota; and six of the seven other members of the association’s executive committee seek re-election.

A Rocky Mountain Poll conducted last month showed Napolitano holding big leads over potential Republican challengers.

“The NGA is not a campaign issue,” said Noah Kroloff, Napolitano’s campaign manager. “But her election as chair of the NGA does show how her colleagues … think she is doing in Arizona.”

Republicans describe the chairmanship as a largely ceremonial position that won’t resonate with state voters.

“The governor should concentrate on her competitive race here in Arizona. Otherwise, she’ll have one of the shortest-lived chairmanships in the NGA’s history,” said state Republican Party spokesman Garrick Taylor.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 8th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Elections, Local. Tags for this post: Arizona, Blake Morlock, Elections-Arizona, Local-Sci/Tech, Local-Sci/Tech-Arizona, page-a04, Sci/Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.