Broad-based group agrees changes needed in state government, elections

Arizonan and retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is lending her name and reputation to a broad-based effort to reform state government and elections. O'Connor, a resident of Paradise Valley and the nation's first female Supreme Court justice, is the namesake for the O'Connor House Project. The effort has brought together some of the state's heaviest hitters in business, government, education and public policy, with focus on potential ballot measures that would, among other things, create a Lieutenant Governor's Office and scrap the state's publicly financed Clean Elections system.

Quietly meeting since May, project members gathered again Thursday to whittle down proposals they'll ultimately ask the Legislature to refer to the 2010 ballot.

"This is a group of citizens of the state of Arizona. As citizens, we care about our state," O'Connor said following the closed-­door meeting. "We love this state. We see a need for a few changes."

Local government is heavily represented among the group's members, as are business, agricultural and philanthropic interests. Politically, the group's membership spans the spectrum, from the National Rifle Association to the Sierra Club. The Arizona Republic also is a participant.

[Photo caption: Sandra Day O'Connor is seeking reforms in Arizona's government.]

"She's just a well-respected individual," group member Tim Dunn, a Yuma farmer and vice president