Donna Gratehouse, who blogs at Democratic Diva and elsewhere on all things Arizona, sends us this. "It was the most humiliating experience of my life."
That's how Elizabeth Brown, a former employee in the governor's office in Arizona, described the day a manager told her that her services were no longer needed. "The worst part was getting walked out of the building. They watched me pack up my stuff while I cried." That was 14 months ago and Brown, age 57, has not been able to find another job in Arizona's lagging recovery. But Brown knew when she started her job in constituent services with then-Gov. Janet Napolitano's office that, as a political hire, her employment was purely at the whim of whomever was in office. When Napolitano left Arizona to join the Obama administration in 2009, then-Secretary of State Jan Brewer stepped in. Brown was one of few Democrats who wasn't fired immediately and replaced with Republicans. Read more