Long past midnight, rep. Jeff Groscost heaved himself out of his seat on the floor of the Arizona Legislature. Sporting a silver bolo tie and a preppy madras shirt—emblems of the state's Western past and suburban present— Groscost exhorted his punchy colleagues (the GOP whip was shooting rubber bands at the clerks) to assert state control over parts of the federal Endangered Species Act. "We, not bureaucrats on the other side of the Potomac," he declared, "are better able to judge how to protect our species." With whoops from the Republican majority, Groscost's bill passed. By 6 a.m. last Thursday, when the 1995 session adjourned, something else seemed to be ending, too. In Arizona, and elsewhere around the country, states appear determined to reverse decades of Washington-centered government.
展开▼
