By Stephen Moore
The Wall Street Journal
Arizona’s longtime crusader against federal spending has to resist pressure to bring home the bacon.
In his razor-tight race for Arizona’s open Senate seat, Republican nominee Jeff Flake—a six-term U.S. congressman—recently met behind closed doors with about a dozen leading businessmen in the state, including two powerful and respected CEOs: real-estate developer Mike Ingram and former Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo.
Both businessmen supported Mr. Flake’s opponent in the Republican primary (Mr. Flake won by 40 points), and both are pushing for federal financing of a road project that would stretch from Phoenix to Las Vegas. In the western part of the state, the 300-mile highway would bisect their 34,000-acre Douglas Ranch, where they have plans to develop a luxury hotel and upscale homes. A person who attended the meeting recalls that the two asked Mr. Flake: “We need to know. Are you going to be an Arizona senator or a U.S. senator?”
I’m told that Mr. Flake responded by saying that with the country facing a $16 trillion debt, dealing with that problem was his priority.
