Arizona's Brewer Mulls Third Term

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is considering a challenge to the state’s constitution to run for a third term in 2014, according to the 3TV in Phoenix.

 

Brewer has yet to make a final decision but she spoke about the possibility Monday to The Arizona Republic.

 

“I haven’t ruled it out, and I’ve been encouraged by people — legal scholars and other people — that it’s probably something that I ought to pursue,” she told the Republic in a story published Monday.

According to 3TV, the Arizona constitution limits governors to just two terms in office. But a Brewer  attorney told the television station the law doesn't apply in this case because she assumed the office in 2009 from then Gov. Janet Napolitano, who was appointed that year by President Barack Obama as secretary of Homeland Security.

 

Brewer, who was secretary of state at the time, finished out the Napolitano term and was elected to a second term of her own in 2010.

 

"In that situation the person who was duly elected as secretary of state should not be punished for having inherited the office [of governor]," Joe Kanefield, who served as legal counsel for Brewer during her time as secretary of the state and as governor, told the station.