In case you missed it, Richard D’Uriarte of the Arizona Republic put together a piece for Sunday’s paper about Arizona’s political tree that is probably interesting mainly to political junkies. I make a brief appearance in a section about “influential trees identified less with a politician than a shared experience or cause”:
During the mid-1980s, the State Press newspaper at ASU was a font of student activism, conservative ideology and high ambition. From those offices sprouted presidential speechwriter Matt Scully, gubernatorial candidate Len Munsil, conservative thinker and lobbyist Jay Heiler, City Council member Maria Baier, as well as several successful journalists.
Those offices also spawned at least one marriage and large family. Today marked the publication of the first edition of the summer State Press – whose editor, Leigh Munsil, now sits at the same desk and holds the same office as her Mom and Dad in the 1980s.