A friend recalls legislative past of woman judge

I always wanted her to run for governor,” Rep. Burton Barr was saying. “She could have done the job.” Barr, R-Phoenix, picked up a cowboy hat and placed it on his head. The hat sat there, straight on, with no tilt. Barr raised his head and stuck his chin out. He grinned.

“And Sandra O’Connor could have won, too,” he said. “She could have been governor. And when she got in office, she would have been tough. She can stand up. She’s got all the courage she needs.”

The Arizona House majority leader goes back a long way with state Appeals Court Judge Sandra O’Connor, who on Tuesday morning became the first woman ever nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I remember when she was majority leader of the state Senate and we worked together to get bills passed,” Barr said. “What fights we had to get some of those bills through.

“I remember one time back in 1974. She had gotten her bill through the Senate. I was still working on getting mine through the House.

“It was like mass murder to get this particular bill through.

“‘Can you do it?’ she kept asking. ‘We can do it,’ I kept saying.

“Finally, she was waiting for me outside the caucus room after I got the agreement that the bill would go through.

“‘How’d we do?’ she asked.

“‘We got it,’ I said, ‘just like I said we would.'”

Barr smiled again.

“Well, there were tears coming down her cheeks she was so happy, and she gave me a big hug.

“‘Hey,’ I said to her, ‘we’re majority leaders. None of this emotion in public.”

Barr’s secretary