Senator: ‘I had a lapse’ when voting for SB 1062

One of three senators who voted for the controversial Senate Bill 1062 that would let businesses deny services based on religion said he had a “lapse” when he voted for the bill.

“I had a lapse last week and I’m apologizing,” Sen. Bob Worsley told News/Talk 92.3 KTAR’s Mac & Gaydos on Monday. “I’m going on the record and saying we made a mistake.”

Worsley and two other state senators, Adam Driggs and Steve Pierce, called on Gov. Jan Brewer to veto SB 1062 on Monday.

“We made a mistake and we’re manning up to it,” said Worsley.

The three senators all said they didn’t expect the bill to pass, since it compounded on current Arizona law and a similar bill was struck down last year.

“Three to five of us were very uncomfortable with the bill,” Worsley said.

Both Pierce and Worsley said they were more concerned with keeping the caucus together and at peace since the highly-contentious Medicaid vote, but know feel their priorities were wrong.

“It was a bad call,” said Worsley. “We made a mistake letting this one get out. we’re going to do all we can to stop it.”

After seeing the bill, people around the world began to rip on Arizona. Worsley said he’s aware of how it’s being looked at on the global stage and, as someone who ran after the passing of Senate Bill 1070, an immigration law, he wanted to move the Legislature away from ideological voting.

However, when asked, Worsley said some of the hysteria surrounding the bill has to do with the way it was portrayed by the media.

Worsley said he has “no idea” what Gov. Jan Brewer is thinking, but said a lot of people are calling on her to veto the bill. He hopes it’s enough.