Mark Wanslee Killian

Biographical Information

EDUCATION:  Mesa public schools; Mesa Community College; University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado; B.A. Business Administration, Arizona State University, 1981

From governing.com 1996 Public Officials of the Year:  Charles Mahtesian.  "Defusing the Acrimony: Restoring public confidence in a battered public institution:  Mark W. Killian, Speaker, Arizona House of Representatives."

Voters in nearly every state seem to hold their elected officials in low esteem, but nowhere were they held in less regard than in Arizona during the early 1990s. There, just prior to Mark Killian's 1993 ascension to the position of speaker of the House, one poll found that 71 percent of respondents believed that lawmakers would take a bribe if they thought they could get away with it....

Confronted with a chamber that had neither the respect of the public nor of its own members, Killian set a course to restore institutional credibility....

He set a target of 65 days in which to agree on a budget and 100 days for the entire session.  "By getting the budget done first, all the other legislation was passed on its merit, not on its relationship to the budget," says Killian, who was first elected in 1982.  "By doing so, it got us out of the business of horsetrading on bills."...

"Over time, he was able to defuse the acrimony," says former Senator Alfredo Gutierrez, a Democrat who now works as a political consultant. "Ultimately his legacy will be bringing calm to the waters."

Education

Bachelors: Business, Arizona State University, 1981

Employment

Arizona Legislative Service

Sources

Birth: Arizona Legislative Biography sheet:  Mark Wanslee Killian; Occupation(s):  Arizona Legislative Biography sheet

Education: 1996 Guide to the Legislature (Greenbook)