Jan Brewer didn’t support SB1070 until after it passed. Even then, she considered vetoing it. When she realized how popular it was, she signed.
She is not a conservative at heart. She can be pushed in a conservative direction, but don’t expect her to go out on her own and forge a conservative path.
Typical McCain Republican.
Now that one’s tricky. A lot of chief executives think “they are in charge” and are supposed to lead and initiate and even dictate action. But Arizona is more traditional. Its governors, many of whom serve for decades, are executives, who carry out the wishes of the legislature.
Generally they only intervene when they think they have to. Otherwise they keep things quiet.
Heck, even Phoenix and several other cities are “charter” cities, that had corrupt-as-all-hell partisan (Democrat) governments until the 1940s, when reformers swept out most of them, and made all the seats non-partisan. During the war things were so bad that all of Phoenix was off-limits to the military.
So in practical terms, Jan Brewer has three jobs. To *manage* the state, and to “liaison” (fight) with those jerks in the administration (and the 9th Circuit) who keep harassing Arizona. Her third job, which she has done well because so many other states are Republican, is to make reciprocity and other agreements with them.
And in these three things she has done a good job. Quietly, with a minimum of fuss. She did a lot of behind the scenes work to get SB 1070 to the SCOTUS, and is pushing to get Arizona’s Voter ID up there too (where it will probably be joined a a dozen other states).
And just today, on the front page, “Virginia’s Anti-NDAA Bill Set to Become Law; Ariz. Joins the Fight”. (Again, along with 10 other states). By the Arizona way, the state legislature was right on this with a similar bill, which once she signs it as she will likely do, will start another federal brawl.
Then it will be her job to see the lawsuit go up as high as it can before she leaves office.