November 10, 2006 - 3:15pm

News

Where are they now?

By Wally Edge

Two weeks after the New Jersey Supreme Court declined to legalize gay marriage, a former Assemblyman from Mercer County played a key role in stopping voters from approving a constitutional amendment to ban gay marraige in his new home state of Arizona. Joseph Yuhas, a Democrat who represented the fifteen district from 1994 to 1996, was the political consultant for Arizona Together, the group that led the campaign against the ballot initiative.

After moving west, Yuhas served as President of the Arizona Restaurant and Hospitality Association and worked on campaigns to expand Indian gaming in 2002 and to create the official framework for the Arizona Sports & Tourism Authority, which voters passed in 2000 to build the Arizona Cardinals stadium. After Democrat Janet Napolitano became Governor in 2003, Yuhas became the Deputy Commissioner of the Arizona Department of Commerce. He left earlier this year to head the public affairs division of Riester-Robb, a large west coast public relations firm.

Yuhas won an Assembly seat in 1993, running on a ticket with Shirley Turner; they defeated Republican incumbent John Hartmann, who had won a traditionally Democratic seat in the 1991 GOP landslide. Yuhas didn't run again in 1995 and was succeeded by Reed Gusciora.

Wally Edge can be reached via email at politicsnj@aol.com.

Related topics: Arizona Cardinals, Joseph Yuhas, John Hartmann, Janet Napolitano

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