PHOENIX — You could call it the trendiest fashion accessory at the state Capitol.
Those "Star Trek"-style cell-phone earpieces are all the rage among a number of legislators. Mainly men. Mainly over the age of 50. Mainly Republicans.
Some lawmakers wear the hands-free earpieces 'round-the-clock, even if they're not on the phone — a fashion statement that has some colleagues at the Capitol snickering.
Take Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria. The top-ranking Republican in the Senate wears his Starship Enterprise-worthy device in meetings, on the floor of the chamber and in Republican caucus meetings.
"I forget to take it out," said Burns, who doesn't actually talk on it all day. "If you wear glasses, you forget you got them on. I forget I have this on sometimes."
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No one has suggested that the practice of being perpetually plugged in is necessarily rude. Just, maybe — well, tacky.
"I hate it," says Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix. Sinema is known for her fashion taste, and most legislators — of both parties — consider her the best dressed at the Capitol.
"I know our jobs are important," she said, "but they're not that important."
Sinema, who wears a Bluetooth only when she's talking on the phone, says she has even seen lobbyists testify in front of committees while plugged in — the height of tackiness.
Burns and others call it an efficiency device. And while cell-phone practices might seem like a non-partisan issue, all the regular device-wearing legislators happen to be Republicans.
Eating lunch at an event on the Capitol's lawn one day, Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu, was equipped with his Bluetooth — ready to take a call if the need arose.
Gould said his phone is so lousy he can't hear it without the earpiece.
"I do actually use it," said Gould, who doesn't mind if anyone makes fun of the technology constantly tucked around his ear.
"I don't really care what they think anyway, so why does it really matter?" Gould said.
Rep. Jerry Weiers, R-Glendale, has never been seen by most of his colleagues without his Bluetooth in his ear.
It goes on in the morning. It comes off at night, although Weiers swears he doesn't shower with it.
"It's not waterproof," he said.
Weiers said the device is just a matter of convenience.
"I have a hard enough time chewing gum and walking, so this is one thing I don't have to deal with," he said.
Wearing the earpiece is not a statement — fashion or otherwise, he said when asked if he's trying to look "modern."
"I am not a fashion guy," Weiers said.
And some of the Trekkie look-alikes say despite the criticisms, wearing the earpieces is just a good use of a cool invention.
"What are we to do with technology?" said Bluetooth-sporting Sen. John Nelson, R-Litchfield Park.
"Either use it, abuse it or don't use it."
