PHOENIX — The last time Jan Brewer greeted Barack Obama at the airport, it didn't exactly go so well.
So they're going to try again on Tuesday.
The governor is set to welcome the president to Arizona when he comes here Tuesday to speak on housing at a Phoenix area public school. Gubernatorial press aide Andrew Wilder said his boss offered the greeting as a matter of protocol.
Last time they were on the tarmac at Sky Harbor International Airport became an event of its own.
Brewer handed him a hand written note, asking for a meeting. He responded — so the governor said — by complaining about how he was portrayed in her book, "Scorpions for Breakfast,'' about their earlier meeting at the White House.
The two of them ended up nearly toe-to-toe, with a gubernatorial finger was pointed at the nation's chief executive, captured in a photo that went viral, and the president eventually walking off.
People are also reading…
Gubernatorial press aide Andrew Wilder said he expects this time to be different.
"It is going to be a cordial meet and greeting of the president on the tarmac,'' he said. "We're looking forward to it.''
Unlike last time, when the governor wanted to chat about illegal immigration, Brewer is using her face time with the president for a more localized issue.
"Probably first and foremost is going to be the subject of the emergency declaration for the Yarnell (Hill) Fire,'' Wilder said, a declaration Brewer sought last month.
"We're getting close to 30 days,'' he said. "And we're understandably anxious to have the president's decision on that.''
And Wilder said his boss is not looking for a fight.
"She will be extending her hand in welcoming him to the state of Arizona,'' he said.
