ARIZONA TREASURER DEAN MARTIN, LEFT, AND GOV. JANET NAPOLITANO COULDN’T AGREE TODAY ON WHETHER MARTIN’S OFFICE NEEDS TO START NEGOTIATING WITH BANKS FOR A LINE OF CREDIT IN CASE THE STATE RUNS OUT OF OPERATING CASH BEFORE A NEW BUDGET IS ADOPTED. (Photo by Capitol Media Services)

The most interesting news to come out of a special meeting today of something called the state Loan Commission was that Gov. Janet Napolitano attended and put on a rather fiesty performance. There’s been a lot of spectulation that Napolitano has basically checked out of her state job as she prepares for hearings next week on her nomination to be secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Napolitano has stopped holding weekly media briefings and her last scheduled public appearance here in Arizona was on Dec. 9.

But there she was today, live and in person, fulfilling her duties as chief executive — although she apparently thought the meeting called by state Treasurer Dean Martin was a waste of time. Her actions to prevent Martin from setting a maxium possible interest rate on any borrowing for operating cash, well, that has to raise expectations for the proposed budget her office is expected to release late next week. For Napolitano to be true to her words (”If the Legislature adopts the budget plans that I have proposed … there will be no need for borrowing.”), she’s going to have to come up with a rather compelling approach to fixing a $1.5 billion deficit with more than half of the fiscal year already over.