Arizona Republican busted for proposing bill that will benefit his personal business: 'I don't benefit that much'

An Arizona state lawmaker, Republican David M. Gowan, has proposed a bill that would benefit him personally, Phoenix-based news station KTVK said Thursday. Gowan, who currently serves in the Arizona State Senate, wants to ease regulations on fireworks sales in the state, and outside of his job in the legislature, "Gowan sells fireworks," they reported.

When the news station asked him if he would personally benefit from the proposed bill, he simply said "I won't benefit a lot from this thing." The television reporter then asked Gowan if he thought maybe his bill waded into corrupt territory, or represented a potential conflict of interest, the Republican replied: "no...if I did [think it represented a conflict of interest] I wouldn't do it," he said.

But a Democrat in the Arizona state Senate saw it differently. She told KTVK "it's always troubling when you find out that there could be a direct financial benefit to a member behind legislation," said Senator Rebecca Rios.

Watch the segment below.