Republican Doug Ducey
was the 23rd Governor of
Arizona. He was first elected governor in
2014 and served two terms. Ducey was
ineligible to run for re-election in 2022
due to term limits. Ducey succeeded
term-limited Gov. Jan Brewer (R). He won
re-election in 2018. Before his election as
governor, Ducey served a single term as
state treasurer, winning election in 2010. Ducey's
fellow Republican governors elected him
chair of the Republican Governors
Association for 2021 and co-chair in 2022.
Ducey is term-limited and ineligible to seek
a third term as governor. An effort to
recall Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) was
launched on February 11, 2021. Supporters of
the recall had until June 11, 2021, to
collect 594,111 signatures to require a
recall election. No signatures were filed
with the secretary of state's office by the
deadline. Recall supporters criticized Ducey
over violating his oath of office.
"PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey refused to say Thursday if transgender people actually exist, twice dodging direct questions on the subject just a day after he signed legislation limiting transgender rights.
The Republican worked instead to defend his signatures on bills that bar transgender girls and women from playing on girls high school and women's college sports teams and barring gender affirming surgery for anyone under age 18.
When specifically asked if he believed that there “are really transgender people,” the governor paused for several seconds before answering."
[ . . . ]
"Asked again if he believed there are “actual transgender people,” he again answered slowly and carefully.
“I ... am going to respect everyone, and I’m going to respect everyone’s rights. And I’m going to protect female sports. And that’s what the legislation does,” Ducey said.
Ducey's response was “appalling,” according to the Arizona director of the Human Rights Campaign, a national civil rights group that advocates for equality for LGBTQ people. The organization worked to ensure families and transgender young people came to the Capitol to testify against the bills as the Republican-led House and Senate considered them this session."
"Gov. Doug
Ducey and
his wealthy
special
interest
pals were
absolutely
gleeful last
week when
the
voter-approved
education
initiative
known as the
Invest in
Education
Act was
overturned.
Ducey & Co.
worked
overtime to
ensure that
nearly $900
million in
additional
education
dollars will
never reach
our
classrooms
and that our
tragic
underfunding
of special
education
programs,
our
bottom-of-the-barrel
per-pupil
funding, and
our teacher
shortage
crisis
continue.
But it’s
important
for
Arizonans to
understand
that
schoolchildren
and teachers
are not the
only ones
adversely
affected by
this
decision.
Our state
constitution
and the
right of all
Arizona
citizens to
create
policy via
the ballot
has been
greatly
diminished,
as well."
"Gov. Doug
Ducey could
learn
something
from Sen.
Mitt Romney
and Rep. Liz
Cheney, who
spoke out
against an
Arizona
politician
who pals
around with
white
nationalists."
"Doug Ducey spent $500,000 to help elect Wendy Rogers — a lawmaker who’s making common cause with overt racists. He’s apparently just fine with that decision."
Rolling Stone - Feb. 25, 2022
"Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey was questioned Thursday about his efforts to get Wendy Rogers elected to the state senate in 2020, and whether he has any regrets in light of how Rogers has been promoting white nationalist causes.
Arizona Mirror reporter Jeremy Duda asked the Republican governor his thoughts on Rogers during an event where Ducey announced a scholarship program for the state’s foster children.
“Are you still happy with that investment? Do you believe that was a good decision?” Duda asked, referring to the governor’s independent expenditures giving half a million dollars to Rogers’ campaign"...
"Gov. Doug
Ducey won’t
repeat last
year’s
virtual
State of the
State
despite
rising
COVID-19
numbers and
will instead
give his
final
address
in-person at
the Arizona
House of
Representatives."
"More than
350 pages of
emails show
how the
Governor's
Office
worked
behind the
scenes to
make sure
licensing
boards were
set up to
embrace
universal
licensing,
including
dictating
wording on
web sites."
"The
referendum
is simple
enough. It
asks voters
whether they
want to
ratify or
reject the
plan
approved
earlier this
year by the
Republican-controlled
legislature
to scrap the
current
state income
tax system,
with
brackets and
tax rates
based on
earnings,
and replace
it with a 2%
flat tax, a
rate lower
than any
that now
exist. By
definition, the
people
currently
paying the
highest tax
rates — 4.5%
— will get
the biggest
benefit."
"For three
months in
2020,
Arizona
taxpayers
fronted the
bill of
nearly
$10,000 so
Gov. Doug
Ducey could
campaign for
President Trump and
Vice
President
Pence."
"Gov. Doug
Ducey looks
woefully
uninformed
by blocking
a university
vaccine
mandate that
does not
exist. Did
he even read
what ASU's
policy
actually
says?"
"Ducey should
have long
ago
condemned
the lunatic
exercise
that's been
going on at
the state
fairgrounds
and the
Republicans
behind it.
But that
would take
guts."
Things must be going well in Arizona, seeing as you have extra time to author an op-ed column celebrating what you think is an exodus to your state from California.
You criticized the state, writing "the Golden State’s luster wore off some time ago" and listed some of its challenges. "These outcomes don’t happen by accident. They are the result of misguided policies and misplaced priorities. Overregulation. Ever-increasing taxes. Nonstop political correctness."
The op-ed boasts how Arizona gained nearly 130,000 new residents while California lost nearly 70,000.
While I know California's not perfect, Gov. Ducey, I've got my own numbers I'd like to share.
For starters, as a former ice cream chain's CEO, you must agree that the firm with the most customers is also most popular, right? So I want to remind you that California has more than five times the population of Arizona — (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=C3Zr) 39.4 million to your 7.4 million.
Of course, the businessman in you would certainly say that customer retention is key to any organization.
Did you know, governor, when looking at census migration data based on population size, the typical Arizonan was 40% more likely to leave for another state than a Californian? (https://bit.ly/2UFyryT) Your state's 2019 exits (the latest stats available) equaled 2.4 departures per 100,000 people vs. 1.7% in the Golden State. By the way, only three states beat the Golden State at this retention rate.
You also suggest in your op-ed that California is bad for business. Well, many Golden Staters see our laws as good for workers. The truth is the states are "even Steven" when it comes to job creation. Arizona bosses in the (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=C41f) 2010s added one-fifth as many jobs as California employers. That amounted to 500,000 workers in the decade vs. 2.7 million in California. On a percentage basis, the states' hiring was tied at 17%.
Perhaps more telling: Arizona's employers pay three-quarters of the average California paycheck — (https://bit.ly/3vwwGFo) or $56,000 compared with $76,000, respectively.
Yes, Arizona's cost of living is 17% lower than California's, (https://bit.ly/3vPsK2y) based on the federal price parity indexes. But most California workers take a pay cut when relocating to Arizona.
To be fair, governor, I'll agree that California's home prices are double Arizona's. (https://bit.ly/3qX2waG) By Zillow's valuations, it's $618,000 vs. $309,500. But that's not simply a byproduct of state policy you disagree with. When you ran Cold Stone Creamery, did you see the chain' high-end ice cream concoctions as premium-priced, luxury items or the result of poor management?
Also, Arizona deserves congratulations that your job market fared much better than California in the past year. Arizona lost just 114,000 jobs through January, a 4% dip. California lost 1.75 million, off 10%. But there was a pandemic, no? Did you notice?
Arizona's limited COVID-19 mandates translated to (https://bit.ly/3rYsex4) pandemic deaths equaling 227 per 100,000 residents since January 2020, the fifth-worst among all of the states. That's nearly two-thirds higher than California's 140 per 100,000 rate, which ranked 30th in the U.S.
You also seem to forget about Election Day 2020 when Arizona voters acted a lot like Californians. Joe Biden became president with Arizona's support. He was the first Democrat to win your state in a quarter-century.
Mark Kelly's victory also means Arizona has two Democratic U.S. senators for the first time in nearly seven decades. And your voters did not act very "conservative" when they approved a (https://bit.ly/3qUVrHC) massive 77% income tax hike on wealthy Arizonans to fund educational improvements.
Now, I'd never brag about California K-12 schools, which rank 11th worst nationally, according to U.S. News & World Report. But your state was fourth-worst!
You wrote that in Arizona "we still value common sense."
Perhaps all those ex-Californians are teaching your state a thing or two."
"Arizona's
governor
should
embrace
reality, act
like a
leader and
congratulate
Joe Biden on
winning the
election."
Nov. 15,
2020
Arizona
governor
Doug Ducey
making fun
of Joe
Biden’s
stutter to
impress
Trump. Rally
at Prescott
Regional
Airport in
Prescott,
Ariz., on
Oct. 19,
2020.
"According
to Ducey,
the state
has too many
laws
already, and
businesses
need the
freedom to
deny jobs,
housing, and
public
services to
LGBTQ+
people."
"Ducey said
he does not
think it’s
necessary to
provide
people who
are gay the
same legal
protections
that exist
for already
established
protected
classes"
Question 4: Adding “sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” or “gender expression” to the protected classes of race, religion, age, sex, and ancestry in nondiscrimination law.
Candidates' Position: Oppose.
Question 9: Protecting a parent’s right to seek professional counseling for their minor child with same– sex attraction or gender identity issues to help them reach their desired outcome.*
Candidates' Position: Support.
* This is in reference to the dangerous and disproven "Reparative Therapy".
"Doug
Ducey and
his
Republican
legislative
cronies had
$56 million
in federal
money
waiting to
be spent to
help cover
the cost of
child care
and early
childhood
education
for low
income
families.
They refused
to spend
it."
"Gov. Doug
Ducey said
this week
that he has
long been
opposed to
separating
immigrant
children
from their
families,
citing his
criticism of
an Obama-era
policy. One
problem:
Such a
policy never
existed."
Ducey refused to meet with teachers or the AEA but he met with these members of the Patriot Movement AZ (flashing white-power signs) at the Mohave County Republican Party’s Patriot Dinner at the Mohave County Fairgrounds.
Question 9: Arizona’s voter-approved constitutional definition of marriage should be defended to the fullest extent legally possible.
Candidates' Position: Support
Question 11: Adding “sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” or “gender expression” to the protected classes of race, religion, age, sex, and ancestry in antidiscrimination law.
Candidates' Position: Oppose
Question 15: Protecting individuals and businesses from being required to provide services or use their artistic expression in a manner that violates their moral or religious beliefs.*
2010 Survey Questions For Arizona And County Candidates
Position Sought: Treasurer
Question 9: Amending the United States Constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
Candidates' Position: Support
Question 12: Adding “sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” or “gender expression” to the protected classes of race, religion, age, sex, and ancestry in nondiscrimination law.
Candidates' Position: Oppose
Question 15: Protecting professionals from being required to provide services that violate their moral or religious beliefs.*
