Gov ducey, doug

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</div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> an 7 23</div><div>as former President Donald Trump continues to face multiple investigations, U.S. Department of Justice special counsel Jack SmithSmith <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/07/05/jack-smith-jan-6-arizona-trump" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">has subpoenaed</a> Arizona's secretary of state's office, Axios reports.This comes after The Washington Post exclusively <a href="https://www.alternet.org/pence-rejects-trump-pressured-arizona/" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">reported Saturday, July 1</a>, that Trump tried "to pressure Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) to overturn the state's presidential election results" over a phone call in 2020.<div id="story_page_incontent_p2_target" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-5155643920455169" data-ad-slot="6339868799" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration-line: none; text-align: center; margin-bottom: 20px; display: block;" /></div>Furthermore, the Post noted Ducey's spokesperson, Daniel Scarpinato, "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/07/01/trump-2020-election-arizona-governor-doug-ducey/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">confirmed the fact</a> Ducey actively resisted Trump's attempt, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/07/01/trump-2020-election-arizona-governor-doug-ducey/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">saying,</a> 'This is neither new nor is it news to anyone following this issue the last two years. Governor Ducey defended the results of Arizona's 2020 election, he certified the election, and he made it clear that the certification provided a trigger for credible complaints backed by evidence to be brought forward. None were ever brought forward. The Governor stands by his action to certify the election [hail to chief ringtone]  and considers the issue to be in the rear view mirror.'"READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/pence-rejects-trump-pressured-arizona/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">'I don’t remember': Pence rejects claim Trump urged Arizona governor to overturn election</a><a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/07/05/jack-smith-jan-6-arizona-trump" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Per Axios' report</a>, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes' spokesperson, Paul Smith-Leonard, "said the office had received two subpoenas from Smith in recent months — one during the current administration and one in the previous, when Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) held the office.According to Smith-Leonard, the office has complied with the special counsel.READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/trump-secret-donation-arizona-election/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Trump made 'secret' $1M donation to failed Arizona election 'grift disguised as an audit': report</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div></div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div>container wall stunt $$$ to undo
<div><div>=</div><div>also texas az reverse freedom rides; own libs just helping sanct states smirk, cheer</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/09/us-attorney-doj-ron-desantis/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/09/us-attorney-doj-ron-desantis/</a></div><div>
</div><div>=</div></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/doug-ducey-rescue-plan-funds/">https://www.alternet.org/doug-ducey-rescue-plan-funds/</a></div><div>
</div><div>~ hobbs</div><div>
</div><div><div>=</div><div>an 11 22</div><div>In Arizona’s 2022 midterms, statewide races did not go well for far-right MAGA election denialists, Donald Trump loyalists and promoters of the Big Lie. <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/11/20/how-kari-lake-lost-arizona" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake</a> lost to her Democratic rival Katie Hobbs; Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly was reelected, defeating Republican challenger Blake Masters. Arizona State Rep. Mark Finchem, an ally of QAnon and the Oath Keepers, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/11/1134934448/arizona-secretary-of-state-election-results-finchem-fontes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">lost to Democrat Adrian Fontes</a> in a race for Arizona secretary of state. Lake, Masters and Finchem were all endorsed by Trump.Critics of Lake and other election denialists warned that if she lost the election, she would be a sore loser and refuse to admit that she lost. And sure enough, Lake has — just as her critics predicted — <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/defeated-arizona-gop-gubernatorial-candidate-kari-lake-refuses-to-concede/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">refused to concede to Hobbs</a>, making baseless election fraud claims and vowing to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/defeated-arizona-gop-gubernatorial-candidate-kari-lake-refuses-to-concede/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">fight the election results in court</a>. Meanwhile, fellow MAGA conspiracy theorist Liz Harris, who was elected to a seat in the Arizona House of Representatives on November 8, has vowed that she <a href="https://www.12news.com/article/news/politics/elections/decision/arizona-republican-liz-harris-says-she-wont-cast-vote-in-house-until-2022-election-is-redone/75-3d4616ed-3dfd-4df1-b7ce-4de7897d408a" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">won’t vote on any bills</a> unless officials agree to “hold a new election immediately.”This Friday, November 25, a group of far-right MAGA election denialists and conspiracy theorists, including Harris, are expected to hold a demonstration at the Arizona Capitol Building in Phoenix to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/election-deniers-demand-revote-outside-arizona-capitol-building-1761932?utm_source=push_notification&utm_source=pushnami&utm_medium=Push_Notifications&utm_campaign=fullauto&utm=1669286053355" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">demand a revote</a> for all of the midterm elections held in Arizona on November 8, according to Newsweek.READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/loses-blake-masters-2658730952/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Arizona Republican won’t do her job unless there’s a redo of 2022 election she won: report</a>Newsweek’s Zoe Strozewski reports, “An announcement was posted on AZRevote.com calling on attendees to meet at the Arizona Capitol on Friday morning so they can let their voices ‘be heard peacefully, prayerfully.’ The announcement also instructs Arizonians to bring signs and banners for an adjacent #AZRevote Overpass Campaign on Friday and Saturday, and provided overpass location suggestions in Maricopa County and the Tucson area.In a <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/kari-lake-doubles-down-allegations-botched-election-arizona-1761255" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">video posted on Twitter</a> on Monday, November 21, Lake claimed that Arizona residents who voted for her were “disenfranchised” and claimed, with no evidence, that the "2022 general election in Arizona was botched and broken beyond repair.”But not all conservatives are joining Lake and Harris in their bogus election fraud claims. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and GOP activist Meghan McCain (the daughter of the late Republican Sen. John McCain and his widow Cindy McCain) are among Lake’s most scathing critics on the right and have been <a href="https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/1592334805550927872" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">celebrating her defeat</a>.Outgoing Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a conservative Republican, is making it abundantly clear that he believes Hobbs defeated Lake fair and square. In an <a href="https://azgovernor.gov/governor/news/2022/11/governor-ducey-meets-governor-elect-katie-hobbs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">official statement released on November 23</a>, Ducey said, “Today, I congratulated Governor-elect Katie Hobbs on her victory in a hard-fought race and offered my full cooperation as she prepares to assume the leadership of the State of Arizona. My administration will work to make this transition as smooth and seamless as possible. Our duty is to ensure that Arizona’s 24th Governor and her team can hit the ground running and continue our state’s incredible momentum…. The people of Arizona have spoken, their votes have been counted, and we respect their decision.”READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/people-of-arizona-have-spoken/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">'The people of Arizona have spoken': Outgoing GOP Governor Doug Ducey congratulates Katie Hobbs</a><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/people-of-arizona-have-spoken/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"></a>Conservative Washington Post opinion columnist <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/kari-lake-2658772831/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Henry Olsen</a>, in a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/22/arizona-midterm-election-denial-fraud-myth/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">November 22 column</a>, slammed the false claims of Lake, Harris and other election denialists as ludicrous and stressed that they are hurting the Republican Party and the conservative cause in their state. Olsen has been highly critical of the Biden Administration at times, but he has also been quick to call out the Big Lie as “fiction” and stress that Biden legitimately won the United States’ 2020 presidential election.Arizona is a swing state that has seen its political landscape change considerably in recent years. Once a deep red state, Arizona was closely identified with the conservative politics of Sen. Barry Goldwater and his successor, John McCain, who had no problem being called a “Goldwater conservative” or “Goldwater Republican.”But in 2023, Arizona will have a Democratic governor (Hobbs), a Democratic secretary of state (Fontes) and two centrist Democratic U.S. senators: Kelly and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Kelly will remain in the Senate seat once occupied by Goldwater and later, John McCain. Arizona, in the past, went Republican in one presidential race after another; in 2020, President Joe Biden legitimately defeated Donald Trump in Arizona.READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/kari-lake-2658651303/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">'McCain Republicans vote too': Liz Cheney and Meghan McCain are savoring Kari Lake’s defeat</a></div><div>
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</div><div>one hr gov ducey</div><div>
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</div><div>AN 122NO LNX
Inside the secret 'endorsement operation' to get Trump's 'stamp of approval'
 Meaghan Ellis January 15, 2022   Republican candidates, current lawmakers, and those seeking re-election have all adopted one disturbing common theme to get themselves across the campaign threshold: support former President Donald Trump and echo all of his claims of voter fraud in exchange for his endorsement which comes with overwhelming exposure and support from his relatively large base.With the 2022 midterm elections fast approaching, NBC News' Jonathan Allen and Marc Caputo are now shedding light on Trump's "endorsement operation" and how it continues to give him the ability to exert power over the entire political party.
Republican candidates and lawmakers have certain requirements that must be followed in order for them to acquire the former president's endorsement but the work doesn't stop there."The most common theme of Trump's endorsements, particularly at the state level, is that he is backing candidates who have voiced support for his lie that the 2020 election was rigged against him," Allen and Caputo wrote. "Fifty-nine of the 91 have questioned the 2020 election results, according to an NBC News review, including those who voted against certifying President Joe Biden's victory in Congress."
On the other side of the spectrum, there is also a system in place for those who choose to challenge the former president's position. For those candidates and lawmakers, whom Trump refers to as "RINOs: Republicans in Name Only," there are countermeasures in place.
"He has also become enamored of the anti-endorsement, ripping into Republican incumbents who challenge him or his lie about the election," they wrote.Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) are current targets for the former president due to their decision to speak freely in a manner that goes against Trump's wishes."Rumors are that Doug Ducey, the weak RINO Governor from Arizona, is being pushed by Old Crow Mitch McConnell to run for the U.S. Senate," he said in a Friday statement, ahead of his weekend rally in that state. "He will never have my endorsement or the support of MAGA Nation!""I will never endorse this jerk again," Trump said last Sunday after Rounds admitted that the 2020 presidential election was legitimate.
The writers also highlighted another common trend as they noted that "Trump is looking to find races where his endorsement can be tied directly to a hopeful's fate.""He has stayed away from several competitive GOP Senate primaries where multiple candidates are running as acolytes, including in Missouri, Arizona, and Ohio," Allen and Caputo explained. "In Pennsylvania, Trump endorsed Sean Parnell — only to see Parnell suspend his campaign amid domestic abuse allegations. That served as a warning that he needed a better vetting process."</div><div>=
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</div><div>prutt</div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background-image: none;">=<div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://weather.com/en-CA/canada/science/news/2017-12-20-epa-scott-pruitt-lean-superfund-sites" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://weather.com/en-CA/canada/science/news/2017-12-20-epa-scott-pruitt-lean-superfund-sites</a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background-image: none;"><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="stylecollectionNameWrapper1SU42" classname="stylecollectionNameWrapper1SU42" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h1 class="stylearticleTitle3O08d" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; line-height: 30px; padding-top: 15px;">Superfund Cleanup Process Raises Questions</h1><div class="styleheader2o89A" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 20px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-weight: 400; display: inline-block;">By Marcus Stern  </h4><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-weight: 400; display: inline-block;">December 20, 2017  </h4><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-weight: 400; display: inline-block;">TWC Canada</h4></div></div><article class="styleswrapperaIsxE" aria-label="Superfund Cleanup Process Raises Questions " classname="styleswrapperaIsxE" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 70px;">The Environmental Protection Agency is hoping a business management system can help accelerate cleanup at toxic waste sites across America, but some agency insiders are worried it might also help polluting companies avoid a full cleanup.Last summer, EPA Administrator <a href="https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/epas-administrator" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(60, 142, 210);">Scott Pruitt</a> hired government efficiency expert <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-darwin-34aa7766/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(60, 142, 210);">Henry Darwin</a> to instill across the agency a management philosophy called “lean,” pioneered by Toyota to minimize waste on the factory floor. <div style="box-sizing: border-box;">Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey <a href="https://ams.az.gov/about" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(60, 142, 210);">credits Darwin’s “lean”</a> with transforming his state government by getting it to think of itself as a company focused on its customer.<div class="stylesparagraphAd2La8d" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px -70px;"><div class="LazyLoad is-visible" classname="LazyLoad is-visible" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div classname="wx-adWrapper " class="wx-adWrapper " style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: center; overflow: hidden;">A <a href="https://ams.az.gov/knowing-your-customer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(60, 142, 210);">training video</a> for Arizona government workers makes clear just who that customer is, and it could raise some eyebrows.“Let’s say, for example, your job is to write environmental permits,” explains the video’s narrator. “So your widget is a written permit. Who’s your customer? If you think it’s the general public because they benefit from clean air or water you’d be wrong. Who actually needs and uses the permit? It’s the industrial facility that can’t legally operate its business until the permit has been approved.”Taxpayers might expect agencies such as the EPA to unreservedly safeguard the environment and public health. <a href="https://sustainability.asu.edu/person/nicole-darnall/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(60, 142, 210);">Nicole Darnall</a>, a professor at Arizona State University’s School of Public Affairs, believes the general public is shortchanged when state or federal agencies view themselves as businesses and the industries they regulate as their customers.“Government’s mission is bigger than delivering a product at the lowest possible price,” she said. “Investors benefit when more products are sold. However, taxpayers do not always benefit when more environmental permits are issued. Some may, but others may not, especially those with autoimmune or respiratory sensitivities.” The shift in emphasis toward industry concerns has already surfaced at an open-pit sulphur mine in California called <a href="https://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/sfund/r9sfdocw.nsf/ViewByEPAID/CAD980673685#descr" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(60, 142, 210);">Leviathan</a>. The EPA’s remediation project manager there left the agency last summer after she was told that “lean” principles were going to be instilled at the site, requiring her to curb her demands for more access to data about the extent of the pollution, she said.“I just felt sick to my stomach,” said the former remediation scientist, Lynda Deschambault, who eventually became one of hundreds of EPA employees accepting early retirement packages this year....</div></div></div></div></article></div></div><div>=
<div><a href="https://www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-tea-party-arizona-republicans.html">https://www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-tea-party-arizona-republicans.html</a></div><div>
</div><div>...</div><div>Arizona has been dominated by Republicans, with few exceptions, for more than half a century. For years, it’s been home to a string of polarizing politicians, especially on immigration. Gov. Jan Brewer, who drew national attention when she wagged her finger in Obama’s face on an airport tarmac, became a fixture on cable shows, warning about the perils of illegal immigration. She was term-limited out in 2014. State Sen. Russell Pearce, SB 1070’s primary sponsor, was recalled from office a year after its passage amid ethics complaints. Most sensationally, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose hard line on immigration made him a national figure and a Trump ally, lost his bid for a seventh term last November.Arpaio’s defeat was ascribed by many Republicans to an ongoing FBI investigation, but its symbolic importance was not lost on anyone in Arizona politics. Neither is the fact that voters, on the same ballot, approved a statewide increase in the minimum wage. Or that Trump, while he carried Arizona with a plurality, won by a margin of less than 4 percentage points. In 2012, Republican Mitt Romney carried Arizona by 9 points.Currently, both chambers of the Arizona Legislature and all the statewide offices are held by Republicans. But the state may not be as red as it looks from the outside. Arizona Republicans believe there’s a chance they could lose power in 2018 or 2020, at least in the state Senate, and their fear of the state slowly turning purple helps explain their move back toward the middle and their avoidance of social issues. “Right now, it’s the business party,” says Doug Berman, a senior research fellow at the Morrison Institute for Public Policy. “Republicans still have a decided advantage, but there’s a center of gravity that’s moved quite a bit away from Trumpism in Arizona politics.”Democrats have been touting the idea for many years now that the rising share of Latinos in Arizona (currently above 30 percent) will inevitably turn the state blue. It hasn’t happened yet. Social conservatives are convinced that many Hispanics are with them on the issues, even if they’re put off by the GOP’s immigration politics. Still, many other newcomers -- notably transplants from California -- are more liberal on social issues than Arizona natives. That may be one reason why Ducey, who was hailed as a “conservative reformer” on the cover of National Review last year, is happy to have the legislature concentrating on fiscal matters.Ducey loves to brag about the state’s ability to attract and grow businesses and welcome a large and steady influx of newcomers from elsewhere. Like other Arizona politicians, he’s learned from experience that having cable news trucks parked at the Capitol complex, covering the latest controversy, can make the state look bad. He wants to keep Arizona “one of the most welcoming states in the country.” Toward that end, Ducey has made “the reputation of the state” one of his top three priorities, along with K-12 education and economic growth. “They’re not issues that cherry pick or inflame,” says Ducey. “They’re issues that unite people into broad majorities.”The state’s softened approach on social issues shouldn’t fool anyone into thinking Arizona’s going to become a bastion of moderation anytime soon. This is, after all, the state that just last year declared ideological war on its cities, passing a blanket preemption law that puts state aid to localities at risk if a city or county has any laws on its books that don’t align with what the attorney general decides is state policy. Even before that law was enacted, the legislature had preempted local governments on everything from plastic bag bans to gun control. It passed a bill in 2015 taking away local authority to regulate Uber and similar shared economy companies. “Enforcing preemption bills, especially weapons compliance, was very difficult to get through the courts,” says state Sen. John Kavanagh, who is sponsoring a bill this year to block municipalities from issuing their own identification cards. “So, we hit them in their pockets.”Arizona has been on the cutting edge of the school choice movement, with a robust scholarship tax credit program and the nation’s first education savings accounts. Since the recession, Arizona has made the deepest cuts to higher education, on a percentage basis, of any state in the country. Last year, Ducey signed a bill largely taking the state out of the business of regulating anonymous campaign contributions from nonprofit groups. “We’re concerned that will become the model of how to enshrine dark money, in terms of lack of disclosure,” says Catie Kelley, an attorney at the Campaign Legal Center in Washington....</div><div>=
<div>threatens to pull $</div><div>Arizona Governor Doug Ducey started early by injecting his absurdly excessive reactions, saying, “Words cannot express my disappointment at this terrible decision. I am embarrassed for Nike.” And Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), chimed in as well,  saying the “decision to cancel Betsy Ross shoe is ridiculous.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) made a comment that I still haven’t entirely deciphered yet:</div><div>
<div>goldwater koch vouchers</div><div><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/10/31/how-teachers-might-end-beating-back-koch-brothers-plan-privatize-arizona-schools">https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/10/31/how-teachers-might-end-beating-back-koch-brothers-plan-privatize-arizona-schools</a>The moment Beth Lewis realized the powerful political forces she was up against was when she was seated in the gallery of the Arizona House watching Republican legislators, one-by-one, fall into line to support a new bill she and her fellow teachers had come to the capitol to oppose. Republican Governor Doug Ducey and others “working the bill” on the floor took any wavering members into a back room for a “conversation,” while lobbyists in the wings nodded and hand-signaled with lawmakers to track the bill’s progress. When the bill’s handlers agreed a vote was in order, it passed easily. Then, “it was like a party,” Lewis recalls, with lawmakers high-fiving each other and lobbyists shaking hands and backslapping. “It was sickening,” she says. “I realized our state legislators weren’t at all interested in representing the people.”The bill, which the State Senate also passed and the governor quickly signed, opened up education savings accounts, called Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, to all of the state’s 1.1 million students. The new accounts, previously restricted to students with special needs and students attending schools receiving a grade of D or F on the state’s school report card, would provide $4,400 a year, 90 percent of the amount of money the state would typically send a district for enrolling a student, for a family to spend as they wish on their children’s education. Students with disabilities and poor students would receive more money than other students.For parents to receive the money, on a debit card, they must agree not to enroll their children in a public school—essentially giving up their children’s right to a free public education. Other than that, the program has few regulations and there’s little oversight in how public money is being spent. For that reason, Lewis, an Arizona public school teacher, and others who oppose the bill, call the savings accounts “vouchers” that drain funding from public education.The lobbyists working the House floor that night were from the Goldwater Institute, a right-wing advocacy group based in Arizona with <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Goldwater_Institute" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">extensive connections</a> to the Koch brothers and a number of organizations and networks with close Koch ties including ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council), the State Policy Network, and the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. For years, Charles and David Koch and their associated foundations have <a href="https://littlesis.org/maps/1397-koch-s-arizona?The_Massive_Koch_Network" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">invested heavily</a> in electing Arizona lawmakers, including Governor Ducey, and expanding the education savings accounts was one of their crowning achievements.Passing the bill was also a moment of triumph for the education agenda of the Trump administration. Shortly after news of the passage of the voucher expansion broke, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos <a href="https://twitter.com/betsydevosed/status/850176497222594560?lang=en" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">tweeted</a>, “A big win for students & parents in Arizona tonight with the passage of ed savings accts. I applaud Gov. @DougDucey for putting kids first.”But in the upcoming Arizona midterm elections, that achievement is at risk, as Lewis and her colleagues with Save Our School Arizona have successfully pushed a referendum onto the ballot, Proposition 305, that lets Arizona voters decide the fate of the bill. Should the initiative fail, the Koch brothers’ plan to expand vouchers would be defeated.Arizona Democrats running for office, including Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Garcia, who is taking on Ducey, have embraced opposition to the voucher program and thrown their support behind teachers who are calling for more funding of public schools.Should pro-education candidates win, and Prop 305 go down in flames, the teachers would have led a remarkable campaign that not only would be a victory for public schools but also would threaten to topple the Koch brothers’ political empire in the Grand Canyon State.Before There Was #RedforEd“The teachers’ protest movement, which calls itself #RedforEd, has transformed the political battleground” in Arizona, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/us/arizona-teacher-protests-midterm-elections.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">says an article in the New York Times</a>.The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/us/arizona-teacher-walkout.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">weeklong walkouts</a> that happened earlier this year demanded higher teacher pay and more funding for schools. #RedforEd not only won concessions from Ducey and the state legislature; it culminated in placing a referendum on the ballot, called InvestInEd, that would have raised income taxes on individuals and households earning more than $250,000 and directed the increased revenues to public schools. However, the State Supreme Court <a href="https://www.educationdive.com/news/arizona-court-strikes-invest-in-ed-initiative-from-november-ballot/531393/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">struck the initiative</a> from the ballot, for technical questions about its wording.But months before there was #RedforEd, there was the fight against school vouchers.After Lewis and her colleagues watched the statewide voucher expansion pass in the Arizona capitol, they began to meet regularly and formed Save Our Schools Arizona. At first, their effort to overturn the legislation got few supporters, Lewis recalls, even among teachers. Few understood that “scholarships” is just another word for “vouchers” and that “empowerment” actually means parents have to give up the right for their children to receive a free public education.The “turning point,” according to Lewis, was the revelation that citizens could use a petition campaign to refer legislation to a ballot. That gave anti-voucher advocates a specific goal and steps—how many signatures they’d need and how many volunteers they’d need to recruit to circulate the petitions.A Costly Program for Wealthier FamiliesAlso aiding to their communications effort was an <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2018/10/25/prop-305-isnt-helping-poor-kids-escape-bad-schools/1762979002/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">accumulation of evidence</a> of how poorly the voucher program measured up to its purported intention to “save” low-income families from “failed” public schools.Most of the students who participate in the program, 70 percent, come from some of the state’s most highly rated schools—rated A or B on the state report card. Only 7 percent of the money is being used by students leaving D- or F-rated schools. The majority of these families are also not low-income, but instead reside in the wealthier suburban communities in the state.Other analyses have found that the vast majority of parents participating in the program use the money to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/07/us/school-vouchers-arizona.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">pay for private school tuition</a>. Given that most private schools in Arizona <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_private_and_independent_schools_in_Arizona" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">are religious schools</a>, a reasonable conclusion is that the education saving accounts are mostly subsidizing wealthier families’ desires to leave public schools to seek out religious educations for their children.Furthermore, since the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/07/us/school-vouchers-arizona.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">average payout</a> from the voucher program is $5,700 per year for children without disabilities, and the <a href="https://www.privateschoolreview.com/arizona" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">average private school tuition</a> in Arizona is $6,126 for elementary schools and $19,162 for high schools, the vouchers are supplementing parents, who may already be able to afford private schools, with a “coupon” that heavily discounts the tuition. Families of students with disabilities, who receive $19,000 in voucher money on average, could even be “profiting” from the program, as there is <a href="https://www.azauditor.gov/sites/default/files/16-107_Report.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">very little to no monitoring</a> of how they spend from the accounts.Currently, Arizona’s voucher program drains $141 million from the public school system, and in fact, <a href="https://grandcanyoninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/GCI_Policy_Private_School_Program_Costs_2018_Sept_5_2018.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">costs the state</a> an additional $62 million each year—roughly $4,700 per student, adding 75 percent more to what the state pays to educate a regular public school student.Kochs vs. ‘a Bunch of Volunteers’Armed with information about how the voucher program was defrauding the state of millions of education dollars, the SOS Arizona team formed their campaign to get 75,321 signatures to place Prop 305 on the ballot.“We did most of our outreach through social media,” recalls Sharon Kirsch, another leader in SOS Arizona. “SOS never had any money.”Kirsch, a university professor, became interested in overturning the voucher expansion after she saw the bill zoom through the State Senate without serious consideration of what the expansion would do to public schools. Its sponsor was former State Senator Debbie Lesko—a <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/contributors?cid=N00042056&cycle=2018" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">recipient</a> of large campaign donations from the Koch brothers and other conservative donors—who now sits in Congress and is up for reelection in November. Lesko is also Arizona state chairman for ALEC.Relying on a network of volunteers—made up mostly of retired educators, parents, and community activists—SOS Arizona submitted 111,540 signatures in August 2017.After SOS Arizona announced it had successfully gathered more than enough signatures to place the referendum on the ballot, the Koch network intervened again. On the night SOS delivered the signatures for review by the secretary of state’s office, Lewis recalls, they were told “both sides” would be allowed to be present at the review. Who was the other “side”?“All of a sudden all these men in dark suits came into the room,” says Lewis. “They paired up with each examiner from the state and hovered over their shoulders, pointing to signatures they felt should be challenged or thrown out.”The “suits” were from Americans for Prosperity, a right-wing pressure group that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/26/koch-brothers-americans-for-prosperity-rightwing-political-group" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">operates as a political arm</a> of the Koch brothers to advocate and lobby at state and local levels for small government, deregulation, privatization, and anti-labor union policies.“When I investigated what these right-wing organizations were doing to oppose us,” Kirsch explains, “I realized how strategic they’ve been. They’ve been working on their privatization efforts for years. They fund teams to work full-time on the issues. They’re breeding their own PhDs through academic centers they sponsor. And we just have a bunch of volunteers.”Americans for Prosperity, along with the American Federation for Children, formerly led by Secretary DeVos, sued to block the referendum. But in January 2018, a judge dismissed the lawsuit.In the meantime, Governor Ducey <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2018/01/30/doug-ducey-koch-network-school-voucher-law/1078838001/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">was meeting with donors</a> in the Koch network, pledging to go big on passing Prop 305 and asking for their support. “This is a very real fight in my state,” he said. “I didn’t run for governor to play small ball.”“In 2018, Koch donors see Arizona as ground zero in their push,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2018/01/30/daily-202-koch-network-laying-groundwork-to-fundamentally-transform-america-s-education-system/5a6feb8530fb041c3c7d74db/?utm_term=.e9af46aa66ce" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">the Washington Post reports</a>, and Koch brothers’ money has continued to pour into the state through Americans for Prosperity and the Libre Institute, an astroturf group spending “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2017/11/16/roberts-koch-funded-group-launches-six-figure-campaign-sell-arizona-voucher-expansiexpanding-voucher/872630001/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">according to a local news outlet</a>, “targeting Arizona Latino families with ads, mailers and phone calls” urging them to vote “yes” on Prop 305.“We had to bring in Spanish-speaking volunteers to counter the propaganda being spread by the Koch Brothers’ Libre group,” says Kirsch. “We reached out to community organizations like LUCHA (Living United for Change in Arizona),” an Arizona-based grassroots group advocate for social and economic justice in the Latinx community. “They’ve been very helpful in spreading our literature,” Kirsch says.In addition to its stealth campaign in the Latinx community, supporters of school vouchers also created a #YesforEd campaign that mimics the logo of the teachers’ #RedforEd campaign—a blatant attempt to mislead voters about the initiative and convince them to vote yes.“This is the lowest of the low when it gets to political dirty tricks,” <a href="https://www.abc15.com/news/region-northeast-valley/scottsdale/education-supporters-say-political-signs-aim-to-confuse-rock-the-vote" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">says Dawn Penich-Thacker</a> of SOS Arizona. “They are obviously trying to mimic #RedforEd,” and create the false impression that a “yes” vote on Prop 305 supports teachers and public-school funding, when it would in fact do the exact opposite.‘Education Is the Driving Issue’While SOS Arizona has tried to keep its effort to block voucher expansion nonpartisan, its cause has champions running for office in the Democratic Party.In the race for governor, Democratic candidate David Garcia is <a href="https://tucson.com/news/local/candidates-for-arizona-governor-debate-education-border-economy-issues/article_a8a836e3-7751-5d1d-b97f-2fd5bb806340.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">stridently opposed</a> to the voucher expansion and urges voters to vote no. Should Garcia win, he would be the state’s first Latinx governor, but education issues could be what propels him over the top.“A change in education is Arizona’s No. 1 issue,” Garcia <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y8mpqgxq" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">said in a televised debate</a>. “It is my strength, it is Ducey’s weakness, and it’s going to be the difference.”Ducey has extended his small lead in recent polls, but Garcia insists the surveys likely miss a rising new electorate in the state that includes Latinx voters and teachers and pro-education voters energized by #RedforEd and the presence of Prop 305 on the ballot.Someone with insights on both those issues—the rising power of Latinx voters and the significance of education in the Arizona elections—is Alex Gomez, the co-executive director of LUCHA.She tells me LUCHA recently completed an effort to register over 20,000 new voters in the Latinx community and is now canvassing them to ensure they vote. Working with other like-minded organizations, LUCHA’s goal is to turn out 190,000 new voters from the Latinx community in the midterm elections.LUCHA supported the educators who walked out of schools statewide this spring. “The midterms caught its wind after the teacher strike,” says Gomez. “That moment when there were 75,000 people at the capitol was a big part of building momentum. It became so clear that the legislature is more interested in their corporate donors than in doing the right thing for education and moving the state forward.”Gomez expects its support for Garcia’s pro-education platform and opposition to Prop 305 will energize new voters, particularly those in the Latinx community who “are very grateful because no one has ever come to them before.”“Education is the driving issue in Garcia’s campaign,” she says, and “we’re encouraging voters to vote against 305.In many down-ballot races, Democratic candidates are uniting around education and opposition to Prop 305. In the race to unseat Debbie Lesko in U.S. House District 8, Hiral Tipirneni has drawn a sharp contrast to the Republican incumbent on education, <a href="https://hiralforcongress.com/comparison/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">calling Lesko</a>, “the ringleader behind the infamous voucher bill, which takes our tax dollars out of public schools and uses them to pay for private school tuition.” Tipirneni <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/experience/beach/new-hampshire/2018/04/25/hiral-tipirneni-lost-arizonas-special-election-nancy-pelosi-thrilled/550457002/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">nearly defeated</a> Lesko in a special election in April.In state legislative races, two Democratic candidates and LUCHA endorsees, Raquel Terán, running in Legislative District 30, and Gilbert Romero, in LD 21, are <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/696427404064401/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">canvassing</a>and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1807713972631540/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">phone-banking</a> on Prop 305 and urging voters to vote no.‘No Hiding Behind the Curtain’Those leading the opposition to Prop 305 hope to do more than just defeat the bill; they want to expose the corrupt network behind the effort to privatize Arizona public schools and change the conversation about what would truly help education in the state.“Teachers are carrying the torch against privatization in ways they never did before,” says Lewis. “They have a level of understanding of the issues I’ve never seen before.”“Even if we defeat 305, I know folks at Goldwater are already crafting a new bill to replace the voucher bill with something else,” says Kirsch. “But people are paying attention in ways they never have in the past. They’re changing the conversation to making public schools the priority instead of all these other schemes that take money away from them.”<a style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">“We’re leaving everything out on the field and are really hopeful about the results,” says Gomez. “Even before election day, we’ve already won because we’ve exposed the corruption of the Republican Party. There’s no hiding behind the curtains anymore.”</a><a style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">To learn more about school privatization, check out </a><a href="https://www.alternet.org/education/who-controls-our-schools-how-billionaire-sponsored-privatization-destroying-democracy-and" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Who Controls Our Schools? The Privatization of American Public Education</a>, a free ebook published by the Independent Media Institute.<a style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" /><a href="https://www.alternet.org/education/who-controls-our-schools-how-billionaire-sponsored-privatization-destroying-democracy-and" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Click here to read a selection</a> of Who Controls Our Schools? published on AlterNet, or <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.alternet.org/images/who_controls_our_schools_pdf_ebook_1_1.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">here to access the complete text</a>.This article was produced by the <a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Independent Media Institute.</a><div>
</div><div><div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/03/29/alec-legislator-fast-tracks-bill-block-local-campaign-finance-ordinances-arizona/">https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/03/29/alec-legislator-fast-tracks-bill-block-local-campaign-finance-ordinances-arizona/</a></div><div>
</div><div>A state bill that would ban cities and counties from requiring dark money groups to disclose their donors is moving rapidly through the Arizona state legislature. <a href="https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/53leg/2r/bills/hb2153p.htm" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">HB 2153</a> would make it illegal for localities to require tax exempt organizations to disclose donors and register as political action committees. The bill introduced by Rep. Vince Leach (R-11) was approved by the House and is waiting a final roll-call vote in the Senate.This state interference in local democracy initiatives is a response to a Tempe ballot measure that passed earlier this month by a 9-to-1 margin which creates an <a href="http://www.tempe.gov/home/showdocument?id=57371" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">ordinance</a> that requires groups that make more than $1,000 in independent expenditures in municipal elections to disclose its financial supporters and details of the organization. The city of Phoenix is <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2018/03/08/phoenix-may-get-vote-dark-money-donations-city-council/395921002/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">considering</a> revising its charter to curb dark money in a similar fashion.HB 2153 is based on an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) <a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/resolution-in-support-of-nonprofit-donor-privacy/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">resolution</a> that was adopted last year which spins campaign finance disclosure as an attack on “donor privacy.” ALEC is a corporate-funded organization that brings lobbyists and state politicians together behind closed doors to rewrite state laws.Rep. Leach is a GOP legislative member of ALEC, and 22 other Arizona representatives and 8 senators have ties to the group.ALEC and its sister organization, the State Policy Network (SPN), have made fighting campaign finance disclosure a central goal. ALEC founded the misnamed “Center to Protect Free Speech,” which produced a <a href="https://www.alec.org/app/uploads/2017/09/ALEC-Donor-Disclosure-Legislative-Toolkit-1.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Donor Disclosure Toolkit</a> for legislatures that details how lawmakers should respond to donor disclosure laws.ALEC’s toolkit lifts whole sections from an SPN <a href="http://unitedforprivacy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Nonprofit-Donor-Privacy-Issue-Guide.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Donor Privacy Toolkit</a> published on its United for Privacy campaign website. Both toolkits are partially written by Jon Riches, Director of National Litigation and General Counsel for the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Goldwater_Institute" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Goldwater Institute</a>, Arizona’s SPN affiliate. Goldwater is lobbying for the passage of HB 2153 and sent its vice president for litigation to testify in support of the bill in front of a House committee.If the preemption bill passes by roll-call vote in the Senate, it will head to Gov. Doug Ducey’s desk. Ducey has <a href="https://www.alec.org/app/uploads/2015/10/RSPS_8th_Edition-Final.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">written for ALEC</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYAaWBqe1U" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">spoken</a> at ALEC meetings, so the measure trampling local democracy is likely to get his signature.</div><div>=</div></div><div>
<div>Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) said he supports lawmakers’ efforts to fund these schools?—?and for good reason. A study from the Center for the Study of Economic Liberty supported the governor’s land trust plan last year. And Ducey has connections to groups tied to the Koch brothers, which spent nearly $1 million on his recent campaign to stop an amendment renewing a sales tax, Proposition 204, according to IRS records analyzed by the Arizona Republic.</div><div>
<div>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey</div><div>
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</div><div>Douglas Anthony "Doug" Ducey (born April 9, 1964) is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Governors_of_Arizona" title="List of Governors of Arizona" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">23rd and current governor</a> of the U.S. State of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona" title="Arizona" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Arizona</a>. He is a member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Republican Party</a>, and was sworn in as governor on January 5, 2015. He also served as the 32nd <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Treasurer" class="mw-redirect" title="State Treasurer" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">state treasurer</a> of Arizona. Prior to serving in elected office, Ducey served as the CEO of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Stone_Creamery" title="Cold Stone Creamery" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Cold Stone Creamery</a> before he and his business partner sold the company in 2007. On November 4, 2014, Ducey won the election to become governor of the State of Arizona, the first open seat for governor in 12 years, succeeding <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Brewer" title="Jan Brewer" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Jan Brewer</a>. Ducey is the first male governor of Arizona since <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fife_Symington" title="Fife Symington" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Fife Symington</a> (1991–1997).[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>]Born in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo,Ohio" title="Toledo, Ohio" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Toledo, Ohio</a>, Ducey moved to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempe,Arizona" title="Tempe, Arizona" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Tempe</a>, Arizona in 1982 where he attended <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_State_University" title="Arizona State University" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Arizona State University</a>. In addition to his involvement with Cold Stone Creamery, he also worked at a local Anheuser-Busch distributor during his time in college, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procter%26_Gamble" title="Procter & Gamble" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Procter & Gamble</a> following his graduation with a degree in finance.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>]
<div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline; line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Contents</h2>  [<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">hide</a>] </div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#Early_life_and_education" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1Early life and education</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#Business_career" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">2Business career</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#Political_career" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3Political career</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#State_Treasurer" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3.1State Treasurer</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#Governor" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3.2Governor</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#2014_campaign" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3.2.12014 campaign</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#Tenure" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3.2.2Tenure</a></li></ul></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#Personal_life" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">4Personal life</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#Electoral_history" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">5Electoral history</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#References" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">6References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#External_links" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">7External links</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Early life and education[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Doug_Ducey&action=edit&section=1&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Early life and education" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>Doug Ducey was born Douglas Anthony Roscoe, Jr. in Toledo, Ohio, where he was raised.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[2]</a> He is the son of Madeline Scott and Douglas Roscoe, Sr., a former member of the Toledo Police Department.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[3]</a> The younger Roscoe's parents divorced, and in 1975 his mother married businessman Michael Ducey, to whom she remained married until 1981.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[4]</a>Michael Ducey adopted Douglas Roscoe, Jr, and his siblings in 1976, and Douglas, Jr. had his last name legally changed to his adopted father's.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[5]</a> As Douglas Ducey, he moved to Arizona in 1982 and attended <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_State_University" title="Arizona State University" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Arizona State University</a> while working at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hensley%26_Co." title="Hensley & Co." style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Hensley & Co.</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anheuser-Busch" title="Anheuser-Busch" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Anheuser-Busch</a> distributor owned by the family of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_McCain" title="Cindy McCain" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Cindy McCain</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[6]</a> Ducey graduated in 1986 with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Science" title="Bachelor of Science" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Bachelor of Science</a> degree in Finance.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[7]</a>During his 2014 campaign for governor, press accounts revealed that some of Ducey's relatives in Toledo, the Scotts, Anglicized their name from Scotti and were involved in organized crime in Ohio. These press accounts contained no indication that Ducey has ever been affiliated with these family members or involved with any of their activities.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[8]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Business career[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Doug_Ducey&action=edit&section=2&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Business career" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>After graduating from ASU, he joined <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procter%26_Gamble" title="Procter & Gamble" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Procter & Gamble</a> and began a career in sales and marketing. While there, he was trained in management, preparing him for his role as partner and CEO of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Stone_Creamery" title="Cold Stone Creamery" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Cold Stone Creamery</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-sonoranewsgovernor-9" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[9]</a> When he and his business partner sold the company in 2007, Cold Stone had grown from a local scoop shop to more than 1,400 locations in all 50 states and 10 countries. After the company's sale to Kahala, accusations of franchise mismanagement led to Ducey leaving the organization.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-10" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[10]</a> He then became the lead investor and served as chairman of the board for iMemories from 2008-2012.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>]Ducey is a trustee for the Arizona State University Foundation. He currently serves on the board for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banner_Health" title="Banner Health" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Banner Health</a> Foundation and the St. John's Jesuit High School Council.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-bio-11" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[11]</a> He is also a member of the Phoenix Thunderbirds and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Way_of_America" title="United Way of America" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">United Way</a> Alexis de Tocqueville Society.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-bio-11" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[11]</a> He has served as a past President for both the Arizona chapter of Young <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurs%27_Organization" title="Entrepreneurs' Organization" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Entrepreneurs' Organization</a> and the Greater Phoenix Economic Club. Ducey is a former Regional Board Member for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teach_for_America" class="mw-redirect" title="Teach for America" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Teach for America</a>, and former advisory board member for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman" title="Pat Tillman" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Pat Tillman</a> Foundation.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-bio-11" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[11]</a> Ducey has also served as a board member for the Arizona State Charter School Board, Thunderbird Charities, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Zoo" title="Phoenix Zoo" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Phoenix Zoo</a> and the Arizona chapter of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Presidents_Organization" class="mw-redirect" title="Young Presidents Organization" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Young Presidents Organization</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-bio-11" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[11]</a> He is a past member of Greater Phoenix Leadership, CEO Forum and the Enterprise Network, as well as a past co-chair for the Sojourner Center Capital Campaign. He is a former scholarship board member for the Catholic Community Foundation for the Diocese of Phoenix and currently serves on its board of directors.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-bio-11" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[11]</a>Ducey's honors include the 2002 Spirit of Enterprise Award on behalf of Cold Stone Creamery by the Center for the Advancement of Small Business at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.P.Carey_School_of_Business" title="W. P. Carey School of Business" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">W. P. Carey School of Business</a> at Arizona State University, and induction into the W.P. Carey School of Business Hall of Fame in 2004.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-bio-11" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[11]</a> In 2006 he was awarded the MUFSO Golden Chain Award – the nation’s highest honor for restaurateurs. Also in 2006 he was named an entrepreneurial fellow for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eller_College_of_Management" title="Eller College of Management" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Eller College of Management</a> at the<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Arizona" title="University of Arizona" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">University of Arizona</a>. In 2007, Ducey was honored with the AFP Spirit of Philanthropy Award, and in 2009 he was named father of the year by the Father’s Day Council benefiting the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Diabetes_Association" title="American Diabetes Association" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">American Diabetes Association</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-bio-11" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[11]</a> Most recently, in 2012 he was given the Tom and Madena Stewart lifetime compassion award by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make-A-Wish" class="mw-redirect" title="Make-A-Wish" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Make-A-Wish</a>Arizona for creating the World’s Largest Ice Cream Social while serving as CEO of Cold Stone Creamery.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-bio-11" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[11]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Political career[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Doug_Ducey&action=edit&section=3&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Political career" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">State Treasurer<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Doug_Ducey&action=edit&section=4&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: State Treasurer" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>In 2011, Ducey was elected as state treasurer of Arizona replacing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Martin(politician)" title="Dean Martin (politician)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Dean Martin</a>. As Arizona’s chief banker and investment officer, Ducey oversaw more than $12 billion in state assets and served as an investment manager for local governments.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-bio-11" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[11]</a> The Treasurer also serves as the chairman of Arizona’s State Board of Investment, and State Loan Commission.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-bio-11" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[11]</a> He serves as the State’s surveyor general and is a member of the State Land Selection Board. Ducey also served as the western region vice president for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_State_Treasurers" title="National Association of State Treasurers" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">National Association of State Treasurers</a>, and was the president of the Western State Treasurers' Association.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>]<h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Governor<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Doug_Ducey&action=edit&section=5&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Governor" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3><h4 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 22.4px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">2014 campaign<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Doug_Ducey&action=edit&section=6&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: 2014 campaign" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h4><div role="note" class="hatnote" style="font-style: italic; padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Main article: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_gubernatorial_election,2014" title="Arizona gubernatorial election, 2014" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Arizona gubernatorial election, 2014</a></div>
He received the endorsement of numerous conservative leaders, including Senators <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Cruz" title="Ted Cruz" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" line-height="line-height" px="px" text-decoration="text-decoration" none="none" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-image="background-image" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat">Ted Cruz</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Lee(U.S.politician)" title="Mike Lee (U.S. politician)" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" line-height="line-height" px="px" text-decoration="text-decoration" none="none" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-image="background-image" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat">Mike Lee</a>, as well as Governor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Walker(politician)" class="mw-redirect" title="Scott Walker (politician)" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" line-height="line-height" px="px" text-decoration="text-decoration" none="none" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-image="background-image" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat">Scott Walker</a> and former Senator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Kyl" title="Jon Kyl" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" line-height="line-height" px="px" text-decoration="text-decoration" none="none" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-image="background-image" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat">Jon Kyl</a>. Ducey won the Republican nomination in the August, 2014 primary, and was subsequently endorsed by the outgoing Governor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Brewer" title="Jan Brewer" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" line-height="line-height" px="px" text-decoration="text-decoration" none="none" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-image="background-image" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat">Jan Brewer</a>, along with Senators <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain" title="John McCain" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" line-height="line-height" px="px" text-decoration="text-decoration" none="none" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-image="background-image" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat">John McCain</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Flake" title="Jeff Flake" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" line-height="line-height" px="px" text-decoration="text-decoration" none="none" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-image="background-image" background-attachment="background-attachment" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat">Jeff Flake</a>, and the Republicans in Arizona's U.S. House delegation. Ducey was also endorsed by several organizations including Arizona Right to Life, Concerned Women for America and the Small Business Alliance.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" line-height="line-height" unicode-bidi="unicode-bidi" isolate="isolate" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-14" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[14]</a>In July 2013, Ducey officially filed the paperwork necessary to explore the possibility of running for governor.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-12" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[12]</a> On February 19, 2014, Ducey formally announced his intention to seek the office at a rally in downtown Phoenix.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-duceyrun-13" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[13]</a>The general election took place on November 4, 2014, and Ducey defeated Democrat <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_DuVal" title="Fred DuVal" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Fred DuVal</a> and Libertarian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Hess" class="mw-redirect" title="Barry Hess" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Barry Hess</a>.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>]<h4 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 22.4px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Tenure<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Doug_Ducey&action=edit&section=7&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Tenure" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h4>Ducey was sworn in to office on January 5, 2015, replacing outgoing Arizona governor Jan Brewer.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[15]</a> Shortly after his term began, Ducey instituted a state employee hiring freeze in an effort to balance the state budget.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-16" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[16]</a>On January 15, Ducey signed an education bill requiring high school students to pass the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_citizenship_test" class="mw-redirect" title="United States citizenship test" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">U.S. citizenship test</a> in order to graduate, making Arizona the first state to require this.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-17" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[17]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-18" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[18]</a>Ducey issued his first vetoes on March 30, 2015, vetoing HB2150, an amendment to an animal cruelty law which would have excluded livestock animals from protection under that law,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-Veto_of_HB2150-19" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[19]</a> and HB2410, which would have prohibited police departments from establishing quotas for traffic citations.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-Veto_of_HB2410-20" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[20]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Personal life[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Doug_Ducey&action=edit&section=8&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Personal life" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>While attending Arizona State University, Ducey met his wife, Angela, and they currently reside in Paradise Valley, where they are raising their three sons, Jack, Joe and Sam.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Ducey#cite_note-21" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[21]</a><div>
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<div>vs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_DuVal  babbitt
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</div><div>=</div><div>http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/10/02/doug-ducey-koch-arizona-governor-campaign/16621141/</div><div>
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</div><div>Doug Ducey touted his gubernatorial campaign this summer before wealthy donors at a summit hosted by the billionaire Koch brothers, the prominent financiers of non-profit groups playing heavily in U.S. elections, including the race for Arizona governor.Ducey, the Republican nominee, has benefited from the spending of at least two nonprofits that have been linked to the Kochs' political network. Sean Noble, a veteran of the Koch network and a Ducey supporter, is also connected to several outside groups that have attacked Ducey's opponents and supported the Republican nominee.Ducey's appearance at the event, first reported Thursday by The Nation, confirms what his opponents have long suspected: that he sought the backing of the out-of-state political donors who support the Koch brothers' libertarian, free-market concepts but whose identities and motivations are often kept secret."I want to say thank you to Charles and David as well," Ducey said. "I have been coming to this conference for years. It's been very inspirational. Uh, Charles, I asked what I would do if I wasn't afraid, and I said, 'I'd run for governor.' "<a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/181837/exclusive-audio-how-koch-brothers-are-molding-next-scott-walkers" style="text-decoration: none;">The Nation's story</a> is based in part on "secret tapes" of the June summit in Dana Point, Calif., at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, where Ducey, the state treasurer and former CEO of Cold Stone Creamery, told the crowd he was inspired by the conference and said he had attended similar events in the past. The story was accompanied by audio and a transcript of Ducey's remarks. The Undercurrent, a YouTube channel that publishes grassroots political news, shared the audio with The Nation.<div id="module-position-PMHpDyPLuw0" class="story-asset embed-asset" style="line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250);"><div class="embed" style="margin-top: -20px; max-width: 560px; padding: 20px 0px 0px 60px;"><div class="linkset-container" style="width: 281px; padding-left: 10px; padding-top: 10px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 25px; float: right; overflow: auto; box-shadow: rgb(170, 170, 170) 0px 0px 12px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><h2 class="hdr-linkset" style="margin: 0px 0px -10px; text-transform: uppercase; line-height: 24px; position: relative; top: -60px; padding: 0px 15px;">K MONEY'</h2><div class="linkset-list" style="padding: 10px 15px; margin-top: -45px;"><li>Ducey took campaign pitch to <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/10/02/doug-ducey-koch-arizona-governor-campaign/16621141/" style="text-decoration: none;">Koch network</a></li><li>Outside spendidng groups <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/09/26/outside-groups-hammering-duval/16249623/" style="text-decoration: none;">hammering DuVal</a></li><li>'Dark money' group sues to get <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/09/23/dark-money-group-sues-get-public-records/16128351/" style="text-decoration: none;">public records</a></li><li>Outside money fuels <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/08/26/outside-money-fuels-shadow-campaigns/14597309/" style="text-decoration: none;">Arizona shadow campaigns</a></li><li>'Dark money:' <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/07/23/dark-money-secretary-of-state-things-to-know/13027375/" style="text-decoration: none;">5 things to know</a> about secretary of state race</li></div></div></div></div>The summit took place June 14-16, during the GOP primary race between Ducey and his six opponents.On June 12, Ducey notified Gov. Jan Brewer's office that he would be outside Arizona from June 14 at "approximately 1:50 pm and will return on Tuesday, June 17, 2014 at approximately 2:00 pm," a public document obtained by The Arizona Republic states.During his speech to the group, Ducey recited much of his stock campaign pitch, such as changing the direction of the lagging economy and ensuring "that the bad ideas that are crossing the Midwest and killing California are not reapplied in the state of Arizona."Ducey's Democratic opponent, Fred DuVal, a former staffer to President Clinton, lobbyist and Board of Regents chairman, has called on Ducey to renounce "dark money" support, saying voters deserve to know who is funding his candidacy. Multiple polls suggest the race is close; the general election is Nov. 4.RELATED: <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/08/26/outside-money-fuels-shadow-campaigns/14597309/" title="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/08/26/outside-money-fuels-shadow-campaigns/14597309/" style="text-decoration: none;">Outside money fuels Arizona shadow campaigns</a>RELATED: <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/10/01/governor-candidates-light-details-overcome-budget-shortfall/16519871/" title="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/10/01/governor-candidates-light-details-overcome-budget-shortfall/16519871/" style="text-decoration: none;">Governor candidates light on details to overcome budget shortfall</a>"Doug Ducey works for out-of-state billionaires, not for Arizona," said Rodd McLeod, a consultant for DuVal. "He goes to meetings with them, gives a secret speech, says you're known by the company you keep."Ducey's campaign would not say why he attended the event, who invited him, how many similar events he has attended, whom he spoke to there or whether the outside money supporting his bid for the Governor's Office came as a result of his attendance."Doug has taken his message of greater opportunity to every corner of the state, in addition to communicating that vision outside Arizona," his spokeswoman Melissa DeLaney wrote in an e-mailed statement. "As a candidate for governor, Doug has attended events hosted by individuals of varied political persuasions where policy issues were debated, and as governor, he will be an advocate for all Arizonans."Ducey also touted his campaign's endorsement from Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is supported by the Koch brothers, saying, "In this business, you're known by the company you keep, and uh, we're proud that we're off to a fast start. Uh, we're proud that Governor Scott Walker has endorsed our campaign."Ducey talked about his personal life, his career in the private sector and his successful campaign while state treasurer to defeat a sales-tax measure known as Proposition 204."When I did run for treasurer in 2010 ... I learned a lot at this conference," he continued, adding he also "learned a lot" while opposing Prop. 204, saying, "I can't emphasize enough the power of organizations like this and engagement from those in the business community."Proposition 204 sought to make permanent a temporary sales tax and direct the proceeds to education and infrastructure.In his speech, Ducey portrayed the group pushing for the penny tax as "completely funded by government entities and special interests." Records show it drew donations from teachers, attorneys, retirees and parents. In all, it raised $2.3 million.The group Ducey led raised $1.8 million, with $1.2 million of it from the combined contributions of Americans for Responsible Leadership and the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. Both of those groups are dark-money entities, which under the IRS tax code do not have do disclose their donors.However, Americans for Responsible Leadership released its donor list in 2012 after a legal battle with a California campaign-finance watchdog agency over its activities in that state. The list consisted of a single donor, Americans for Job Security, which got its money through a second intermediary, the Center to Protect Patients Rights, which had ties to the Koch brothers and Noble.Ducey continued, "So what's next? The real action is in the governor's office."He said he was confident the GOP would take back the U.S. Senate in 2014, "but then the battle for freedom comes back to the states, and who's in the governor's offices is important. And I'm grateful for what this conference does."Outside groups have poured millions to influence statewide races this election cycle. Two of those groups, 60 Plus Association and American Encore, formerly named the Center to Protect Patient Rights, have attacked Ducey's opponents while supporting him. Those groups have been linked to the Kochs' network.Ducey has also benefited from $2.2 million in spending by the Republican Governors Association Arizona political action committee, which draws its funding exclusively from out-of-state donors, Secretary of State campaign finance records show.McLeod pointed to American Encore's spending on TV ads since Ducey won the GOP primary five weeks ago. Campaign-finance reports filed with the state show $1.2 million in spending, both in support of Ducey and in opposition to DuVal, as of Wednesday. In addition, McLeod said filings with local television stations show the group is launching a $199,000 television ad buy that began Thursday."All it took it was for him to go to California and tell them how powerful they are," McLeod said.</div><div></div></div></div></div><div>
</div><div>he fatal shot that killed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Cecil_the_lion" style="text-decoration: none;">Cecil the lion</a> finally drew some much-needed attention to the shady business of international trophy hunting. Since the incident last June, 45 major airlines, including Delta, Virgin Atlantic and United, have banned the transportation of trophies—i.e. the heads and skins of wild animals—of the “big five”: African lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, African leopard, and rhinoceros. A small victory for wildlife, but <a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/bigger-story-behind-killing-cecil-lion-media-overlooked" style="text-decoration: none;">Cecil's death</a> had an undeniably negative impact on Safari Club International, the organization that helped facilitate the lion’s death as well as that of countless other wild animals since its founding in 1971.Still, it's nothing a little rebranding couldn’t fix.Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/30/us/cecil-the-lion-walter-palmer.html" style="text-decoration: none;">allegedly paid</a> $54,000 for the "privilege" to kill Cecil, a beloved resident of the Hwange National Park in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe, was conveniently scorned by SCI for infractions and had his membership revoked. SCI also took the opportunity to make the contents of its website “members only.” In an effort to inspire sympathy amidst waning public support, the club overhauled one of its biggest PR vehicles: the International Wildlife Museum in Tucson, Arizona.The so-called museum, located down the road from SCI’s global headquarters, is a 40,000-square-foot complex filled to the brim with taxidermied animals. Officially, the museum claims to be “dedicated to increasing knowledge and appreciation of the diverse wildlife of the world as well as explaining the role of wildlife management in conservation.” But the use of the terms “appreciation” and “conservation” are relative. On October 13, the museum will be hosting a three-day “Conservation Education Course.” The workshop, one of several new initiatives designed to draw visitors to the museum, is ostensibly geared toward providing educators with school curriculum materials with a focus on teaching children about conservation in accordance with a program created by <a href="http://projectwild.org/" style="text-decoration: none;">Project Wild</a>, a K-12 environmental education program run by the Council for Environmental Education, a Houston-based nonprofit. Though the direct link between Project Wild and SCI is fuzzy, it’s worth noting that the course includes archery lessons and a disclaimer on the application stating that participants agree any photos taken of them during the course may be used for "SCI promotions.” Alongside this workshop, the museum also regularly welcomes learners to its premises from both public and charter schools.In light of the abovementioned activities, all focused on molding young minds, the critical question is, how exactly does Safari Club International define “conservation”? In essence, SCI and its various subsidiaries promote the questionable theory that trophy hunting is a necessary form of wildlife conservation, claiming that the large sums of money trophy hunters like Walter Palmer fork over are an essential part of maintaining financial support for wildlife.But is this really the case? Most scientific research on this matter says no.A paper titled "<a href="https://www.saveafricananimals.org/attachments/article/136/The%20Myth_of_Trophy_Hunting_as_Conservation.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;">The Myth of Trophy Hunting as Conservation</a>" presents a thorough breakdown of that research. Submitted to U.K. Environment Minister Elliot Morley, the paper was compiled by the <a href="http://www.league.org.uk/" style="text-decoration: none;">League Against Cruel Sports</a>, a U.K. charity dedicated to exposing the cruelty of sport hunting. Citing a 2004 study by the University of Port Elizabeth in South Africa, the paper noted that eco-tourism (non-hunting-related safari) generates on average "more than 15 times the income of livestock or game rearing or overseas hunting.”The paper goes on to explain the reasons for this:<blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Although hunters pay large sums, ordinary tourists are much more numerous. Hunters shoot an animal once, but photographic tourists can shoot it a thousand times and the animal is still there … Hunting safaris are seasonal and are open for a maximum of six months a year. They use very basic camps and staff rarely learn any other skills to support themselves during the rest of the year. In contrast, photographic safaris run all year. They use well-established, often luxurious camps or hotels. Staff are trained in management and other useful professional qualifications which advance their careers.</blockquote>In order to uncover the true extent of SCI’s precarious position on conservation, one need look no further than the 2016 Arizona state tax budget. Despite the fact that Arizona is an austerity state with the lowest spending per student in the U.S., over $1 million was <a href="http://azdailysun.com/news/local/ducey-budget-sends-local-road-money-to-dps/article_89eeabc5-775b-527c-808c-9bff2b171ee5.html" style="text-decoration: none;">allocated</a> by the state’s Republican governor, Doug Ducey, for litigation against federal species protection and increased hunting access to state land.Cyndi Tuell, an Arizona-based conservation attorney says these budget allocations are indicative of the questionable definition of conservation used by SCI and its affiliates.</div><div>==</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>