We paused for about 16 seconds before making this endorsement, but...
OK, bad pun.
Gov. Jan Brewer has taken plenty of heat for her missteps — including her long moment of silence — in the one and only gubernatorial debate leading up to the election. And while Brewer will not win any awards for public speaking, she’s a lot more savvy than most people realize. As such, she has the Tribune’s endorsement for governor of Arizona.
In all seriousness, this race did give us much pause.
We haven’t agreed with many things Brewer has done. Calling her signing of SB 1070 a purely political maneuver is unfair, but she clearly won the Republican primary as a result of her endorsement of the controversial bill. If she was going to sign it, we think she should have at least waited until the amendments were made to help calm the immigration storm that followed. Her exaggerated comments (and failure to clarify them for some time) only made the situation worse and have severely damaged the state’s image. Brewer deflects much of that blame to the people, including Arizona politicians, calling for boycotts of the state. But this could have been handled much better at the top, and that falls on Brewer.
The governor’s refusal to participate in any more debates also spoke poorly of her.
And we think she was slow to react to the state’s economic crisis, waiting too long to take steps to address job growth and the budget.
But, in fairness, Brewer inherited a mess when Janet Napolitano left the governor’s office two years ago to accept a position in President Barack Obama’s administration. Brewer was greeted with a budget fiasco brought about by the slumping economy and how it was handled by Napolitano and the Arizona Legislature.
While she started out slow, Brewer has made good strides since.
The decision to reorganize the state Commerce Department into an economic-development agency will help with job growth.
And for those who think Brewer is simply a mouthpiece for the Republican party, look no further than Proposition 100. Brewer was a strong advocate for the state sales tax increase that voters passed in May. Raising taxes is not the Republican way, but Brewer recognized the desperate need to raise money for education amid recession, and she worked across party lines to make it happen.
That is the kind of leadership we want to see from our governor.
The next two years will be crucial as Arizona works itself out of a deep economic hole. With a Republican-controlled Legislature, we think Brewer’s ability to work with those lawmakers can lead to meaningful legislation that can make a difference in Arizona.
Democratic candidate Terry Goddard is bright, articulate and level-headed. But, given the Legislature’s off-center ways, we can’t afford a governor who will clash with lawmakers at this time.
SECRETARY OF STATE
As we’ve seen, this position is more than someone who oversees the state’s elections; the candidate is next in line to become our governor.
Given that, we like Ken Bennett in this race. With his background in business, the Prescott City Council, the Arizona Board of Education and the Arizona Legislature (he was Senate president), Bennett has the experience necessary to fill this role. In fact, if he was running for governor this year, he might have our endorsement for that role as well.
We like his Democratic challenger, Chris Deschene — a lot. At the age of 39, the member of the Navajo nation has already served as a leader in the U.S. Marine Corps for 10 years, and has earned both a law degree and a masters in mechanical engineering with an emphasis in renewable and alternative energy development. With two years in the state Legislature under his belt, he has an incredibly bright future ahead of him. We just don’t think he’s quite ready to be next in line for governor.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
This race features lifelong politician Tom Horne vs. Democratic newcomer Felecia Rotellini.
Horne has experience as an attorney and is a proponent of SB 1070, which will earn him votes. But there are also red flags (his lifetime ban by the Securities and Exchange Commission and track record as state superintendent of public instruction).
Rotellini, who served as an assistant attorney general for 14 years and knows the office well, has endorsements from several police and fire organizations and almost all of the state’s media — including the Tribune. In her meeting with our editorial board, Rotellini came across as articulate, knowledgeable, level-headed and tough on crime.
STATE TREASURER
Andrei Cherney has great ambitions for this position, and would turn it into one that helps set economic strategy for the state and also audits state government to find waste (which falls to the state auditor general’s office, a position appointed by the governor).
Republican Doug Ducey has a stronger business background as the former CEO of Cold Stone Creamery, which is why we’re endorsing him to manage the state’s $10 billion investment portfolio and attract new commerce to the state.
STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
Penny Kotterman and John Huppenthal come at this position from opposite ends of the spectrum.
Huppenthal has been a member of the Legislature for 17 years and has enormous passion for education. He lives for research and dives into study after study trying to determine the best course of action for Arizona’s schools. He’s also a big school choice proponent and has played a key role in expanding options for families — including open enrollment, charter schools and tuition tax credits.
Penny Kotterman is a former school teacher who has spent 33 years in education, including six years as the president of the state’s largest teacher’s union, the Arizona Education Association.
We like Kotterman for two reasons. First, she will be a stronger advocate for public schools, whose performance has declined sharply in the last decade. Beyond that, we think that — after 16 years of having politicians in the superintendent’s office — it’s time to turn that position over to a teacher who has been there and done that in Arizona’s school system.
jochas6548 posted at 3:27 pm on Sun, Oct 24, 2010.
Horne is not a career politician. He has been Superintendent of Education for 8 years, where he raised AZ's public schools rank to 24th in the nation, despite being 49th in the nation in funding (which is out of Horne's control). Before that, he practiced law for 30 years, while serving just 4 years in the legislature, & 24 years as an unpaid school board member. Rotellini received a full time government paycheck for 17 years since graduating from law school in 1986. She worked for the government any more years much longer, full time, than Horne.
Rotellini is a point person for the Obama administration, where her mentor ex-Gov Napolitano heads Homeland Security, which fails to defend our border. Rotellini states she will vote NO on the ballot Proposition against Obama-care. If you believed Obama’s campaign lies, you’ll love Rotellini. The truth about Rotellini and some of her campaign lies is:
She claims credit for getting $217 million from Arthur Andersen, but it was the non-governmental lawyer in the civil case who got the judgment, which Felecia then put into the agency order after it was a done deal. When defending her experience to the AZ Republic, she cited just 6 criminal cases she had worked on. In those 6 cases, she got one, yes one, guilty plea which resulted in a defendant going to prison. In the other cases, she abandoned the cases before other lawyers got the guilty pleas. Just like she abandoned the Baptist Foundation criminal case before trial to be promoted by then Gov. Napolitano to head a State agency.
She never tried a case, criminal or civil, in the AG's Office, in her entire 13 years of working there. In her entire life, she tried just 2 jury cases, both civil, before joining the AG's Office in 1992. She was an administrative agency lawyer, representing various State agencies in administrative hearings, not court. She headed the State Bar's administrative law section. She is not a certified criminal law specialist, because that requires criminal trial experience. Yet she falsely claims on her website that she put criminals (plural) behind bars. The truth is that she put one criminal behind bars, in 24 years of lawyering. Felecia lies ab/ her record, & lies ab/ Horne’s record. I fear another Andy Thomas experience if she is elected: another politically motivated lawyer who will do anything & say anything to get elected.
As superintendent of the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions, the agency regulating mortgage companies, she ignored the billion dollar fraud of Mortgages, Ltd for years, despite the six warning letters in 2006-2007 from the prominent lawyer representing a church which had been the victim of mortgage fraud by Mortgages, Ltd. When the AG’s Office was questioned about it by New Times, the AG’s Office spokesman said that it “referred them [the victims] to the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions." No action was taken by Rotellini against Mortgages, Ltd before she resigned in 2009 to run for AG.
CooperG posted at 3:23 pm on Mon, Oct 25, 2010.
All people need to do is look at the stuff Andy Thomas wrote about Horne before the Primary election to get a sense of the guy. You can see the summary here from the Sonoran Alliance blog:
http://sonoranalliance.com/2010/07/03/tom-horne-financial-con-artist-banned-for-life-by-sec-watch-stunning-video/
Andy Thomas says back in 2007, Horne wrote "the Tom Horne Amnesty Plan!
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/article_42d1e9c7-6997-5863-930f-4af0c650d70f.html
The blog "Intellectual Conservative" says Tom Horne supported abortion before he was against it. It also says Horne is against the Second Amendment.
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2010/08/23/andrew-thomas-reduced-crime-tom-horne-reduced-test-scores/
Rotellini will be a much better Attorney General than Tom Horne primarily because he doesn't know who he is. He doesn't know what he's for or against. He doesn't know if he committed fraud or not. THIS is the guy we want as AG?
No thanks.
snipes posted at 8:03 am on Tue, Oct 26, 2010.
Tom Horne is both a liar and a thief.
That's why the Securities and Exchange Commission banned him for life.
Horne is one of the easiest candidates to vote AGAINST.
Felecia Rotellini is a breath of fresh air. She's got my vote!
CR4Pres posted at 3:11 pm on Thu, Oct 28, 2010.
snipes, you are obviously easy to please. All you are doing is repeating Rotellini's rhetoric. I have yet to hear what she stands for, only what Horne has done wrong. She is only looking for votes against Horne, she has never taken a consistent position about what she stands for in realistic and specific terms. She says Horne lied because he said she's never tried a case, her response on her website was she has hundreds of hours of "hearing and court appearances." She's hoping her constituents are too stupid to know that does NOT translate to Horne lying about her trial experience. And she "wants an apology", are you kidding? Put your big girl panties on, Rotellini, this is a campaign, not a little girl's slumber party! She does not have the guts to stand up against strong personalities, and she won't stand up for Arizona either.
Brian Ellsworth posted at 7:13 am on Fri, Oct 29, 2010.
Brewer really - the women cannot think on her own, used her position to dodge a DUI, and allows her lobbyist adivsors to gaybash (wasn't there a similiar story regarding her?). He should have been fired, but that would have taken some thought. With all the suicides of gay youth I guess one more comment that 'You are bad" is just acceptable.
We can be proud to have the only governor without a college degree - and it shows!.
I think we can all be glad when the EV Tribune closes forever.
az-565 posted at 10:48 pm on Sat, Oct 30, 2010.
Kotterman will not be a stronger advocate for public schools. She will be a stronger advocate for the Teachers Union. Having Penny Kotterman as Superintendent of public instruction will only lead to higher pay and benefits for Teachers, with less accountability and more Left-Wing indoctrination for Arizona kids.