AZ Republic endorsement of Ducey is a giant FU to women and naive besides

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

I expected this since the AZ Republic endorsed three Dems for statewide races and the publisher of the paper, and publisher John Zidich is known to be a pal of Ducey, but I was struck by the sheer obtuseness of their endorsement of Doug Ducey for Governor.

He speaks of the need to streamline an executive branch that sprawls across an organizational chart. He promises to be a vigorous and visible salesman for the state, speaking the language of CEOs.

He knows what national business leaders look for, and that’s why we have no fears that a Ducey administration would usher in anything like SB 1062, the right to refuse service bill. For one, when Ducey led Cold Stone, the company provided insurance for the unmarried partners of its employees. “The things that are the right thing to do are good for business,” he says. “That’s how you attract good people.”

For another, he knows when SB 1062 did the most damage to Arizona’s image: after it was passed but before Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed it. “I’d rather it not get to my desk than have it get there and have to veto it,” he says.

The editors are so confident that Ducey will steadfastly represent the interests of “national business leaders” that they’ve forgotten that after he said he’d have vetoed SB1062 back in February, he then praised the Hobby Lobby decision in July. They are essentially the same thing! And Doug Ducey knows it:

The executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party, DJ Quinlan, publicly demaned the state treasurer fire Herrod, the president of the Center for Arizona Policy, earlier today.

The state-wide conservative group mostly recently backed the controversial SB 1062.

Ducey, however, did not. He told the Star last week:

“The religious liberty issues that SB 1062 attempts to address are legitimate ones, and I believe there is a way to draft language that would address the concerns of everyone involved and avoid the acrimony and notoriety that have accompanied this bill’s passage. I would veto SB 1062, but would then bring together all the interested parties before this legislative session adjourns to forge consensus on acceptable language protecting religious liberty.”

Translation: Doug Ducey basically said there that he had every intention of bringing SB1062 back, contrary to the fantasies of AZ Republic editors dazzled by his ice cream and economic underwear gnomes. When SB1062 comes back it will be wrapped in slut punishing, “narrowly tailored” to the poor, dear craft store owner or pharmacist whose religious views give him sads over dispensing the whore pills. They can expect few protests and no objections from the business community to that.

Only – because attacking women’s reproductive rights never seems to be enough to get some people to see that religious authoritarians are a menace – the “narrowly tailored to punish the sluts” court rulings and laws have a habit of creeping over into other areas. Just as the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision led to this, Doug Ducey’s refurbished SB1062 could similarly open the door to all kinds of acrimony and notoriety for Arizona. Only it will be too late by then.

It comes as no surprise, though, that the ed board would be utterly unconcerned about the fate of (mostly poor) women under a Ducey administration. After all, it’s two most senior members are Doug MacEachern and Bob Robb. MacEachern is an angry and befuddled old man who thinks birth control causes abortions and Robb considers abortion to be an “epidemic” and a “sad barbarity”. It is statistically likely that women in their own families have availed themselves of abortions, since one in three American women will have one in her life. But those “discreet procedures” are always necessary and justifiable, unlike those that poor women whom Doug and Bob don’t know or care about need.