Arizona’s ‘Wimpy Kid’ Governor Appeases COVID Deniers And The Sedition Caucus In His Own Party

Arizona’s “Wimpy Kid” Governor Doug Ducey caved to pressure from the MAGA/QAnon mob of COVID deniers and insurrectionists, and signed two controversial bills late Friday — one that exempts businesses from following mask mandates, and another that bans private funds for election administration.

The Arizona Republic reports, Ducey signs bill to let businesses ignore mask mandates; law won’t take effect for months:

[A] bill Gov. Doug Ducey signed Friday, which echoes a recent executive order from his office.

“I am signing this bill, ensuring that our small businesses will no longer be required to enforce mandates imposed on them by their cities who are choosing not to enforce it themselves,” Ducey said in a signing letter.

But there are some twists to the bill.

For one, it doesn’t become effective until the “general effective date” for all legislation this year, which is 90 days after the legislative session ends. The session is ongoing.

Until that date, which is different every year, the issue of whether city or county mask mandates are legal is up for debate. The Governor’s Office says that a March executive order from the governor prohibits cities and counties from enacting such mandates, but the Attorney General’s Office issued an informal opinion stating otherwise.

“The governor signed an executive order about masks and that is the law of Arizona,” Ducey spokesman C.J. Karamargin said Friday after the governor signed the bill.

WRONG!  Arizona AG says Pima County can enforce mask mandate:

Pima County can continue to enforce its face-mask mandates to reduce the spread of the coronavirus in spite of an executive order issued by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey that bars local orders, according to an informal opinion issued by Arizona’s attorney general Tuesday.

The opinion comes on the same day that Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said she would keep the city’s mask mandate in place.

However, the opinion issued by Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office said the governor could order the state health department to issue rules barring local mandates or ignore the opinion and try to enforce his executive order on his own.

Riiight. The “Wimpy Kid” governor? Ducey not taking actions against Arizona cities that continue mask mandates: Gov. Doug Ducey is not taking any action to curb the decisions of some cities and counties to ignore his directive that they scrap their mask mandates. And there’s no current indication he will.

Three Republican lawmakers sought the opinion late last month after Pima County’s health department said it would continue to enforce its mask mandate despite Ducey’s new order barring local rules.

Hence the GQP COVID denier bill signed by our “Wimpy Kid” governor, which won’t take effect until 90 days after the legislative session ends. So mask up, morons!

UPDATE: From Arizona Mirror:

.@HealthSystemsAZ, which represents most of Arizona’s biggest health care providers, says it’s disappointed that @dougducey signed bill gutting mask mandates on private businesses, says mandates have been critical to the fight against COVID-19 pic.twitter.com/UdILeQXH1h

— Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) April 10, 2021

Then there are the MAGA/QAnon conspiracy cult insurrectionists who believe that nonprofit organizations that provide grants to county election departments for COVID-19 safety protocols, voter outreach, staffing and other expenses the state of Arizona failed to appropriate last year somehow “stole” the election for Joe Biden, because more voters were able to vote (so this is really a voter suppression measure).

Wait, don’t you delusional asshats also insist that Donald Trump actually won the election and that is why the Arizona Senate is conducting a sham audit by a “Stop The Steal” conspiracy theorist? Election auditor wrote ‘election fraud facts’ report for GOP senators who tried to overturn the 2020 election:

The document, which conspiracy theorist attorney Sidney Powell posted on her website, lists its author as Doug Logan, whose cybersecurity company Cyber Ninjas will head up the audit team that Fann put together. She posted the document on a section of her website called, “Evidence of Fraud – 2020 Election.” Logan authored a document titled “Election Fraud Facts & Details.”

Does this ban on outside money not appropriated by the state of Arizona also include the American version of the Russian propaganda media network Sputnik, the One America News Network (OANN), so pro-Trump that he wanted to buy the network to churn his own propaganda, which is raising money to pay for the Arizona Senate’s sham audit by a “Stop The Steal” conspiracy theorist? A conspiracy theorist pro-Trump cable news host is raising money to fund the election audit:

The host of a program on a pro-Trump cable news network that has repeatedly peddled conspiracy theories and false information about the 2020 election is raising money to pay for the Arizona Senate’s audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County.

Christina Bobb, a host on the One America News Network, tweeted on Friday that she launched a nonprofit organization called Voices & Votes, and that the organization is raising money to fund the audit.

“Join us in the fight for the AZ Election Audit. This audit is crucial to know the truth about 2020,” Bobb wrote on Twitter.

Bobb said her 501(c)(4) organization had already raised $140,000 of her $150,000 goal. She said she hopes to have a “mission complete” message for supporters over the weekend.

Or is outside money from Trump TV to overturn the will of Arizona voters with the Arizona Senate’s sham audit by a “Stop The Steal” conspiracy theorist perfectly OK with the GQP Sedition Caucus in the Arizona Senate, and our “Wimpy Kid” governor who doesn’t have the cajones to stand up to the lunatics in his own party?

The AP reports, Arizona governor signs bill banning private election grants:

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Friday signed legislation banning the use of private funding for elections but said the money the state received last year from organizations with funding from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s foundation was helpful and used with “integrity.”

Our “Wimpy Kid” governor trying to have it both ways again. He is going to hurt himself straddling the fence like that.

But the Republican governor said election officials should not be forced to rely on private grants for voter outreach, staffing or other expenses in the future. While he said nothing in the new law should be interpreted as a sign the state is unappreciative, the bill is needed to preserve the integrity of and voter confidence in elections.

“With public confidence in our elections in peril, it’s clear our elections must be pristine and above reproach — and the sole purview of government,” Ducey said in a signing letter.

In other words, this bill was totally unnecessary and was driven entirely by the conspiracy theories of the MAGA/QAnon insurrectionists. But our “Wimpy Kid ” governor, who has defended the state’s election integrity, nevertheless signed this unnecessary bill to appease the kooks in his own GQP Sedition Caucus. Craven coward. And this guy has fantasies about running for president? A craven coward appeaser? Get real.

Republicans who control the Legislature voted for the measure, with some questioning how county officials used the money. Democrats warned the measure could starve election offices of the funds needed to run secure and efficient elections because lawmakers consistently underfund state and county elections operations.

A ban on private election funding was part of an elections bill in Georgia that has drawn fierce backlash from some high profile businesses and Major League Baseball.

This is “model legislation” for voter suppression being written by America’s far-right organizations. Conservative groups are writing GOP voter suppression bills — and spending millions to pass them. Don’t let these Trumpist insurrectionists complete their coup d’etat against American democracy.

Republican Sen. J.D. Mesnard urged members to back the measure during a Senate vote earlier this week, saying private election funding will become the newest way for corporations and wealthy donors to wield influence.

“This makes dark money look like a bright day,” Mesnard said Tuesday. “We should be proactively stopping that before it becomes embedded in America’s election system.”

Says the guy who got this “model legislation” from the “Kochtopus” dark money network, and has received large amounts of campaign support from dark money groups over the years. He is also responsible for killing legislation over the years to force transparency in “dark money” in Arizona, so what an asshole.

Democrats pointed out the obvious: the grants wouldn’t be necessary if the Legislature provided enough money to county election officials to run elections.

“It’s easy to make a boogeyman our of billionaires. I don’t like them either. But we put ourselves in this situation,” Sen. Juan Mendez, a Tempe Democrat, said of the Legislature’s budgeting decisions. “Our elections are so underfunded we’ve got counites out there asking for money to do voter outreach.”

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs used $4.8 million from the Center for Election Innovation and Research for an advertising campaign telling voters when and how to vote, encourage signup for the permanent early voting list, recruit poll workers and combat misinformation before and after the election.

Her office said the money was crucial in education people about how to safely vote during a pandemic.

Nine counties — Apache, Coconino, Graham, La Paz, Maricopa, Navajo, Pima, Pinal and Yuma — also received grants from the nonprofit organization Center for Tech and Civic Life.

Hobbs said in a statement that she was “deeply disappointed [our “Wimpy Kid” governor] has preferred to satisfy appease the [MAGA/QAnon] conspiracy theorists within his own party instead of taking a stand.”

Ducey pledged to partner with the Legislature to provide elections officials with adequate resources.

Sure he will. The “Wimpy Kid” has been governor for six years, and never provided adequate funds for county elections offices in his budgets. He is termed out and cannot run for governor again in two years (thank God!) So he has no incentive. As a Republican, he has always benefitted from fewer voters being able to vote, which is why Republicans are the Party of Voter Suppression.