The Latest Round between Mayor Romero and Governor Ducey on Tucson’s Vaccine Mandate for City Employees

It seems Governor Doug Ducey only likes local control when the Mayors agree with his belief system.

Following the Tucson City Council vote (by a four to three margin) to terminate the services of city employees who will not receive at least one Coronavirus Vaccination shot by December 1, 2021, one of the Arizona Governor’s attorneys, Anni Foster, sent a letter to Tucson City Attorney, Mike Raskin, demanding that the local government rescind its orders, per Ducey’s interpretation of state law, or face potential criminal penalties.

It’s unfathomable that after a year as tough as last, the Tucson City Council voted to FIRE unvaccinated city employees. The state Legislature has spoken on this issue — they want Arizonans and their sincerely held beliefs to be protected from overreaching mandates. 1/ pic.twitter.com/EQMrLaN5Hm

— Doug Ducey (@DougDucey) October 20, 2021

As of the latest count, there are approximately 300 city employees, out of about 4,000, that have not received at least one dose of the COVID 19 vaccine. It appears these 300 have not claimed a religious exemption

Reacting to the letter from Mr. Ducey’s attorney, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero issued a statement that read:

“It is deeply unfortunate not just for Tucsonans, but all Arizonans that Governor Ducey is more interested in playing politics with the vaccine than taking any action whatsoever to protect public health. This is just another politically motivated attempt to micromanage Tucson and deflect from his utter failure to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.

The vaccine is safe, widely available, and effective. Please do your part to protect yourself and fellow community members by getting vaccinated.”

This is the latest round between the Tucson Chief Executive and Arizona Governor with regards to the best current strategy to combat the Coronavirus.

Since the pandemic intensified in the Grand Canyon state, Mayor Romero has challenged Governor Ducey’s lack of leadership and opposition to mandates on both masks and vaccines.

Since science and reality have been consistently on Mayor Romero’s side, one would think Governor Ducey would make a course correction instead of pursuing policies that only endanger the health and lives of his own political base.