Who knew that the series of children’s books “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is actually the true life account of Doug Ducey, the ice cream man hired by Koch Industries to run their Southwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Arizona? (My apologies to Wimpy Kid for the analogy).
This man has a spine as limp as overcooked spaghetti when it comes to standing up to the radical Sedition Caucus in the Arizona GQP.
On the one hand, Governor Ducey defended the integrity of Arizona’s election system as a “model for the nation.”
On the other hand, he says he may not veto Jim Crow 2.0 voter suppression and disenfranchisement legislation from the most radical Sedition Party in the nation, based solely upon baseless allegations of election fraud, i.e., Donald Trump’s Big Lie that Arizona’s election was stolen from him.
The Arizona Republic reports, Ducey sidesteps questions about Maricopa County election audit:
Gov. Doug Ducey would not say Monday whether he thinks the Arizona Senate needs to recount his ballot and those of the 2.1 million other Maricopa County voters.
He told reporters that legislators are within their rights to undertake a planned audit [to pursue baseless conspiracy theories without merit] but stood by his belief in the security of Arizona’s elections while sidestepping questions about whether the audit is necessary at all.
His ass must be seriously hurting straddling the fence like that.
.@dougducey has repeatedly boasted that Arizona's election system makes it "easy to vote and hard to cheat." But that doesn't mean he won't sign election bills that critics say would make it harder to vote. https://t.co/NkJ8sbLcAc
— Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) March 22, 2021
“I’ve said what I’ve said on our election system in Arizona. I’ve defended Arizona’s election integrity. So, I know there’s a lot of discussion around this and I’m not going to change my position at all,” Ducey said during a press conference at the state Capitol.
The Republican-controlled Senate won a months-long court battle to obtain all of Maricopa County’s ballots through an unusual use of the Legislature’s subpoena power. Last week, the Senate said it plans to undertake not just an audit but a “full hand count” — with the help of bipartisan volunteers.
As The Republic’s Laurie Roberts says, “What’s next, a revote?” After the COVID Relief bill from Uncle Joe, I would wager that Joe Biden would win Arizona again by an even larger margin. Only the Trump/QAnon cult members miss their “Dear Leader.” And Biden still wins the Electoral College even without Arizona, so what is the point of this useless exercise?
The Senate has yet to announce who exactly will oversee the audit, when it will happen, where it will happen and other details, however. Election officials warn that the process would be lengthy and that a hand count would be prone to human error. [True dat!]
Related: Arizona Democrats call recount of Maricopa ballots ‘charade’:
Democrats on Monday lashed out at Republicans who control the Arizona Senate for their plan to do a complete hand recount of 2.1 million ballots in the state’s most populous county, calling the effort a “charade” to keep backers of former President Donald Trump fired up and undermine the integrity of the state’s elections.
Sen. Rebecca Rios, the leader of minority Democrats in the Senate, said Senate President Karen Fann’s plan to recount ballots in Maricopa County’s November election to mollify Trump backers was “a charade.”
“This audit is not about increasing voter trust. Americans’ right to vote is sacred and how elections are run is paramount to the trust in our Democracy,” Rios said. “This entire charade is only keeping the flame of fraud lit and we’ve seen how gaslighting voters into thinking their election was stolen has to end.”
And Steve Gallardo, the sole Democrat on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, was even more blunt, accusing Fann and Senate Republicans of pushing unfounded conspiracy theories that Trump actually won in Arizona and damaging the integrity of the state’s elections.
“They continue to put out false statements, unfounded truths, they continue to push unfounded conspiracy theories to do one thing, and that is to try to control the elections in 2022 and 2024,” Gallardo said. “This isn’t about finding the truth or trying to verify electoral votes. This is about undermining our elections, undermining the will of the voters.”
“They shouldn’t be doing this at all, they should drop this,” Democratic Sen. Martin Quezada said. “This is an unnecessary and an irresponsible soapbox that they’re getting on.”
Still, Republican leaders in the Legislature have faced enormous pressure from some in their party to undertake an audit following President Joe Biden’s victory in Arizona last year.
While legislative leaders have argued they merely aim to allay concerns and bolster the public’s confidence in the election results, many GQP lawmakers pushing for an audit had also called for overturning the results altogether.
Asked if he believed undertaking the audit would only fuel conspiracy theories about wrongdoing in the last election, Ducey said: “Before I could give you an accurate answer on that question, we’ll have to see what the results of the audit are.”
Wimpy Kid without a spine, or more accurately, he is a “coward.”
Ducey defended Arizona as a model for the country in administering elections.
“We have a compendium of best practices in our state. Other states could benefit by applying what we already do here in Arizona,” he said.
But he refused to say whether he believes the audit is necessary or if he has any concerns about the proposed process.
“We have a separate and coequal government with checks and balances. So, that’s a question for the Legislature,” he said.
‘You lost the election. Deal with it’
Democrats are quick to point out that the county has twice audited the election results and tested election equipment. Neither the audits or tests uncovered any problems.
They contend the Senate’s planned audit will merely pander to supporters of former President Donald Trump, that it won’t be professional or reliable and that it will give more life to conspiracy theories.
Meanwhile, the Arizona Senate’s plans for an audit have captured the attention and the hopes of many of Trump’s supporters. Mike Lindell, a Minnesota pillow manufacturer who has emerged as one of the most ardent proponents of conspiracy theories about the last election, told The Daily Beast he is funding several groups working on efforts to recall politicians in Arizona and is trying to get an audit.
MyPillow founder Mike Lindell says he's funding conservative groups that are seeking to recall elected Republicans in Arizona https://t.co/w0XkzqUO07
— Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) March 22, 2021
County Supervisor Steve Gallardo, the only Democrat on the five-member board, told reporters outside the state Capitol on Monday that Republicans are merely pushing conspiracy theories to undermine confidence in the elections.
But as Gallardo spoke, a small crowd of audit proponents [Trump/QAnon cult members] arrived. They waved U.S. and Gadsden flags and jeered [exactly like the seditious insurrectionists on January 6.]
“You guys are traitors! Treason!” protesters yelled as Democrats warned that Senate Republicans' pending audit of the 2020 election would fuel conspiracy theories https://t.co/oyyzr7j9z6
— Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) March 22, 2021
Funny, but the only “traitors” America saw were the Trump/QAnon cult members who engaged in a violent seditious insurrection on January 6, in a failed coup d’etat to end American democracy and to replace it with GQP authoritarianism, i.e., American fascism, under a corrupt and criminal tinpot dictator, Donald Trump.
“Now they want to get an army of folks who are going to carry those flags to hand count your ballots,” @Steve_Gallardo said as pro-Trump protesters shouted widely debunked election conspiracies https://t.co/JJJHBEONpe
— Jim Small (@JimSmall) March 22, 2021
“You lost the election. Deal with it,” he yelled at one point.
Shorter version, “Fuck off.”
As some shouted about “globalists” and other conspiracy theories, Gallardo, the only Democrat on the county board, pointed to the group and noted the Senate’s plans for a volunteer-driven recount.
“Now, they want to get an army of folks who are going to carry those flags to hand count your ballots,” he said.
If only the cowardly Doug Ducey had the backbone to tell these domestic terrorists to “fuck off,” like Steve Gallardo did. Watch and learn, Dougie.
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For a guy who claims he is not running for anything in 2022, or 2024, Dougie sure acts like he is. A Republican primary for the Senate in 2022 would be a lunatic circus worth watching. The Dougster, trying to sound reasonable, while still kowtowing to the crazies is an impossible place to be, unless he wants to be the main ingredient in roadkill chili.
Jim Small at the Arizona Mirror has an excellent op-ed, “A counter-majoritarian party and its radically anti-democratic plan to keep power”, https://www.azmirror.com/2021/03/11/a-counter-majoritarian-party-and-its-radically-anti-democratic-plan-to-keep-power/
(excerpt)
It’s little wonder that the Republican Party is embracing counter-majoritarian policies: They know full well that they will lose their grip on power at the ballot box if they are forced to run on their actual ideas and records, so they’re going to rig the system so they can control the nation’s direction as a [tyranny of the] minority.
That’s particularly true in Arizona, where Republicans are increasingly unpopular in a state experiencing seismic demographic shifts that will in the near future treat the GOP the way a hammer treats a nail.
And it’s precisely why Arizona Republicans are pushing a slew of proposals this year that aim to cut the number of people who vote, make it harder for everyone — and particularly newer voters — to cast a ballot and to make those votes count for less.
The self-described champions of the free market can’t compete in the marketplace of ideas without putting a thumb — or even their whole hand — on the scale.