Ducey dons Nikes at July Fourth barbecue
Nike’s decision to pull its “Betsy Ross flag” sneaker just before the Fourth of July irked Gov. Doug Ducey so much, he yanked $1 million in incentives offered to the company and blasted the move in a nine-message screed on Twitter.
But the decision apparently didn’t bother the Arizona Republican enough to keep his own Nikes in the closet on Independence Day.
A photo posted on the Coconino County Democratic Party‘s Twitter page Thursday evening showed Ducey wearing black-and-white Nike tennis shoes at a Fourth of July barbecue in Flagstaff.
Another attendee at the Forest Highlands Golf Club event took the photo and shared it with one of the group’s precinct committeemen, according to Ann Heitland, the county party’s vice chair.
“Wow, @dougducey standing on principle,” the party tweeted, setting off a series of retweets and replies that included animations of facepalms and a “hypocrisy meter” reaching its highest point.
A spokesman for the governor would not confirm the authenticity of the photo, saying via email: “Really?”
“Yes, the Governor owns Nikes. Stop the presses,” spokesman Patrick Ptak said. “But this story was about our flag and our founding. The Governor didn’t call for a boycott. He didn’t even say the company wasn’t welcome to do business in Arizona. He said we should be respecting our flag, our history and Betsy Ross.”
Nike pulled the shoe featuring an early design of the American flag earlier this week, after former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick told the company he and others found the version of the flag depicted on the shoe offensive.
The design — often called the “Betsy Ross” flag, though it’s not clear the 18th century upholsterer actually made it — has been appropriated by extremist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the “militia movement” in recent years. Nike said it did not want to “unintentionally offend and detract from the nation’s patriotic holiday.”
In response, Ducey slammed Nike in a series of 2 a.m. tweets Tuesday that made national headlines, arguing the company had “bowed to the current onslaught of political correctness and historical revisionism” and calling the decision a “shameful retreat.”
“Words cannot express my disappointment at this terrible decision,” he wrote, vowing to withdraw $1 million in state incentives recently promised to the company in exchange for opening a manufacturing plant in Goodyear with some 500 full-time jobs.
The governor does not control a separate $2 million in city incentives offered to Nike.
“This country, our system of government and free enterprise have allowed (the company) to prosper and flourish,” Ducey continued. “Instead of celebrating American history the week of our nation’s independence, Nike has apparently decided that Betsy Ross is unworthy.”
“Nike has made its decision, and now we’re making ours,” he wrote. “Arizona’s economy is doing just fine without Nike. We don’t need to suck up to companies that consciously denigrate our nation’s history.”
The Fourth of July barbecue began less than 72 hours later.