Will Gov. Ducey lose the legal authority to lead?
Gov. Doug Ducey can’t get anything right, and now he’s spending tax dollars to defend his ineptitude in court.
Ducey’s lawyer, Brett Johnson, argued in federal court on Monday that gyms weren’t necessarily doing anything wrong but were ordered to close to slow COVID-19 spread among people 20 to 44 years old.
The judge may buy that argument. After all, Johnson admitted in court what Ducey won’t. Arizona is not only a national but a global COVID-19 hot spot.
The virus is wreaking havoc in Arizona. As of Tuesday, the state of seven million residents reported 128,097 confirmed cases and 2,337 related deaths.
I bet those people aged 20 to 44 weren’t just going to the gym or night clubs. They, too, were probably getting their hair and nails done, going to the mall and maybe even church.
I understand the gym and bar owners’ anger and frustration — bars also are suing. They needed to be shut, for sure, but not singled out.
Johnson told the court that closing gyms was based on guidance from health experts. If that were the case, Ducey should have also halted all indoor dining — not just limited it to 50% capacity – and shut hair salons, nail salons, churches and malls.
Some gyms are obeying Ducey’s order but others, from independent fitness studios to national chains, are defying it, reports The Arizona Republic’s Ryan Randazzo.
Defying the governor’s order is the last thing we need. The governor, however, must provide some guidance. Gym owners want to know what they need to do to reopen.
Ducey has insisted he’s following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but that’s simply not true.
The CDC requires 14 consecutive days of declining COVID-19 cases to gradually reopen businesses. Ducey ignored that.
It also recommends wearing masks. Ducey ignored that, too, until recently.
It recommends staying six feet apart from others. Ducey ignored that, too. And there is plenty of proof for that – witness him without a mask at a pool party a month ago and not social distancing at Trump’s Phoenix rally, for instance.
No wonder Ducey is deemed the worst governor in the nation, according to a poll by a quartet of reputable universities. He can’t get anything right because he’s simply letting COVID-19 run its course, and people know it.
“Only one governor — Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona — now has an approval rating in their state lower than that of the president,” said the pollsters from Northeastern University, Harvard Medical School, Rutgers and Northwestern University.
Closing gyms without closing everything else with high infection propensity was nothing more than a public relations stunt.
Everyone understands the need to keep businesses open and restart the shuttered economy. People who lost their jobs or were furloughed are desperate to go back to work. But letting a deadly pandemic run its course is beyond irresponsible.
Arizonans have lost faith in Ducey. The governor doesn’t have the moral authority to lead, and the courts may even strip him of the legal power to close businesses.