3 who failed to lead after the election
When the smoke clears from our latest exercise in democracy and the shouting is done (if it is ever done), remember some of Arizona’s leading lights.
This was not their finest hour.
It was sad to see so many elected officials forgo facts or stand silently by — or in some cases, not so silently by — as those around them went about the business of eroding the public’s confidence in Arizona’s elections.
Leadership? It vanished in direct proportion to cries by Trump and his supporters that the fix was in.
This year, the awards for the most disappointing post-election performance go to:
Rep. Paul Gosar
When it comes to conspiracy theories, this Arizona congressman has never met one he doesn’t love. Alas, he’s had plenty to love over the last 10 days.
#SharpieGate, #Maidengate, “glitches” in the Dominion Voting Systems’ election software used in Arizona and 29 other states, “green button” mischief at Arizona’s polling places (affecting at most 191 votes in a race Trump is losing by more than 11,000).
Gosar never misses an opportunity to reinforce, without evidence, Republican suspicions that skullduggery was afoot, here and across the land.
“Pretty certain you easily won #Arizona,” he tweeted on Nov. 7, in reply to President Donald Trump’s tweet claiming victory. “The Secretary of State here in charge of the elections states that everything is fine and insists we don’t ask her any questions and insists we don’t ask for proof that the Dominion software was perfect. #stopthesteal”
Gosar wants a hand tally of Arizona’s votes for president “to restore the faith.” Faith that he, without benefit of evidence, has spent 10 days eroding.
Ducey was unable to muster the intestinal fortitude to defend his own state from cries of fraud.
Rep. Andy Biggs
Biggs’ response to Trump losing the election was to propose disenfranchising every voter in America.
The ways Biggs see it, the presidential election ought to be nullified due to widespread fraud. Never mind that there has been no proof of any widespread fraud.
“Well, you’re talking about fraud, pure and simple,” Biggs said, during a Tuesday appearance on The Charlie Kirk Show. “We’re talking about Pennsylvania is an utter disaster, and really your immediate remedy is to basically nullify Pennsylvania’s election.
“So Pennsylvania would have to decide: Are we going to revote? And I don’t think there’s time to revote. And if you can’t revote, then you can’t seat their electors. And if you can’t see their electors, you can’t seat anybody’s. And then you’re going to move to the Congress.”
In other words, substitute Ameri
ca’s choice for president with Republicans’ choice for president.
The Constitution gives the House the power to name a president in the event of a tie in the Electoral College. But each state gets only one vote.
Can you guess which party controls 26 of the states’ delegations?
Gov. Doug Ducey
Cries of protest went up as soon as the presidential vote tallies started rolling in on election night.
In the days that followed, state GOP
Chairwoman Kelli Ward vowed, “we won’t let this election be stolen,” and baseless rumors spread nationwide that Sharpies were being used to invalidate Republican votes in Arizona.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Trump supporters swarmed the Maricopa County elections center nightly, demanding that the votes be counted even as the votes were being counted.
“We need to shut the city down until we get a recount,” one protester yelled, to cries of agreement from the crowd.
Harassed elections officials repeatedly explained that Sharpies were OK and that they were working hard to count every vote. But they are Democrats. They needed Republican officials to stand with them.
“All state leaders must stand up for our democratic process and those whom we’ve entrusted to carry it out,” Secretary of State Katie Hobbs tweeted on Nov. 6.
And where was Gov. Ducey?
He was quick to respond on the evening of the election after Fox News quickly called Arizona for Democrat Joe Biden, tweeting “it’s far too early to call the election in Arizona.” He followed up the next morning with a statement urging people to refrain from suggesting that Trump lost the election.
Beyond that, however, he may as well have been on a rocket ship to the moon, unavailable to calm the chaos as prominent members of own party questioned the trustworthiness of Arizona’s election.
After nearly a week of accusations and calls to “stop the steal,” Ducey finally returned from his lunar excursion on Nov. 9 to offer that vote counting takes time and that when it’s done he will “respect the vote.”
Ducey was unable to muster the intestinal fortitude to defend his own state from cries of fraud. His absence of leadership was so noticeable that finally it fell to Attorney General Mark Brnovich, the state’s No. 2 Republican, to acknowledge on Thursday that Arizona ran a clean election and that Biden had won.
Over the last 10 days, Arizona needed its governor to stand up and play statesman. Instead, he hunkered down and played politics.