Ducey’s not-so-great wall a waste of $13 million

Gov. Doug Ducey has nothing to do. He’s bored.

He’s restless.

His term of office is running out. He can’t seek reelection. He could be traveling the state drumming up support for Kari Lake, the Republican candidate seeking to replace him, but ... he can’t stand her.

And for good reason.

He knows it would be a disaster if she won.

Before the primary election Ducey went on CNN and said, “Kari Lake is misleading voters (about the 2020 election) with no evidence. She’s been tagged by her opponents with the nickname ‘Fake Lake,’ which seems to be sticking and actually doing some damage.”

He added, “This is all an act. She’s been putting on a show for some time now and we’ll see if the voters of Arizona buy it.”

She won anyway.

If Ducey had the power of his convictions – if he was able to put the future of his state over the ambitions of his party – he would be traveling Arizona in support of Lake’s opponent.

But while Ducey has the power, he possesses no convictions.

So, to while away what amounts to several months of paid vacation before he leaves office, Ducey went ... to the border.

In a very sad way, this completes the circle of his irrelevance.

Ducey was griping about the border – saying ridiculous things like he was going to fix it – during his run up for the governor’s race in 2014.

Eight years later, he’s still saying it. And still not fixing it.

Mostly because the “fixes” Ducey (and others) propose aren’t fixes at all, but very expensive (to taxpayers) publicity stunts.

The latest happened in the form of Ducey’s $13 million photo op in front of double-stacked shipping containers topped with barbed wire.

Wearing jeans like a regular guy and with his sleeves rolled up, Ducey said, “We will continue to make significant progress to step up where the federal government refuses to. Arizona filled the gap, literally, and with these shipping containers, we are saying enough.”

Actually, no.

There aren’t enough shipping containers stacked along the border near Yuma to hold all the BS in that statement.

Ducey (with Arizonans’ money) filled a few of the gaps.

And he’s not saying “enough” to the federal government. He’s saying, “Hey, look at me, I’m a tough guy!”

What he could be saying, and should be saying, is, “Please don’t vote

for destructive, conspiracy driven, election deniers on the ballot in November, because they are poised to do a LOT more damage to our beautiful state than any amount of border crossing migrants ever did, or ever will do.”

He could be spending his final days in office trying to save the state, rather than trying to salvage his reputation. He has the power to do that.

What he lacks, and has always lacked, are convictions.