Ducey, Garcia sound off in their final debate before vote

TUCSON — The economy in many parts of the state may not be booming. But Gov. Doug Ducey claimed Tuesday that voters — especially in Southern Arizona — should give him another four years because it’s a lot better than when he took office.

But in a head-to-head televised debate here, Democrat David Garcia said whatever growth there has been has been far less than the rest of the state. And he said Ducey does not deserve the credit.

Southern Arizona issues took center stage Tuesday as the pair faced off for their second — and final — debate in the studios of KUAT-TV, the Tucson PBS affiliate.

“I’m proud that Tucson is experiencing the fastest job growth that it’s had in six years,’’ Ducey said during the hour-long debate cosponsored by The Arizona Daily Star and KJZZ. He specifically called out plans by companies like Caterpillar, Comcast and Amazon to expand in Southern Arizona as proof that his record works.

Garcia sniffed at all that, saying that the whole country’s economy is improving and that Tucson is lagging.

Job growth in Maricopa County has been at twice the rate of Pima County. And Cochise County lags even further behind.

“They’re not growing to the extent the rest of the state is,’’ Garcia said. “It’s a lack of investment in K-12 education and a lack of a highly skilled workforce.’’

But Ducey, who has crowed that Arizona is “open for business,’’ found himself on the defensive when asked whether that means less regulation -- and potential danger to Arizonans.

That specifically includes his decision to allow

Uber to test its self-driving cars on Arizona roads without restrictions. That permission was withdrawn only after an Uber vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian.

Ducey was unapologetic, seeking to put that one death into perspective.

“We lose over 800 Arizonans a year on our highways due to human error from drivers,’’ he said. “I wanted to open up the innovation for this technology for autonomous vehicles to come here.’’

On other border issues, Ducey also made a strong case for plans by President Trump to expand the existing border wall.

“If we’re going to have a wall that’s going to stop drug cartels, human trafficking and child sex trafficking, I’m in favor of it,’’ the governor said.

He said that just twothirds of the border has a real physical barrier.

“And where these crimes are happening is where it’s wide open and unprotected,’’ Ducey said. “So a wall, a physical barrier and surveillance can keep our state safer and our country safer.’’

“I am against Trump’s wall,’’ Garcia said, repeating his stance that when he said “Imagine no wall’’ he did not mean removing existing barriers.

Instead, he said, the state should focus on the things that border sheriffs want, including patrolling the roadways of Southern Arizona on a 24/7 basis as was originally promised by Gov. Ducey when he proposed and funded the Border Strike Force.

The pair found lots of other issues on which to disagree.

Ducey boasted of his school safety plan, a combination of taking guns from people who are determined to be a danger as well as additional armed police to serve as school resource officers.

The governor got no traction on the proposal, with the Republican-controlled Senate first diluting it before the package died in the House. But Ducey said it’s still far preferable to what his opponent wants.

“He would remove school resource officers,’’ the governor said.

“His plan is that actually kids should run for cover,’’ Ducey continued. “I want to make sure that our schools are safe and that there’s law enforcement available.’’