Ducey has a hot and cold week
From the notebook: Last week, Gov. Doug Ducey appointed the first Latino to the Arizona Supreme Court, John R. Lopez, IV. What was most refreshing about it was that Ducey sought neither political credit nor acclaim for having done so. Any Democratic politician, steeped in identity politics, doing likewise would have launched a self-congratulatory parade, full of ponderous pronouncements about breaking barriers and bending the arc of history.
When President Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed, the lede of the White House blog announcement pointedly noted that she was the first Hispanic on the country’s high court. Obama himself said that her confirmation was “breaking yet another barrier and moving us yet another step closer to a more perfect union.”
Truth be told, most Republican politicians would have similarly highlighted Lopez’s ethnicity, seeking political credit and acclaim for the historical milestone. By contrast, Ducey’s press announcement of the appointment did not even lead with Lopez. That was given to another justice appointed the same day, Andrew Gould.
The release made no mention of Lopez’s ethnicity, nor of the historical nature of his appointment. When pressed about it, Ducey demurred: He just picked the best person for the job. For those wanting to see what a truly pluralistic society based on merit looks like, Ducey has provided an instructive example.
On the other hand, Ducey has been disappointing in managing the politics of economic growth.
Ducey is an ardent supply-sider. He has said many times that government doesn’t create jobs. At best, it sets up the environment in which jobs are created by private-sector economic activity. During his campaign for the governorship, he pointed out that the company he built, Cold Stone Creamery, didn’t receive government incentives or subsidies.
Early this decade, the Arizona Legislature, betraying its free-market principles, adopted a robust set of corporate subsidies. There was some minor hope that Ducey, understanding that these were sidebars and distractions from the real work of creating an economic ecosystem that political
generates growth and jobs, would peel them back.
Exactly the opposite has occurred. Cutting ribbons on business relocations and expansions are part of a governor’s job. But Ducey relishes them, and it is clear that he is doing more than simply being the state’s representative saying welcome to Arizona.
Ducey is clearly seeking political credit for the economic activity and jobs announced at these media shindigs. And every ribbon cut seems to come with some sort of government handout. In the first place, this is dangerous politics. Businesses come and go, succeed and fail. That’s the nature of market economics. A politician who too closely associates with specific companies can rise and fall with them.
Ducey gave a warm public embrace to Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, which claimed to have revolutionized blood testing. It turns out she was as much huckster as innovator. She’s been banned from the business, the company is the subject of various governmental investigations, and it’s being sued by its major customers.
Last week’s ballyhooed announcement would seem to carry similar risks. Lucid is a startup electric-car company. Starting up a car company is an enterprise littered with failures. The electric-car market is speculative. Established car companies are entering the market and another startup, Tesla, has a gigantic head start.
So, the chances of a Lucid failure are high. Yet Ducey has associated himself with it. And the state has dangled $47 million in subsidies to lure it here. The bigger problem is that Ducey is undermining his own ambitions for policy changes that would actually improve the arc of Arizona’s economic growth.
Ducey is contributing to the perception that economic growth is something government creates by giving favorable treatment to preferred companies and industries, not something that occurs organically when government establishes a favorable and equal playing field for all economic actors. Unfortunately, subsidies are addictive, for the businesses that receive them and the politicians who dispense them.
Established car companies are entering the market and another startup, Tesla, has a gigantic head start.