This past week, Arizonans watched as Governor Jan Brewer called a Special Session of the Arizona Legislature at the urging of House Minority Leader, Democrat Chad Campbell. Senate President Andy Biggs and House Speaker Andy Tobin issued a joint statement echoing the sentiments of Arizonans of both parties across the state, calling the betrayal by the Governor an “unnecessary, impulsive and unprecedented tactic.”
Betrayal at the request of democrats is nothing new to Brewer. There is a pattern.
On March 31, 2013, Terrie Gent, the Secretary of the Cochise County Democrat Party, contacted the head of Arizona’s Veteran Services Department, Joey Strickland, inquiring about a new Woman’s Program Coordinator she had “heard about from other women veterans.” Early on April 1, Strickland responded by email explaining that many in his department were planning to retire and he was doing some restructuring. He wrote, “There is no Womens Veteran Coordinator on board.” He informed Gent that he would be bringing former state representative Terri Proud on board “in May but in a different capacity. She comes from an Army family. Her mother was a nurse. She will do well working on veterans programs.”
Student Bethany Barnes, writing for the University of Arizona’s Arizona-Sonora News Service, had called the former representative while she was enjoying time with her daughter inquiring as to what assets Proud could bring to the Veteran Services Department. Proud explained that as a daughter of a mother in the Army, she could relate to the families and the hardship women go through in the military.
Barnes turned the discussion to women on the front lines. Proud, who has heard from many female veterans that they are having a hard time getting services from veterans organizations, shared their concerns and hers about some safety issues and how exactly the military would cater to those needs. Proud cited women’s menstrual cycles as a touchy topic that the military has ignored among other things.
Barnes pressed on. She asked how Proud would feel about her mother serving on the front lines. Proud answered as a daughter; she said that she wouldn’t have wanted to see her own mom on the front lines.
On April 2, the Arizona Daily Star published the cub reporter’s hit piece. The first line read: “A former Tucson lawmaker just hired to coordinate a female veterans’ conference isn’t sure women belong on the front lines, at least partly because combat is no place to be dealing with menstrual cycle issues.”
By 6:22 a.m. on April 2, Gent notified Strickland that while she was “flying top cover for you on this,” she advises him that she had “alerted Bill Hess at the Sierra Vista Herald” about a letter to the editor she was “circulating now for edits.”
Gent wrote, “I have not forwarded your emails to anyone. But I have let them know that you would hire a political hack like Terri Proud only under extreme duress. If we get Gene Fenstermacher involved, Ms Proud is toast. Dave Hampton should tell the gov’s staff right now that they need to reverse this job placement ASAP or this will frag the gov in a way from which she cannot recover. Gene will get MOAA members around the state involved and they have both $ and the time on their hands to make a big fuss. The gov needs to move Ms. Proud out of ADVS and cut the loses for the gov. If we don’t see some sort of announcement in the next 36 hours, we will crank up the veterans network.”
An hour later, Strickland notified Department of Veterans’ Services spokesman Dave Hampton of the threats.
Gent then contacted Democrat Senator Steve Farley and others that Strickland is “being forced to hire Terri Proud.”
On April 3, at 7:55 a.m., Brewer’s spokesman Matt Benson advised other staffers that they needed to reach out to Gent “before she does more damage.”
Brewer’s staff then went into their own damage control and a good public servant would soon lose his job.
Tomorrow…. Part II: Brewer builds new narrative to appease democrat activists