The new head of Wyoming’s Education Department, Rich Crandall has announced that he has had to delay his resignation from the Arizona State Senate due to concerns about a “gap” in his insurance coverage. In a letter dated August 20, Crandall notified Senate president Andy Biggs that he was his “two children with pre-existing conditions and a gap in health insurance coverage even for only two weeks could have serious consequences.”
Within hours the Yellow Sheet and liberal bloggers put forth the news of Crandall’s “concern” and health insurance dilemma. One liberal blogger, David Safier picked up on the Yellow Sheet’s reports and used their rendition of the worried dad as evidence of the need for Obamacare.
To view Crandall’s resignation letter click here.
However according to Arizona Senate officials, not only was Crandall informed at the time he submitted his letter that Arizona would maintain his insurance through the month should he resign immediately, but the Yellow Sheet reporter was informed of that small but powerful detail as well.
According to Crandall’s Arizona staff, a moving truck hauled away all of his belongings and he is not expected to meet with Arizona constituents before his resignation on the 31st. The telephone system and an old briefcase and a very friendly administrative assistant are all that remain in his senate office.
According to his staff in Wyoming, Crandall is not available for comment because he is in Chicago attending the Council of Chief State School Officers conference. He will return to his Wyoming office on Monday according to Rita Watson with the WED.
Shawna Cobb, WED human resource supervisor, would not comment as to whether Crandall would not have coverage with Wyoming until September 1.
The same day Crandall submitted his latest resignation letter to Arizona officials, the Wyoming Supreme Court heard the case before it, which some speculate is the real reason for Crandall’s delayed resignation. That case, brought by Wyoming Superintendent Cindy Hill over statewide management of Wyoming’s public school system could determine the type of job Crandall has.
Hill is challenging a new law that stripped the superintendent’s office of most of its powers and duties. Hill was duly elected by the people of Wyoming to oversee the Wyoming Department of Education, but the state legislature, at the behest of Governor Mead, divested Hill’s office of that role.
The superintendent remains one of the five statewide elected officials. According to K2Radio, “Hill argues the law usurps the state constitution by transferring too many powers and duties to an unelected agency director appointed by the governor. The state contends the Wyoming Constitution empowers the Legislature to manage the state’s education system, including the superintendent’s administrative role.”
Officials confirmed that Crandall will continue to receive a pay from the Senate until he retires.
According to senate officials, there is nothing illegal about what he is doing. Arizona’s Constitution; Article 4, Part 2, Section 5, would only prohibit Crandall from holding another government position if that position was in Arizona. Since its Wyoming he can double dip.
ASU law professor Paul Bender believes that Crandall has a “general” conflict for the short period he holds both jobs. Bender says a legislator can’t hold a public office in another state and remain in the Legislature for the duration of his term ethically theoretically.
The Yellow Sheet reported:
“Crandall told our reporter today that he sent his resignation letter to Biggs and Bennett’s office this afternoon, but it has one notable change from what was expected: He will remain a senator until Aug. 31. Originally, Crandall said he planned to resign Aug. 16. But since he made that announcement, Crandall said he learned that his health insurance from the state would end immediately upon his resignation – something he isn’t willing to risk, because he has two children with serious pre-existing conditions and his insurance from the state of Wyoming doesn’t kick in until Sept. 1. He said that he spoke with Biggs about the delayed resignation this morning: “He wasn’t exactly happy about that, but I don’t care.”
“Soon-to-be-ex State Senator Rich Crandall is lucky he can double dip, or he and his family could be without healthcare for a few weeks. If I were an anti-Obamacare Republican, I might say, “Why should Arizona keep covering your health care when you’re not doing your job? It’s your problem, not ours. Suck it up, Rich, be a man.” Instead I’ll say I’m happy for Crandall that he won’t be in the terrifying position of having to balance his family’s physical health with its financial health if someone had the bad fortune of becoming seriously ill while he was without insurance. And I’ll go on to say, I’m pleased for the whole country that those kinds of dilemmas will lessen greatly once Obamacare gets going.
Crandall is leaving — actually, has already left — to be director of the Wyoming Department of Education, but he won’t get Wyoming health insurance until September 1, and he was supposed to quit his senator position August 16. Two of his kids are currently healthy but have serious pre-existing conditions that make the family especially vulnerable if Crandall is without health care.
Crandall’s a moderate, by Arizona Republican standards, anyway. He’s one of the R legislators who voted for Medicaid expansion. Still, I wonder if his brush with losing his health care is enough to turn him into a champion of Obamacare. Since Republicans seem to lack an empathy gene, it usually takes some kind of personal experience (“Oh my God, this is happening to me! We’ve got to do something!”) to change their hearts.
As his constituents have long averred, Crandall has never been hindered by ethical consideration, but this time he really crossed the line and took the credibility of the Yellow Sheet and Safier with him.
