"Douglas tossed dunce hat into election ring - and won!" ~ E.J. Montini,
Arizona Republic
I'd like to have coined that phrase, "Evan Mecham on steroids," but it was
Linda Valdez in
The Arizona Republic who used those words to describe Diane Douglas, the GOP's candidate for education czar. Valdez went on to call Douglas "the most unqualified candidate I've ever met" to lead the state's education office.
When Douglas's victory looked stunningly possible last week, I wrote about the race, which pitted an experienced, nationally recognized educator (David Garcia) against a tea party toady who's never been in the classroom, and who will indeed be Mecham on steroids (Douglas). As I feared, after thousands of absentee ballots were counted, the race was called for Douglas:
Douglas pulled out a close victory after Democrat David Garcia could not overcome her advantage as late ballots were counted through the week. Garcia's campaign did not want to comment Sunday.
Follow me over the fold for more Mecham and more steroids.
Mecham
You remember Ev Mecham, right? He won Arizona's 1986 gubernatorial election in a three-way race with 40 percent of the vote. Mecham had been a perpetual-motion candidate, running every four years, spewing out nonsense in his newspaper, and selling cars during the day to make a buck (he made millions of them). But in 1986 the state didn't have a 50+1 rule, so his 40 percent gave Mecham the victory. After his short but entertaining tenure (only a year and a half), the legislature passed 50+1, to avoid similar bumblefucks in the future.
Such as:
Mecham was old-school Mormon, when the LDS did not permit black priests, and women were obedient baby makers. He was a devout follower of Cleon Skousen, the communist-hating John Bircher, history denier and all-around bigoted Mormon nutball. Like Skousen, Mecham believed working women cause divorce, he made his share of homophobic slurs, and he famously used the P-word to describe African Americans. And of course he rescinded Gov. Babbitt's MLK Day proclamation, setting off a shitstorm of controversy, including the loss of Super Bowl XXVII and a giant recall drive. Before the recall took effect, however, a grand jury convicted Mecham of obstruction of justice and misuse of funds, and then the legislature impeached his butt and sent him packing.
I saw his bigoted theocracy up close only once, but then we didn't hang in the same circles. While working on education standards, some of us learned about his "Jesus Rode a Dinosaur" version of history. You know: Earth is 6,000 years old, the Bible is a literal depiction of civilization's march, and a Christian god inspired every word in the U.S. Constitution.
He said a couple things to me that took my breath away, and I can't believe he briefly led an entire state, let alone a car dealership. But Mecham, a WWII pilot, had a fanatical following who would've re-elected him even after the convictions. He died in 2008, but if Mecham were around today, he'd be a cheerleader for the school board in Gilbert, which voted to rip pages out of a biology text just because it mentions abortion—as a medical procedure.
Steroids
Think about this guy running a state's education program, and then think about his crazy ideas cranked up to 11, and you have Diane Douglas, who will now oversee education policy for Arizona. You get a sense of her priorities from these four speaking engagements that are proudly highlighted on her website:
• An education panelist at the AZ Right to Life Conference 2008.
• A presenter at The American's for Prosperity "Defending the American Dream Summit" 2012 Washington D.C.
• A panelist A.C.E. National School Choice Forum 2013.
• A panelist at AZ American's for Prosperity "Milton Friedman's Birthday Celebration A Discussion of Common Core" 2013.
Right-to-life, the Koch Brothers, school choice, Milton Friedman. Now
there's a curriculum from hell. Candidate Douglas, a former Peoria School Board member, dodged the media and her opponent during the campaign, refusing to do interviews or debate Garcia. She spent her time courting tea baggers and LDS supporters with a one-note attack on Common Core, which
she cast as federal overreach, even though it's the
state that sets standards:
My Education plan for Arizona will return common sense to the classroom, local control to our schools and ensure that parents have the best educational choices for our children.
Her website includes a lot of empowering language about "taking back" education from the Feds and turning it over to parents, because they know better than the experts, whom she dismisses as goons with letters after their name. With a bachelor's degree in business, she describes herself as a home-schooled education leader, who
says she knows "the intent of our Founding Fathers for public education" (code: more Jesus in the curriculum).
Given our Looney Tune legislature, many of whom share Douglas's views, we can expect an effort to put god back in the classroom and get "illegals" out, remove or revise science and history texts and standards, end multicultural studies (even though Arizona will soon be majority minority), and get rid of anything resembling critical thinking. Also, even though her new title is Superintendent of Public Instruction, she'll continue the legacy of her GOP predecessors, where the traditional public school takes a backseat to privatization, at the expense of disadvantaged districts.
Arizona has a billion-dollar deficit and is not attracting quality employers, who complain that we don't produce an educated workforce (graduation rate: 43rd). Over the last decade Arizona's nitwit legislature, whose DNA is very anti-education, has cut school budgets more than any other state, while they increased prison funding 75 percent, to the point we now spend 40 percent more on prisons than schools.
Today's news won't help.