EJ Montini

opinion columnist





Gov. Doug Ducey was in the mood to celebrate Thursday evening, not to answer questions, and who can blame him? The votes were in and Proposition 123 had passed.

Then again, from the beginning Ducey and supporters of Prop. 123 promised voters that the ballot measure was simply the first step in making whole Arizona's grossly underfunded education system, although Ducey refused to say exactly what Step. 2 would be until after Prop. 123 passed.

Now, it had passed.

And Ducey was asked about Step. 2.

What Ducey could have said

What he could have said was: “I have here to show you a list of legislative proposals and other measures to restore education funding to what it should be and to make sure that is it is sustainable. These include…”

Instead, he said: “What’s next is that we are going to take the rest of the day off.”

And everyone laughed.

Arizona's May 17 special election

He was asked about the razor thin margin of victory and how that indicated voter distrust.

What he could have said was: “We’re aware of voter skepticism and we will work through these very concrete proposals I’m outlining so that everyone is reassured that we plan on living up to our promises.”

Instead, he said, “We’re going to celebrate a bit.”

And: “I think the most important thing tonight is that this is a major victory for our public school teachers.”

And: “We’re going to keep this coalition and we’re going to talk about how we can continue to improve K-12 education.”

We've got spirit - but no specifics

A coalition is nice, I suppose, although most of the other members of that coalition held their own a rally at the State Capitol earlier Thursday. Likewise, most of them weren’t at Ducey’s evening press conference/lovefest.

In a statement released earlier in the day Ducey said, “This was truly a broad, bipartisan coalition that brought individuals together who don’t always agree. While this campaign is over, that spirit should live on in all we do, especially when it comes to education.”

“Spirit,” but no specifics.

No Step. 2.

Senate Democratic Leader Katie Hobbs released a statement as well Thursday that read in part, “Governor Ducey has stated that passage of Prop 123 is just a start toward adequately funding our schools and we will hold him to that. The conversation about next steps must start right now.”

Not now, apparently.

Perhaps after the governor and his pals celebrate a bit.

Or sometime after that.

Or not.

MORE FROM E.J. MONTINI:

Montini: Prop. 123 was a lie unless Ducey lays out steps 4, 5, 6

Montini: The GUARANTEED Prop. 123 election winner

Montini: Prop. 123 voters to Ducey & pals: We DON’T trust you