Jan Brewer: I’ve Got My Public Financing Now, So No More Debates

Doug Mataconis · · 6 comments

Perhaps the reason that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer seemed so unprepared for her debate the other night is that she only bothered to show up so she would qualify for public financing for her campaign:

PHOENIX – Arizona voters won’t be seeing any more debates between the top gubernatorial contenders. Incumbent Republican Jan Brewer said Thursday she has no intention of participating in any more events with Democrat Terry Goddard. She said the only reason she debated him on Wednesday is she had to to qualify for more than $1.7 million in public funds for her campaign. “I certainly will take my message in a different venue out to the people of Arizona,” she said.

Translation – I’ve got my cash, now go away peons.

Now, it’s certainly true that incumbents almost never want to debate their opponents because it generally helps the challenger more than the incumbent. However, for a candidate who’s running on a platform of fiscal conservative to be agreeing to debates just so she’ll get taxpayer dollars for her campaign strikes me as just a little hypocritical.