Montini: Gov. Doug Ducey talks tough but ducks kids (and teachers)
EJ Montini: If you say you're around and available, you should be around and available.
EJ Montini
So, a bunch of teachers wearing red went down to the Capitol to see if the Republicans in control of the Senate Finance Committee were actually going to give a tax break to millionaires while teacher salaries languish near the bottom of the national barrel.
The committee did just that.
It turns out that a number of the teachers at the Capitol had called in sick that day as a form of protest.
When asked about this Gov. Doug Ducey turned into tough (talking) guy.
Talking the talk, but walking ... away
HA!
Ducey said, “People are, of course, allowed to speak, allowed to make their voice heard. But I want to thank the 50,000-plus teachers that showed up for work today in a public school classroom and are teaching our kids.”
Then he added, “If people want to come down to the Capitol and make their voice heard, I’m there pretty much all day, every day. You can do this after school.”
Double HA!
Just last week roughly 45 students who were at the Capitol with many others demanding the Legislature do something about gun violence crowded into the lobby of Ducey's office, wanting to speak to him.
But the tough-talking governor, the man who said, "If people want to come down to the Capitol and make their voice heard, I’m there pretty much all day, every day," was nowhere to be found.
Imagine that.
No protests if politicians listen
It seems pretty clear that Ducey doesn't have much interest in talking or listening to students about gun violence or teachers about poor pay.
That's a shame.
They have a lot of important things to say. That's why the teachers have been showing up at the Capitol.
It's why the students hung around the governor's office for several hours.
They were watched over by a half-dozen Department of Public Safety officers.
Ducey never showed.
MORE BY MONTINI:
Kelli Ward's link to sleazy data firm