Arizona election chief in Florida on election day
by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez - Aug. 28, 2012 12:00 AM
The Republic | azcentral.com
Arizona's leading election official won't be around for one of the state's most important elections.
Secretary of State Ken Bennett will be hobnobbing with other politicians and delegates at the Republican National Convention in Tampa instead of overseeing today's primary election, in which Arizona voters will pick partisan contenders for U.S. Senate, Congress, the state Legislature and local governments.
Bennett serves as GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign co-chairman in Arizona. He returns from the convention Friday.
Bennett makes no apologies for his absence, saying that this is his first convention and that his professional staff can oversee the election and call him if they really need him. [I guess that lame excuse is as good as any other lame excuse]
"So, there's no specific function that I personally perform on election day other than dealing with issues if they come up," Bennett told The Arizona Republic. [again I guess that is as good as any other lame excuse] "If the wrong formatted file came from one of the counties, Ken Bennett could no more personally fix it than you could."
As secretary of state, Bennett serves as the chief election officer, acts as governor when the governor is absent and keeps official state records, among other duties.
Because Gov. Jan Brewer will also be at the convention, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, also a Republican, will serve as the state's chief executive this week.
Asked if it is appropriate for a chief elections officer to be absent during an election, the National Association of Secretaries of State said it is up to each of its members to decide how to approach his or her duties. If a secretary of state attends a political event -- such as the national convention -- instead of overseeing an election, the association "would completely defer to that official's decision-making in how state office responsibilities will be handled," a spokeswoman wrote in a statement.
Past Secretaries of State Brewer and Betsey Bayless, who is now president and chief executive of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, declined to talk to The Republic about missing an election to attend a political event.
Brewer missed the state's primary election in 2008 when she led the Arizona delegation to the GOP National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.
At the time, she also said it wasn't necessary for her to be in town because her preparation work for the primary was completed. [again I guess that lame excuse is as good as any other lame excuse]
Only in recent years have the GOP convention and Arizona primary collided on the calendar. The conflict arose after elections officials said they needed more time between the primary and general elections to prepare and pushed for a law about five years ago that moved Arizona's primary election up a week.
Rose Mofford, a former Arizona governor and secretary of state, offered one brief comment on Bennett's decision: "I don't want to get involved in that, but you elect officials to do their job." [Well at least one government bureaucrat is admitting that Bennett isn't doing his job]
Jane Hull, another former Arizona governor and secretary of state, said Bennett was "absolutely right" to attend the convention, adding, "You really don't do anything in the office that day." [again that lame excuse is as good as any other lame excuse]
Hull said it's important that top elected officials attend the convention because they get to represent their state in the national spotlight. [But they taxpayers are not paying them to represent their state in the national spotlight, the taxpayers are paying them to run the election, which they are NOT doing]
Bennett pointed out that he has already performed some of his election-related duties, such as training and certifying county election officials and testing and certifying that voting devices used by the counties work properly. In the days and weeks following the election, he will certify the results. [Again that lame excuse sounds as good as any other lame excuse]
Most election-related work is performed at the county level, he said. "I'd be head of the Secretary of State's Office, but I don't personally perform the duties that it takes to make the elections work on election day." [Again that lame excuse is as good as any other lame excuse]
David Berman, a research fellow at Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy, said the Secretary of State's Office "pretty much runs itself." [If that is true then the job should be eliminated. ]
What's bothersome to some, he said, is that Bennett recently has appeared too partisan for someone who is supposed to be an objective chief elections officer.
In recent months, Bennett has been criticized for asking Hawaii officials to verify President Barack Obama's birthplace to ensure the president can appear on Arizona's general-election ballot.
Bennett was also criticized for his rejection of petitions to place a sales-tax initiative on this year's ballot. The state Supreme Court later cleared the way for the initiative to appear before voters.
And, Berman pointed out, Bennett is planning a run for governor in 2014.
"I'm not accusing him of anything, but it looks bad, really, to have someone who is supposed to be overseeing our elections to be so partisan," Berman said. "You always want to be above suspicion if you're a politician, and this makes some people wonder about his objectivity. So, maybe it's a good thing he's out of town."