Governor Doug Ducey is the headliner of an event at the Arizona capitol next week sponsored by the organization behind the state's infamous Senate Bill 1062.
Flyers for the Center for Arizona Policy's "Day at the Capitol" prominently feature Ducey as the organization's "special guest."
See also: -Center for Arizona Policy Hates Gays, Abortions, and Likes to Tell Politicians What to Do
Ducey's spokesman did not return New Times' call requesting comment on Ducey's appearance.
In addition to SB 1062, which was widely seen as an anti-gay bill, the group takes credit for 21 different anti-abortion laws passed in the state, and more than 100 other Arizona laws dealing with what the organization calls "the foundational values of life, marriage and family, and religious liberty."
In Ducey's campaign for governor, his relationship with Center for Arizona Policy president Cathi Herrod came to the forefront, especially given the uproar caused by SB 1062. Amid that uproar, Ducey said he would have vetoed 1062, and downplayed Herrod's role as an adviser to his campaign.
However, as we've reported before, Ducey's beliefs align just about perfectly with Herrod's -- according to Ducey's candidate surveys -- and he's donated money to Herrod's organization through the the Ducey Family Foundation.
It hasn't yet become clear how friendly Ducey's going to be to the organization's agenda, although he can't be much of a foe if he's headlining their events.
Although Governor Jan Brewer was mostly friendly to the Center for Arizona Policy's anti-abortion agenda, Brewer still vetoed 10 of the group's bills over four years. Democrat Janet Napolitano, on the other hand, vetoed 20 of CAP's bill in a six-year span.
Meanwhile, here's a snippet from an Associated Press article over the weekend:
Cathi Herrod of the Center for Arizona Policy attended a meeting of about a dozen lawmakers on the "Arizona Values Action Team" Monday at a state building near the Capitol.Below if the flyer from the Center for Arizona Policy on next week's event with Ducey:An Associated Press reporter was barred from the closed-door lunchhour gathering, but documents obtained by the AP show Herrod's group is again pushing religious rights, anti-abortion and school-choice legislation. The meeting and agenda outlined in the documents illustrate the clout and access Herrod has with Arizona lawmakers even after a national uproar among gay rights supporters over last year's Senate Bill 1062 . . .
As Arizona hosts the Super Bowl this week, lawmakers have mainly avoided introducing any provocative legislation along the lines of what happened last year and in 2010 over the immigration crackdown known as SB1070. But Herrod has been hard at work crafting legislation designed to advance her group's conservative agenda.
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