Gov. Jan Brewer doesn’t always have her share of fans ’round these parts (“these parts” meaning most anywhere in Arizona, as of late), but as of today, she’s apparently among the worst governors in the country.

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has named Brewer in the bottom 12 governors in the country for misusing public funds, pressuring public officials (including the removal of the independent chair of the state’s redistricting commission) and paying out bonuses to outgoing officials (emphasis ours):

In June 2010, by executive order, Gov. Brewer moved to eliminate the state commerce department and replace it with a public-private entity called the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA). In November 2010, she announced that Don Cardon, the director of the old commerce department, would head the new authority.

On August 30, 2011, the ACA board, which is appointed and headed by Gov. Brewer, awarded Mr. Cardon a three-year contract called for Mr. Cardon to receive a $117,000 raise over his old commerce department salary, bringing it to $300,000. In addition, he received a $50,000 signing bonus, a monthly $1,000 car stipend, six weeks of paid time off a year, and an extra $30,000 allowance paid by private donors to cover additional expenses.

A few months later, on January 11, 2012, Mr. Cardon announced he was resigning from the ACA.

Gov. Brewer, who chairs the agency, supported the agency’s executive committee’s decision to give him a discretionary bonus of $60,657. The state paid the bonus, though Team ACA, a nonprofit fundraising organization associated with the ACA and also headed by Mr.Cardon, said it would reimburse the state for the bonus and half of Mr. Cardon’s salary.

ACA justified the bonus by saying Mr. Cardon helped create thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in new investments. Those numbers included jobs businesses had promised to create but that did not yet exist, and capital investments projected but not yet made.

It’s worth noting that the press release sent out by CREW mentions Brewer’s ties to the Corrections Corporation of America, though the full CREW report on Brewer lacks that information.

For the full report on why Brewer is supposedly terrible, head here.

This article appears in Jul 11-17, 2013.

10 replies on “Jan Brewer Has Been Named One of the Worst Governors in the Country for Her Ties to CCA”

  2. To be fair to Jan Brewer, one bright spot on her record was to remove the retaliating ASDB board members and managers who used ASDB’s funds and time to advance their personal side business. Looks like she has a little more of that type of work to do here in Tucson with the wayward community college and water district. She has shown she will, and should have the ability to clear up these “Murky Matters” when she chooses to lay down the law again.

    -Thank You Jan

  3. There are so many more reasons to name her one of the worst governors, but you have to start somewhere!

  4. It’s understandable that any godless Liberal who voted for an individual who literally hates this country and even considers those who voted for him “Infidels” would beat Brewer, no matter how good she might do. But then that’s a Liberal for you.

  5. Actually, most of the rest of the country views Jan Brewer as a folk hero for taking a stand against the Obama administration of immigration.

  6. Let me guess, this CRE. Group are big supporters of Obamanation? There are more pressing matters going on right now and the big pay raise of one person seems pretty petty, but the biggest thing she has done is fight king obamanation every step he took and for that I thank her and by the way didn’t king obamanation promise lots of jobs too?

  7. We remember Jan Brewer visiting schools all around the state appealing coherently for the small sales tax increase to support public education the first time it came around, and it passed. The second time it came around, she avoided the schools, went over to the other side with opposition, and it failed. She changes with the winds, and her brilliant smile is fake, phony and malicious.

  8. Jan Brewer is even more corrupt then this article reports. While I did not know about her ties to Corrections Corporation of America, her affiliation to ALEC has been very clear. ALEC, CCA, Koch brothers have her in their pocket.

  9. We remember Jan Brewer visiting schools all around the state appealing coherently for the small sales tax increase to support public education the first time it came around, and it passed. Yes and what did Brewer do with the funds, move them to the General funds in her budget. Not one penny was spent on Education. So with the 2nd proposal, it was stiputlated that the funds could NOT be changed and all Republicans voted against that. Republicans continue to steal monies for the general fund. And then Brewer get $268 million to help those in foreclosure. She stole that money too. 96% of those that applied for some money were rejected. Where did all those millions go Janet? and for Fed Road Tax $ coming to Janet. All that goes to the general fund, Not one penny is passed on the cities and communities for fixing roads, etc. Republicans are the biggest thieves.

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