By Sergio Arellano-Oros
The former director of Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services, Joey Strickland, wants the job he lost due to a “chain reaction” caused in part from threats by democrats. The threats came as a result of comments allegedly made by former state representative Terri Proud.
According to various sources, Strickland sent a letter to the Governor on Thursday asking for his job back.
Democrats who were upset with Proud’s comments threatened to target the Governor who they blamed for Proud’s hiring, according to the Yellow Sheet. Proud, who had not yet started her new job with the Veteran’s Services Department, allegedly told a journalism student who had called her about the job that, “menstrual cycles might be too problematic for women to be in combat.”
Proud denied the statement in a press released on Wednesday.
The Governor needs the support of the democrats to get her Medicaid expansion passed, and is quickly losing moderate republicans’ support.
According to the Yellow Sheet, Strickland said the agency wasn’t happy about Proud’s decision to talk with the press. “She caught us by surprise because we didn’t authorize her to speak with the media. She wasn’t on board yet with our department,” Strickland said.
However, when “the Governor’s chief of staff, Scott Smith got word of the Dems’ threats, he gave Strickland an obscenity-laden tongue-lashing and asked for his resignation, Strickland said according to the Yellow Sheet. Strickland said that Smith called him and “was really irate. He was screaming obscenities and yelling and talking down to me. Thoroughly unprofessional.”
Strickland said that the thought the accusation that he violated a direct order was more of an excuse and that there must be some other reason for the Governor’s Office’s opposition to hiring Proud or for the decision to oust him, according to the Yellow Sheet.“When they said I violated a direct order, I felt like it was a spin that was being put on,” Strickland told the Yellow Sheet.
The Governor’s Office is denying that there was any other reason.
In her press release, Proud pleads the case for Strickland saying that Brewer “overreacted” to the Arizona Daily Star article. “Regardless of the reason, the result devastated the life of Col. Joey Strickland who did not deserve such careless treatment. The Governor’s office should check facts before drawing conclusions,” Proud said and blamed Strickland’s ouster on the “backlash to this single article.”