On Wednesday, Department of Economic Security Director Tim Jeffries resigned, and Governor Doug Ducey named Henry Darwin as Interim Director. Darwin has served as Ducey’s Chief of Operations.
Darwin previously served as head of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.
According to an AP report, Kirk Adams, Ducey’s Chief of Staff, along with Ducey’s general counsel, Mike Liburdi, and human resources officer, Elizabeth Thorson went to Jeffries’ office at 11 a.m. He was escorted off the premises “about 10 minutes later.”
Jeffries had sparked controversy for a number of recent firings. He said he was merely “rooting out liars, bullies and bad actors.”
Jeffries’ supporters say he is being blamed for trying to bring order to a chaotic agency, while critics say he is a conservative who used his position to impose his religious beliefs. One supporter claimed that Ducey threw Jeffries under the bus after “the media went after him hard because he was actively cleaning up corrupt, bloated government.”
However, he has been accused of giving sweetheart deals in the form of no bid consulting contracts to friends and creating a black list of former employees to ensure they are not hired elsewhere.
Darwin, in a letter to DES staff, stated his “goal – my only goal – is to further your capacity to do more good for the people of Arizona.”
The letter reads in part:
“I have only a few things to ask of you. First, evaluate everything we do as employees for its impact on the DES mission. Let’s put aside wasteful distractions and focus on what matters most.
Second, never hide a problem. Please respect yourself and others enough to be honest. We’re not going to blame others, but we do expect everyone to hold ourselves and each other accountable for our choices and actions. And we will learn together from our mistakes. So, do not fear failure. Let’s have the strength and courage to try.
Lastly, I challenge each of us to have free and robust discussions about how to improve our work processes. We must be comfortable sharing our ideas, issues and problems, and we must avoid silent disagreement. When topics are open for debate, all views are valid. But debate must end at some point, and the chain of command must decide. Indecision is a decision too, and it is always a bad one. “No” may very well be an acceptable answer, even if it is not the answer you wanted to hear.
And, this is very important, once the decision is made, everyone on the team must totally commit. There can be no second-guessing or passive resistance. If we had an opinion, we will have had an opportunity to share it. We may not like the call, but we accept it, support it and do our best to carry it out.”