On the day before Thanksgiving 2016, Tim Jeffries and five members of his leadership team were exited from the Arizona Department of Economic Security after reforms Governor Doug Ducey had ordered made for many angry bureaucrats and sensational headlines.
Ducey demanded Jeffries’ resignation based on bizarre rumors that there was a stockpile of weapons at the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) headquarters. After Jeffries and his team left the building, Arizona Department of Public Safety personnel immediately investigated and determined there was only enough weapons and ammunition for the DES security personnel and their future training.
Still, the early the headlines screamed about a “cache of weapons” and to this day no attempt to correct the fake news was ever made.
After DPS released a shoddy audit which contained numerous falsehoods, Jeffries and Chief Law Enforcement Officer Charles Loftus sued the state for lies and distortions. Last week, attorneys for the state responded to the lawsuit, and now the parties are headed to court.
The wheels of justice grind slowly, so before the case gets to court, Jeffries and Ducey might face-off in the 2018 gubernatorial race.
Jeffries confirmed reports that he is considering a run against Ducey. While some of his reforms, which included the termination of “bullies,” “liars,” “slackers,” and “bad actors” from the agency, made for sensational headlines, they earned the loyalty of DES employees across the state.
“Jeffries made plenty of fans with his public statements about clearing the agency of dead wood, and his intense campaign of reaching out personally to DES employees,” wrote Ray Stern in the Phoenix News Times. “Many conservatives appreciated his religious flourishes.”
Loftus, who has worked in Arizona law enforcement for years, left his position at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office to join Jeffries at DES, kept his position at Arizona State University. There he teaches criminal justice and takes students to Israel once a year to study counter-terrorism measures.
The corruption he and former Inspector General Jay Arcellana uncovered while at DES has prompted Loftus to enter politics as well. He is currently collecting signatures to get on the ballot as an Arizona State representative in Legislative District 20 (LD20).
DES is the primary social services agency for the State of Arizona. Jeffries’ enemies’ list grew due to his zero tolerance of fraud, waste and corruption. At the same time, unlike Ducey, Jeffries had an appreciation for government workers and the people they serve. As a result, after the massacre of government employees in San Bernardino, Jeffries asked Loftus to hire and train security guards for DES offices across the state. DES has apparently turned a blind eye to fraud and abuse. In 2015 and 2016, DES published 32 separate press releases on arrests and indictments for fraud and abuse, two of them were seated elected officials. Since Jeffries and Loftus were terminated one year ago, not a single arrest or indictment has been reported by DES on their press release webpage.
Ducey, who was little more than a franchise salesman for Cold Stone Creamery before entering government, had no real understanding of what his instruction to “do government at the speed of business” meant, according to sources. As a result, the little man had little tolerance for any coverage that resulted from the implementation of his policies.
Stern discussed Ducey’s reactionary behavior in the aforementioned article:
Ducey systematically fired four of his appointees in 2016 in the wake of negative attention by the news media.
Tony Bouie, former state lottery director, was asked to resign in January 2016, two days after a New Times article about him that focused on alleged abuse of a state vehicle and cronyism.
David Farca, former Arizona-Mexico Commission president, stepped down following a September article in New Times that covered his personal business problems and a lawsuit against him.
Ducey dismissed state Juvenile Corrections Director Dona Maria Markley in September following articles in the Arizona Republic about harsh firing practices in that agency.
He got rid of Jeffries the day before Thanksgiving, following a flurry of articles and opinion columns in the Arizona Republic over the preceding weeks about inappropriate firing practices and other allegations.
In an article for Townhall, Rachel Alexander noted that the Arizona Republic made Jeffries “a target,” due to the reforms. “After Jeffries fired 475 employees who were “bullies, racists, sexual harassers and slackers,” the newspaper featured some of the employees and wrongly made them out to be victims — even though some had actually been stealing from DES,” wrote Alexander. “The newspaper extensively covered Jeffries’ efforts to bring security in house, instead of paying for private contractors which were less accountable and not cost effective. The biased articles referred to it as “building an arsenal” and “stockpiling ammunition.”
“With so much negative coverage, Governor Ducey caved to pressure, firing Jeffries in November 2016,” continued Alexander. “The firing was so unjust that one of the local left-leaning papers actually took Jeffries’ side. The Phoenix New Times expressed skepticism about the accusations brought against Jeffries. “Just before his ouster in late 2016, Jeffries reportedly bought alcohol for employees on state time, but the accusation was never proven.” As for the private security force, the paper said “much of the criticism was overblown.”
In her article, Alexander examined the chances for a Ducey challenger:
Ducey is vulnerable to a challenge from the right. He is ingratiated with Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake who are disliked by the conservative base, in part due to their repeated undermining of President Trump. Ducey endorsed Flake. Ducey’s lack of leadership was foundational to McCain’s vote stopping the Obamacare repeal. Ducey himself failed to stand with other Arizona leaders behind Trump at his August rally in Phoenix.
Ducey is also vulnerable with teachers’ associations. Prop. 123, which he championed, only provided a 2 percent raise for teachers over five years.
Jeffries told Alexander that the difference between him and Ducey is that he “entered the public sector to do big things, not small things with big press releases.”
Alexander described Jeffries as “fearless and unrelenting” for going after powerful crooks, “something his predecessor was too afraid to take on.” Alexander also refers to a major case that Loftus and Arcellana were working on “which sadly will now be swept under the rug.”
Jeffries went so far as to “boldly” call for the termination of the “corrupt vendors of the State’s Obamacare Medicaid Eligibility System,” estimated to just under $200 million dollars that was discovered by Loftus and Arcellana.
“If I run and I win, I will not play small ball like the Governor,” Jeffries told Alexander. “I will massively reorganize and restructure state government. Partnering with thousands of true public servants, I will free up approximately 200 million dollars a year to invest in classrooms, foster kids, senior citizens and the developmentally disabled. These great folks need us to be audacious in vision and fearless in execution.”
Related articles:
Loftus, Jeffries Sue State For Libel
DPS Audit Of DES Raises Questions, Provides Few Answers
DPS Changing Stories On DES Report Defy Logic And Interim Inspector General’s Claims
Ducey Shuts Down Testimony By Jeffries, Loftus On DES Debacle
Failures Of AZDES System HEA Plus Leads To $142 Million Wasted Taxpayer Funds