The December 26 edition of this Arizona Daily Independent publication contained news about an appeal issued by Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb. Sheriff Lamb has requested that citizens contact Governor Ducey and remind him that the measures he has imposed on a variety of small businesses are causing them great losses.
The sheriff is correct, but these executive orders are affecting the whole state, not just Pinal County. In fact, it can be argued that, except for the largest and most powerful corporations, businesses and individuals in Arizona are experiencing losses that have effectively wiped out most of the gains from the Trump tax cuts. This can be confirmed by taking a look at the numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
RELATED ARTICLE: Arizona Sheriff Calls On Public To Speak For Small Businesses Struggling With COVID-19 Policies
In February, 2020, prior to the Ducey edicts, unemployment in Arizona was at 4.5%. This is considered by most economists as being near full employment. By April, following Ducey’s executive orders, unemployment had jumped to a whopping 13.4%. That was followed by a reduction to 5.9% in August, and it seemed that we were easing out of the quagmire. Then the governor decided to double down on his edicts, and unemployment has been increasing steadily so that by the end of November it was at 7.8%, and there is no relief in sight.
But unemployment rates alone are not enough to draw conclusions, because of the way they are calculated. A better indicator of the state of the economy is the actual number of people who are employed. Again, the following numbers are taken directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In February, the number of people employed in Arizona was about 3.5 million. By November it had shrunk to around 3.3 million. It was a reduction of around 140,000. That becomes even more significant when one considers that the Arizona population grew by about 130,000 during that period.
No matter how we look at it, it is evident that a significant number of Arizona citizens are hurting as a result of the way that our governor has been handling the COVID issue.
No one in his right mind is suggesting that this virus issue should be taken lightly. The threat is real. The argument is that the response should be consistent with those of a federal republic, not those of a tinhorn dictatorship.
The long-term solution is for the legislature to amend the portions of the state law that deal with executive emergency powers, but for now, the best we can do is contact the governor, as Sheriff Lamb has suggested.
But we should not stop there. We should contact both the governor and the members of the state legislature, and show our support for the termination of COVID executive orders, in favor of allowing business and citizens to deal with this virus in a manner that best suits their situation, and is consistent with the U. S. and Arizona constitutions. Here is how to do it.
Contacting the governor:
By phone 602.542.4331
By email: https://azgovernor.gov/engage/form/contact-governor-ducey
Contacting legislators:
By phone: Senate list at https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/?body=S
House list at https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/?body=H
By email: Use the AZRRT easy method at https://azpeopleslobbyist.com/