Ken Bennett, Gov. Doug Ducey’s Republican primary challenger, says the governor has failed to live up to his campaign promises and defends two attack lines he’s deployed against the governor despite questions about their accuracy.
Bennett, a 2014 candidate for governor and a former secretary of state, drew the ire of many fellow Republicans by claiming that Ducey is set to appoint Cindy McCain to succeed Sen. John McCain if and when he leaves office.
Bennett is running with a May Newsmax story about the appointment that relies on unnamed sources, who Bennett tells me are former Sen. Jon Kyl and retiring Sen. Jeff Flake.
Bennett also claims that Ducey urged McCain to vote against repealing Obamacare last summer.
McCain did tweet before the vote, "I... will support whatever healthcare plan (the governor) believes is best."
But reporting after the vote showed Ducey urged McCain to support the so-called “skinny repeal,” which McCain rejected with a dramatic thumbs down. In his new memoir, “The Restless Wave,” McCain confirms that he ignored Ducey’s advice.
Also on this weekend’s "Square Off":
- Matt Benson, spokesman for Arizonans for Affordable Electricity, explains why the group - funded by APS parent Pinnacle West - opposes a statewide vote on dramatically boosting utilities use of renewable energy sources to 50% in the next 12 years.
- The group supporting the initiative, Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona, has until Thursday to file more than 226,000 signatures to qualify for the fall ballot. Clean Energy, funded by California billionaire Tom Steyer, claims it has “nearly double” that number of signatures.
- On our Left/Right debate, we discuss whether President Trump can end the migrant crisis; which cases would matter most to Arizona under a Trump Supreme Court; whether Arizona teachers should be punished for going on strike; and how Sen. Jeff Flake would do as a cable news pundit.
Our guests are Josselyn Berry, executive director of ProgressNow Arizona, and Kim Owens, executive director of the Dodie Londen Excellence in Public Service Series, a leadership training program for Republican women.
“Sunday Square Off” airs at 8 a.m. Sundays in 12 News, after NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
See video above.
