Why did Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey go from white knight to wuss?
I know what youre thinking. Youre thinking, That headline is crap. Ducey was never a white night.  Bear with me. Because he was. Not lately, of course. Not with his inexplicable silence over the sham audit, or his big fat tax break to the richest among us, or joining other Republican governors urging President Joe Biden not to expand the U.S. Supreme Court, when Ducey unnecessarily expanded the Arizona Supreme Court and packed it with conservative pals. But there was a time, not long ago, when Ducey showed real backbone. Strongest elections laws in the nation, Ducey said  Shortly after results of the November election were tabulated, the sore loser (understatement) Donald Trump began spouting outrageous, unfounded claims about election fraud, particularly in Arizona. Ducey stood up to him. First with a series of tweets where Ducey bragged about Arizona having some of the strongest election laws in the nation and added, The problems that exist in other states simply dont apply here.  It didnt end there. Ducey and his fellow Republicans have controlled the Arizona Legislature for years, and have passed a string of voting and vote counting protections they touted as examples to the nation. So when Trump claimed fraud, he was trashing fellow Republicans. And Ducey answered. Even before the election results were officially certified, the governor appeared on KTARs The Mike Broomhead Show and told the conservative talk show host, Ive said several times: Arizona is a good government state. I trust our election system. Theres integrity in our election system. Joe Biden did win Arizona.  He did not hail to the chief  After the results were certified there was a ceremony at the State Capitol in which the governor was to make it official. Before doing so, Ducey went out of his way to praise Arizonas election officials, including Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and all of the states county recorders. Then, just as he was about to sign documents, his phone rang inside his jacket pocket. The ringtone was Hail to the Chief, which Ducey had previously assigned to calls from the Trump White House. Instead of answering, Ducey took the phone from his pocket and turned it off. He said afterwards, I was at a public ceremony, doing an official act, so regardless of who was calling, I was not going to answer the phone at that moment.  Later, Trump attacked Ducey on Twitter. (No surprise.) When asked about that, Ducey pointed out that all 15 counties in Arizona had certified their election results and added, These are red counties, blue counties, and counties that are in between.  Naturally, Trump sycophant-in-chief Kelli Ward, chair of the Arizona Republican Party, then went after Ducey, suggesting on Twitter that the governor STHU, which stands for shut the hell up.  Then, all of a sudden, silence ...  Again, Ducey didnt back down, responding, The feeling is mutual to her. And practice what you preach.  Only, for some mysterious reason, just the opposite happened. Ward has not stopped talking and Ducey went silent, handing over the political megaphone to the wackiest wackadoodles within his party. Allowing them to trash the election system hed bragged about. It was as if the governor got another call with that Hail to the Chief ringtone and while rushing to answer the phone he slipped the righteousness disc in his backbone, pinched his moralistic nerve, his conscientious nerve and his courageous nerve, until he had no nerve left and became, essentially, spineless. Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com. For more opinions content, please subscribe.