When the US Senate confirmed then-Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano as Secretary of Homeland Security, she resigned as chief executive of the Grand Canyon State, yielding that job to the state’s then-Secretary of State, Jan Brewer. Just as a Republican woman succeed Napolitano, so did a Republican woman, Jane Dee Hull, precede Napolitano.
I believe that when Napolitano succeeded Hull in 2003, she was the first woman to succeed another woman as governor of a state. And now it’s happened again. No state has ever had three consecutive female governors.Â
Indeed, I would daresay that no state has even had three female governors.* Governor Brewer is Arizona’s fourth (Rose Mofford held office from 1988 to 1991). In the past twenty years, Fife Symington is the only man to serve as Arizona Governor.
Brewer joins other Republican women as chief executives of their states, Linda Lingle of Hawai’i, Jodi Rell of Connecticut and Sarah Palin in Alaska. Let’s hope Mrs. Brewer governs in the spirit of that great lady from the Last Frontier.
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*Connecticut, Texas and Washington State have had two.
Nappy ditched out on the state after turning a surplus into a massive $1.3 Billion deficit. I’m sure she’ll be equally effective in the “To Hell With The Deficit” Obama administration.
I think the jury is still out on the actual gender of Governor Dixie Lee Ray
Don’t be so harsh on Governor Ray. She was one of the last of the (Scoop) Jackson Democrats and, after she left office, a strong (and thoughtful) critic of the environmental movement as it had become.
If she were alive today, she would surely be leading the fight against the global warming alarmists.
If more Democrats were like her, I’d fear less for my country.
I know she was good on the environment. She was the one who pointed out that salmon runs naturally fluctuate. But honestly, I was still in diapers when she was governor and know very little about her other than she bears a striking resemblance to Wilford Brimley.
Ah, Dixie Lee, bless her/him/it.
One book worth reading: Trashing the Planet: How Science Can Help Us Deal with Acid Rain, Depletion of the Ozone, and Nuclear Waste (among Other Things). (Yes, that’s all in the title.)
Out of stock, but worth the hunt.
P.S. Wilford Brimley … Good one, AE.
Whether or not Ann Richards was a female is debatable.
On the topic of smart female governors, text of Sarah Palin’s state of the state address. Smart, realistic, and well-spoken. She’s not what the leftist jackals in the media made her out to be at all.
#6 – Oh yes, Ma Richards was certainly a female. Just ask Sarah Weddington of “Roe v Wade” infamy. Those two were, shall we say, VERY close to one another.
And yes, I have the info to back up this assertion.
Regards,
Peter H.