Former Republican Gov. Fife Symington confirmed that he’s endorsing the Outlaw Dirty Money initiative.
“I just feel it’s out of control,” he told me, referring to dark money spending on Arizona’s political campaigns.
Symington is the highest-profile Republican yet to support turning the lights on Arizona’s campaign-finance system.
The Think Tank show on KTAR News hosted a free-ranging discussion with former Governor Fife Symington, as well as former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson and political consultant Chuck Coughlin.
We cover life after politics, their personal friendship, comity in politics and their post-political careers (they each have them). Oh, and it wasn’t possible to keep politics entirely out of the conversation. We discuss charter schools (which first became a big issue in the state during Symington’s term of office) and a few other issues. But with civility.
Listen to the podcast:
The Arizona Republic ran a long feature story on Governor Symington, with an in-depth look at the development of his culinary school and his adjustment to life after politics.
But he thinks he could win again. Symington believes his record is strong, and shakes off the idea that his past could be a burden. He assumes most voters would remember that he was pardoned, that his legal slate has been wiped clean, but also knows a political opponent would likely use it against him.
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It’s a nice thought, but there’s so much he’d have to risk, so much he’d have to give up. He found happiness in irrelevance. He cooks impossible dishes and tears through history books and pesters his friends with political gossip. Symington splits time between Santa Barbara — in what he calls “the Socialist Republic of California,” where his wife, Ann, lives — and Phoenix, where he’ll never leave. His kids are their own successes. Really, he’s fine with all of it.
KNXV ABC15 is carrying a brief AP story on former Governor Symington’s consideration of running in the 2020 special election:
Symington told the Arizona Capitol Times that while he’s interested in the prospect, he’s also torn because he has grown comfortable being out of the political spotlight.
But Symington says he is encouraged by the idea that he might get a chance to run against former Attorney General Grant Woods.
KJZZ’s Holliday Moore caught up with former Governor Symington to discuss his interest in John McCain’s open U.S. Senate seat:
Sixteen years after re-inventing himself and turning his focus on opening the Arizona Culinary Institute, Symington is intrigued over the idea of running again for office, but said he’s also torn.
“It’s a professional program,” he said about the Scottsdale school where some 150 people graduate each year. “It’s just been a real joy in my life. So, it would be hard to make the change and leave that behind.”