Tim Steller is the Starβs metro columnist. A 20-plus year veteran of reporting and editing, he digs into issues and stories that matter in the Tucson area, reports the results and tells you his opinion on it all.
Corporate Americaβs cultural posturing grows tiresome.
So when the Wall Street Journal reported that Nike decided not to sell an American-flag-themed shoe this week, because of a critique from Colin Kaepernick, it was guaranteed some people would get angry.
Weβre used to these little controversies. Some conservatives have even made it a habit to burn, blow up or throw away the products of whatever company has offended them lately β NFL tickets and jerseys, Keurig coffee makers and, yes, Nike shoes among them.
What weβre not used to is our sometimes-pragmatic, technocratic Republican governor seeing opportunity in these culture-war flare ups and inflaming them further for political benefit. This is, after all, the governor whose proudest achievement this legislative session was a universal occupational licensing bill for people moving to Arizona from out of state.
Get used to this new culture-warrior governor.
Ducey announced via a series of tweets published at 2 a.m. Tuesday that Arizona is withdrawing any planned state incentives to bring a Nike plant and its 500 jobs to Goodyear.
The tweets were full of righteous indignation that Nike had decided not to sell a shoe that featured the historic flag with the circle of 13 stars, credited to Betsy Ross, on the back. Unnamed sources told the Journal that Kaepernick disliked the flag because he associated it with slavery.
βWords cannot express my disappointment at this terrible decision,β Duceyβs account tweeted out to a state that would awake to the news in a few hours, allowing the governor to own a news cycle. βInstead of celebrating American history the week of our nationβs independence, Nike has apparently decided that Betsy Ross is unworthy, and has bowed to the current onslaught of political correctness and historical revisionism.β
βIβve ordered the Arizona Commerce Authority to withdraw all financial incentive dollars under their discretion that the State was providing for the company to locate here,β he continued. βArizonaβs economy is doing just fine without Nike. We donβt need to suck up to companies that consciously denigrate our nationβs history.β
This decision will appeal to a segment of the electorate, though many of them have already burned, slashed, flushed or thrown out their Nike products, thanks to the companyβs decision to hire former NFL quarterback and national-anthem-kneeler Kaepernick last year.
I donβt like Nikeβs decision to withhold the shoe either, honestly, but Iβm not a governor with presidential aspirations. So I would have let it slide after perhaps an eyeroll and a sidelong tweet.
Duceyβs decision to ratchet up the controversy shows him to be increasingly committed to embracing not just President Trumpβs policies but also his inflammatory politics, damn the social consequences.
Consider the city of Goodyearβs position. The city completed the deal Monday, The Arizona Republic reported, by approving a waiver of $1 million in city fees and reimbursing Nike for the first $1 million in jobs created. The state had a tentative $1 million job-training incentive in the mix, too, but this was not primarily the stateβs deal.
Itβs pretty presumptuous of the governor to decide his culture-war pose is more important than Goodyearβs plant.
Also consider the precedent he is setting. Remember back to when Pima County, Rio Nuevo, Sun Corridor and the Arizona Commerce Authority recruited a Caterpillar headquarters to Tucson? At the time, I heard grumbling from some leftists, because Caterpillar is the subject of a boycott for providing the bulldozers used by the Israeli government to demolish the homes of alleged Palestinian militants.
What if a Democratic governor had bowed to that objection and scotched the Arizona Commerce Authorityβs piece of the deal? Tucson would have been rightfully angry.
Consider the smaller details of this, too. I think we can all be pretty sure Gov. Ducey knew nothing of Nikeβs flag shoe before the Wall Street Journal article came out. Why is it any of Duceyβs business whether Nike decides to sell or not sell a flag-themed shoe? And does he have his own βunnamed sourcesβ at Nike that confirmed how this decision played out, or is he just trusting the Journalβs unnamed sources in making this policy choice?
Now, having made it his business, letβs assume Nike wants to address Duceyβs concerns, not simply build the plant in Indonesia or New Mexico instead of Goodyear. For how long must Nike sell this flag shoe in order to satisfy the governorβs demands? Who at the Arizona Commerce Authority will ensure compliance with Arizonaβs new flag-themed-shoe requirement? Will other recruited companies be required to produce flag-themed products?
Itβs no mystery whatβs going on here. For years, Ducey has been entertaining thoughts of higher office. Many governors dream of the White House.
While Ducey was at first cold to Donald Trump, heβs adjusted to the reality that Trump is the popular leader of the Republican Party. The supply-side technocracies previously run by Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana and Ducey himself no longer inspire the party faithful. Anger does. Trump does.
So Ducey is learning from the master to go against his own dull character and embrace culture-war politics.
Nike was an easy target to capture a news cycle, no matter the fallout for an innocent Arizona city or for our society.
