PHOENIX โ Saying his spat with a lawmaker has become a "distraction,'' Greg Patterson is stepping down as chairman of the Arizona Board of Regents and quitting the panel outright.
In a letter to fellow board members, Patterson said he was "overzealous in my defense of the universities.'' Patterson was reacting to a proposal by Republican Reps. Mark Finchem of Oro Valley and Jill Norgaard of Phoenix to trim the role of the board and instead give each of the state's three universities its own oversight agency.
But the meeting with the two in February turned ugly with Patterson calling the news release about the plan is "unprofessional.'' It then turned personal, with Patterson telling Finchem, who wears string ties, that "the costume doesn't work.''
"Trim that down, buy a suit, decide where you want to be,'' he told Finchem before leaving the meeting.
It was widely known there had been a dust-up between Patterson and Finchem. But the full extent of the conversation was not known until the Arizona Republic obtained an audio recording -- one apparently made by Patterson himself on his cell phone -- and published the information last week.
Capitol Media Services has since obtained a copy.
The seeds for Patterson's departure were set when Bill Ridenour, the board's vice chair, publicly distanced himself and the rest of the board.
``While he is free to speak as an individual, he does not speak for me or other members of the board,'' Ridenour wrote in a release. ``We cannot allow his regrettable remarks and actions to diminish the hard work and outstanding results of the Arizona Board of Regents.''
In his resignation letter, Patterson made no specific mention of the February conversation other than his contention he was ``overzealous.'' Instead, he thanked Jan Brewer who, as governor, appointed him to the board in 2012, as well as praising current Gov. Doug Ducey for working with the board earlier this year to allow the universities to borrow up to $1 billion for needed repairs and construction.
Patterson also said he has ``publicly apologized'' to Finchem.
What he did not do, according to Finchem, is actually call the lawmaker himself.
``I have not talked to him since the day of the original occurrence,'' Finchem said of Patterson.
But Finchem said he does not necessarily believe that Patterson's resignation, by itself, will improve relations between the board and himself -- or with the legislature in general.
``I think there's going to be a lot that needs to be done to rebuild trust,'' he said.
And Finchem said that he's not giving up on the legislation he and Norgaard crafted to give each university its own governing board.
Under that plan, the Board of Regents, which is constitutionally created, would remain. But it would have only ``general oversight of the university system but not direct oversight of the universities.''
That power would go to a five-member board for each of the schools, with three members appointed by the governor, one by the Senate ย president and one by the speaker of the House.
What that would resolve, Finchem said, is a board that he called ``out of control'' in its spending. He contends separate boards, each focused on its own school, would not only rein in costs but also make education more affordable.
Finchem said the Arizona Constitution stipulates that an education ``shall be as nearly free as possible.'' Yet undergraduate tuition for state residents is now north of $11,000, not counting various fees and surcharges.
Finchem said Monday his views on the need to revamp the system has not changed.
``I do even more-so after taking a look at systems like Oregon and some of the other states that have moved away from having a single centralized command-and-control kind of architecture,'' he said.
He would not comment specifically on Patterson's abrupt departure.
``I have much bigger problems to deal with than somebody's ego,'' he said. But Finchem, serving his second two-year term in the House, said he's not seeing Patterson's resignation as some sort of a victory.
``I don't celebrate somebody's misfortune, misdeeds, misstatements,'' he said. ``It's not in me.''
