PHOENIX — Doug Ducey’s hand-picked chief of the Arizona Lottery has been forced out of office.
Tony Bouie submitted his verbal resignation late Wednesday following published reports he had assigned himself a state vehicle and was using it for personal errands. That violates state policy.
Gubernatorial spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said he could not comment on the reasons behind Bouie’s sudden departure. But the reports in the Phoenix New Times clearly hit a nerve in an administration that has crowed about its fiscal responsibility.
“In discussing these recent issues with Director Bouie, the director and the administration agreed this would be a distraction,” Scarpinato said in a prepared statement. “In the best interests of the state, Director Bouie has stepped down.”
Bouie, who was being paid $115,700 a year, could not be reached for comment. His resignation took effect immediately.
Even without the issues of the vehicle use, Bouie’s days in the Ducey administration may have been numbered.
Sen. Kimberly Yee, R-Phoenix, had refused to bring his nomination up for confirmation last year in the Commerce and Workforce Development committee amid concerns about whether his background made him suitable to run the agency, calling it “limited” with respect to any job management of an agency or public administration. But Yee also said she had concerns about the fact that he had filed for bankruptcy.
“The fact that he was being appointed as the director of an agency that deals with over $900 million in and out of the state lottery, out of all of the agencies in the state of Arizona (that the governor could have named Bouie to head), that probably wouldn’t have been my pick for an appointment for someone who has that financial background,” she said.
Yee had been scheduled to meet with Bouie this week to discuss other things that have gone on at the agency in the past year.
That timing was not coincidental: Unless he was confirmed by Jan. 30 he would have had to leave the office anyway. Yee said that even before the disclosure about the vehicle use it was unclear whether he could get the necessary votes, either in her committee or from the Senate.
Yee said that in his year on the job Bouie had made some decisions that caused her to question his fitness for office.
Last year the agency was pushing legislation to allow Bouie to contract for marketing services without going through the normal bidding process. The provision got House approval but Yee said she killed it in the Senate for being inappropriate.
“That raised a concern that, only months on the job ... that the director’s office was asking for removal of the transparency in the bidding process,” Yee said.
Yee also wanted to ask him about reports that he has used lottery proceeds to purchase a tent at the Phoenix Open and obtain a season suite at the Arizona Cardinals stadium. She said the governor’s office confirmed both transactions.
Yee also pointed out that Bouie was caught in a lie years ago when he made a bid for the Legislature as a Republican just days after changing his party registration. She said when Bouie was asked about it, he said he had been a Republican in Florida but became a Democrat only when he moved to Arizona.
But a check of Florida voter registration records proved that to be untrue.
“His response was, ‘Well, I was a Republican in my heart,’” Yee recalled.
Yee said she has shared her concerns about Bouie all along with the governor’s office. Scarpinato, however, said Thursday that was not the case.
“The governor first learned of those issues (Wednesday),” Scarpinato said. “And a decision was made immediately.”
In appointing Bouie last year, Ducey said he “brings to our administration a strong and tested history in leadership roles.”
The governor listed Bouie’s background as chief operating officer for Parkinson Wellness Recovery, a founding member of Solavei consumer services company and an assistant football coach for the University of Akron.
Bouie also played professional football from 1995 to 1999 for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bouie, a former University of Arizona football standout and a member of the Desert Swarm defenses, has a bachelor’s degree in media arts and a master’s in language, reading and culture from the school. He also has a master’s of business administration from Arizona State University and a separate master’s degree in sports administration from the University of Akron.
In reporting about the vehicle use, the Phoenix New Times said Bouie admitted he used a state vehicle to drive one or more of his four children. But he told the paper that it is “absolutely not true I’m using it for personal use.”
State policy specifically bars employees from using state vehicles for personal convenience. It also forbids “transportation of family members of friends, or any person not essential to accomplishing the purpose for which the vehicle is dispatched.”
The use of state vehicles has become a high-profile issue this year following the admission by Arizona House Speaker David Gowan that he has traveled thousands of miles at taxpayer expense, complete with a driver paid for by the state.
Gowan contends all the trips were on official business, even those outside of his southeast Arizona legislative district, with aides saying he is the speaker of the entire state.
But the timing of the trips has coincided with fundraising and campaign efforts in his bid for Congress. And items from the speaker’s calendar for the days he said he was using the vehicle on state business were blacked out as not being public.
House press aide Stephanie Grisham said Thursday that Gowan has directed the House staff to go back through all the records for last year and take a second look at what should be made public.
“The speaker has directed staff to disclose a significant number of previously redacted entries on his calendar, regardless of whether legislative privilege applies to them, in order to provide the transparency necessary to correct the false impression that Arizona officials were misusing state resources,” Grisham said.
