Terry Goddard

Samuel Pearson Goddard, III
Arizona Attorney General
Incumbent
Assumed office 2002
Current term ends 2010
Political party	Democratic
Website	Official Arizona Attorney General website

Samuel Pearson "Terry" Goddard, III (born January 29, 1947, in Tucson, Arizona) was the Democratic Attorney General of Arizona from 2002 until 2010. His father, Samuel Pearson Goddard, Jr., was the Governor of Arizona for two years starting in 1965. He officially became a candidate for the state's gubernatorial election on January 22, 2010. On August 24, 2010, the date of the state primary, Goddard ran unchallenged and officially received the party nomination for governor. He went on to lose the contest to Republican incumbent Jan Brewer on Tuesday, November 2, 2010.

Education

• Bachelor's degree, Harvard University (1969) in American history
• Juris Doctorate degree, Arizona State University College of Law (1976)

Professional experience

Prior to receiving his law degree, Goddard joined the United States Navy and served a two-year active tour of duty term starting in 1970. Upon graduating from law school, he practiced private law as an assistant to the Arizona Attorney General's Office, targeting white collar crimes, until 1982.

Political career

Goddard first entered ventured onto the Arizona political stage in 1982, calling upon members of the Phoenix City Council, all of whom had been elected from districts, to convert to a new system by which they would be chosen by citywide voters. This, in turn, increased the representation of urban minorities within the council, allowing them to elect individuals from their home areas.

It is in large part to his tremendous efforts to get this measure passed that resulted in him being elected Mayor of Phoenix in 1984. Goddard remained in that position until 1990, being re-elected four times in the process.

Goddard has twice sought the Democratic nomination for Governor of Arizona. His first attempt in 1990 was successful, but he ultimately defeated in a run-off election by Fife Symington. Symington eventually resigned from the governor’s office in 1997 in the midst of his second term following accusations of bank fraud. Goddard second gubernatorial attempt was less successful, losing the Democratic nomination to Eddie Basha, Jr. in 1994.

Following his failed gubernatorial attempt, Goddard served as the state director for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a role he maintained until 2002.

Goddard was successful in his campaign for Attorney General in 2002, receiving over fifty percent of the popular vote, a far greater margin then current Director of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano received when she ran for governor.

During his tenure as AG, Goddard’s office has focused primarily on cyber crimes, consumer protection efforts, predatory lending, and false advertising. Notable cases include prosecution of Property Tax Review Board, Inc., a California-based company Goddard claimed was attempting "to scam homeowners who were looking to reduce their property tax bill" by suggesting their property was qualified for a property tax reduction review and a $5 million in restitution suit “alleging deceptive business and debt litigation practices against national payday lender Quik Cash.” Goddard has also been a huge proponent of the Arizona Meth Project, a large-scale prevention program aimed at significantly reducing first-time meth use through the use of public service messaging, public policy initiatives, and community outreach. He claims that thanks to the program the state has successfully "cut the use by teenagers of methamphetamines in half in just two years."

2010 gubernatorial campaign

See also: Arizona gubernatorial election, 2010

After launching an exploratory committee several months before, Goddard made his entry into the Arizona gubernatorial election official on January 22, 2010. Prior to becoming the attorney general, he had twice failed to be elected to the state's executive office despite being the son of a former governor. Goddard remained the only Democratic candidate vying for the position and therefore automatically assumed the party's nomination in the race.

Terry Goddard for Governor Campaign logo

A Rasmussen poll published in late-January 2010 showed that in a head-to-head matchup with the top two Republican candidates Arizona gubernatorial contest, out of the ten who have announced their entry into the primary race, Goddard stood the best chance of success against incumbent Jan Brewer, former Arizona Secretary of State who became governor of the state following the resignation of Janet Napolitano in January 2009. His lead over Brewer, however, was only by two percentage points, well within the margin of error.

But then in April 2010, around the time the state's anti-illegal immigration measure, SB 1070, began making national headlines, the contest started tipping in Brewer's favor. From that point on Goddard was never able to regain the momentum he once had at the begin. On Election Day, he went on to lose to Republican incumbent Jan Brewer by double-digit percentage points.

Controversies

ACORN

See also: Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now

The June 2008 Survey and Scorecard report published by the embattled liberal political organization, ACORN, gave Goddard an A letter grade. The report was published to shine the spotlight on state attorneys general "leading the fight to protect homeowners from joining the flood of Americans losing their homes to foreclosure," so says the group. The grade distributed to the individual attorneys general "generally broke down along party lines," with the exception of Louisiana's Buddy Caldwell.

Resign-To-Run violation

John Paul Mitchell, an independent candidate who ran for governor of Arizona in 2010, accused Attorney General Goddard of making "a severe violation" of the state's resign-to-run law when he filed paperwork to form an exploratory committee, the first step in an expected run for the governor's seat in November 2010. Arizona's resign-to-run law, approved by the voters in 1980, "prohibits statewide elected officials from declaring candidacy for other offices before the end of their term’s last year." Goddard called the claim a "political stunt" and argues the law does not apply to exploratory committees.

Political issues

Health Care

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Healthcare reform

See also: State Attorneys General Against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010

Republican Governor of Arizona Jan Brewer was expected to call a special session of the State Legislature to request permission to sue the federal government on the state's behalf over the recently enacted federal health care reform measure's mandate requiring every individual in the country to purchase insurance. The reasoning behind this is that Terry Goddard, the Democratic State Attorney General, has chosen not to join fourteen other states in filing suit against the federal government over health care reform, believing the litigation to have "little chance of prevailing." It should be noted, however, that both Brewer and Goddard are candidates in the state's gubernatorial race - Goddard being the presumptive Democratic nominee as opposed to Brewer who faced a heavily competitive Republican primary contest.

Speaking in late-March 2010 at the Tucson Tea Party sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, both State Representative Vic Williams and State Senator Al Melvin vowed to include the state of Arizona in the fight against the federal mandate on health care. With the special session of the State Legislature, they intend to give Brewer the authority to request that Attorney General Goddard investigate the legality of a suit against the federal legislation; if he refused again, they would give her the authority to sue on the state's behalf instead. Goddard referred to this special session of the State Legislature as a "shameful stunt to score political points and to divert attention from the very serious financial problems that Arizona faced."

On Tuesday, March 30, 2010, both the Arizona State Senate Judiciary Committee and the State House Appropriations Committee voted, strictly on party lines, in favor of granting Governor Jan Brewer's request to give her the authority to challenge the federal health care overhaul in court.

Illegal immigration

Two days after the Arizona State Senate passed Senate Bill 1070 - The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, more commonly known as Arizona SB 1070, State Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Terry Goddard came out strongly in opposition to the measure. The Act, which, at the time, still awaited the signature of Governor Jan Brewer before officially becoming law, makes it a state misdemeanor crime for an alien to be in Arizona without carrying proper citizenship papers required by federal law, authorizes state and local law enforcement of federal immigration laws, and cracks down on those sheltering, hiring and transporting illegal aliens into the United States. Goddard argued that not only does SB 1070 do "nothing to improve border security or address the core issues of illegal immigration," but it would "take law enforcement resources away from stopping more serious crimes." He expressed hope that Governor Brewer would veto the legislation.

On Friday, April 23, 2010, SB 1070 received the signature of Governor Brewer and became state law; the measure is scheduled to go into effect on Wednesday, July 28. A month later, Goddard met with United States Attorney General Eric Holder to try and persuade the federal government not to file suit against the state in order to stop SB 1070 from being enforced. While Arizona's top law enforcer vowed a "vigorous defense if the Justice Department sues the state over the new law," conservative critics questioned his motives, believing that he wants to court Hispanic voters for his gubernatorial campaign.

Governor Brewer, believing there to be a conflict of interest for the State Attorney General over the issue, "suspended him from performing any work related to the law." She sent a formal letter to his office on Monday, June 14, 2010, requesting that he step aside on the matter and that she has "already hired outside counsel from the Phoenix law firm Snell & Wilmer to defend her in the suits" filed by the Obama administration and other opponents of the anti-illegal immigration law. Though he promised to defend a law he disagrees with, as he has done in the past, he formally withdrew from participating in the suits on Friday, June 18, 2010.

Other roles

• President/Board Member, National League of Cities (1985-1990)
• Board, United States Conference of Mayors (1985-1990)
• Trustee, National Trust for Historic Preservation (1992-2001)
• Board Member, Arizona Theater Company (1992-present)
• Board Member, Benton Foundation (1999-present)
• Board Member, Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco (1995-1999)
• Board, Central Arizona Project (2001-2003)
• Board Member, Arizona Housing, Incorporated
• Board Member, Kronos Longevity Research Institute
• Board Member, Meta Services

Campaign contributions

2006 Race for Attorney General - Campaign Contributions
Total Raised		$261,479
Total Raised by Primary Opponent		N/A
Total Raised by Gen. Election Opponent		$263,302
Top 5 Contributors		Public Fund $238,467 (91.20% of Total)
		A. J. Pfister $120 (0.05%)
		Tom Chauncey $120 (0.05%)
		Paul Durham $120 (0.05%)
		Allison Bertrand $120 (0.05%)
Individuals v. Institutions		N/A
In v. Outside State		$260,847 (99.3%)
		$1,774 (0.7%)

Elections

2002

• 2002 Race for Attorney General - Democratic Primary
  • Terry Goddard ran unopposed in this contest

2002 Race for Attorney General - General Election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Democratic Party	a Terry Goddard	51.9%
	Republican Party	Andrew P. Thomas	45.0%
	Libertarian Party	Ed Kahn	3.1%
Total Votes			1,201,343

2006

• 2006 Race for Attorney General - Democratic Primary
  • Terry Goddard ran unopposed in this contest

2006 Race for Attorney General - General Election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Democratic Party	a Terry Goddard	60.2%
	Republican Party	Bill Montgomery	39.8%
Total Votes			1,494,324

2010

See also: Arizona gubernatorial election, 2010

• 2010 Race for Governor - Democratic Primary
  • Terry Goddard ran unopposed in this contest

2010 Race for Governor - General Election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Republican Party	a Jan Brewer	54.6%
	Democratic Party	Terry Goddard	42.2%
	Libertarian Party	Barry J. Hess	2.2%
	Green Party	Larry Gist	0.9%
	Write-In		0.1%
Total Votes			1,576,707

Personal

Goddard currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife, Monica, and their son, Kevin. He is also a practicing Unitarian Universalist.

External links

• Goddard for Governor Campaign website
• Terry Goddard's Facebook profile
• Terry Goddard's MySpace profile
• Terry Goddard's Twitter account
• Terry Goddard on YouTube
• Terry Goddard on Flickr
• Project Vote Smart - Terry Goddard biography

References

Political offices
Preceded by Janet Napolitano	Arizona Attorney General 2002–2010	Succeeded by Tom Horne