Ducey touts unemployment rate, education at Tempe campaign event

PHOENIX — Arizona’s growing – and is poised to grow even more.

That was Gov. Doug Ducey’s message Wednesday morning at a campaign event at U-Haul in Tempe.

He promised the workers if they voted for him, schools would continue to improve, their safety would be a top priority, and their economic prospects would go up.

“We’re in the fastest-growing county in the country — 160,000 new private-sector jobs,” he said.

“Three-hundred-plus companies have relocated to the state of Arizona.”

Ducey also said workers are taking home bigger paychecks.

The latest report from the University of Arizona’s Eller Economic and Business Research Center said as of May 2018, the state’s unemployment is at 4.7 percent — where it was in December 2017.

“The last time unemployment was this low, you were renting your movies from Blockbuster,” Ducey said.

The governor also promised if he’s re-elected, he will veto any state budget that does not increase school funding above the inflation rate. However, he said, he will continue to fight against raising taxes to fund schools or anything else.

“I’m here to tell you, (increased school funding) is not going to happen by raising taxes and killing our economy,” he said.

“The only way to make it happen is by letting our hard-working taxpayers keep more of the money they earn and growing Arizona’s economy.”

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