Jane Dee Hull

Jane Dee Hull (née Bowersock; August 8, 1935 – April 16, 2020) was an American politician and educator who was the 20th governor of Arizona from 1997 to 2003. She ascended to the office following the resignation of Fife Symington; Hull was elected in her own right in 1998 and served one term. She was the first woman formally elected as Governor of Arizona, and the second woman to serve in the office after Rose Mofford. She was a member of the Republican Party.[1][2][3]

Jane Hull
Hull in 2019
20th Governor of Arizona
In office
September 5, 1997 – January 6, 2003
Preceded byFife Symington
Succeeded byJanet Napolitano
16th Secretary of State of Arizona
In office
January 2, 1995 – September 5, 1997
GovernorFife Symington
Preceded byRichard Mahoney
Succeeded byBetsey Bayless
36th Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives
In office
January 2, 1989 – July 1992
Preceded byJoe Lane
Succeeded byMark Killian
Member of the Arizona House of Representatives
from the 18th district
In office
January 1, 1983 – October 4, 1993
Serving with Burton S. Barr, George E. Weisz, Susan Gerard
Preceded byPete Dunn
Succeeded byBarry Wong
Member of the Arizona House of Representatives
from the 19th district
In office
January 1, 1979 – January 1, 1983
Serving with W. A. "Tony" West Jr.
Preceded byStan Akers
Succeeded byJan Brewer
Nancy Wessel
Personal details
Born
Jane Dee Bowersock

(1935-08-08)August 8, 1935
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
DiedApril 16, 2020(2020-04-16) (aged 84)
Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Terry Hull
​
​
(m. 1954; died 2020)​
Children4
EducationUniversity of Kansas (BA)
Arizona State University, Tempe (JD)

A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Hull was a graduate of the University of Kansas with a degree in education. Hull worked as an elementary school teacher while her husband studied to become an obstetrician. She moved to Arizona with her husband, Terry, in 1962 where he began working on the Navajo Nation, while Jane raised the couple's four children and taught English. In 1964, the family moved to Phoenix, where she continued to raise her family. A decade later, she started her political career, and became involved with Republican women groups, in addition to volunteering on political campaigns.

In 1978, Hull was elected to her first political office, as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives. During her tenure in office, she would become House Majority Whip and Speaker of the House. In 1994, she was elected to the office of Secretary of State of Arizona, becoming the first Republican to hold the office in more than six decades. After ascending to the office of Governor of Arizona following Fife Symington's resignation, Hull was elected Governor in 1998 over former Mayor of Phoenix Paul Johnson, in a landslide election. Hull was constitutionally barred from running for a second full term in 2002, and retired from public service.

Early life and career

Hull was born Jane Dee Bowersock in Kansas City, Missouri, the daughter of Mildred (Swenson) and Justin Bowersock, an editor of The Kansas City Star newspaper.[4][5] Hull graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in education. She taught elementary school in Kansas while her husband was a public health physician there. She moved to Arizona in 1962, first to the Navajo Nation, and later to Phoenix.

After hearing a Barry Goldwater speech,[1] she campaigned for him in the United States presidential election in 1964.[6]

Legislative career

Hull entered politics in 1978, being elected to the Arizona House of Representatives as a Republican. She served for seven terms, including two as speaker of the House, the first female speaker in Arizona history.[7] In 1991, while she was speaker, the Arizona legislature experienced a major political scandal called AZSCAM, which resulted in the resignation or removal of ten members of the House and Senate. As a result, Speaker Hull instituted a number of ethics reforms to reestablish public confidence in the legislature.[8]

Politically, On The Issues, a non-profit and non-partisan organization which records politicians' stances on issues, considers Hull to have been a centrist or moderate Republican.[9] Her record is considered to be fiscally conservative and socially moderate.[10]

Governor of Arizona

First term (1997–1999)
Then-Governor Hull during a visit to the Air National Guard's alert detachment facility.

Hull was elected Arizona Secretary of State in 1994. After Governor Fife Symington was forced to resign due to a felony conviction, Hull became governor on September 5, 1997.[11] She was sworn in by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, herself a former Arizona legislator. Arizona has no lieutenant governor, so the secretary of state, if holding office by election, stands first in the line of succession.[12]

1998 gubernatorial campaign

Hull was elected governor in her own right in 1998. This election was particularly significant because it was the first time in the history of the United States that all five of the top elected executive offices in one state were held by women: Hull; Betsey Bayless, secretary of state; Janet Napolitano, attorney general; Carol Springer, treasurer; and Lisa Graham Keegan, Superintendent of Public Instruction.[13]

Second term (1999–2003)

While she was governor, Hull's relations with home state U.S. Senator John McCain were strained. During the 2000 Presidential primary season she endorsed his opponent, Texas Governor George W. Bush, in the Arizona primary.[14]

Hull is known for having signed into law the bill that resulted in the "alt-fuels" scandal of 2000. The resulting law promised car buyers up to 60 percent off new vehicles if they were converted to run on alternative fuels like propane or natural gas, yet it did not properly cap the number of buyers eligible for the program nor did it require buyers to use the new fuels. Instead of the $10 million the program was supposed to cost, it ended up costing Arizona $200 million before lawmakers changed the rules.[15]

Hull presided over the execution of Walter LaGrand, over the first ever recommendation of a stay from the Arizona clemency board. [16]

Post-governorship

Hull was constitutionally barred from running for a second full term in 2002 (the Arizona constitution limits the Governor to two consecutive terms, or parts of terms,[17] even when ascending to the office in the middle of a term), and she was succeeded by Janet Napolitano, who defeated Matt Salmon. After leaving office, Hull spent three months in New York City, as a public delegate from the United States to the United Nations General Assembly (2004).[18]

After the death of Rose Mofford on September 15, 2016, Hull became the oldest living Governor of Arizona, in addition to being the oldest living Secretary of State of Arizona. An elementary school is named for Hull in Chandler.[19]

Personal life

Hull married Terry Hull, an obstetrician in 1954. They had four children. Hull died on April 16, 2020, at age 84; her husband had died earlier on the same day.[20][21]

Electoral history
Arizona Gubernatorial Election 1998
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Jane Dee Hull (incumbent) 620,188 60.95
Democratic Paul Johnson 361,552 35.53
Libertarian Katherine "Kat" Gallant 27,150 2.67

Legacy

Former Arizona governor Janet Napolitano characterized her as "a straight shooter", and then governor Doug Ducey credited her with "providing steady leadership and unwavering commitment to do what's right and ethical"[22]

See also

References
  1. Purdum, Todd S. (September 5, 1997). "Once Again in Arizona, Secretary of State Is Suddenly Thrust Into the Job of Governor". New York Times. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
  2. "Governor's Information – Arizona Governor Jane Dee Hull". National Governors Association. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
  3. "Governor Jane Dee Hull". Arizona Blue Book – Chapter 3. Secretary of State of Arizona. Archived from the original on December 2, 2003. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
  4. Sharp, Nancy Weatherly; Sharp, James Roger; Ritter, Charles F.; Wakelyn, Jon L. (1997). American Legislative Leaders in the West, 1911–1994. ISBN 978-0313302121. Retrieved April 20, 2020 – via Google Books.
  5. "Current Biography Yearbook". December 28, 2006. Retrieved April 20, 2020 – via Google Books.
  6. Hull, Jane Dee. "The Challenge of Public Service". The Power of Character. Los Angeles, California: Josephson Institute Center for Public Service Ethics. Archived from the original on April 17, 2009. Retrieved April 21, 2009.
  7. The Associated Press (April 18, 2020). "Jane Hull, first woman elected Arizona governor, dies at 84". Nbcnews.com. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  8. "Former Arizona Gov. Jane Dee Hull and her husband have died". Azcentral.com. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  9. OnTheIssues.org. "Jane Dee Hull on the Issues". www.ontheissues.org. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  10. Purdum, Todd S. (September 5, 1997). "Once Again in Arizona, Secretary of State Is Suddenly Thrust Into the Job of Governor". The New York Times. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  11. Purdum, Todd S. (September 4, 1997). "Arizona Governor Convicted Of Fraud and Will Step Down". New York Times.
  12. Arizona Constitution, art. V, s. 6
  13. "Jane Hull, first woman elected Arizona governor, dies at 84". Associated Press. April 20, 2021.
  14. Berke, Richard (October 25, 1999). "McCain Having to Prove Himself Even in Arizona". New York Times. Retrieved April 21, 2009.
  15. Milloy, Ross E. (November 2, 2000). "Costly Plan to Promote Alternative Fuels Jolts Arizona". Nytimes.com – The New York Times. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  16. Noyes, John (October 15, 2007). International Law Stories. Foundation Press; 1st edition. ISBN 978-1599410869.
  17. Ariz. Const. Art. V, § 1(a).
  18. KAET-TV (September 23, 2007). "Former Governor Jane Dee Hull – Twenty-Five Years in Arizona Government". 2006 Goldwater Lecture Series. Phoenix, Arizona: Arizona State University. Archived from the original on March 6, 2009. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
  19. "Arizona Republic". Newspapers.com. November 22, 2006. p. 242. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  20. "Former Arizona governor Jane Dee Hull dies at age 84". KPNX. April 17, 2020. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  21. "Former Arizona Gov. Jane Dee Hull and her husband die within hours of each other". azcentral. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  22. Reinhart, Mary; Oxford, Andrew (April 17, 2020). "Former Arizona Gov. Jane Dee Hull and her husband die within hours of each other". Arizona Republic.
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