Jane Dee Hull

Jane Dee Hull
Hull in October 2001
20th Governor of Arizona
In office September 5, 1997 – January 6, 2003
Preceded by	Fife Symington
Succeeded by	Janet Napolitano
16th Secretary of State of Arizona
In office January 2, 1995 – September 5, 1997
Preceded by	Richard Mahoney
Succeeded by	Betsey Bayless
Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives
In office 1989 – 1992
Member for the 18th district, Arizona House of Representatives
In office 1979–1993
Speaker pro tempore, Arizona House of Representatives
In office 1992–1993
Personal details
Born	(1935-08-08) August 8, 1935 Kansas City, Missouri
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Terry Hull
Children	4
Alma mater	University of Kansas Arizona State University
Profession	Teacher
Religion	Roman Catholic

Jane Dee Hull (née Bowersock) (born August 8, 1935) is an American politician who was the Governor of Arizona from 1997 to 2003. She was the second woman to serve as Governor of Arizona, the first female Republican governor of the state, and the first woman to be elected to the position.

Biography

Born Jane Dee Bowersock in Kansas City, Missouri, Hull graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in education. She taught elementary school in Kansas and, while her husband was a public health physician there, in Navajo Nation schools at Chinle, Arizona.

She moved to Arizona in 1962, after hearing a Barry Goldwater speech. She campaigned for Goldwater in the United States presidential election in 1964.

Hull entered politics in 1978 by 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.

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.

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. 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.

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. Hull was constitutionally barred from running for a second full term in 2002 (the Arizona constitution limits the Governor to two consecutive terms, even when he or she ascends to the office in the middle of a term), and she was succeeded by Janet Napolitano, who defeated Matt Salmon.

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

After leaving office, she spent three months in New York City, as a public delegate from the United States to the United Nations General Assembly (2004).

Legacy

An elementary school is named for Hull in Chandler, Arizona.

Hull is known for signing 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 did not properly cap the number of buyers eligible for the program, (nor did it force 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.

Hull is also known in her role as governor for signing the death warrants of two foreign nationals, despite international pressure from Germany for a stay of execution.

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 Gallant	27,150	2.67

See also

• Germany v. United States of America

External links

• Biography of Jane Dee Hull from the United States Mission to the United Nations
• Governor Jane Dee Hull (Jeff Scott's biography)
• Alt-Fuels Fiasco (Synopsis by Arizona Republic)

Political offices
Preceded by Richard Mahoney	Arizona Secretary of State January 2, 1995 – September 5, 1997	Succeeded by Betsey Bayless
Preceded by Fife Symington	Governor of Arizona September 5, 1997–January 6, 2003	Succeeded by Janet Napolitano