My colleague Dana Goldstein will probably disagree with this, but I think Arizona governor Janet Napolitano's appointment as Secretary of Homeland Security is a net loss, for reasons Marin Cogan and Seyward Darby point out here. Basically, Napolitano now gets replaced by her Republican Lt. Governor who will govern with the aid of a Republican-controlled State Senate and a Republican-controlled State Assembly. Arizona Republicans can be a pretty nasty breed, and as Dana's excellent profile of Napolitano made clear, Napolitano's particular genius was for managing her state's conservatism and using her considerable political talents to achieve good, if not perfect, governance. Without her serving as a check on Arizona legislature, that state's policies are going to get a whole lot worse, and a lot of people will be hurt. Meanwhile, it's hard to make an argument that Napolitano was the only individual, or even the only women, who could have taken over at the Department of Homeland Security. There were, presumably, a number of competent administrators available, many of whom might have more grounding in the subject than Napolitano, and none of whom would have left Arizona under firm Republican control. AGAINST NAPOLITANO AT DHS.
My colleague Dana Goldstein will probably disagree with this, but I think Arizona governor Janet Napolitano's appointment as Secretary of Homeland Security is a net loss, for reasons Marin Cogan and Seyward Darby point out here. Basically, Napolitano now gets replaced by her Republican Lt. Governor who will govern with the aid of a Republican-controlled State Senate and a Republican-controlled State Assembly. Arizona Republicans can be a pretty nasty breed, and as Dana's excellent profile of Napolitano made clear, Napolitano's particular genius was for managing her state's conservatism and using her considerable political talents to achieve good, if not perfect, governance. Without her serving as a check on Arizona legislature, that state's policies are going to get a whole lot worse, and a lot of people will be hurt. Meanwhile, it's hard to make an argument that Napolitano was the only individual, or even the only women, who could have taken over at the Department of Homeland Security. There were, presumably, a number of competent administrators available, many of whom might have more grounding in the subject than Napolitano, and none of whom would have left Arizona under firm Republican control. 
