Janice Key Brewer Current 22nd Governor of Arizona Date of Birth: 26.09.1944 Country: USA

1. Biography of Janice K. Brewer
2. Early Life and Personal Background
3. Political Career
4. Governorship and Political Stances
5. Controversies

Biography of Janice K. Brewer

Janice K. Brewer, also known as Jan Brewer, is the current 22nd Governor of the state of Arizona. She has spent 39 years in Arizona, with the last 27 years serving the people and maintaining their trust. Brewer held the position of Secretary of State of Arizona from 2003 until she became the governor in January 2009, following the appointment of the then-governor, Janet Napolitano, as the United States Secretary of Homeland Security. Brewer became Napolitano's successor, as specified by the Arizona state constitution.

Early Life and Personal Background

Janice Kay "Jan" Drinkwine Brewer was born on September 26, 1944, in Hollywood, California, USA. She spent the first ten years of her life in Hawthorne, Nevada, along with her older brother Paul. Her father passed away when she was 11 years old, and shortly before his death, the family moved to California. Brewer got married to John Leon Brewer in Nevada and worked in Glendale, California, before moving to her husband's hometown of Phoenix, Arizona in 1970. Later, the couple relocated to Glendale, where John became a successful manual therapist. They had three children, one of whom passed away from cancer in 2007.

Political Career

Janice Brewer served in the Arizona House of Representatives from 1983 to 1987 before deciding to run for the Arizona State Senate. She held this position from 1987 to 1996. In early 2002, Brewer established a campaign committee to run for the position of Secretary of State of Arizona, aiming to replace Betsy Bayless. She narrowly won the election with a margin of only 23,000 votes. Brewer then became the first in line for the position of Arizona Governor when President Barack Obama appointed the then-governor, Janet Napolitano, as the Secretary of Homeland Security. Napolitano resigned on January 21, 2009, and Brewer succeeded her.

Governorship and Political Stances

In her inauguration speech, Brewer promised to keep taxes low in the state of Arizona in order to attract entrepreneurs from other states, including California. However, less than two months later, she proposed tax increases while speaking to the state legislature. Trying to rationalize the tax regime, the Arizona governor stated that she had to request rate increases due to the state budget deficit. Currently, Brewer is working on her re-election campaign as the governor of Arizona in 2010. If she wins, she will have to step down in 2015, as the Arizona state constitution does not allow holding the governor's office for more than eight years.

Controversies

During a debate, Brewer claimed that the majority of illegal immigrants in the United States are "drug mules," or smugglers carrying drugs on their person. She later clarified that the word "majority" should be replaced with "many." In response to various attacks on Brewer, including being referred to as a Nazi, the governor expressed her pain, stating, "Knowing that my father died fighting the Nazi regime in Germany, that I lost him when I was 11 because of that… then to have them call me Hitler's daughter. It hurts. It's nastier than anything I've ever experienced." Janice's father passed away from lung cancer in 1955.