PHOENIX - Former state Senate President John Greene announced Thursday he's running for the Republican nomination for governor in hopes of ousting first-term Democratic incumbent Janet Napolitano.
Greene is an attorney who served six years in the Senate during the early and mid-1990s, including four years as president. He left the Legislature in 1997.
Greene said Napolitano has done little to move the state forward and that he would provide the state with fiscally disciplined leadership.
"Storm clouds are on the horizon and Arizona is rudderless and adrift without leadership at the helm with a vision for the future," Greene said. "Unless we make some tough choices now, get a handle on spending, and get serious about economic development, our economy will eventually collapse under the weight of the projected enormous growth and aging of Arizona's population."
He announced his candidacy by issuing a news release and a lengthy statement "rather than spending precious resources and weeks of planning for a formal announcement speech and asking very busy people to stand next to me in the Arizona summer sun while I deliver a speech."
Greene ran for state attorney general in 2002, losing in a three-way Republican primary.
Several prominent Arizona Republicans, including ex-Gov. Fife Symington, U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth and former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, have considered running for governor next year but ultimately decided against challenging Napolitano.
Other Republicans still considering possible candidacies include current Senate President Ken Bennett of Prescott and attorney and financial planner Keith DeGreen.
Napolitano has not formally announced her re-election campaign but she has said repeatedly that she intends to run.
