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Former Go Daddy lawyer to run for Arizona governor

Kevin Murphy, August 12, 2013, 11:16:49 (UTC), Domain Registrars

Former Go Daddy general counsel Christine Jones wants to run for Governor of Arizona, it emerged last week.
Jones is planning to stand for the Republican nomination, filing her paperwork on Friday. She announced the move on Twitter:


Her campaign site plays on her record of testifying before the US Congress on internet-related issues such as fake pharmacies and child abuse materials, saying:

She also helped drive federal Internet-related legislation, including laws to keep the Web safe from child predators and rogue online pharmacies. For example, she helped push through bills such as the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act, the Protect Our Children Act, and the Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act.

“Helped drive” appears to be a reference to Congressional testimony such as her statements about Go Daddy’s anti-CAM practices in 2006.
As well as children, her site also ticks the usual Republican politician boxes of religion (she’s a church singer, apparently) and the military (her husband is a retired US Air Force officer).
Jones was with Go Daddy for 10 years, leaving in May 2012.
One of her final projects at the company was her vocal support for the Stop Online Piracy Act in late 2011, which ultimately proved a vote-loser among Go Daddy’s customers, forcing a company U-turn.
Most of Arizona’s governors have been Democrats. The incumbent, Jan Brewer, is a Republican. The last three have been female.
Go Daddy employs thousands of people in the state, when it would be much cheaper to ship those jobs overseas, something that could score Jones brownie points if she can figure out a way to take credit for it.
For Go Daddy, if Jones were to win, having a friend in high places would no doubt prove a boon. The election is next year.


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Comments (1)

  1. Lyle says:

    On a related subject, those of us in the domain community are well aware of Go Daddy as it relates to SOPA. First, Go Daddy supported SOPA. Then, Go Daddy switched to not supporting SOPA. After that, Go Daddy switched again to opposing the SOPA legislation.
    In a DomainNameWire.com article about the departure of Christine Jones from Go Daddy, Andrew Allemann reviewed that Attorney Jones had originally testified to congress in favor of the SOPA legislation. Regarding her SOPA support, many were amazed that in addition to her duties as Executive Vice President at Go Daddy, as well as General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Ms. Jones still found the time to wage “Twitter wars” about SOPA. Her Twitter messages, along with other missives about her SOPA crusade, made apparent what had been reported in an Associated Press article. Christine Jones, according to the AP, admitted to checking and sending e-mails while she is attending Sunday church services. Presumably, those emails were not for communication with deity.
    Further Go Daddy background information about the SOPA support came from Warren Adelman, CEO of Go Daddy. In article by Sarah Lacy on PandoDaily.com, Adelman reported of finding out about the SOPA debacle while on a ski vacation. On the slopes, Adelman’s teenage son was watching the scandal blow up on his phone. According to that article from May 11, 2012, Adelman reported, “There’d been no discussion he was aware of concerning SOPA. Someone had seemingly just made a unilateral decision for the company to support it.” Many surmise that the “someone” Adelman had referenced was Christine Jones. Attorney Jones departed Go Daddy in May of 2012.
    In addition to stake-holders in the technology and Internet community, the voters of Arizona may consider the above information in considering a political candidate.

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