Jessica Creager
Jessica (Amend) Creager was a two-time Doug Ducey appointee. She was first appointed in 2015 as a replacement for outgoing public member Deb Gullett and subsequently reappointed in 2019. Creager had a bachelor's degree in communication and worked as an assistant at a political consulting firm, a staffer for McCain's 2008 presidential run, and a public involvement specialist for an engineering firm. She also worked for the Arizona Humane Society as a Community Engagement Manager during the early part of her board involvement and continued to volunteer with the organization. Creager served as board chair for the 2022-2023 year before resigning; her replacement was none other than the Nikki Frost.
During Creager's 2016 hearing before the Senate committee considering her nomination, she stated that she had already volunteered on the Investigative Committee for two years and credits that work with preparing her for her work with the Board. She also states that she has been working with the Board for about a year, and that she had previously worked for the Arizona Humane Society. She's very passionate about animals so she's really enjoying the experience; she also says that as a stay-at-home mom, she enjoys being able to get out and be what she terms a "professional adult" for a day at the board meetings. There were no questions from the senators. She was recommended to the full Senate with an elapsed time of approximately two minutes.
Creager's uncle, Rob Dalager (phonetic?), dialed in to support her nomination. Assuming the name is correct, there's a Rob Dalager who works as a public policy lawyer at Public Policy Partners. His bio states he "acquired a long list of connections that easily allow him to serve client needs in almost any area of state and local government" (link). One of those clients could have been the veterinary board itself according to lobbyist records on file with the Arizona Secretary of State Lobbyist System. Public Policy Partners is listed as a lobbyist for the state veterinary board from January 30, 2014 to January 1, 2017, while Dalager's bio states that he started working for Public Policy Partners in August 2015.
Creager's 2019 reappointment hearing was essentially the same. She noted she had been serving at the Board for four years and had served on the board's Investigative Committee prior to that. Similar to her 2016 hearing, she mentions her growing family as a stay-at-home parent and "really love that this is my adult professional activity that I get to get out and do once a month." She mentions her varied background including her work at the Arizona Humane Society, Senator McCain, and an engineering firm. The senators again had no questions and moved the nomination to the full Senate in about two minutes.
As mentioned, Creager had served on the board's Investigative Committee for two years as a public member before getting nominated to the Board proper; a Fall 2016 edition of the vet board's newsletter, The Scratching Post, stated that her "IC experience has proven to be an asset in tackling Board issues." This follows a pattern of many of the Board's public members not being all that representative of the public; Brewer's 2010 nominee Deb Gullett was a former Arizona legislator and chair of the House health committee, while Napolitano's 2007 nominee M. Elizabeth Miles had previously represented the state veterinary board while an assistant attorney general.
Creager (as Jessica Amend) was one of the defendants in a lawsuit brought by horse-massagers Celeste Kelly, Grace Granatelli, Stacey Kollman, and the Institute for Justice. The state veterinary board had decreed that only licensed veterinarians could massage horses in Arizona and fought the matter in courts for years.
Voting Summary
Jessica Creager voted to dismiss about 82.9% of complaints in our Tails of Woe.
We've tallied up Jessica Creager's votes during the time covered by our public records requests. Of the cases we have, Jessica Creager voted in 604 cases. Of those, Jessica Creager voted in favor of at least one motion containing the word "dismiss" in 501 of them.
Below we've included Jessica Creager's vote breakdowns for up to ten of the most common motions. We also have a detailed list of votes and their associated complaints available in the Voting History.
| Motion | Aye | Nay | Recused | Absent | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dismiss with no violation | 430 | 4 | 1 | 25 | 460 |
| Schedule informal interview | 82 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 94 |
| Offer consent agreement | 75 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 81 |
| Find violation | 58 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 70 |
| Dismiss with no violation and issue letter of concern | 39 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 42 |
| Issue board order | 32 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 34 |
| Accept consent agreement | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Disagree and dismiss with no violation | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Disagree and dismiss with no violation and issue letter of concern | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Issue letter of concern | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
Archival Content
Additional archival content for Jessica Creager is posted below and hosted at the Internet Archive.
| Executive Summary | Jessica Creager Executive Appointment Summary (Legislative Session 522R) |
| Executive Summary | Jessica Creager Executive Appointment Summary (Legislative Session 541R) |
| Senate Nomination Hearing | Jessica Creager Senate Nomination Hearing (Legislative Session 522R) |
| Senate Nomination Hearing | Jessica Creager Senate Nomination Hearing (Legislative Session 541R) |