Jim Loughead
Loughead was a 2014 Brewer appointee selected to replace the previous livestock member on the Board, Cynthia Tidwell-Shelton. Ducey subsequently reappointed him in 2019. He holds a degree in animal sciences from the University of Arizona and has significant work experience in the livestock industry; he subsequently began working as a sales and territory manager for Fort Dodge Animal Health and Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica. He also had involvement with various beef and cattle organizations, the University of Arizona's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Alumni Council, and worked alongside his predecessor Tidwell-Shelton at the Arizona National Livestock Show. He appears to have stepped down as of January 2024.
During his 2014 Senate confirmation hearing, Loughead stated that his interest in serving on the Board stems from his interest in "stabilization, profitability, and growth of sustainable food animal production in Arizona and the Southwest United States." He elaborates that prior to switching to pharmaceutical sales he's had experience with everything from cattle to family pets. His experience includes low-stress animal handling and animal welfare, and his experience has also made him appreciate the importance of veterinarians to the longevity, health, and productivity of pets and cattle. He wants to raise the confidence of all Arizonans in their veterinarians, particularly with respect to preventive care, vaccinations, and biosecurity protocols. One senator, Crandell, asked Loughead his opinions regarding attempts to create two new veterinary programs in the state; Loughead replied that it would be better to have Arizona be able to choose its own veterinary pool rather than delegating that responsibility to other states. Loughead also elaborated (quite correctly) that the primary shortage of veterinarians is in large animal medicine in rural areas rather than companion animals.
Another senator mentioned that he had reviewed Loughead's LinkedIn profile and found his goals to include obtaining a consistent profit from animal health product sales and eradicating animal rights activists/terrorists from the United States. Loughead replied that his experience comes from Arizona's Proposition 204, the Humane Treatment of Farm Animals Act; he said that PETA, ALF, and the HSUS threatened government officials, individuals, committed acts of vandalism, and assaulted people in the run-up to the vote. He also stated that the language he used was learned from FBI agents who apparently also referred to the groups as terroristic in nature. (Proposition 204 was supported by a number of prominent Arizonans including law-and-order Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who cut a 30-second ad stating that while he enjoys a good pork chop, it was animal abuse to keep a pig in a cage where he can't move around. The initiative won that year with 61% of the vote.) In a follow-up question from another senator inquiring into his willingness to work with animal rights groups on the Board, he replied that while he believes animals should be treated well, they do not have rights as such. The committee unanimously voted to move Loughead to the full Senate for confirmation.
Loughead's 2019 renomination hearing was significantly more brief. During his brief speech he stated that he was very humbled that his peers on the board selected him as the Chair. He also says that he enjoyed the mixture of people working on the Board and his learning experiences with procedures and open meetings laws. The senators had no questions and moved the renomination to the Senate in about two minutes.
Loughead and his fellow board members were sued 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 were subsequently taken to court by the plaintiffs.
During the May 19, 2021 Board Meeting, Loughead suggested one complainant (21-45, 21-46, 21-47, 21-48) suffered from Munchausen-by-proxy and killed his own dog. Loughead's stated rationale was that someone employed in software development would have lacked the medical knowledge necessary to draft the complaints in question. The complainant (and founder of this website) had repeatedly gone on record to state the veterinary board was essentially corrupt in the general sense; just some weeks prior to Loughead's accusation he had filed the public records request that would lead to the Tails of Woe and associated records published on this site.
During the August 18, 2021 Board Meeting, Loughead was instrumental in scuttling veterinarian Thomas Schaefer's potential appointment to the Investigative Committee because of Schaefer's potential ties to the Humane Society of the United States (Schaefer, oddly, also appears to have had associations with the Arizona Humane Society, which is basically a feeder program for the veterinary board). Loughead also stated that no HSUS-affiliated individuals would ever receive a Board appointment from the Governor. These statements helped grease the skids for eventual contest winner Justin McCormick, particularly as other members were looking for an equine veterinarian. (Schafer's potential appointment also had its own weirdness. Schaefer had ties to a previous candidate, Nellie Goetz, through the Altered Tails spay-and-neuter clinic. Nellie Goetz was subsequently disqualified as a result of taking a position at Midwestern University, but her husband, Matthew Goetz, a former AAWL shelter veterinarian and future Merck Animal Health shelter medicine MBA, applied for another opening.)
In October 2022 the Arizona State Ombudsman sent a formal notice of investigation to the Board, the Executive Director, Victoria Whitmore, and Loughead himself. The investigation was opened in response to Loughead's comments in the May 19, 2021 meeting. As of April 2023 a draft preliminary report was being evaluated by the state ombudsman.
The December 2023 board minutes indicated that the upcoming January meeting would be Loughead's last. As of late January 2024, Loughead is no longer listed on the board's website as a board member.
Voting Summary
Jim Loughead voted to dismiss about 81.9% of complaints in our Tails of Woe.
We've tallied up Jim Loughead's votes during the time covered by our public records requests. Of the cases we have, Jim Loughead voted in 608 cases. Of those, Jim Loughead voted in favor of at least one motion containing the word "dismiss" in 498 of them.
Below we've included Jim Loughead'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 | 433 | 8 | 1 | 20 | 462 |
| Schedule informal interview | 80 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 94 |
| Offer consent agreement | 73 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 81 |
| Find violation | 44 | 19 | 0 | 7 | 70 |
| Dismiss with no violation and issue letter of concern | 37 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 42 |
| Issue board order | 28 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 34 |
| Accept consent agreement | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Disagree and dismiss with no violation | 12 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| Disagree and dismiss with no violation and issue letter of concern | 11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 14 |
| Issue letter of concern | 9 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 13 |
Archival Content
Additional archival content for Jim Loughead is posted below and hosted at the Internet Archive.