Some stuff I missed out on last week:
- The folks over at Gila Courier decided to pull a quote out of context from Gabrielle Giffords and play like she called people in her district “crazy.” Kenny Jacobs over at his a Pithy Diarist blog called them out on it. I suppose their mischaracterization of Giffords’s statements entitles me to, I dunno, pull things out of context to say that they are racist against Asians, or I could pull a headline out and claim that they hate Tucsonans.
- And speaking of the Gila Courier: I loved the headline “Martin ahead of Brewer in new poll.” They imply that this is good news for the man they refer to as a “solid conservative,” except numbers from that same polling firm show that prohibitive favorite for the Democratic nomination Terry Goddard would defeat either Dean Martin or Jan Brewer with relative ease.
- This week’s moment of “Eh?” came when consultant Constantine Querard testified at now former Representative Doug Quelland’s appeal of sanctions after violations of the Clean Elections act. Querard claimed there was no contract signed, and that he avoids asking that contracts be signed so that his clients (but they aren’t his clients yet, you see) won’t get dinged by the Clean Elections Commission. Here is Querard as quoted in the Yellow Sheet on Wednesday:
[A]t attorney Tim Casey’s prompting, he said he had never heard of a legislative candidate paying $15,000 in consulting fees for a race, much less one with an uncontested primary. “It’s too much money. It’s so beyond the market price,” he said. “I’ve never heard of an amount like that at this level. It would be a waste, or just dumb.” Of course, Quelland would admit later that day that he did, in fact, sign just such a contract.
Does this mean that Querard called his client dumb and a liar?
- Paradise Valley Mayor and “Exploring” Gubernatorial Candidate Vernon Parker took some shots at Terry Goddard this week, complaining about career politicians and implying that Goddard thinks that he is entitled to the office because his father was governor. First off, I’ve been to several events where Goddard has spoken and he’s rarely, if ever, invoked his father’s name. There wouldn’t be much point in doing this anyway, since Sam Goddard served a single term (back when terms were two years) in the mid-1960′s. Given how short memories seem to be in this state (political and otherwise), I don’t see how this would help him. Sam passed away several years ago; I doubt he is in any position to arrange things for his son.
Secondly, Parker invokes this anti-career argument as if he is some mere babe in the woods. The guy’s own website brags of a variety of federal appointments. You can’t claim you are some sort of outsider, while at the same time bragging that you worked as an assistant to George H. W. Bush.
Oh, for those of you wondering: there are already invocations of Parker as “The Republican Obama.” Given that the last guy I heard this about was Bobby Jindal, I am not all that worried.
So, wait, the Democrats have an African-American president, and the closest equivalent the other side can come up with is the executive of a string of gated neighborhoods and resorts with less than 15,000 people? What the heck does that say?
