Posted by Bob Lord
Disclosure: I have endorsed Kate Widland Gallego for Phoenix City Council in CD8
I missed this last month, not sure how. Because this is a shining example of how voters lose respect for politicians.
According to The Phoenix New Times, Pastor Warren Stewart, held a telephone town hall last month, moderated by his buds and campaign supporters, Mary Rose Wilcox and Danny Ortega. Apparently, Wilcox couldn't help herself and resorted to full on ludicrous to disparage Stewart's opponents. It just doesn't get any more pathetic than this:
"The other candidate recently started using her married name from Widland to Gallego. I'm going to be frank with you, there are all kinds of political tricks to confuse the Latino and African-American communities, but in this election, those tricks are not going to work. Let me echo what Danny Ortega said: There are no Latinos or Latinas running for City Council, period."
WTF? She's actually accusing Kate Widland Gallego of taking her husband's last name to play a "political trick" on the voters and "confuse" them about her status as a Latina. Really, Mary Rose? Why, then, is it that Kate still includes her maiden name "Widland" in her name? But, while we're on the subject of playing tricks on voters, isn't it a tad deceptive to state that Kate "recently started" using her husband's last name, without mentioning that her use of the name Gallego is "recent" only to the extent that her marriage was recent? And does anyone really doubt that if Kate didn't take her husband's Latino surname the Mary Rose Wilcox's of the world would be maligning her for not doing so?
There's no substance here. This was just a baseless, unprovoked attack on another candidate's honesty and character.
But this election isn't about Mary Rose Wilcox, no matter how much she's willing to embarass herself.
What do Wilcox's remarks say about Pastor Stewart? More specifically, what does Pastor Stewart's failure to disown Wilcox's scurrilous remarks say about his character? In the 2012 Presidential campaign, we witnessed repeated failures on Mitt Romney's part to call out various Republican cranks for their craziness. Those failures told us all we needed to know about Mitt's character.
To be fair, maybe I missed it. Maybe Pastor Stewart came out and said "Mary Rose Wilcox's statements about Kate Widland Gallego were baseless and despicable. They certainly don't reflect my view or the way I intend to run my campaign." Or something to that effect.
But let's be clear. Stewart was there at the time the remarks were made. He had the opportunity to distance himself right then and there. And it's been a month since the remarks were made. If he hasn't made it crystal clear that he condemns Wilcox's remarks by now, it's too late.
As they say, you can tell a lot about someone by the company he keeps.