Education

There is a war between the GOP and the Democrats for the hearts and
minds of Latino voters. One of the key battles of that war is the issue
of undocumented immigration and that battle’s front lines are in
Arizona.

I propose to take a closer look at an exchange of fire in that battle
that has caught a considerable amount of press attention: the speeches at Tucson
High of Dolores Huerta and Margaret Garcia-Dugan.

All that most people
know about this controversy is that Huerta was invited to speak to
students and said, “Republicans hate Latinos.” Following a firestorm of
protest from Arizona Republicans, SPI Tom Horne arranged for his Deputy
Superintendent, Ms. Garcia-Dugan, to present a rebuttal at Tucson High.
From all the hoopla, you’d think this was practically the
Lincoln-Douglas debate. But this was not fight between two evenly
matched opponents, it was a rout from the very first shot.

The effort to defeat Tom Horne as Superintendent of Public Instruction is important but often overlooked. One of the most important Constitutional officers is the SPI, as s/he has broad authority over public schools, which comprise a major portion of our 10 billion dollar state budget, yet the race is too often overlooked by the media and voters.

Slade Mead, a former Republican legislator who was recruited by Gov. Napolitano and Chairman Mitchell after having been defeated in his party’s primary, is one of the Democratic candidates for this important state-wide post. Slade recently completed his nomination petitions and his Clean Elections qualifying $5 donation allotment. He sent out a press release regarding his agenda in running for SPI, which I reprint in its entirety, without comment, below the fold.

I will invite Jason Williams, who is also running for the Democratic SPI nomination, to provide the same sort of statement regarding his campaign.