‘Don’t make me angry’ Frank Antenori is terrorizing the villagers, again

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

"Don't make me angry" Frank Antenori is terrorizing the villagers, again. And lashing out at his fellow Tea-Publicans.

The political gossip rag The Yellow Sheet Report (subscription required) reports in a story captioned "No Holding Back":

Antenori lived up to his reputation as a warrior-politician this weekend, blasting his critics in a scorched-earth speech to a crowd of adoring fans at a Tucson park on Saturday. Antenori was especially acerbic toward fellow Republicans and HighGround consultants Doug Cole and Chuck Coughlin, who he said were motivated purely by self-interest when they contributed to Bradley’s campaign. (They each gave Bradley $100 in August.)

 Antenori insinuated that the lobbyists didn’t want him back in the Legislature because he’ll vote against implementing Obamacare in Arizona and they have been hired to push for a Medicaid expansion. “They were given a lot of money, six-figure money, to lobby on behalf of certain organizations to implement the healthcare [exchange] and expand the Medicaid entitlement to 138 percent of the federal poverty level,” Antenori said.

* * *

Antenori also had some choice words for former lawmaker Pete Hershberger, who called him “the bully of the Legislature” in a recent Daily Star article. “Pete Hershberger? That guy hasn’t been a Republican in 20 years,” he said.

Antenori’s speech resonated with about 40 people who came to see him. One of them, James Kelley, a Republican who is running for the Pima County board of supervisors, sees nothing wrong with Antenori’s bluntness and seems to relish it.  “You know how to get a warrior to calm down? Stop shooting at him. He’s a warrior, and he’s got a warrior’s heart, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Kelley told our reporter.

And in a story captioned "Antenori: The 'Man' wants to keep you down'":

Antenori also insinuated that Pima County leaders want to keep people poor so they will keep voting for them. True compassion for the citizenry would be to help them get jobs, he said, before railing against welfare. “What’s cruel is robbing people of their dignity and making them dependent on government. Why would you want to trap somebody in poverty? What would you want to just keep them down? Just so they can vote for you?” he said.

* * *

"The board of supervisors [doesn’t] want prosperity. They don’t want the Hispanic community to all of a sudden start getting jobs and paying taxes. Oh my God! If they do that, they’re going to start electing Republicans. I’m not kidding,” he said as the crowd laughed. “They don’t want that. They don’t want people to come up the economic food chain. They want to keep them down.”

Antenori was most likely referring to an Oct. 5 editorial by Inside Tucson Business (Surprised by Tucson’s poverty?), which concluded the “political power that runs Tucson likes its people poor. That way, they’re more beholden to the power structure and will keep them in office.”

Hmmm, that sounds more like teabaggers Higgins and Desimone, not editor Mark Hatfield.

And finally, in a story captioned "Idiocracy":

Tucson Councilman Steve Kozachik, a Republican who is supporting Bradley, took a strong exception to Antenori’s assertion, and said the idea that hyper-partisanship is driving the decisions by the Pima Board of Supervisors and the Tucson City Council is “idiocy.” Both sides have differences, but are working their best to create jobs, he told our reporter.

“The mantra throughout this state, irrespective of party, is job creation. And I hear that foolishness coming from guys like Antenori and other guys and, quite frankly, the way right-wing talk radio,” he said. [Higgins and Desimone – "Wake Up Tucson" talk right radio.] “That kind of comment is just stupid and ignorant.”

Yes it is.