I must have hit a nerve

by David Safier
A few weeks ago, I wrote a column for the Explorer whose theme was, conservatives lack an empathy gene. I began with the empathy fuss over Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, then went local.

You've probably read similar diatribes from me here, so I won't quote the rest.

I must have hit a nerve, because the column got 4 comments. That's a lot for the Explorer. Most people confine their ranting to blogs and the Star. One was a long, well written comment that went to great lengths to take my arguments apart, especially the part I wrote about Melvin. The next week, the comment appeared as a column in the paper.

I learned a few things from the comment-turned-column. First, I must have hit a nerve going after Melvin's lack of empathy. It's not the first time I criticized him in a column, but this is the first time I got this kind of response. Lack of empathy must be a serious political liability for Melvin. To fight against the label, he was willing to be labeled a "nanny state Republican" for sponsoring bills against texting while driving and smoking with someone under 18 in the car, and another forbidding children from riding in the backs of pickups. And he's a big supporter of No Kill Animal Shelters. Those are empathy bills if I've ever seen them. I expect Melvin to trot them out during his campaign to show his heart is as big as all outdoors. "I may cut schools and social services, but never mind that, because I love dogs."

Second, when I saw the "author" of the column is David Jorgenson, I knew something was up. I assume this is the same David Jorgenson who ran in LD-26 together with Melvin in 2006. They both lost their races. Jorgenson, unlike Melvin, didn't come back for a second try in 2008.

Based on what I know about Jorgenson from his 2006 run, I'll bet my teaching credential he didn't write the column. It's too well written, too clever and too snarky for him. And I'll bet a latte it was written by Constantin Querard, a Maricopa-based Republican political operative who ran Melvin and Jorgenson's campaigns, as well as other conservative candidates' campaigns around the state. (The last bet is safe, even if I'm wrong. No conservative would be caught dead asking a liberal to buy him a latte!)

If my guess about Querard's ghost authorship is right, that takes me in two directions. One is, Jorgenson simply allowed his name to be used so the column could have a local author. The other is, Jorgenson is planning to reemerge as a candidate for LD-26 Rep in 2010 to try and take out either Vic Williams or Nancy Young Wright, and this is the opening salvo of his campaign.