Is Tim Steller Reading Our Stuff? Or is Juan Ciscomani’s Hypocrisy and Lack of Courage That Obvious to Everyone?

Juan Ciscomani’s claim to be a bi-partisan member of Congress is as shallow as the mock storefronts at the Old Tucson amusement park. (Photo credit, Cronkite News, Arizona Public Media)

            We got a pleasant surprise Sunday when we looked at Arizona Daily Star columnist Tim Steller’s weekend column. Its headline, “Ciscomani “Bipartisan Except When it Mattered Most” couldn’t have been more in line with our thinking.

            For months now the Unseat Ciscomani Team has been telling all who would listen about the Sixth District congressman’s façade of being a bipartisan member of the House of Representatives, while slavishly following the dictates of President Donald Trump. Ciscomani’s show of cooperation “across the aisle” in the House reminds us of the facades in the Old Tucson theme park when western movies were shot there. The structures are all front, with nothing behind them.

              We’ll let Steller, one of the leading journalists in Southern Arizona, known for his even-handed approach to topics, tell the story: “Ciscomani has fallen in line with Trump, supporting his most consequential and damaging policies. Even when other Republicans dared to break ranks on key issues, Ciscomani toed the Trump line.”

            He cites particular times when Ciscomani’s actions opposed the best interests of many of his constituents:

• “In the months before the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed, Ciscomani penned letters demanding that Medicaid be protected. When it wasn’t and the bill included more than $900 billion in cuts over 20 years…he voted for it anyway. The bill passed the House by one vote, 215-214.”
• “The bill also imposed new paperwork requirements and changes in eligibility for food-aid recipients in the SNAP program. The result: About 461,000 Arizonans, including 180,000 children, have lost food assistance.”
• The bill, which includes tax cuts for upper-income earners and corporations, “is projected to add $4.2 trillion to the national debt by 2034.”
• On Trump’s tariff war against the world, “I would not have expected Ciscomani, a business Republican by nature, to support heavy-handed market interventions like this, but he adapted quickly.”
• “Ciscomani has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Iran War and continues to defend it even as Americans’ support has dwindled. He has repeatedly memory-holed…the fact that the United States, Iran and other world powers came to a deal for limiting and monitoring Iran’s nuclear program in 2015 and that Trump withdrew from it in 2018.”

As for Ciscomani’s claim to bipartisanship, Steller finds it is mostly based on co-sponsoring bills with members of the other party, “but none of that requires much risk-taking or courage. When courage was required to represent the district well and resist Trump’s worst policy excuses, Ciscomani didn’t have it.”

            That’s what we at the Unseat Ciscomani Team have been saying for months now. And, we’ll add one thing more — for more honest and upstanding representation, vote for Ciscomani’s opponent, JoAnna Mendoza, on November 3.