Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Jesse Kelly made "Worst Persons" on the Friday edition of Countdown with Keith Olbermann for his bogus claim about Mexicans being bused across the border to vote in Arizona elections.
The silver, Jesse Kelly, the Tea Party-Republican candidate for the Arizona 8th Congressional District. He was a guest on a radical right-wing radio show when he was asked by the host Mark Levin about "Democratic dirty tricks," and Kelly just sort of took off.
"People have video of them busing people across from our southern border. We're a border district. They literally bus people across from Mexico to have them vote at the polls on Election Day, give them a meal and then bus them back. It's been done in the past. So we're really fighting against that down here."
If Mr. Kelly has seen Mexicans being bused across the Arizona desert he must be high on peyote. Or the supposed videotape for that matter. As Mr. Kelly's campaign spokesman himself pointed out "nobody could have seen them busing Mexicans to vote illegal in Arizona this year because the election isn't until next Tuesday."
As to it happening in the past, a Nexus search turned up no arrests, no investigations, no reports of Mexicans being brought in by bus to vote in previous Arizona elections.
The would-be congressman Kelly apparently just made it up. Or maybe some of those headless torsos that Arizona's Governor Jan Brewer claims were found in the Arizona desert told him about them.*
Despite Republican congressional candidate Jesse Kelly's claim, the Secretary of State's Office has seen no evidence of or complaints about people being bused across the border to vote in Arizona elections. Political briefs:
Such a practice would violate Arizona immigration and election laws, said Matt Benson, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office.
"That would be a serious concern if we had any indication that it was occurring, but we do not," Benson said. Kelly's campaign has not filed a formal complaint, he added.
* * *
The back-and-forth comes as the Republican Party continues to insist there has been attempted voter fraud in Yuma County, even though the Republican secretary of state disputed that and the Republican Yuma County recorder said the allegations are "rumor-filled and without substantive merit."
If Republicans really believe this bullshit they should demand an investigation into Republican Secretaries of State Jane Hull, Betsy Bayless and Jan Brewer (1995-2008) who failed to do their job by permitting Mexicans to be bused in to vote in previous Arizona elections. Especially since the Prop. 200 photo ID requirement to vote at the polls in effect since 2005, when Jan Brewer was our Secretary of State. Yeah, I didn't think so.
* Better late than never. Arizona has its first case of a beheading, and just in time for Election Day. Not found in the desert, mind you, that's still a lie, but in a Chandler apartment. Chandler beheading raises fears of drug violence.
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Arizona’s US House district 8 has, since it was created, been very fortunate to have been ably represented by two moderate centrists, first Jim Kolbe (R) and now Gabrielle Giffords (D). No one would agree with every vote either made, but they have both sought to represent all of their constituents, regardless of their political affiliation. Gabrielle is a fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrat. She has been a very competent and effective Representative for our district, who has listened carefully and respectfully to her constituents. This might be expected from her given her many accomplishments in academics (a Fulbright scholar with a Master’s degree from Cornell), business (as former president and CEO of El Campo Tire), and politics (having learned how to serve us in the AZ House and Senate before becoming our US House Representative). She has southern Arizona in her blood — she was born and raised here.
In 1999 Jesse Kelly graduated from high school in Montana where he was voted one of the class “comics”. He then went on to Montana State University, dropping out in 2000 without a degree to enlist in the military. A fairly non-standard path in a time of peace — it would appear he couldn’t handle college. He served in the Marines, which is honorable, and he was discharged from active service in 2004. High potential people leaving the military often go on to get a college degree afterwards via the GI Bill. But Jesse had already tried unsuccessfully at college, and so instead went to work for his father in construction and moved to Arizona (i.e. at most 6 years ago). While there is certainly no shame in working for the family business, in Jesse’s case he wasn’t actually qualified for any job requiring more than a high school diploma.
To be clear, I think this country owes a debt of gratitude to Jesse for the years he served in the Marines, just as we do to anyone who serves in the military which protects us. But just as those years as an enlisted man in the Marines do not qualify him to become one of the most junior officers in the Marines (to become a 2nd lieutenant in the Marines one must either graduate from the Naval Academy, or get a bachelor’s degree and then graduate from OCS), it also does not qualify him in any way to be a US House Representative, the job of which is to pass legislation. Nothing in Jesse’s history would suggest that he is capable of writing good legislation or able to competently succeed at any other legislative task. Arizona should have learned it is a mistake to elect a college drop-out into an important office after electing, and then having to impeach, Evan Mecham.
From what he has said, if Jesse were elected he would go to DC as the extreme partisan. Partisanship is the problem, not the solution. It seems likely that in DC he would specialize in the same sophomoric sarcasm he apparently learned in high school and has been so fond of using in his campaign. Jesse would at most represent only the far right wing – it appears clear he isn’t interested in hearing from the Democrats, Independents, and moderate Republicans he has shown such disdain for. With Jesse’s inexperience, academic failure, verbal gaffes, and partisanship, if Arizona elected Jesse it seems more than likely we would experience the embarrassment of Mecham II.
We have an alternative: Gabrielle is an intelligent, articulate, accomplished, and well-educated centrist, who has listened to, and fought hard for, all of us. Gabrielle would be a far better representative for the vast majority of people in this district. If you feel you absolutely have to vote anti-incumbent, then your best option would be to cast your vote for the other candidate, Stoltz, or yourself as a write-in candidate (you are likely more qualified than Jesse to represent us). Given Jesse’s lack of qualifications, I can’t see why anyone would vote for him, unless perhaps it was for a much lower office, such as Marana town council. How could anyone in southern Arizona seriously think their interests would possibly be well-represented in DC by a very young recent resident from Montana who dropped out of college, who has no record of community service or involvement, who has no experience at any level of politics, and whose only achievements (other than serving in the Marines) are to have earned a high school diploma and to have been voted class clown?