Jette Cruelly Exploits Family Grief for Political Gain

A TV ad by fake Democrat Mike Jette manipulates the family of murder victim 17-year-old Isaac Benitez to lie about the facts of the case and, hideously, to harness it for an attack on County Attorney Laura Conover.

The ad omits that the teen was killed while selling a gun, and that he was not beaten, kicked or run over. Benitez died on July 24, 2023, after holding on to the window of the car when the gun buyers abruptly sped away. He died from injuries when he fell off.

Conover responded in a statement Monday, calling Isaac’s loss “heartbreaking,” adding, “We have seen victim grief exploited for political gain in TV campaign ads and speeches. That is appalling and beneath the dignity of this office.”

Prosecutor Chris Ward said he argued for prison time for the teen’s killers at sentencing, but the judge decided against it. Ward still argues prosecutors needed to offer probation-available pleas.

“We were afraid that at a jury trial, one or both defendants would be found not guilty. Our belief was that one or more jurors could have come to the conclusion that this was along the lines of an accident instead of intentional or dangerous, reckless conduct,” Ward said.

Capitalizing on a family’s grief

Twisting a family’s grief into a political ad, Jette recorded the teen’s grandmother saying, “Laura Conover gave up plea deals with no jail time, just probation for murdering a child.”

The judge, not Conover, issued the sentence. Turning grief into a political tactic, Jette recorded the grandmother, “Mike Jette is the person that we need to make a difference.”

Jette is an opportunist, pretending to be a Democrat while taking donations from prominent Republicans and voting for Republican election deniers like Abe Hamadeh.

Jette is part of a national Republican campaign to re-register Republicans in Blue districts as “Democrats” to fool voters.

Jette first registered in Arizona as a Democrat in 2002. Then, he changed to “Party Not Designated” in 2005. He registered as a Republican in 2011. He switched back to unaffiliated in 2012. He registered as an independent in 2015 and then unaffiliated in 2019. According to the Pima County Recorder’s Office, Jette registered as a Democrat in 2023. At one point, Jette ran for County Attorney as a Republican.

Jette’s Republican backers

“It is absolutely fair to point out that this doesn’t look and feel like a Democratic primary,” Conover told the Daily Star. “And I think it’s fair to point out that we have someone who changed parties in order to file a run in a primary, and his first quarter finance report does not look at all like a Democratic finance report. It looks like a Republican candidate funded by all of the obvious Republican donors and investors that invest in Republicans, county and statewide.”

Some of these “obvious Republican donors” were David Mehl, a Tucson Republican on the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission and president and owner of Cottonwood Properties, who donated $2,500 to Jette’s campaign. Conover also pointed to the many board members of HSL Properties, including Humberto Lopez himself, which she says “bundled up somewhere between $20-25,000” for Jette.

“It’s all the big corporate developers, again, in an office that has an environmental law unit on the civil side,” Conover said. “We have a candidate who is raising a fortune in that kind of money in a race that’s really important to protect our precious Sonoran Desert.”

Phony Democrat

Jette lives in LD20, but the Democratic District Chair says Jette has not canvassed, written a postcard, held a fundraiser, or made calls for Democrats. He came to an LD20 meeting in March but not after that. He’s done nothing for the Democratic Party and is not even a PC.

The right-wing Goldwater Institute supports Jette.

Jette appeared on four different programs on right-wing talk radio, KVOI, including shows of Bruce Ash — former national Committeeman of the Republican Party of Arizona; Grant Krueger, a member of the anti-homeless group Tucson Crime Free Coalition; pro-MAGA Chris DeSimone, and law enforcement advocate Sherry Harrison). Their audience is Republicans, and Democrats do not listen to right-wing talk radio.

For more information, read Don’t Be Deceived by Fake Democrat Mike Jette for Pima County Attorney