Ken Bennett reveals more about his motives than he planned to

by David Safier

Let's forget birther controversy for a moment and look at SOS Ken Bennett's campaign statement against his current actions.

Howie Fischer details the Bennett vs. Bennett moment in an article today. During the 2010 campaign, Bennett said the Secretary of State should be above partisanship.

Bennett, when running for office in 2010, said it’s “not appropriate” for someone who wants to be the state’s chief election official to support any candidate or back any ballot measure.

Makes sense, right? He made a pledge of public neutrality because he's the guy who is “going to have to conduct the election.”

Now he's the state co-chair of the Romney campaign. Why is that OK?

“I was going to get beat up, whether I made endorsements or not.”

So Clean Ken, Baby-faced Bennett didn't really mean he'd stay out of party politics because it was the right thing to do, because it was "not appropriate" for the SOS to take a public role in a political campaign. It was because it sounded good at the time. But as soon as he's in office, his pledge of neutrality goes out the window, and he justifies his action by saying, If they're going to beat me up anyway, I might as well be the partisan SOB SOS I said I wouldn't be.

After all, if he wants to be governor, he has to make as many friends and allies as possible. Play the birther card. Support candidates. Whatever it takes. But keep that innocent, cherubic smile. It works wonders.