Reprehensible. And now we have the tape

by David Safier

I posted a few weeks back about the immature, disrespectful behavior of Republican Rep. Fillmore in the wee hours of the morning during budget talks. He claimed to support a Democratic amendment, then praised Dems for their public service. After a minute of seeming sincerity, he shouted, "April Fools," and trashed the Democrats. Here is Steve Farley's description of the incident:

We felt a small bit of hope at one point when Rep. John Fillmore (R-Apache Junction) rose to say that he actually supported an amendment by Anna Tovar (D-Tolleson) to restore transplant funding and pay for it entirely in private funds. He praised our arguments from the entire evening and our public service, and the articulate way in which we stood up for Arizonans. Our tired spirits as Democrats were lifted by the vision of a Republican actually saying nice things about us and acknowledging our hard work in opposition.

Then he yelled out "April Fools!" and went on to trash everything we stood for. The harshly partisan and mean-spirited nature of the process and majority rhetoric on the floor was revealed once again in a particularly nasty way. Needless to say, not many of us Democrats were laughing.

The AZ Dems have posted a two minute video of the incident, a damning indictment of the petty, mean spirited attitude the Republicans have adopted as their governing style.