Tea Party

2010 Arizona Tea Party Dream Team: 4 Down, 1 to Go

Oh, boo, hoo. The Blog for Arizona commenters think I am being too tough on poor millionaire GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Ducey. Let’s not forget that Ducey– along with fellow Teapublicans Governor Jan “Papers Please” Brewer, Department of Education Superintendent John “Thucydides” Huppenthal, Ken “Birther” Bennett, and Tom “Banned for Life by the SEC” Horne— were … Read more

SB1070

Will the Real John Huppenthal Please Stand Up?

SB1070
Protest sign from a Resist SB1070 demonstration in Tucson.

Since Blog for Arizona broke the story, new insights into Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal’s secret life as an Internet troll continue to be revealed as bloggers and journalists study years of online comments.

Between Tucson Progressive blog and Blog for Arizona (BfAZ), there are nearly 400 comments from Thucydides or Flacon9, but there could be more unknown Huppenthal posts out there.

An anonymous tipster now claims that someone with the online name “Thucydides” has made comments on at least one white nation (WN) website. Are BfAZ Thucycides and WN Thucydides the same person? No one knows. BfAZ figured out that Thucydides was Huppenthal by analyzing comments, e-mail address, and IP addresses. Three key findings cemented the identification: Thucydides posted from a Department of Education computer, Thucydides commented from a computer in Japan when Huppenthal was there, and one Thucydides comment was signed by Huppenthal. In the case of the alleged WN comments, the NSA probably knows if they exist and has access to the email addresses or the IP addresses for comparison– but we don’t… yet.

Would it be a big surprise to find out the Huppenthal is sympathetic to white nationalist beliefs? Not really. From his anonymous comments, we already have proof he is a racist– something he has been accused of for many years. Let’s look at his history and his policies.

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Man, Tom Horne has a friend in Doug MacEachern

sad tom horne

Cranky old AZ Republic columnist Doug MacEachern started off his Monday column with some tantalizing clickbait for the crowd that hates Clean Elections and blames it for everything wrong in the state.

Seen our state Legislature lately? Somewhere, a Democratic political strategist is wincing. But he was hardly alone. Promoters of publicly financed campaigns both in Arizona and nationally sincerely believed it would make elections more egalitarian, more open to regular citizens.

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Link for my Sunday Square off Appearance

Crossposted at DemocraticDiva.com

square-off-logo

ICYMI, and you probably did because it was Memorial Day weekend and it aired on Sunday morning at 8 a.m., you can watch me on the panel with Chip Scutari and Shane Wikfors here. Again, sorry I can’t embed but the videos tend to open immediately when you click on the site if I do.

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Why Tom Horne might have thought he could get away with it

Crossposted at DemocraticDiva.com

Arizona’s top prosecutor, Attorney General Tom Horne, is in hot water yet again. This time it’s because of revelations by a former staffer in his state office that she was required to spend the majority of her time doing campaign work (which is illegal) and that Horne’s offices has been flagrantly using state employees and resources for campaign efforts. As Horne’s reelection chances grow ever dimmer, it may seem puzzling why he would have taken such a stupid risk with all the other problems (infidelity, hit-and-run, etc.) he has. My theory is that Tom Horne and his top aide Kathleen Winn are simply following the precedent set by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has been using taxpayer dollars to run a nonstop PR and reelection campaign for several years now, with impunity.

Arpaio Allen

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