Crossposted at DemocraticDiva.com
This is a photo I took off NOT Tom Horne’s campaign website a few months ago. Not sure why they chopped off the top off his head.
Mark Brnovich, AKA the NOT Tom Horne Republican candidate for AZ Attorney General is a Goldwater Institute and Tea Party guy who filed to run against Tom Horne over a year ago as a protest candidate back when no one thought Horne, with all his money, was vulnerable in a primary. Republicans knew that Horne would have a lot of baggage going up against Felicia Rotellini again but didn’t bother to recruit a less ragingly right wing back-up candidate just in case, you know, more damning revelations came out about Horne. Oops. Now, NOT Tom Horne’s supporters are working furiously to portray him as a mainstream guy who is totally not Tea Party. On a recent TV appearance I had with right wing activist Shane Wikfors, himself and early and proud adopter of the Tea Party label, Wikfors was careful to downplay Brnovich’s Tea Party endorsements.
So obviously NOT Tom Horne needs a lot of help with this emergency makeover project. Luckily for him, he happens to be the recipient of a healthy $1,084,000 ad buy by the so-called “independent” Republican Attorneys General Association, or RAGA. (There is a RAGA Arizona IE PAC that recently filed with Secretary of State.) They seem like a nice bunch of people:
RAGA was formed because an inadequate number of state attorneys general were committed to defending federalism, adhering to the law during the course of multi-state litigation and applying a common-sense, free market approach to governing. In its first election year, RAGA made its mark on American politics by emerging as the only Republican organization to gain seats during the hard-fought 2000 elections. Since then, the impact of RAGA has been significant as the number of Republican attorneys general has increased in five of the past ten elections, growing from fourteen to twenty five nationwide.
Facts
Republican attorneys general hold 24 seats across the country. Attorney General Alan Wilson (SC) is the Chairman of RAGA.
Republican attorneys general’s fight against Obamacare scored a major victory allowing states to choose whether or not to participate in Medicaid expansion.
Republican attorneys general are currently challenging the constitutionality of Dodd-Frank.
In 2012, Republican attorneys general were successful in fights against the EPA.
In 2012, Republican attorneys general defeated the Cross State Air Pollution rule, which would have forced several power plants to shut down production, causing utility rates to skyrocket.
Arizona won a successful challenge against the National Labor Relations Board which challenged the state’s constitutional amendment guaranteeing workers’ rights to vote by secret ballot on whether to join a union. This case set valuable precedent which will allow these issues to be resolved at the state, and not federal, level.
Attorney General Alan Wilson (SC), with the help of other state Republican AGs, played a pivotal role in defeating the NLRB’s politically-motivated attempt to disallow Boeing’s business expansion in South Carolina.
The RAGA dark money ads will undoubtedly attack Democratic candidate Felecia Rotellini, who is running a very strong campaign. I predict they will be bunch of lies about Rotellini, wrapped in some charming sexism. Another thing you should know about this RAGA outfit is that none other than Sean Noble, the Dark Money kingpin, has provided substantial funding to it via his American Future Fund. Sean Noble so happens to be none other than Mark Brnovich’s campaign manager. Isn’t that cozy?
Remind me again what the point of ousting Tom Horne was if he’s simply going to be replaced by another joker who flouts the law as the state’s top law enforcer? Although frankly, I’ll take Horne’s hit and run and campaign violations, as egregious as they were, over Brnovich’s baggage. The NOT Tom Horne guy is actually worse than Tom Horne, both ethically and in terms of how utterly controlled he will be by Noble’s crew and other radical right wing interests. He would not act in a remotely independent manner as Arizona AG.
Well the ethically challenged Tom Horne still garnered 46% of the Republicans’ votes in the primary. Not sure what that means. Voters don’t care about corruption, or voters don’t know about corruption. Today the ADS reports that Horne used $300,000 in state money on his re-election. I don’t know about you, but I have AZ GOP fatigue. I hope I’m not the only one.
Hit and run horny dog has been taken to the garbage can. Now we will see what Ms. Rotellini will say to get the latino vote to register and vote for her.
Just read Brnovich’s website where he pledges to protect the rights of the “unborn” & proudly says he’s the only “pro-life” candidate for Az Attorney General. Sounds like he’ll spend more time & money litigating abortion issues & try to over-turn Roe v. Wade. That should scare women in Arizona.
Brnovich also says on his website, “Our attorney general cannot be AWOL on key cases or miss opportunities to push back against the overreach of the Obama Administration. When I’m attorney general I will not miss key opportunities to defend our Tenth Amendment and protect our state’s sovereignty.” Sounds like we’ll have more frivolous lawsuits claiming the 10th Amendment allows the states to nullify federal laws. That should scare taxpayers in Arizona.
Mark Brnovich appears to me to be someone who’ll use the Arizona Attorney General’s Office as a bully pulpit to push a right-wing agenda. Voters in Arizona beware!
I would say RAGA was doing a good job if it broke the monopoly on State Attorney Generals held by the Democrats. After all there are two sides to every argument. This is a race I find particularly interesting: Rotellini is a good candidate and it will be interesting seeing what I can find out about Brnovich. Please pardon me if I don’t use this Blog as a sole source of information. Much as I enjoy readings your Blogs, I have to look at other sources before deciding for whom I will vote.
Well, Mr Steve – I’m guessing that Fox Noise is your comparative source.
Or maybe Frightbart.
Thanks for the evening chuckle, “please pardon me blah blah blah…”
You have no idea how wrong you are because anyone who uses only one or two sources for their information is wasting their time. Your humor at me extending basic courtesy to the writer to whom I am responding tells more about you than you realize.
Stevie M’Boy!
Just FYI: You are way over your head attempting to compete intellectually with the blog authors on this site.
Maybe “read only” will serve you better.
And since you expressed interest, I will clarify my own politics. I vote in every election, big or small. I reject RedCons (my description for your party), and would not vote for a RedCon dogcatcher running unopposed. I’ve been researching your side all of my life. Know more than I need to have a strong position against Republicans.
Your intent on this blog is dishonest. You are fooling no one. Your politics is right wing, thus your purpose is no higher than sticking your narrow mind into a forum comprised of Progressive citizens.
Essentially, you harden my resistance toward your kind.
So have a lousy day!
Young William (you DO sound young, so I am not trying to insult you) I am glad that you vote in every election. I wish others were so diligent in their civic duties. I commend you for your due diligence.
As to the content of your blog:
(1) I am in competition with no one on the blog. Quite the contrary, I expect to be ignored.
(2) I wasn’t aware I had expressed an interest in whom you are. But since you told me, I feel very sorry for you. There are few things in life sadder than a human being who makes a concious decision to remain ignorant and closed minded.
(3) Realizing that I am a conservative from the right is hardly one of lifes “ah-hah” moments. I have made that clear from my first posting. You don’t have to be the Amazing Kreskin to know that. There is nothing dishonest about it.
If my postings disturb you, I suggest you don’t read them.