In the race for the helm of Arizona's government, there is bound to be mudslinging and deprecating remarks coming from each corner of the ring. However, none are as slanderous and character revealing as comments made this past week by Democratic candidate Janet Napolitano.
Recently, phone calls from an unknown group were placed with a message from a "woman in Arizona" who gave her baby up for adoption, found out that the child was adopted by a gay couple and was then stifled in her attempts to get her baby back by Attorney General Napolitano. These events never took place and the calls were illegal and slanderous.
The calls were traced to Florida and no one knows, including the attorney general's office, which funded the calls. But that isn't stopping the accusations from coming out of the Napolitano camp! Proof? They don't need no stinkin' proof!
Napolitano and Democratic Party chairman Jim Pederson are standing by their statements that the Salmon campaign made the calls, despite their vehement denials. When pressed on the issue, Napolitano outright said she did not need proof because she knew.
This is disturbing. Janet is the chief law enforcer and legal mind in this state. She is a former prosecutor and U.S. attorney. But Janet herself is impervious to the law. She does not need evidence of wrongdoing?
If these are the new rules of the game, "no proof needed," let us just resort to the age-old politics adage of "let the bastard deny it." Let's have a little fun. How about Janet bribed polling staff to fix the election. Or Janet is secretly a man. Or Janet likes to sunbathe nude on "A Mountain" while Pederson feeds her grapes and little slave children fan her with palm leaves.
Why not? I don't need proof! I said it was so, so it must be true. The fact that these things are in print is even more evidence! The real facts are that Napolitano is a poor candidate for governor. Her unethical behavior and complete lack of decorum in the political arena is a true indicator of her quality as a candidate.
Napolitano is not the champion of minorities; she was behind one of the worst debacles in Arizona with the blanket arrests of Hispanics in 1997 that resulted in a $35-million lawsuit. When confronted, she ran for the nearest exit by shifting blame to someone in her office.
Napolitano abuses the system that is supposed to make elections fair. While Salmon works hard for his campaign contributions from people who directly wish to fund him, Napolitano takes funds from "Clean Elections," a state program that derives its funding from surcharges on tickets and a tax on lobbyists. Isn't it nice to know that the ticket you paid for may be funding a myriad of candidates you disagree with? Sounds like state-enforced speech to me.
Not only this, but Janet's office space was rented to her at a severely discounted rate by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which was also easily able to coerce its members into the obligatory $5 donations needed to qualify for "clean" funding. Of course, the Citizen's Clean Elections Commission found no wrongdoing in these actions.
With as much badmouthing of Salmon that is slung around every day, isn't it nice to know that the latest Democrat media darling, Janet Napolitano, is not quite the demure intelligent woman she is portrayed as? With her poor record in office, her unscrupulous behavior and blatant disregard of ethics and law, Arizona is faced with ruin if she is elected.
Go Janet? No Janet!
Shanna Bowman is an industrial engineering senior. Reach her at shanna.bowman@asu.edu.
