She had no campaign platform other than an almost implacable opposition to the set of education standards known as "Common Core.
She did almost no campaigning, other than a few appearances at "safe" events.
She had almost no support among the state's education or business communities.
She still won.
And now, her supporters are coming out of the woodwork to proclaim the reasons behind their support for Douglas, and, in a surprise to no one, the "reasons" are stunningly ignorant.
From a letter to the editor, published in the Arizona Republic on Friday, written by Ray Himmelberg -
Using history and experience as a guide, I prejudged and saw Democrat next to Garcia's name and inferred a willingness to raise my taxes without proper oversight and unfettered deference to the teachers union.
Ummm...at the state level in Arizona, there are only two entities with the authority to raise taxes, and neither one is the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
One is the legislature, and they would rather see the roofs of AZ's schools cave in and crush AZ's students than increase any tax.
The other is the voters of Arizona themselves, who have shown themselves willing to do just that.
Now, like any other citizen, from the governor to the newest resident of AZ, the SPI can suggest or support a proposed tax increase. However, he or she doesn't have the authority to do anything to increase taxes.
As for Mr. Himmelberg's stereotyping of all Democrats? Let's leave that for another time.
In his letter, Mr. Himmelberg displays a propensity for ignorance and simplistic "reasoning". In this, he is consistent, at least.
In 2012, he wrote another letter to the editor, this one asserting the premise that Arizona residents who don't blindly love the state shouldn't criticize it. They should just leave.
These are the kind of people who help keep Arizona in late-night monologues.
2 comments:
I think the election of Ms. Douglas just goes to prove that there is a majority of Arizonans who will vote for anyone with an (R) after their name.
Not a majority of Arizonans, just a majority of the minority that showed up for a low-turnout mid-term election.
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