Sinema informed this egret that these were the messages that polled best, which is why they were used heavily in the "No on 102" campaign. She stated that the "Yes on 102" camp outspent them, about $8 million to her group's about $600,000, according to her. And that's the reason her side lost. She was particularly dismissive of those who were protesting after the fact.
"If they're so pissed off, what did they do to stop it?" asked Sinema. "That would be my question for those individuals."
www.livingincinema.com, Napolitano by Michael Ratcliff
Harvey Milk (left), profile in courage, and Governor Janet Napolitano, profile in cowardice.
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For Sinema, who is openly bisexual, the passage of the constitutional amendment was a mere redundancy, as Arizona's law barring gay marriage had already been challenged and upheld as constitutional by the state appellate court in 2003. In 2004, the state Supreme Court refused to review the lower court's ruling.
However, the Arizona Supreme Court's spokeswoman, Cari Gerchick, confirmed that the law could have been challenged again, hypothetically.
"Someone could have filed a request [for review] prior to the constitutional amendment," said Gerchick. "The Arizona Supreme Court could have disagreed with the Court of Appeals' decision."
But now that Prop 102 has passed, the only way to undo it would be with another constitutional amendment. So the passage of Prop 102 was more than symbolic.
Thing is, the Arizona Supreme Court is drastically different now from what it was in 2004. At that time, Charles E. Jones, a prominent Mormon, was chief justice. He has since retired, leaving new Chief Justice Ruth McGregor in charge. Could this and other new blood on the state Supreme Court have made a difference if the statute had been challenged again? We'll never know.
But even if Sinema is right, and the passage of the amendment "didn't change anything," then why bother to fight it? Sinema said it's because she and other "No on 102ers" knew the prop was a ploy to get ideological conservatives to the polls, and that the "No on 102" crowd wanted to "mitigate" that effect, to help Democrats.
"We wanted to make it as difficult as possible for [the other side] to get out their ideological voters to vote in these local and state elections," Sinema said.
In a red state like Arizona, the "No on Prop 102" effort may have been doomed from jump. But one thing's for certain, you don't win campaigns that you don't set out to win. The law of the ideological jungle is that you have to counter an argument with a better, more powerful one. Harvey Milk definitely knew that. And The Bird reckons that Annie Loyd does, too.
