Jason Rose Defends John Huppenthal on Student’s Video of Him

Wagner’s original video of the Huppenthal interview

GOP spinmeister Jason Rose has stepped into the fray regarding a high-school student’s video report that included an interview with state Senator John Huppenthal, who is seeking to become Arizona’s schools superintendent.

Rose cries foul in a news release, wherein he states that Huppenthal was never “humiliated” in the interview, though he sure looks that way to the naked eye. Huppenthal did weirdly walk out of the interview, but Corona del High School student reporter Keith Wagner told the Yellow Sheet that Huppenthal “did come back and was very polite.”

The disputed re-cut, with just Huppenthal stuff kept in

According to the Yellow Sheet, Wagner is disturbed by how the video was abridged by whoever reposted it. Also, he disagreed with the interview being depicted as a “gotcha” moment.
The Yellow Sheet further notes that the bill Wagner was asking about didn’t cut the monies with which Wagner was concerned. Rose quotes the Yellow Sheet thus,
“The bill, which was part of a two-bill package that closed a $650 million deficit in FY09, did three things: roll over $100 million in university funding; roll over $300 million in K-12 funding; and cut $250 million from K-12, but backfill the cuts with an equal amount of federal stimulus money. Additionally, budget documents from JLBC show the career and technical education funding levels are unchanged from FY09 at about $11.5 million.”
So Huppenthal’s reputation is spared? Well, he still looks like a dolt on camera and he needed Jason Rose to come in and save his hide. So you be the judge.
That said, if in describing the video itself I somehow mischaracterized Huppy’s vote, all apologies. Nevertheless, it does give us all an opportunity to eyeball these fascinating videos once again.