Usually, common sense and rational decision making is expected from elected officials -- unless you're the Arizona Republic's editorial board. If that's the case, gratitude apparently is required for someone who is simply not a lunatic in a position of power.
Given the number of nut-jobs running the asylum in Arizona, perhaps the Republic's right -- acknowledging sanity might inspire more of it -- but Arizona Democratic Party Chairman Andrei Cherny disagrees with the idea that elected leaders should be thanked for using common sense.
Last week, Arizona's paper of record penned a piece bashing Arizona Democrats for not thanking Governor Jan Brewer after she vetoed the "Birther Bill."
In short, the bill was humiliating for Arizona -- a state that already has a few PR problems.
The Republic's piece points out that following Brewer's veto of the bill -- and other bills loathed by Arizona's left -- "the minority party just couldn't play nice. They just could not say thanks."
How would you even thank someone for vetoing such an embarrassing, conspiracy theory-based bill -- "hey, thanks for not being nuts, too?"
The Republic's article called out Cherny, in particular, who today fired back.
"Have we truly come to expect so little of our leaders that we now need to be grateful to them for not enshrining a fringe conspiracy theory into state law?" Cherny says in a statement. "I believe that public officials should clear a little bit higher bar before I need to rush out and buy them a thank you note."
Cherny goes on to outline some issues that could have warrant a thank you from Arizona Dems -- and maybe even flowers.
* After five years of the worst job loss in Arizona history, they could have
taken a single, solitary action that would help businesses create, not shed,
jobs -- and a lobbyist-sponsored giveaway that takes effect three years from now
doesn't count.
* They could have listened to business leaders like former Intel CEO Craig
Barrett and invested in our schools instead of slashing public education and
they could have funded it by collecting some of the hundreds of thousands of
dollars in taxes owed, but not paid, by our biggest corporations.
* With Phoenix facing the highest property crime rates in America, they might
have not forced our local governments to take cops off our streets.
* When our hospitals and doctors offered ways to avoid massive cuts to healthcare, they could have worked with them instead of eliminating tens of
thousands of jobs and overcrowding our hospital emergency rooms.
* They could have reformed government to make it work better and waste less
instead of authorizing runaway spending that imposed more debt on my children
than in all the rest of Arizona's history combined.
* When Russell Pearce had a virulently racist letter read on the floor of our
state legislature, even one single Republican in high office could have had
the courage to stand up and denounce him.
Cherny goes on to plead with supporters for money to help keep the majority Republican Party in check and prevent further far-right-wing-nut legislation from making it all the way to the governor's desk.
See the full Republic article here.
