Fred DuVal was forced to distance his campaign from a local Democratic gay-rights group last month after the leader called a Democratic lawmaker a "cunt."
Robert Rowley of the Stonewall Democrats of Arizona had put the dreaded c-word under a Facebook picture of State Representative (and soon to be State Senator) Catherine Miranda, D-Phoenix. Asked to apologize, Rowley doubled down with the statement, "Sorry, but I stand by my assessment. Catherine Miranda is a cunt and she is going to be recalled."
See also: -Fred DuVal Down to Doug Ducey in Latest Polls, but Remains Within Striking Distance
Miranda, a former assistant school principal and a state rep since 2010, won the August primary against Aaron Marquez in the heavily Democratic Legislative District 27. She's running against Republican Natalie Taswell, who apparently hasn't even bothered to create a Facebook page for her campaign. Rowley was reportedly ticked off at Miranda for endorsing Republican Doug Ducey for governor.
DuVal fled from Rowley and the Stonewall Democrats following Rowley's unapologetic profanity. They'd formerly been his good buddies, and Rowley posted an interview he'd done with DuVal a couple of months ago on one of the group's web pages. That interview has since been taken down by the group, but Google has a cached copy still up. (Update -- the page is now up and no longer displaying a 404 message.)
The group began under its current name in May. Although this story received little mainstream press attention, Tim Steller of the Arizona Daily Star seemed to have a good handle on the situation in a political-roundup article on Thursday: "Apparently (DuVal's) campaign had made the mistake of thinking this Stonewall is a substantial group... I'm familiar with Rowley's excesses in political discussion, having blocked him from my Facebook page for getting too personal and vicious against people with whom he disagrees." Steller also reports that Rowley did later apologize.
Erica Keppler, the leader of another gay-rights group, OUT for Fred, blasted Rowley's conduct "in the strongest possible terms" when contacted late last month by Patrick Howley of the Daily Caller, four days after another group, Somos Independents, slammed Rowley in a statement. DuVal's campaign told Howley they agreed with OUT for Fred's assessment.
Democratic activist and blogger Steve Muratore claims that in turn for her endorsement, Ducey promised Miranda, "the ability to get bills passed and signed into law in 2015." Imagine that -- Republicans and Democrats possibly working together. Muratore writes that, as far as he's concerned, Miranda "sold her soul" a long time ago.
Tip of the hat for this foul-mouthed story, by the way, goes to Arizona Regent Greg Patterson, who writes the snarky, conservative-flavored Espresso Pundit blog. Just to prove the dude wrong on something, though, we're going to tell you to click-and-read about the "dirty trick" by Democrats he wrote about last week.
Got a tip? Send it to: Ray Stern.
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