Thursday, July 27th, 2006...9:52 am
Jonesin’
As many of you know, Rep. Russ Jones made it on to the ballot after all. I read some crowing here and on some of the Republican-oriented blogs about it. The Arizona Supreme Court found that what happened did not constitute forgery, but it did find that:
Substantial evidence supports the trial court’s finding that Jones presented petitions to the Arizona Secretary of State on June 7, 2006, which he signed as the circulator, knowing that he did not obtain the signatures in his presence as required by A.R.S. § 16-321.
To put it simply, Jones is not a forger, but he did lie. Heck of a campaign slogan.
The Arizona Democratic Party has a website up detailing their version of events here. I checked it out, and I saw something that just went to show what a tangled web politics here in the Old Pueblo can be.
The case that was referenced with regards to the circulator’s signature is one called Brousseau v. Fitzgerald. The protagonists in that case were two Democrats running for the State Senate in what was then District 14 on the East Side of Tucson, Pima Community College Boardmember Georgia Brousseau and Jack “The Color TV King” Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald had some teenagers walking petitions for him, and had other volunteers who were walking with them sign the back. The court found in that case that the people who signed the backs of the petitions did not “witness” the signatures, and thus the petitions were thrown out.
The case is often referenced in petition challenges, and has even been cited in cases in other states.
Here is where it gets into Kevin Bacon territory: Brousseau lost the general election that year, but tried to make a political comeback of sorts three years ago by attempting to get appointed to the then-vacant District 29 House seat. She was unsuccessful, losing out to…my brother.
Many of you know that I serve on the Tucson Sign Code Committee. I was chairman for a short time before I was ousted and replaced by…Jack Fitzgerald.
I tell people I live in the biggest small town in America.
NB - Oh, and the seat that Brousseau and Fitzgerald coveted was occupied only two years before by Jim Kolbe, who was running against Rep. Jim McNulty, whose son chairs Gabrielle Giffords’s campaign.
Both Kolbe and McNulty talked to Patty Weiss that year, no doubt.
4 Comments
July 27th, 2006 at 11:44 am
Rep. Russ Jones is a honorable man, unlike you share/the/same/brain dems. When are you guys going to get it? BTW, I got my Clean Elections Early Voting Guide and I must say, Teddie, you have one ugly mug….I thought I was ugly but…..Forgetaboutit!!!
July 27th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
Tedski,
I also received the Clean Election voting guide. I think your photo looks great but what is with your brother not sending a picture or even a statement?
Did he get that idea from the Mike Harris School of How to Loose an Election?
July 27th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
Russ Jones is an honorable man who the court found actually cheated on his petitions and lied about it.
THOSE FACTS ARE NOT IN DISPUTE.
What is in dispute is if taking him off the ballot is too severe a punishment, and the sup court thought so.
July 27th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
Oh, let it go already. What’s done is done and after all, what he did is “rather common,” according to tedski. It’s apparently just not rather common to get caught.
Do you really want to go down this road or would you rather take the higher one and run against Russ Jones on the issues?
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