Wednesday, September 5th, 2007...7:00 pm
Bennett Not Running
The big political news today is that Ken Bennett is not going to run for congress after all. Some Republican higher ups were concerned that the troubles involving his son would have made it impossible for him to run. Personally, I didn’t think that what his son did was worthy of a campaign issue unless it turned out that Bennett used his influence to get the prosecutors and the courts to go easy on him.
Interestingly, shortly after my last post on a Bennett candidacy, I got a raft of forwarded e-mails and articles about Bennett’s son. These came not from a Democrat, but from a Republican. It makes me wonder if Bennett’s biggest problem would have come in the primary.
Anyhow, I think a more interesting issue against Bennett would have been the trouble that his company has been having with the Department of Environmental Quality, which made the prospect of a Ken Bennett - Steve Owens race especially enticing.
21 Comments
September 6th, 2007 at 7:01 am
Please save us from Steve ‘do nothing but collect a paycheck’ Owens in this race.
September 6th, 2007 at 7:03 am
I am afraid that the left over residue of Mr. Bennett’s situation with his son would make it almost impossible to run in any future political race beyond Prescott.
September 6th, 2007 at 7:54 am
Ron! Really, I don’t think it’s fair for you to call Owens such names. Since becoming Director of ADEQ, Owens has brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars to rural communities throughout the state, including AZ-1. This http://www.azdeq.gov/function/news/2007/download/0829.pdf is just a recent example of it. And you know what? These dollars aren’t state dollars, most of the time these funds come from the federal coffers. How about that? A state that pays more into our federal tax system than we receive back actually getting the federal dollars we deserve!
September 6th, 2007 at 8:50 am
I am not sure what Mr. Owens ever did to Ron. I don’t think anyone, even Ms. Kirkpatrick herself, can accuse Owens of “doing nothing” as ADEQ Director. In fact, he was just selected by his colleagues to co-chair the Western Climate Initiative - read more here: http://www.azdeq.gov/function/news/2007/aug.html#0827.
Owens has a record of working to improve the environment for ALL Arizonans - Ron needs to check his facts before he makes such reckless assertions.
I think Ron needs to check his facts before he engages in such reckless name-calling.
September 6th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Ron - I guarantee Owens has delivered more state and federal dollars to the district than any one else has ever imagined exsisted. In fact, i challenge you to disprove that fact. Give you something to “do”. Talk about “do nothing”. Hows about you “do” fact check before you open “do” nimord open mouth and “do” look like a neophyte fool.
September 6th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
One thing I really don’t get is this Steve Owens worship. It’s really annoying. And I have no dog in this fight but I do believe milquetoast, never-say-anything-substantive candidates are a Rx for failure in these climates.
September 6th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
I support Kirkpatrick, so I’m not on the Owens raft. At all.
As far as Bennett’s son is concerned, the problem is that there is certainly a strong appearance that his father did intervene with Yavapai County prosecutors.
Which is why the younger Bennett got no jail time for doing the same thing that Justin Volpe got thirty years for.
September 6th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Wrong, Ron! Wrong! As Carla from Cheers said, “You couldn’t be more wrong if your butt was screwed on backwards!” Your bumpersticker phrase has no backing to it. I do feel for any politician who gets tainted because something a family member does (and they have no control over it). But without his sons shenanigans, Bennett had other issues.
Ann’s a good Democrat, but I would put Steve-O’s record of five years at DEQ over Ann’s three year loosing battle in the legislature.
September 6th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
you know what some of you whack-tavists remind me of? The crazy Japanese soldiers on deserted islands in the Pacific who are fighting a war thats been over for 60 years - but no one ever told them.
Let me break it down for you ron, eli, netroots, freddy duval, shanker, ann and anyone else who is listening, posting or selling crazy. No flagstaff liberal has ever come close to winning this district. Simon, Babbitt - went down in flames. Why? Because thinking you only have to win Flag and that will carry your ass is, as usual with you AZ dem party types, neophite.
The only dem that came close to giving Renzi a run for his money was Cordova. Why? he worked at appealing to the whole district. Even then the district choose an out of state carpet bagger over a local AZ guy. Get a clue my party hack friends, it isn;t “worship” we are talking about, its “seat-picking-up-reality” you all need a dose of. War is over, learn from the Babbitt, Simon fiascos.
September 7th, 2007 at 9:05 am
you get angry at ron for calling owens names, then you do it to kirkpatrick. goodness gracious. how can you call her a flagstaff liberal? she is by no means a liberal. yes, she is pro-choice, but she is catholic and pro gun and very moderate on issues such as taxes and almost conservative when it comes to immigration. so to write her off as a copy cat ellen simon is just pure bs.
also, a friend of mine talked with owens at an event that he attended and he said straight up that “Ann is a nice lady, but she hasn’t done anything.” Does that sound like what Ron said? how incredibly condescending! i think her constituents in LD2 would have something to disagree about there, considering the fact that just this spring she was able to accomplish great things for the Hopi, Navajo, and NAU in a republican controlled state house. not to mention her time as a prosecutor, serving as president of the united way of northern arizona, and raising two very successful and bright daughters. talk about name calling, straight from owens’ mouth.
September 7th, 2007 at 9:59 am
Ya know, I think I’ll lay off writing anything about CD 1 for a while. At least until y’all get refills on your meds.
September 7th, 2007 at 11:57 am
“she was able to accomplish great things for the Hopi, Navajo, and NAU in a republican controlled state house.” I’m sorry, i forget, were we talking about what candidate has done what, or who can actually win district-wide? Cause i forget.
If you want to get into a “who has done more for the district” argument, you will lose it hands down. This isn’t about that, its about electability. Electability means appealing to the WHOLE district. Not just what you have done in LD 2. Owens has it district-wide (including Flag), Kirkpatrick has it only in Flag. Remind me again how she’s supposed to beat a well-heeled republican carrying only Flagstaff? (see: Babbitt, Simon)
September 7th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
why do you think she will carry only flagstaff? sure, her base is flagstaff and the navajo nation (not a bad base) but a campaign is all about growing your base. with her great fundraising and message, along with traveling across the district and utilizing the media, her moderate stance will translate well for the voters in pinal county and yavapai county, probably even the three g’s (gila, graham, greenlee), so to say she will only win flagstaff is just ignorant.
to talk about electability, at least she has a large base within the district. tell me, what is owens’ base? scottsdale? phoenix? he has to start from scratch whereas ann has a huge percentage of the district who have already demonstrated they support her. rico, you are just crazy.
September 7th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
well, i look forward to you neophite fools (i remember Simon and Babbitt selling the same BS before about their “wide appeal”) eating crow and Owens demonstrating how to win CD1. Until then, lets see how far this flagstaff liberal with freddy “check out my wing-tips in rural CD1″ duval and co pulling her strings will get.
September 8th, 2007 at 12:01 am
…I’m with you Ted. A round of Thorizine on the house.
September 8th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Do I need to provide links to how well Owens performed in the same districts TWICE against a foghorn leghorn whome even GOPers didn’t have much respect for…….intellectual, anyway.
The Republicans never ever seem to appeal to “swing voters”, but they always seem to win elections.
Hmmm….could it mean that voters simply just want you to STAND for something???
September 8th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Yes netroots, please do. As you will see (unless you are too neophyte to understand) Owen lost 48 to 52, in the heavily R AND rural AZ district in 96, slightly worse in 98 (height of Clinton scandals). This alone proves Owens’ wider appeal in this district as this was the closest ANYONE came to knocking off Hayworthless prior to redistricting. Further, Owens won the non R-majority areas.
September 10th, 2007 at 8:57 am
that’s some fine candidate all you Ann worshippers have. Two small pails of bubblegum for the thousands of Navajo children along the Navajo Nation fair parade route, one supporter in tow and dressed like some kind of commune reject from 40 years ago. Plus, she doesn’t even show up for Navajo President Joe Shirley’s VIP luncheon afterward. That’s what I call building an effective campaign. What’s she going to do as an encore for the Western Navajo fair, drag a toy wagon behind her?
September 10th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Kirkpatrick won’t carry Navajo Nation
September 10th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Her encore is having Brittney Spears do a performance…just like the MTV video music awards
September 11th, 2007 at 8:48 am
Kirkpatrick won’t even carry a precinct in this district unless they put a voting booth at Macy’s coffee shop in Flagstaff. And maybe not even there if a drug sweep is done beforehand.