Friday, June 13th, 2008...2:57 pm
Tom Horne Needs a Hug!
This morning’s Star had a story about the dueling press conferences held by State School Superintendent Tom Horne and TUSD Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer. I usually criticize the Star, but I appreciated the balance of the story and I like the fact that students were quoted. I’m sure that folks who support Horne’s position were dissatisfied with it since he didn’t look good in the article, but much of this is his own darned fault. More on that further down.
For those of you who don’t know, Horne called a press conference at 1010 E 10th on relatively short notice to discuss his opposition to TUSD’s ethnic studies programs. An example of the poor planning: he called it 10 AM…outdoors…in June…in Tucson. People that were there tell me that his sweaty face didn’t make for the best presentation.
Not to be outdone, TUSD officials called their own snap press conference that began a half an hour before Horne’s. They had it indoors, where there was air conditioning. Good thing too, since they managed to pack the board hearing room (which holds between 250 and 300 people) with supporters of ethnic studies programs.
The packed room of supporters was in contrast to the smaller group that Horne was able bring out in support of his press conference. Horne’s supporter group included local knuckle dragger and perennial congressional candidate Joe Sweeney. For Horne’s sake, I hope this guy is not the sort of “grass roots support” he is looking to cultivate for himself when he runs for governor (that’s what this is all about, isn’t it?). It also included Jon Justice, who has graduated from making penis jokes on KFMA’s morning show to being a local right wing logorrhoea victim.
Horne has a position that can be argued: that ethnic studies promote intolerance. I don’t agree with the argument, but you’d think it was a simple one to make. Instead, it was plainly obvious that Horne was unfamiliar with the programs, so instead he took to making wild misquotes and quotes out of context from class material. Horne himself admits to never having been to an ethnic studies class. It shows, big guy.
NB - Horne’s rhetoric so infuriated long time local educator and model citizen Rudy Castro that he confronted him during the press conference (the Star even got a photo). Couple of things that Horne should know about Castro: he’s a retired Marine and baseball player that probably charged the mound once or twice. My advice to Horne: don’t mess with him.
16 Comments
June 13th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
I hear dueling banjos.
June 13th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Rudy was really in Horne’s face in a strong way. It was powerful.
June 14th, 2008 at 3:18 am
Ted, small typo: “intolerance” in 2nd to last paragraph above. I was there at the TUSD press conference as well, and the unity displayed by ethnic/minority group leaders and other supporters was fantastic.
The 6/13/08 Tucson Citizen article on this subject, at http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/88086.php, also drew a lot of comments.
June 14th, 2008 at 6:44 am
Expect more blathering from Horne on this issue and anything else that will get him cheap headlines. He is running for governor in two years and will blatantly play the race card every chance he gets, just like he did against Jaime Molera when he got the GOP nod for his current office. Horne knows that he needs to build support on his right flank and is trying to assert his conservative bonafides. After the shameless campaign, replete with divisive and uninformed rhetoric designed to inflame and incite the voters, that he ran to become school supe, no one should be surprised with anything Horne says or does between now and 2010. He is one of the most devious and calculating politicians in this state.
June 14th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I suppose ethic intolerance might be a result of ethnic studies in some people, but it sure wasn’t my experience. All my experience in ethnic studies, whether it’s studying a foreign language or the lower division Asian studies requirement at UofA, everything I’ve been exposed to has (1) increased my understanding–and hence tolerance–of other cultures and (b) offered insight into my own. Why everyone on both sides of the Mexican-US border isn’t bilingual is a puzzle.
June 14th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Exactly Terry! Well said…Im infuriated by Horne. I mistakenly thought he was”alright” before this.
What people don’t realize is that Western Civ is ethnic studies as well.
June 14th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I suspect what Horne is upset about is the way “La Raza” instructors are being paid by TUSD to teach courses they are not qualified (don’t have State Certified Teaching Credentials) to teach. One of the TUSD students parents asked me at a meeting “what do you think would happen if the KKK taught some courses at TUSD, would the Star Newspaper be tolerant?”
I like the way Ted approached this issue. I have no first hand knowledge of exactly what is going on with the classes “La Raza” teaches but I have heard enough negative feedback from TUSD parents to realize that some oversight and investigation by an outside agency is needed.
It makes no difference if you are a Democrat, Republican, Green, or Independent if instructors at TUSD are alleged to have made racist remarks the issue needs to be addressed and appropriate corrections made if the allegation is found to be true.
June 14th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Walt, in case it comes up again at a meeting, the Ku Klux Klan is domestic terrorist organization, and most people would not consider them to be an ethnic group. It is not clear to me why you would repeat a comparison of the KKK to the La Raza instructors. Perhaps for the same reason that you suggest that the instructors might be making “racist” remarks. I wonder what a “racist” remark is, as defined by you and all of those offended parents.
June 15th, 2008 at 9:23 am
I saw Joe Sweeney at a Grijalva townhall meeting. Does that mean that Sweeney is a supporter of Grijalva’s? No.
Tedski, please use a little more logic in your future writing.
Also, concerning confrontations between politicians and veterans, is your brother still making drunken confrontations with Iraq vets?
June 15th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Rusty-
My brother rarely drinks and I’ve never seen him drunk. Needless to say, he doesn’t show up to work drunk either. He certainly was not drunk during the incident that you mention, and have been harping on for quite some time.
Rusty, you owe my brother an apology.
June 15th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Horne is in full campaign mode. Check out his new campaign commercials on Channel 3, paid for by the taxpayers, promoting how he is feeding kids free lunch during the summer months. It was on three times during the newscast the other nite!
June 15th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Absolutely, AS! Why bring this issue to the fore? There was no hue and cry throughout Tucson over the matter. Horne simply wants to show the hard right that he can sing from their hymnal. Couple that consideration with the fact that he has never visited one of the classrooms in question, nor has he sat down with the teachers for an in-depth conversation and you see clearly why Horne is demagoging this issue to death. Absolutely shameless and transparent politics, no more and no less!!!
June 15th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I’ve heard hoopla about this for a long time–mostly attacks from right leaning entities stating that this course is anti-American and that teachers are being silenced because they fear retaliation if they verbalize opposition to this program, and have quit their involvement due to the inflammatory nature of the curriculum. Does this have any merit, or this just another example of fear mongering by conservative radicals who go nuts when racial/social inequities are examined in the classroom?
June 18th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Lisa,
I didn’t make the KKK connection, the students mother did. She also referred to the instructors remarks as racist. If this were an independent incident with only one parent complaining it wouldn’t have much creditability but unfortunately there were a number of parents complaining. They had gone to TUSD and complained then to the Star but nobody wanted to listen because like you pointed out in a way it is not politically correct. I suspect it will not go away.
June 21st, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Tom Horne’s lack of good judgment for his press release matches his lack of good judgment in the many things he has done as the Superintendent for Public Instruction, however Arizona voters keep re-electing him. So I guess it doesn’t matter.
I am personally looking forward to the fight between him and Jan Brewer for the 2010 Governor’s race for the Republican nomination. I got my money on Brewer–that b.i.t.c.h. is nasty!
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Not sure what Walt S meant about the teachers not being certified. They are certified. In fact, many of them have completed doctorates, or are enrolled in doctoral programs. The Raza Studies staff are constantly refining the curriculum to make it the best it can be.
Hoping Pima Dems organize to support a top notch program.
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