Last week, Tom Horne used some of his time testifying on his perennial cause of getting rid of ethnic studies programs to making a gratuitous jab at Dolores Huerta. He refered to Huerta as “César Chávez’s girlfriend.” Whatever you think of Huerta, Chávez or the farm worker movement, it is not only a lie, but dismissive of her accomplishments. It’s an old sexist trope: that woman couldn’t have gotten where she is unless she’s sleeping with the guy in charge. If Horne doesn’t know better than to think that way, he at least ought to know to keep this sort of locker room stupidity out of public discourse.
Needless to say, Democrats and their allies in the Hispanic community have decided to make this into an issue. They had a press conference today about the issue. As the event was breaking up, Horne showed up. Reporters asked him about the issue, and he finally had to admit that he may have used the wrong word. Hard for me to buy that a polished political pro like him misspoke in prepared remarks, especially when being so dismissive towards a Hispanic leader helps him with the knuckledraggers he thinks he needs in his Attorney General primary. He also said that he had “heard somewhere” or “read somewhere” that she was Chávez’s girlfriend. This is a guy that went to Harvard Law School and runs our school system, and these are the citations he gives?
He was pressed further as reporters asked if he knew anything about Huerta. He kept going back to Huerta’s speech at Tucson High a few years ago and asking if people believed that, as Huerta asserted at the assembly, all Republicans hate Hispanics. Once again, Horne falsely asserted that Huerta’s comments were part of an ethnic studies program. The questions were asked again and again. It became clear that Horne, despite alleging that she slept her way to the top of the UFW, had no idea who the heck Huerta was.
Finally, legislative candidate Ruben Gallego, a personal friend of Huerta, asked the question again. Horne still wouldn’t answer and became agiatated and yelled at Gallego. This recalls an incident a few years ago when Horne came down here and had a confrontation with Rudy Castro, who like Gallego is a Marine Corps veteran.
I’ll use Horne’s logic and ask: why does Horne have a problem with our Hispanic vets? I mean, I “heard somewhere” or “read somewhere” that he did.
NB – By the way, to answer Horne’s question: I don’t think all Republicans hate Hispanics, but I do have to wonder why otherwise level headed Republicans like Horne feel the need to work so hard for the Neanderthal vote. And why the heck does Joe Sweeney keep winning primaries?
7 Comments
What was Horne thinking? The rumor is that Cesar preferred his girlfriends to be much much younger than Dolores.
Horne is cynically hopeful that his meddling in this area, where he has no true jurisdiction or oversight, will help him attain his next political goal. Read the conservative blogs like Sonoran Alliance every now and then. They hate Horne, mostly because he cast pro-choice votes as a legislator, but also because he has occasionally deviated from the anti-public school, anti-teacher rhetoric all good Republicans must pay lip service to these days during his tenure as state supe.
Horne’s battle against ethnic studies is a callow and calculated attempt to shore up his right flank as he enters the GOP primary for AG. Anyone who has watched Horne over the years knows that every word he utters is carefully assessed to assure the maximum benefit for his personal political advancement before it flys out his piehole. In a state overflowing with self-aggrandizing blowhards, he is in a disreputable class all by himself.
Dear Mr. Horne,
There is a little thing called “google” out there. With your claimed Harvard education I think you could figure it out. Try using it next time.
Oh and by the way, Rosa Parks didn’t date Martin Luther King Jr. either.
Tom Horne is representative of the American Taliban, promoting ignorance and the ignorant.
Did I just read that Tom Horne is a level headed Republican? Must be a mistake.
I said “otherwise” level headed.
The anti-Raza thing has been a Horne staple, a quick way to score points on the right, but it’s also an issue where Horne can and will end up biting himself in the bottom. Horne’s taken a brave stance, however. Most politicians find it easy enough to attack Mexicans, who, contrary to Joe Sweeney’s constant whining, do not vote in this country. Horne, on the other hand, is mastering the art of insulting a group of Americans who do vote and do have a political voice.