An Instructive Look at a few AZ State Senators

This whole Fiesta Bowl scandal isn't going anywhere. It's going to be front page news for quite some time.

Perusing the Republic's coverage over the past few days I noticed something interesting that is quite instructive about the character of some of our elected officials.

People make mistakes. Our elected officials are not immune, no matter how much you agree or disagree with their political opinions. They are human, after all.

When people make mistakes, they can react in a variety of ways. They can acknowledge the mistake, do their best to fix it, then move on. Or they can throw a hissy fit/temper tantrum, lie, and refuse accountability. How one reacts when they make a mistake says a lot about them as a person.

In the aftermath of the Fiesta Bowl revelations, many of our elected officials reacted correctly. Sen. Paula Aboud, D-Tucson, Sen. Robert Meza, D-Phoenix, Sen. Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale, Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, and John McComish, R-Phoenix are among those.

They screwed up, and for the most part they are taking accountability for their mistakes (paying for tickets, etc.) The public will ultimately decide if their mistakes will cost them their jobs.

Senate President and Tea Party darling Russell Pearce, however... that's a different story. Or three, actually.

#1. Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, who the Fiesta Bowl report says accepted tickets and took several trips including the Dallas trip at bowl expense, continued to dodge media requests for comment Thursday, appearing only briefly on the Senate floor. He did not return calls or answer e-mails seeking an interview.

#2. Senate President Russell Pearce said Friday that he has never accepted free tickets to football games from Fiesta Bowl representatives, a statement that conflicts with an investigative report released earlier this week.


Pearce's comments come as several of his fellow lawmakers have rushed to reimburse the Fiesta Bowl for game tickets they accepted while participating in cross-country junkets paid for by the bowl and its representatives.

And my personal favorite:

#3. Pearce declined comment but said as he walked away from TV reporters that he "never took anything they didn't offer everybody."

There's that skill with the media that's so common among Arizona's "conservatives". Lie. Avoid. Obfuscate.

I keep hearing that the Tea Party is against corruption, but they don't seem to be so interested in corruption when their heroes are the corrupt ones.

What does it say about Russell Pearce that several Arizona Democrats did a better job than he did in reacting to this scandal? I'd suggest it tells you everything you need to know about the man and his character.