How quickly we forget that the vast majority of our elected
officeholders are self-serving egomaniacs who quite often get worse the
longer they're in power. And for those who make politics a career, there
is little hope of redemption.
Ex-Sen. Kyrsten Sinema often displayed open contempt for the voters who put her in office.
New Times Illustration
Tribalism and Trump derangement syndrome can really skew folks'
perspectives. Granted, in the Donald Trump era, the bar for what
constitutes a contemptible politician is lower than a manhole cover.
Short attention spans and presentism have us judging foggy memories of the past by current events, conveniently forgetting horrors gone by. Bad behavior and corruption are the rule in politics, not the exception. Once you accept this simple fact of existence, you will be forever on guard — even with those pols who smile in your face, pat your back and tell you what you want to hear.
Last year, we brought you our list of the 12 worst politicians in Arizona history. But the Grand Canyon State boasts far more than just a dirty dozen. So, we're back with another installment. These 12 may not have been awful enough to crack our original list, but each is bad in his or her own special way.
Democrat
Janet Napolitano abandoned the state in 2009 to a nativist, GOP
majority in the legislature to join the Obama administration, paving the
way for Republican Jan Brewer to become governor and sign Arizona's
infamous Senate Bill 1070.
Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons
Janet Napolitano
Ruthless self-advancement marked the political career of Napolitano, Arizona's 21st governor. She notoriously abandoned the state in 2009 to a nativist, Republican majority in the legislature — and to her GOP successor as governor, Jan Brewer — for a plum position as Secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration. Brewer went on to sign the odious "papers please" law, Senate Bill 1070, which led to a massive boycott of the state and spread fear throughout the Hispanic population. Though Napolitano had signed some anti-immigration legislation as governor, SB 1070 was universally opposed by Democrats and Napolitano surely would have vetoed it.
Should you be inclined to forgive her overweening ambition in this regard, keep in mind that during her tenure as Homeland Security Secretary from 2009-13, the department deported more than 3 million people. That exceeds the number of deportations in Trump's first presidency. Obama's regime ultimately deported more than 5 million people, earning Napolitano's jefe the moniker of "Deporter in Chief."
Nor should Arizonans forget Napolitano's years-long political alliance with Republican Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. In 1997, while Napolitano was U.S. Attorney for Arizona, the U.S. Department of Justice brought a complaint against Arpaio for the cruelty in his jails, which employed deadly restraint chairs used to suffocate prisoners to death. When Arpaio was forced to eat crow and sign an agreement with the feds to improve conditions, Napolitano did him a solid, appearing with him at a joint press conference to downplay the agreement as nothing more than a "technicality" and "a lawyer's paper."
Should you be inclined to forgive her overweening ambition in this regard, keep in mind that during her tenure as Homeland Security Secretary from 2009-13, the department deported more than 3 million people. That exceeds the number of deportations in Trump's first presidency. Obama's regime ultimately deported more than 5 million people, earning Napolitano's jefe the moniker of "Deporter in Chief."
Nor should Arizonans forget Napolitano's years-long political alliance with Republican Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. In 1997, while Napolitano was U.S. Attorney for Arizona, the U.S. Department of Justice brought a complaint against Arpaio for the cruelty in his jails, which employed deadly restraint chairs used to suffocate prisoners to death. When Arpaio was forced to eat crow and sign an agreement with the feds to improve conditions, Napolitano did him a solid, appearing with him at a joint press conference to downplay the agreement as nothing more than a "technicality" and "a lawyer's paper."
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