As early ballots land in mailboxes around the state, candidates are hitting the hot and dusty campaign trail, touting their credentials and endorsements.
But there’s one endorsement nobody is touting.
Former state Rep. Daniel Patterson, a Democrat-turned-independent from Tucson who was forced out of the Legislature this year after allegations of wide-ranging ethics violations, released his “picks” for the primary election on his blog this week.
Recommendations include far-right-winger and state Sen. Ron Gould in Congressional District 4, as well as his former Democratic colleague, Rep. Matt Heinz, in Congressional District 2.
The list of voter recommendations came just two weeks before Patterson is due in court on several charges of domestic violence and violating two different restraining orders against him.
Besides the alleged domestic violence incident with his then-girlfriend Georgette Escobar that blew up his career, court documents obtained by the Weekly show that Patterson is facing criminal charges for violating restraining orders by both his ex-wife and Escobar.
“It was both of them, actually,” said Tucson City Prosecutor Baird Greene when the Skinny called him to clarify which woman Patterson had had unwanted contact with.
“Initially he was accused of violating the (restraining) order in regards to Georgette Escobar, and the second instance, the one in which (the judge ordered a bail) that was concerning some contact with his ex-wife,” Greene said.
The documents show Patterson turned himself in to Tucson City Court on July 5 and was released on a $500 bail.
The circumstances surrounding Patterson are not your typical day-in-court stuff.
After he was served with the restraining orders in March 2012, Patterson claimed he had legislative immunity from the restraining orders and continued to contact the women by phone, email and voice mail —at least nine times in one of the cases, according to court records. He told his ex-wife he was not a threat and he wanted to see his daughter, and emailed Escobar that “We can both get treatment. I know you keep your promises to work on dealing with your dsyfunctional (sic) family just like me.”
Patterson’s court date on all the charges is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 13. Each of the two counts of harassment for violating the restraining orders could carry a maximum of six months in jail and a $2,500 fine, as well as probation. The three counts of domestic violence could carry a maximum penalty of a combined 14 months in jail and a $4,000 fine, as well as probation.
The Skinny tried to contact Patterson and received a text message saying “I’m a private citizen now, please respect my privacy.”
Given Patterson’s legal woes, it’s not surprising that political campaigns want nothing to do with him.
In his bid to replace congressman Ron Barber, Heinz didn’t ask for Patterson’s help, said Evan Hutchinson, Heinz’s campaign manager.
“No, it’s not something we pursued. What’s that one who endorsed (Congressional candidate Jesse) Kelly before? ALIPAC? At least it’s not that,” Hutchinson said referring to that viral moment when Kelly refused to answer questions about his endorsement from American for Legal Immigration PAC, which has been denounced as having ties to white supremacist groups.
“Patterson’s free to support whoever he likes,” Hutchinson said. “He’s a former colleague (of Heinz) and that’s it. That’s our view of it. You know, what are you gonna do?”
Republican Congressional candidate Gould didn’t ask for Patterson’s endorsement in the primary either, and didn’t want it, said his campaign manager, Patrick Gerhart.
“We’ve haven’t had any contact with him at all,” he said. “And I’m going to say we won’t be putting that on our literature.”
Rep. Katie Hobbs, a Phoenix Democrat who filed the ethics complaint that lead to Patterson’s forced-resignation from the Legislature, said she wasn’t surprised that Patterson endorsed her opponent.
“Seriously, if he would have endorsed me, I would have probably called and asked him to take it down,” she said.
This article appears in Aug 2-8, 2012.
Also found out that Patterson is so vein, he makes you register to receive his tweets.
Another unpopular endorsement, if you ask me, is Bennett Bernal (constable candidate) has on his signs “endorsed by Clarence Dupnik.”
Stephenson and the Weekly get a lot wrong here, likely because he never contacted Patterson’s attorney as he should have to get the facts.
“Tucson Voter” – I did contact Patterson’s attorney more than a half-dozen times over a period of two weeks. Though I got on a first name basis with his secretary, who assured me he had received my messages, the attorney, Joe St. Louis, never responded to my multiple attempts to get his version.
Please explain to me what is “wrong” here and I would be glad to go into more detail about what I know to be the facts.
Cheers,
Hank Stephenson
Here’s an important fact Hank neglects to include:
Statement of Georgette Escobar about Daniel Patterson
I had a breakdown recently. I’m now stabilized and working on getting better.
Daniel Patterson never hit or committed domestic violence against me. I never needed an order of protection against him. I’m sorry.
I disagree with the ethics complaint, investigation and charges against him. He should be found innocent.
Georgette Escobar
March 25, 2012
from facebook.com/georgette.escobar
“The Whole Truth” – I didn’t include that Facebook post because it is highly suspect. Here are a few quotes from the lengthy ethics report that lead to Patterson’s forced resignation from the state House of Representatives, to give you some perspective:
“Our review of emails and our interview of Rep. Patterson revealed evidence that he likely managed to successfully manipulate, force, forge, or otherwise improperly influence Ms. Escobar, to recant her allegations of domestic violence by facilitating (if not himself crafting) a public statement posted on Ms. Escobar’s Facebook page.”
“Rep. Patterson repeatedly refused to answer our questions about whether he wrote that recantation for Ms. Escobar without her permission or through his intimidation of Ms. Escobar.”
“It seems obvious that he somehow forged, forced, or cajoled Ms. Escobar to recant her abuse allegations in an effort to end this investigation.”
You can find a .pdf of the entire report here. Well, I cant figure out links on the comments… You’ll have to copy/paste.
http://ftpcontent.worldnow.com/kold/web/Le…
Second, the courts have an affidavit from Escobar signed on May 14, nearly two months after the Facebook post you reference. In it, she swears she was the victim of Patterson’s assault and false imprisonment, and that she has received compensation for the damages.
She says that she does not intend to appear in court to testify against him, and that she understands that if she doesn’t testify, the charges may be dismissed.
But the prosecution is still planning to pursue the charges because they have witnesses. The list of evidence they may call against him includes six cops, four other witnesses, Pima Animal Care reports, CDs, DVDs, transcripts, email, videos, photos, tapes, etc. So that charge has not been dropped, even if she said via Facebook that it should be dropped, or if she doesn’t show up.
-Hank Stephenson
That report is garbage written by lobbyists to support a pre-determined conclusion some politicians wanted. Note these words: ‘likely’, ‘seemed’. They didn’t prove anything. That trash report would never be allowed in a court of law.
Your bias here against Patterson is clear Hank, as it has always been.