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It may have started here with my post, Victoria Steele’s Very Good Day, I don’t know, where I wrote about one of Rep. Steele’s bills and about the three-way race shaping up in Legislative District 9 between Steele, fellow Democrat Randy Friese (the newcomer) and Republican Rep. Ethan Orr. I mentioned it might be hard for Orr to maintain “the moderate cred he works so hard to cultivate,” given some of his important votes siding with his conservative colleagues.
Star columnist Tim Steller commented about my post on Facebook, leading to a long, contentious comment stream, which he followed with a column, Dems target moderate GOP legislator Orr. The headline takes a stronger stand about Orr’s moderation than the column, but Steller clearly leans to that side in his arguments.
Enter Blog for Arizona. Pamela Powers followed Steller’s column with a post, AZ Star Perpetuates ‘Ethan Orr Is a Moderate’ Myth, where she writes about Orr’s votes for voter suppression, his radically anti-abortion pledge to fight for the rights of unborn fetuses, and his support from the National Rifle Association and the Goldwater Institute.
Steller picked up the fight in this Friday’s column. He refers to comments by “Pamela Powers Hannley and others active on the left” — the Star must have a policy against mentioning Blog for Arizona by name — and defends Orr against their assaults on his moderate credentials.
Back comes Blog for Arizona. AZ Blue Meanie wrote a very long post, The Trouble with E.Orr – he does not represent the values of his constituents, challenging Steller’s assertions.
It’s a good fight, with knowledgeable folks wrestling over serious issues. It’s also way above this retired educator’s pay grade, so I’ll leave it to my betters at the Star, Blog for Arizona and of course our very knowledgeable, exceedingly capable journalists here at the Weekly.
This article appears in Feb 20-26, 2014.
Oh.
In any political dispute between Pam Powers and Tim Steller, I’m with Pam. She has consistently taken principled positions while Mr. Steller takes whatever positions his bosses at the ADS tell him to take.
I live in District 9. With the exception of Al Melvin, radical left and right rarely get elected in this District, and if they do, they do not last. My take? In the bigger scheme of things, both Steele and Orr are left center and right center on most issues.
As for Pamela Powers allegations, voter suppression is a good buzzword, but a myth. As for the abortion issue, neither side wants to find common ground, because it makes for a good wedge issue, and is used as a fund raising tool, sucking money out of the committed. The Second Amendment is not a left, right, or moderate issue. It is what it is. The Goldwater Institute is more of a libertarian organization than a conservative one.
The reality is that both parties and both extremes are just alike, in that they claim to know better than you what is good for you, and want to use the power of government to enforce their views.