It's time for State Rep. Daniel Patterson to resign.
In last week's issue (see "Domestic Unrest," The Skinny, March 1), we reported on an incident involving Patterson and his then-live-in girlfriend/campaign manager, Georgette Escobar. I won't repeat all the he-said, she-said details, but everyone can agree that what happened between Patterson and Escobar was ugly and unfortunate. Since then, things have gotten uglier and more unfortunate.
The final straw, as far as I am concerned, came last week, when Patterson and his attorney slung a big, heaping pile of mud by releasing the details of an investigation into Escobar's not-so-clean past. As you can read about in The Skinny this week, Patterson justified the release of the information as being "relevant to the credibility of my accuser."
A couple of days later, Patterson sent a tweet implying he'd pull a Scott Bundgaard and claim legislative immunity to avoid arrest, if necessary, during the 2012 session. How charming.
Look, I don't know what happened for sure between Patterson and Escobar (although Patterson is coming off as far from blameless). I don't know if anything he did rises to the level of a crime. However, I do know that Patterson's actions since the primary domestic incident—which have largely consisted of justifying his actions by slamming Escobar—have been disgraceful, pure and simple.
As we reported last week, Patterson told the Weekly that he was not going to resign, despite calls from his fellow legislative Democrats (and many others) to do so. "This is the lynch-mob type of politics that we see from Phoenix, and I'm not going to listen to these cutthroat, throw-'em-under-the-bus politicians from Phoenix," he said. "I'm responsive to my constituents in Tucson, period."
Well, Mr. Patterson, I am one of your constituents in Legislative District 29. Please be responsive to this: It's time to resign. You're embarrassing yourself and your district.
