Greg Patterson at espressopundit has clarified that his post about our blogging entitled “Adult Supervision Required” did not mean that he thinks anonymous blogging should be prohibited. That’s fine, we’ll take him at face value, but we beg to differ that we were purposely trying to interpret him otherwise. When you title something “Adult Supervision Required,” and talk about how the Arizona blogosphere needs to come up with guidelines for anonymous blogging, it sounds like you’re trying to shut it down, or regulate it until it’s no longer feasible. Reading the post, I distinctly felt like he was pressuring Shane to put a halt to this anonymous blogging.

What is peculiar is the subject matter Patterson has chosen to defend. This isn’t some dispute between two solid Republicans, like the controversies during the election of Pullen and James for State GOP chair. This is about stopping a tax increase by a Republican governor, which many Republicans at the legislature are concerned is being pushed behind the scenes by lobbyist Chuck Coughlin, known for backing liberal causes. Besides the TIME initiative, Coughlin was the consultant on the Prop. 400 campaign in 2004, the light rail/massive infrastructure tax increase initiative. Wonder how much business his client Associated General Contractors made off of that. Don’t forget all the brand-new equipment the construction companies went and bought for that project – it was an abuse of taxpayer dollars.

Coughlin’s fake sanctimony on playing nice rings hollow. Besides the untruthful ad he ran during the Attorney General’s race, he’s run ads comparing supporters of an initiative to Nazis:

In May 2005, Peter Kanelos, Wal-Mart’s Community Affairs Director for Arizona and Southern California, approved an advertisement in the Arizona Daily Sun that featured a well-known 1933 photo of Nazis throwing books on a pyre at Berlin’s Opernplatz. The ad equated those who wanted to restrict Wal-Mart’s growth to Nazis. Wal-Mart’s advertising consultants produced the ad and the company acknowledged approving it.

Wal-Mart’s use of Nazi imagery in its ads was widely and nationally criticized by community groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and several members of Congress. “It’s not the imagery itself. It trivializes the Nazis and what they did. And to try to attach that imagery to a municipal election goes beyond distasteful,” said Bill Straus of the ADL.

Wal-Mart and Protect Flagstaff’s Future eventually issued full apologies, but at the time Chuck Coughlin, the president of the consulting company that produced the ads fought back. “We wanted people to think about the freedoms we enjoy in America. The intent was wholly honorable and good,” said Coughlin. “We will not back away from the substance of the ads.”

And just yesterday, the Yellow Sheet reported that Coughlin’s firm High Ground was behind a suspicious poll that found voters supposedly support a tax increase. Coughlin had denied being behind it (does he have a problem telling the truth?). The Yellow Sheet says the High Ground poll results were the exact opposite of a poll that was taken 2 weeks ago. The well-established polling company Rasmussen Reports had found in their poll on March 17 that 65% oppose a temporary tax increase to help the state’s budget. Isn’t it coincidental how Coughlin’s self-interest in getting this tax increase passed results in a poll with vastly different results from the reputable Rasmussen poll.

Coughlin’s cronies are posting numerous comments after these posts in order to try to prevent this kind of information from coming out. Add that to the usual cadre of leftists leaving comments, it is creating the impression that this information shouldn’t come out, it’s all just “mean personal attacks.” But in reality, there’s a silent majority out there telling us they want to know what’s really going on behind the scenes at the Capitol, and they don’t buy into the spin labeling this kind of information as a personal attack. It’s understandable why Patterson takes the position he does – he’s a lobbyist and has to work with Coughlin. Coughlin may be the most powerful lobbyist in the state, but he does not control all of the press. Republican voters have a right to know the truth about backhanded tax increases initiated by Republicans.