A m e r i c a n  P o s t – G a z e t t e

Distributed by C O M M O N  S E N S E , in Arizona

Friday, August 20, 2010

Arizona Republic on jihad against Thomas

Likely violating campaign finance laws with its nonstop attacks on Thomas attempting to defeat him in the primary election

The Arizona Republic has gone on a jihad against Andrew Thomas, printing nonstop “news articles” and editorials against him in an over-the-top offensive attempt to influence the election and defeat him in Tuesday’s primary. Now, they are refusing to print his op-eds.

Republican candidate for Attorney General Andrew Thomas disclosed today that the editorial page editors of the Arizona Republic have refused to publish a response to the newspaper’s latest editorial jihad against him unless his campaign agreed to write only what the editors specifically allow.
In response to this latest outrage, and just as he didn’t seek their endorsement in the primary election, Thomas has pledged not to seek the endorsement of the newspaper in the general election should he win the Republican primary.
In the past week, the liberal editors of the Arizona Republic have published no fewer than four editorials (including their reprint of their previous endorsement of Tom Horne), one op-ed, and a “My Turn” column blasting Thomas on various issues. This sort of frenetic editorial activity by the newspaper is apparently unprecedented.
In response, Barnett Lotstein, a career prosecutor and spokesman for Thomas, asked for the opportunity to respond to this avalanche of editorials intended to boost Thomas’ opponent. Mr. Lotstein submitted a “My Turn” column after receiving permission from the paper to do so.
The editors then refused to run the article unless Lotstein agreed to write about merely the single, narrow issue they thought important. In other words, after devoting a week of print to lambasting Thomas, the editors censored his campaign’s lone feeble attempt to respond.
When Lotstein pointed out the unfairness of their dictating the contents of his piece, the editor then changed her objection. She claimed there was no need for Lotstein’s “My Turn” because Thomas had already discussed these matters in his own “My Turn.” The editor ignored the fact that the Republic had already discussed these matters in multiple editorials, op-eds, etc., in a six-to-one ratio criticizing Thomas. Lotstein told them their new objection was “disingenuous.” They did not respond.
“It is well known that the liberal editors of the Arizona Republic detest Sheriff Arpaio and me and our efforts to curb illegal immigration and bring legitimate corruption cases against friends of the newspaper,” said Thomas. “As a result of this latest censorship and related events, I will not seek the endorsement of the Republic should I win the Republican nomination for Attorney General next Tuesday.”
A copy of Lotstein’s submitted “My Turn” and the emails between him and the Republic’s editors are available upon request.
During Thomas’ time in office, crime rates plummeted. The 19 percent drop is more than twice the national rate of decline, in despite of an 11 percent increase in the county’s population during that time. The illegal immigrant population has dropped by anywhere from 18 percent (Dept. of Homeland Security estimate) to 30 percent (Center for Immigration Studies estimate). Like the fall in crime rates, this dramatic decline in illegal immigration is far greater than the average in the rest of the nation.
Thomas has a track record of successfully defending illegal immigration crackdowns in our courts, including his successful efforts to prosecute illegal immigrants for conspiring to violate the state’s human-smuggling law and to defend Prop 200′s voter ID requirements and the employer-sanctions law, which he defended along with the Attorney General’s Office. If elected Attorney General Thomas has pledged to expand that office’s prosecutions of illegal immigrants under the state’s human smuggling laws. The office is not currently pursuing such prosecutions.
Thomas is married with four children. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School. Prior to serving as Maricopa County Attorney, Thomas served as an assistant attorney general for Arizona, deputy counsel and criminal justice policy advisor to the Governor, special assistant to the Director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, and a deputy county attorney.

For more information about Andrew Thomas, please go to www.ThomasforArizona.com.

Paid for by Thomas For AG