Earlier in the year, we were treated to the phenomenon of Alvin Greene, the South Carolina Democrat and Senate candidate who’s facing felony obscenity charges. He managed to beat out a number of other candidates, most of whom had previous experience in electoral politics. At first, people wrote it off as a political fluke. Then, we saw more rumors that perhaps he was a ‘plant,’ basically a front put in place by Republican operatives to ensure an easy reelection bid for Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC). I didn’t really buy it at the time, as I’m typically not one to subscribe to conspiracy theories.
But, with this story, there’s no ambiguity. Steve May, a professional political operative who served in the Arizona legislature, has been recruiting candidates to run on the Green party ticket in some local and statewide elections in the state. One is 20 year old Benjamin Pearcy, who is running for a seat on the Arizona Corporations Commission, an economic regulatory body. He works as a street musician. Another is 27 year old Thomas Meadow, a tarot card reader, running for state treasurer. And my favorite was 53 year old Anthony Goshorn, a pedicab operator, running for a state senate seat. None have previous political experience.
My favorite part about this is how May came to meet his prospective candidates. Apparently he was introduced to them by a one-armed pregnant woman named Roxie.
I don’t think this is ethical, nor do I think it’s fair. But, what’s stopping the Democrats from running Birthers, or Tea Partiers (or other comparably nutso figures) in competitive races to split their vote? Instead of crying, we ought to fight back. Hopefully a taste of their own medicine ought to put an end to this nonsense.