by David Safier
Ally Miller, who won the Republican primary for Supervisor in Pima County's District 1, is a Tea Partier. I'm not saying that as a slur, like someone accusing a Democrat of being a socialist or a commie. It's a simple statement of fact. Ally Miller is a member of the Tucson chapter of the national Tea Party Patriots. That's part of her bio. It's part of her resume. It's one of the bits of information voters need to consider when they decide whether they want Ally Miller or Nancy Young Wright to be their county supervisor.
Yet when Mark Evans, editor of the TucsonCitizen.com who was subbing in for Bill Buckmaster on The Buckmaster Show Thursday, asked Ally if she's in the Tea Party, she spent 2 1/2 minutes not answering the question. The closest she got to an answer was to say the "establishment" is "willing to fabricate just horrible stories and lies about me to retain their stranglehold on Pima County." She said it was "name calling" and called it "juvenile behavior."
Let me get this straight. If calling someone (who is a Tea Party member) a Tea Party member means you're spreading "horrible stories," does that mean it's horrible to be a member of the Tea Party? If it's "name calling" to say someone (who is in the Tea Party) is in the Tea Party, does that mean she's not proud of her Tea Party affiliation? Many candidates and elected officials proclaim their Tea Party membership proudly whenever they get a chance. Not Ally -- at least not on the Buckmaster Show. She's talked about her Tea Party membership a number of times before.
Here's the beginning of Ally's 2 1/2 minute answer to Mark Evans' question about her Tea Party affiliation (It's about 20 minutes, 30 seconds into the show):
"You know, this is what they do, and it just makes me laugh. The establishment is just frantic to maintain the status quo in Pima County, and they're willing to fabricate just horrible stories and lies about me to retain their stranglehold on Pima County, and the voters don't buy it. I'm sorry, name calling is not what they want to hear. They want to hear a discussion on the issues. People are sick and tired of the name calling, the fabrication, the lies, they're just tired of it. They want an honest debate about the issues and what my position is versus Ms. Young Wright's position. Name calling and trying to paint people as extremists, you know, uh, I just think we need to end those days and, and work on the issues, instead of this juvenile behavior."
[Full disclosure: I volunteer with Nancy Young Wright's campaign.]
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