State Representative Steve Montenegro (LD13), is the last guy in the world to play the race card, so when he called on State Senator Michele Reagan to denounce and retract attacks made by her campaign consultants that introduced ethnicity into a debate over the voting rights of all Arizonans, Capitol insiders knew a twit tweeted.
“I was one of several lawmakers who voiced objections to several pieces of legislation that would take power from the citizens of Arizona and give it to the judiciary or the Secretary of State. In our objections we made no mention of Senator Reagan and our objections were in no way related to the race or ethnicity of any group of voters. To the contrary, the bills trample the rights of every voter and each and every voter is equally deserving of protection.
I was saddened that I alone, of all of the signers of the letter, was singled out for attacks by Senator Reagan¹s campaign. Far worse was that I was accused of “Pandering to Hispanics.” Senator Reagan’s campaign team is clearly eager to begin a contest that does not even exist yet, but introducing race or ethnicity where it doesn¹t belong is the ugliest form of political mudslinging. I am not asking for an apology. After defending our conservative values for the last five years I have developed some pretty thick skin. But these types of attacks demean the process, insult the voters, and illustrate why our Republican Party still has a long way to go if we are to appeal to every Arizonan.
Montenegro asked Reagan to have her campaign retract their attacks and to promise that any potential campaign would be waged on the issues and the records and positions held by the candidates in the race, rather than on racial or ethnic stereotypes or attacks.
There were several tweets from Kyle Moyer & Company that targeted Montenegro including one from Chris Tolino, a consultant with that firm that contained the inappropriate attack.