Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal broke down at a hastily called news conference at which he was supposed to addressed racist comments he left on various blogs. Huppenthal delivered a two minute statement, and then dodged questions.
He told reporters, “There has been a lot of discussion about my blog comments. I don’t mind getting beaten up a bit, I have been in office a long time and it comes with the territory. I am here to repudiate my blog comments; they were not what was in my mind, they were not what was in my heart, and especially the actions of myself or my employees in the agency over the preceding years.”
He was not asked if the comments were in the minds or hearts of his sock puppets, otherwise known as “Falcon9″ and “Thucydides.”
Huppenthal became very emotional and quickly left the room packed with reporters who had come to hear his rationale for leaving comments on various blogs expounding on everything from whether Mexican restaurants should have English-only menus to the differences between Darwin and Hitler.
In response to his online remarks over Spanish language media outlets he said, “As I mentioned I feel the key to economic opportunity for our students is the ability to read, write, and speak English. That does not set a side that the comment I made on that issue was hurtful and I renounce that comment.”
Using Arizona Department of Education computers, Huppenthal bullied others in harsh rants defending his education policies against his critics.
Last Tuesday, June 17, Huppenthal issued a statement to the Arizona Republic about the reasons he commented on blog posts under the names “Falcon9″ and “Thucydides” instead of his own. He told the Arizona Republic, “I have chosen to participate in online blogs as a forum to advocate for and discuss issues related to economics, energy, criminal-justice reform and in recent years, education.”
Huppenthal called the press conference presumably in response to a press conference called for by former K-12 superintendent Lisa Graham Keegan, who announced that she will ask Huppenthal to resign.
“What does bother me what really bothers me is that my blog comments were hurtful,” Huppenthal responded.
According to a report in the Arizona Republic, Keegan was “expected to be joined at the news conference by Denise Resnik and Lisa Urias, co-founders of an immigration-reform group, the Real Arizona Coalition; Gonzalo de la Melena, president and chief executive officer of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Michael Kelly, board member of Arizona Community Foundation; and Lawrence Robinson, professor at Arizona Summit Law School, according to a statement from Urias.”
As expected, supporters of David Garcia, the presumed Democrat candidate in this coming election, moved quickly to capitalize on the racial element behind Huppenthal’s rants. However, Huppenthal, who ran a nasty campaign in 2010 against Republic Primary opponent Margaret Dugan Garcia, is no stranger to tough politics.
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