During this year’s legislative session, Arizona lawmakers denied the State’s school children the right to privacy. But what is good for the average kid is not good enough for our politician and this week, Secretary of State Michele Reagan declared: “We’re ensuring children of politicians have a right to privacy.”
Reagan’s declaration was the title of blog post on the Secretary of State’s website dated June 6, 2016. Reagan writes:
Elected officials and candidates accept the heightened level of public scrutiny that comes along with public service. While they recognize that the loss of privacy comes with the territory, I believe children should be left completely out of the political spotlight.
That’s why earlier this year our office helped draft (HB2429) a bill that permits the use of the term “minor child” rather than listing their actual name on their financial disclosure statement. In the past, the policy has been to simply redact their names, but this session we were able to codify the procedure into law.
Regardless of the actual day the law goes into effect, we have decided it was too important to wait and have redacted the names of children on the statements before placing them online for public inspection.
While candidates may disagree about everything from ideas to ideologies, we all agree their children have a right to privacy.
The truth is that while legislators might “agree their children have a right to privacy,” they denied others’ children that right in favor of the “right” of Google, Amazon, and virtually any other vendor who asked for their personally identifiable information.
Lawmakers did not have to try very hard to deny the average student the right to privacy. Rep. Paul Boyer got out ahead of the matter so that lawmakers would not have to be on the record when he blocked a number of education bills this legislative session. Boyer, who does the bidding of some in the Arizona charter school industry, refused to allow HB2582: student, teacher data collection; prohibitions, from receiving a fair hearing.
Boyer is running again, but does not yet have any children who need protection from the unwashed masses.
Related article: Boyer Blocking Parental Choice, Privacy Bills
On the other hand, the Secretary of State makes it clear that she is not shy. In a blog post dated February 25, 2016 the unwashed masses are advised that Michele likes the Rolling Stones, Taco Bell, tennis, and Tory Burch. She does not like rice, clogs and Crocs, people who dislike dogs, and glitter bombs. In the post, Riki Altman-Yee writes:
As Arizona’s secretary of state, Michele Reagan wears many hats. Luckily, she also has the shoes and handbags to match. “My home district was Scottsdale and Fountain Hills. When my husband would complain about me spending so much [on fashion], I would tell him there’s no excuse for not representing my district at the highest standard.” she jokes.
Though she travels most days, occasionally Reagan can be spotted downtown, donning a brightly colored jacket and pumps with personality amid a sea of gray and navy. “I do add some fun and pizzazz to the Capitol,” she asserts. “If I could wear Kate Spade by day and Carolina Herrera by night, I’d be quite happy.”
If Arizona parents could protect their kids’ privacy they would be “quite happy” too.