Just because you are a good person, doesn’t necessarily make you a good politician. Just because you are a politician, doesn’t necessarily make you a good person. I should know, as I am from the great state of West Virginia. We had the longest serving U.S. Senator in the history of the nation’s senate, Senator Robert C. Bryd. Before serving in the senate for 55 years, Byrd was not only a member of the Ku Klux Klan, but he was also a recruiter for them. As I sit here writing this, I can guarantee you that there are members of the KKK some 80 years after Byrd left the group only because he recruited someone’s great grandfather, great uncle, or grandfather into their ranks. Democrats will say that he denounced the KKK, which he did. But did the murdered victims of the KKK during the Byrd time come back alive? No. Did the terrifying memories of the people who the KKK burned crosses in their yards magically disappear? No. Did my aunt who was murdered and dumped in an alley way in Kansas City come back alive after her killer apologized, no.
Here is where Debbie Lesko comes in. As reported by the Arizona Republic in 2020 (www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2020/10/23/representative-debbie-lesko-past-includes-debt-criminal-charge-abusive-marriage/6012676002/,) Lesko has a very checkered past. A lot of us do, but as a candidate and politician, everyone should know everything about them, the good and the bad. Bankruptcies, multiple aliases, arrest warrant, and multiple lawsuits for unpaid bills are also a part of her resume. Like some people, Lesko won’t take credit for it because it is someone else’s fault. That other person happens to be her ex-husband. Lesko says that he was a con man and that she feared for her life while she was with him. I can absolutely respect that, and domestic abuse is no laughing matter, but why stay with him when he was in prison for 3 years?
Back in April of 1988, Lesko, at the time going by the name Debra Kay Lorenz, was charged in Conroe, Texas for tampering with government records. Not sure why anyone would vote for a candidate who was charged with tampering with government records. However, Lesko wants all of us to think that just because those charges were dropped, that they never happened. That case was dropped in 1994 when the prosecutor dropped the case along with other cases that involved bad checks. The prosecutors said one of the reasons they dropped the case was because of unavailability of witnesses, too bad. I was also involved in a case that happened 30 years before the West Virginia State Police took up the case but ultimately dropped because of lack of witnesses, especially since my sister had passed away after they started their investigation. Again, that sucks, but it surely doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen.
One of the biggest troubles for Lesko and her con man ex-husband were bankruptcies and lawsuits. The couple were sued, in essence, for theft of equipment that they never paid for, totaling more than $10,000. A month after that, a lending company sued them for another $11,000. All in all, Lesko felt that she needed to use various aliases to protect her from her dangerous ex-husband. So, do we really know what her real name is? Is it Debbie Lesko, Debra Ignas, Debra Schultz, or Debra Howard?
So, can we call Lesko a liar and a criminal? She did say that one of her reasons for not seeking re-election was to be able to spend more time with her family here in Arizona. Politics isn’t an 8-5, Monday through Friday job on any level. So, she is either going to spend more time with her family and skip out of meetings with the public, working late hours for Maricopa County every day, or attend public meetings on a regular basis, work late hours regularly and spend less time with her family. Then there is the fact that she will more than quadruple her retirement if she spends just one year as a Maricopa County Supervisor. Once you have earned approximately $174,000 per year for 6 years, and have the power of a congresswoman, you need a new job that pays a lot of money ($96,600 as a MCBOS starting in January 2025), and a lot of power to feed your ego, just as the power of being one of the leaders of the 4th largest county in America.
So, I say again. Just because we send someone to Washington D.C. doesn’t make them a good person and just because you are a politician, that doesn’t mean you are a good person either. America already has too many criminals acting as politicians and we only have room for one more “criminal” as a politician, and his name is President Trump. However, President Trump has a track record of endorsing candidates who lose their elections, and for the betterment of Maricopa County, let’s just hope Debbie Lesko is one of those President Trump endorsed candidates to lose as well. Oh, and Kari Lake also.