Horne, T AG

=mystery?
=<div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 715px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;">he decision is a blow for the Arizona conservatives who championed the law in order to eliminate a pioneering Mexican-American studies program in Tucson public schools. The curriculum is credited with <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/01/mexican-american-studies-student-achievement_n_6249592.html" target="hplink" data-beacon="{"p":{"mnid":"citation","mpid":2,"plid":"mexican-american-studies-student-achievement_n_6249592.html","lnid":"boosting the graduation rate and improving student achievement"}}" style="box-sizing: inherit;">boosting the graduation rate and improving student achievement</a> on state tests in the majority-Latino district.</div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 715px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;">Arizona Republicans, led by then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne and then-State Sen. John Huppenthal, <a href="http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/04/19/neither-banned-nor-allowed-mexican-american-studies-in-limbo-in-arizona/" target="hplink" data-beacon="{"p":{"mnid":"citation","mpid":3,"plid":"neither-banned-nor-allowed-mexican-american-studies-in-limbo-in-arizona/","lnid":"first passed legislation restricting ethnic studies"}}" style="box-sizing: inherit;">first passed legislation restricting ethnic studies</a> in 2010. The law banned classes that advocate the overthrow of the U.S. government, urge ethnic solidarity, breed ethnic resentment or treat students as members of a group rather than as individuals.</div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 715px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;">In 2011, Huppenthal took over from Horne as the superintendent of public instruction and found Tucson out of compliance with the law, dismissing a state-commissioned audit of the courses that came to the opposite conclusion and recommended expanding the classes. Opponents of Tucson’s program argued that the classes, many of which studied race and socioeconomic inequality, bred resentment against whites — a charge that participating teachers and students deny. Facing the loss of 10 percent of the district’s funding — some $14 million per year — the Tucson school board voted in January 2012 to dismantle the courses.</div>==n fact, the Republican Primary for Attorney General may be the

ugliest race of any election year in Arizona history. And we are basing

that solely on how ugly it already is here in 2013. Familiar faces,

familiar tactics, hypocrisy by the boatload, and two candidates who are

likely to get lost in all of the mud. Oh yes, and a Democrat nominee

hoping all of this comes to pass.

The offending group is the ironically named Arizona Public Integrity

Alliance. Don’t bother trying to find out who is paying for their work

because their donors are secret. Their Vice President and spokesperson

is Tyler Montague who, when we last saw him, was working with liberal

bomb-thrower and racial demagogue Randy Parraz to recall conservative

Republican Russell Pearce and replace him with Jerry Lewis.

Their target is Republican Attorney General Tom Horne. Their tactic

is smear. They want you to know that Tom Horne has been accused of

having an affair, was accused of giving jobs to “cronies”, was

investigated by the FBI, and took campaign contributions from law firms

who do business with the AG’s office.

They are spending a lot of money on ads and mailers designed to

soften up Horne before the Republican primary and, to avoid campaign

finance laws, they are disguising their attacks as issue ads in support

of a newfound agenda to pass two reforms to the AG’s office. One of

their early ads has already had to be pulled and redone because it was

proven factually inaccurate.

What isn’t clear is if they simply hate Horne, they want to elect his

Republican challenger Mark Brnovich, or they want to elect the Democrat

candidate Felicia Rotellini. Because AZPIA’s donors are secret, we

can’t know where their money is coming from. But Montague’s history of

working with Democrats to elect more liberal candidates is well

established, and the AZPIA’s attacks are basically rehashes of the

Democrat Party’s talking points about Horne.

Republicans across Arizona are rightfully worried about Horne losing

the general election to Rotellini in 2014. But they are ignoring that

Horne has a largely solid record as AG and that Arizona remains a

solidly red state. Rotellini and her allies outspent Horne and his

allies in 2010 and he won anyway. It is quite probable that a united

Republican Party would be able to defend Horne’s office in 2014. But

smear campaigns fronted by Republicans and funded by dark money a year

before the election promises to muddy both Republican candidates to the

point where neither can recover. Then Arizonans will get to see what

Chicago style politics really look like with Rotellini in charge.==

defunct primaried, was he a member of raga? yuop spent big to keep him? had /wood TP but they defected to brnov? after camp fin problems?  AG scandal? horne went after corps, got junk food out of schoolsbyBrnovich worked for the Goldwater Institute and the Corrections Corporation of America, and served as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona and Assistant Attorney General of Arizona.[1][2] He was appointed the director of the Arizona Department of Gaming in 2009. He served in the role through 2013, when he resigned to run for Attorney General of Arizona in the2014 election.[1] He defeated incumbent Tom Horne in theRepublican Party primary election[3] and Felecia Rotellini in the general election.[4] NOBLE KOCH dark $ ==THE NOT TOM HORNE CANDIDATE APPEARS TO BE WORSE THAN TOM HORNE09 Sep 2014 05:04 pm  Posted by: Donna Mark Brnovich, AKA the NOT Tom Horne Republican candidate for AZ Attorney General is a Goldwater Institute and Tea Party guy who filed to run against Tom Horne over a year ago as a protest candidate back when no one thought Horne, with all his money, was vulnerable in a primary. Republicans knew that Horne would have a lot of baggage going up against Felecia Rotellini again but didn’t bother to recruit a less ragingly right wing back-up candidate just in case, you know, more damning revelations came out about Horne. Oops. Now, NOT Tom Horne’s supporters are working furiously to portray him as a mainstream guy who is totally not Tea Party. On a recent TV appearance I had with right wing activist Shane Wikfors, himself and early and proud adopter of the Tea Party label, Wikfors was careful to downplay Brnovich’s Tea Party endorsements.So obviously NOT Tom Horne needs a lot of help with this emergency makeover project. Luckily for him, he happens to be the recipient of a healthy $1,084,000 ad buy by the so-called “independent” Republican Attorneys General Association, or RAGA. (There is a RAGA Arizona IE PAC  404 that recently filed with Secretary of State.) They seem like a nice bunch of people:RAGA was formed because an inadequate number of state attorneys general were committed to defending federalism, adhering to the law during the course of multi-state litigation and applying a common-sense, free market approach to governing. In its first election year, RAGA made its mark on American politics by emerging as the only Republican organization to gain seats during the hard-fought 2000 elections. Since then, the impact of RAGA has been significant as the number of Republican attorneys general has increased in five of the past ten elections, growing from fourteen to twenty five nationwide.FactsRepublican attorneys general hold 24 seats across the country. Attorney General Alan Wilson (SC) is the Chairman of RAGA. Republican attorneys general’s fight against Obamacare scored a major victory allowing states to choose whether or not to participate in Medicaid expansion. Republican attorneys general are currently challenging the constitutionality of Dodd-Frank. In 2012, Republican attorneys general were successful in fights against the EPA. In 2012, Republican attorneys general defeated the Cross State Air Pollution rule, which would have forced several power plants to shut down production, causing utility rates to skyrocket. Arizona won a successful challenge against the National Labor Relations Board which challenged the state’s constitutional amendment guaranteeing workers’ rights to vote by secret ballot on whether to join a union. This case set valuable precedent which will allow these issues to be resolved at the state, and not federal, level. Attorney General Alan Wilson (SC), with the help of other state Republican AGs, played a pivotal role in defeating the NLRB’s politically-motivated attempt to disallow Boeing’s business expansion in South Carolina.The RAGA dark money ads will undoubtedly attack Democratic candidate Felecia Rotellini, who is running a very strong campaign. I predict they will be bunch of lies about Rotellini, wrapped in some charming sexism. Another thing you should know about this RAGA outfit is that none other than Sean Noble, the Dark Money kingpin, has provided substantial funding to it via his American Future Fund. Sean Noble so happens to be none other than Mark Brnovich’s campaign manager. Isn’t that cozy?Remind me again what the point of ousting Tom Horne was if he’s simply going to be replaced by another joker who flouts the law as the state’s top law enforcer? Although frankly, I’ll take Horne’s hit and run and campaign violations, as egregious as they were, over Brnovich’s baggage. The NOT Tom Horne guy is actually worse than Tom Horne, both ethically and in terms of how utterly controlled he will be by Noble’s crew and other radical right wing interests. He would not act in a remotely independent manner as Arizona AG.under: 2014 races, Goldwater Institute, GOP Hypocrisy, News and Opinions,Republican Family Values, State politics ==Thomas Charles "Tom" Horne (born March 28, 1945)[1]is an Arizona attorney, politician, and Republican Partyactivist who served as Attorney General of Arizona from 2011 to 2015. He previously served as the Arizona Department of Education Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2003 to 2011.[2] Contents  [hide] 1Early Life and Education2Arizona House of Representatives3State Superintendent of Public Instruction4Attorney General5Controversies5.1Securities Law Violations5.2Office Affair and Whistleblower Investigation5.3Campaign Finance Law Violations5.4Allegations of Campaign Law Violations5.5Traffic Violations6See also7References8Further readingEarly Life and Education[edit]Horne is a graduate of Harvard College (1967) magna cum laude and Harvard Law School (1970) with honors.[2][3]During his 30 years of law practice, Horne served as Special Assistant Attorney General and a Judge Pro Tem in Maricopa County Superior Court and Arizona Court of Appeals.[4] Horne served as a teacher of Legal Writing at Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law and is the author a legal text on construction law published by the State Bar of Arizona.[5]Arizona House of Representatives[edit]Horne served in the Arizona House of Representatives from 1997 until 2001.[6] He chaired the Academic Accountability Committee and served as vice-chair of the Education Committee.[7]State Superintendent of Public Instruction[edit]Horne served as the elected Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2003 to 2011.[8]Among his earliest acts in office was to push for a strengthening of Arizona’s social studies standards so that instruction on topics such as the United States Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and the Greco-Roman basis of western civilization would be emphasized not only in elementary grades, but reiterated at later grade levels.[9]Horne also made a priority of enforcement of Arizona’s voter-approved law mandating that English be the language of classroom instruction (with the exception of foreign language classes).He also pushed for nutritional standards that removed junk food from schools in the elementary grades and created incentives for secondary schools to do so on a voluntary basis.[10][11]Testing protocols were also significantly changed during Horne’s administration. He oversaw the development of a dual-purpose assessment that was unique in combining assessments on both state and nationally defined standards. This cut standardized testing time in half, restoring that time to classroom instruction.Controversy arose when Horne sought to address curriculum matters as they related to racially based studies. Horne was alerted to a race-based program in the Tucson Unified School District and, based on a review of the curriculum, championed a law to address the problems these materials presented. [12] A state law was passed that prohibited curricula that either: 1) Promote the overthrow of the United States government. 2) Promote resentment toward a race or class of people. 3) Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group. 4) Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.[13] Despite the fact that an independent audit found that the program in Tucson did not violate any aspects of that law, it was ruled out of compliance.In his final act as Superintendent Horne found the Tucson district’s Ethnic Studies program, specifically the Mexican American (Raza) Studies component, to be out of compliance with this law, thereby removing a program that was keeping students in school and had dramatically increased graduation rates.[14]Horne also implemented the Arizona Instrument to Measure Success (AIMS) test, which was approved by the legislature in the 1990s, but did not go into effect until 2006.[15] Despite some controversy over the requirement that students pass the test before graduating high school, the test eventually became an accepted part of the state education system, until it was replaced in 2014, as all such tests eventually are because no such tests measure what they are purported to, and tend to simply make money for testing companies and make life difficult for teachers and students alike. [16] Horne created an incentive program whereby students who exceeded standards on the AIMS test and met other criteria received tuition scholarships to Arizona’s public universities.[17]Attorney General[edit]On November 2, 2010, Horne defeated Felecia Rotellini in the race for Arizona Attorney General in the2010 elections.Within a few weeks of becoming A.G., his office had filed an appearance in Arizona v. United States, defending the Governor and the state against the Obama administration’s federal court challenge to S.B. 1070. "My job as attorney general is to defend the state of Arizona,” Horne said.[18] The previous A.G., Terry Goddard, had withdrawn from the case, acceding to the demands of Governor Jan Brewer.[19]Shortly after winning the 2010 election, Horne announced that he wanted the office "to do more in the way of consumer protection, even when the cases are small."[20] This led to a string of sting operationsagainst auto repair businesses,[21][22] prompting an offer from an industry group to assist the A.G. in cleaning up the repair business .[23] Horne was involved with other A.G's in several consumer suits. On February 19, 2012 Horne announced Arizona had reached agreement to join a $25 billion agreement with the nation's five largest mortgage servicers over abuse and fraud allegations. Arizona's share was $1.6 billion, with $1.3 billion for underwater (negative equity) homeowners. The settlement was the result of an initiative that included 49 A.G.'s.[24][25] A similar suit against SunTrust netted $40 million for damaged Arizona homeowners.[26] There was also a separate, Arizona only, settlement with the Bank of America over mortgage practices, which included costs incurred by the A.G.'s office in the lawsuit.[27]A.G.'s in 44 states, including Arizona, and D.C. had sued Sirius XM, alleging that it had engaged in misleading, unfair and deceptive practices.[28] On December 4, 2014 Horne, announced that $230,000 of the $3.8 million settlement would go to affected Arizona consumers.[29] Horne and other A.G.'s reached an agreement with Pfizer Inc. in 2014, after accusing it of unlawfully promoting Rapamune, animmunosuppressive drug. $721,169 went to Arizona, deposited into the Consumer Fraud Revolving Fund.[30]In a 2012 United States Supreme Court case, Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc., Horne argued that Arizona's voter registration requirements were not preempted by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The case was decided against Horne and Arizona, by a 7-2 vote. The Court also held that Arizona may petition to have more requirements added to the federal standard.[31] In a second 2012 Supreme Court case, Ryan v. Gonzales, Horne argued that a death row inmate does not have the right to suspend federal habeas corpus proceedings when found incompetent to assist counsel. In a 9-0 decision Horne won.[32]In 2013 Horne wrote an opinion that defended the state preemption of regulation of firearms; he found that Tucson's city gun laws were unenforceable.[33] In 2012 Horne proposed that a principal or a designee be trained and armed in each school.[34] In 2013, he proposed that legislation that would allow teachers to carry guns in public schools.[35]Horne threatened to sue the city of Bisbee, Arizona, over a 2013 ordinance recognizing same-sex couples. He withdrew the threat several days later when Bisbee agreed to rewrite the ordinance, removing rights reserved for married couples under Arizona law.[36] In October, 2014, a federal judge ruled that Arizona's law banning gay marriage was unconstitutional, and Horne did not appeal. He felt the chance of it being overturned was "zero," and, added, "I think it is over."[37]Horne filed a 2013 lawsuit that compelled the Maricopa County Community College District to end its policy of in-state tuition for "dreamers" (undocumented immigrants with federal work permits, who came to the U.S. as children). When accused of being anti-immigrant, Horne responded that he was one himself, being born in Canada. Horne met with students and explained that he was "obligated to enforce the law."[38] Activists held protests and many were arrested.[39] On May 5, 2015, a Maricopa Superior Court judge ruled that "dreamers" could pay in-state tuition rates, ending the two-year lawsuit then A.G. Horne had filed.[40]Horne criticized the 2014 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) practice of sending illegal immigrants from Texas to Arizona. "These aliens are not being transported for the purposes of detaining them in a federal facility located in Arizona," Horne wrote, in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security. "Rather, DHS is inexplicably moving them some 1200 miles and simply releasing them here (outdoors in temperatures exceeding 100 degrees) rather than in Texas." [41][42]In 2014 a federal jury awarded a couple living in Colorado City, Arizona, $5.2 million, for religious discrimination. The A.G.'s of both Utah and Arizona intervened in the case. The mostly polygamist towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona, and utilities had violated federal and state housing discrimination laws "by discriminating against the Cookes in the provision of services or facilities because of religion."[43] Horne was a long-time critic of the Colorado City police force, known as "the marshal's office." He felt that the marshals were an arm of the FLDS church instead of the law. In 2012 Horne allocated $420,000 to the Mohave County Sheriff's Office to patrol Colorado City.[44] In 2014 he asked for a federal judge to disband the office, after legislation he supported to do so failed to pass.[45][46] The motion was denied, but, the judge instructed the office to avoid discrimination.[47]On August 26, 2014, Horne was defeated in his reelection campaign in the Republican primary by Mark Brnovich. Brnovich defeated Horne by a margin of 54% to 46%.[48]Controversies[edit]Securities Law Violations[edit]Horne was the president of T.C. Horne & Co., an investment firm he founded in the late 1960s. After the firm went bankrupt in 1970, Horne received a lifetime trading ban from the Securities and Exchange Commission.[49] The 1973 SEC report alleged that as president of T.C. Horne & Co, Horne "among other things, violated the record-keeping, anti-fraud, and broker-dealer net capital provisions of the federal securities laws and filed false financial reports with the commission." Horne stipulated to an SEC finding that he and his firm "willfully aided and abetted" in violations of securities laws.[49]Office Affair and Whistleblower Investigation[edit]In July 2011, the Phoenix New Times broke a story about a woman who had been hired by Horne to a senior position at the Arizona Attorney General's office, despite her not having a license to practice law, and alleging that Horne and the woman were carrying on an affair.[50] When the New Times reporter filed a Freedom of Information Act request for public records regarding the woman's hiring, Horne launched a confidential internal investigation to find the whistleblower who had leaked information regarding the woman to the media.[51]As part of that investigation, Horne assigned members of his staff to spend months looking into the matter, and spoke about having his employees' phone conversations eavesdropped upon—something which, records show, he knew was illegal. During the investigation, the staff member in charge found evidence of illegal campaign activity by Horne and other members of the Attorney General's office, and forwarded that information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).[52]In October 2012, other local media outlets in Phoenix published articles citing public records, sources in the Attorney General's office, and FBI records supporting the allegations of an affair made by the Phoenix New Times over a year earlier.[52][53][54]Campaign Finance Law Violations[edit]In October 2012, after an FBI investigation, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery concluded that Horne deliberately broke campaign finance laws during his 2010 election campaign by coordinating with an independent expenditure committee run by Kathleen Winn.[55] In April 2014, an Administrative Law Judge concluded that the prosecution in the case "failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence" that Horne illegally coordinated with the independent expenditure committee during the 2010 general election campaign for attorney general[56] In May 2014, Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, to whom that matter has been referred, rejected the administrative judge's recommendation, and issued a final administrative decision ordering Horne and Winn to reimburse campaign donors $400,000. This ruling is currently under appeal.[57][58]Allegations of Campaign Law Violations[edit]On May 5, 2014, an attorney representing a former AG staff member and ex-Horne campaign volunteer, filed a litigation hold letter with the Arizona Attorney General's office, alleging that much of Horne's executive office staff is involved in "substantial campaigning" for his 2014 re-election, "while on state time and utilizing State resources," which, if proven true, could "represent a substantial violation of State and Federal laws which prohibit such conduct"[59]The allegations first arose in the AG staffer's letter of resignation, which claimed that the office is "not following campaign laws or finance laws," imperiling her "legal well-being." Horne has denied the allegations, calling them a "complete fabrication."[60][61]On July 7, 2014, the Arizona Secretary of State's Office released a memo, finding probable cause that Horne violated several campaign-finance laws related to allegations that Horne had employees doing his campaign work on state time, at the AG's office.[62][63]Traffic Violations[edit]In October 2007, while State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Horne was cited for criminal speedingin Scottsdale, Arizona. During a subsequent year-and-a-half period, Horne was cited for speeding six additional times, including once in a school zone.[64][65][66] The criminal speeding charge was settled as a traffic offense.[67]In March 2012, while tailing Horne as part of an investigation into campaign finance law violations, FBI agents observed Horne leaving the scene of an accident. An FBI agent took a picture of a black mark on the parked car, which was shown on the front page of the newspaper. The FBI report stated Montano [owner of car] advised that he was unaware vehicle had been hit by another vehicle until SA Grehoski called him to arrange for the interview. Montano advised that the black mark on the front passenger side of the bumper came from when his son was parking the vehicle in the garage. Realizing that it was questionable whether Horne did any damage, the City Attorney agreed to a settlement in which Horne paid a $300 fine.[68]See also[edit] Biography portal