Barack Obama isn’t the only one getting help from Gov. Janet Napolitano. So too, it seems, is Republican congressional candidate Tim Bee in his quest to unseat Democrat Gabrielle Giffords.
A couple of weeks ago, Democrats launched some granades at Bee, president of the state Senate, after he split to attend a number of GOP events out in D.C.
According to Emily Bittner over at the Arizona Democratic Party (who some Republicans not-so-affectionately refer to as “Emily Bitter”), Bee’s absence was detrimental to the Legislature’s budget negotiations.
But Republicans soon countered that Napolitano, a Democrat, had left the state in late January to travel the Southwest with Obama, who she has endorsed for president. Furthermore, she spent Monday and Tuesday of this week out in D.C. — both for the National Governors Association conference and to make some national television appearances on Obama’s behalf.
Questioned about it this morning, Napolitano said: “With all respect to the Democratic Party, I just disagreed with them. I think (Bee) went back to DC for a couple of days. I go back every year this time … and if you want to see the schedule you’ll see that’s a good use of time.”
“I’m, A, not critical of President Bee for going back, and B, for me, these are
important meetings,” she said.
As for the notion that Bee is putting his campaign needs ahead of his Senate duties … Last week — feeling burnt by coverage of Bee’s gay marriage ban proposal — some Republican press aides at the Capitol sought to interject Bee into a story about divestment from Sudan. The feeling was it might be a non-controversial measure that would highlight his populist side. But Bee, apparently engrossed in contentious budget negotiations, opted out of the stunt.
