AFTER A LENGTHY hiatus, we finally had a good week for political pandering. First an appearance by California Governor Pete Wilson--probably one of the great panderers of all time. Then we have Arizona Regent's President-elect John Munger out to gut minority programs such as scholarships and any other item that could be called affirmative action. So what makes this a pander?
This is the same Munger who, along with his brother, has slopped at every government trough he can find. As Pima County's lobbyist, the Munger & Munger law firm has collected well over $300,000 of your tax money since the GOP gained control of the Pima County Board of Supervisors in 1993. They've also continued to represent as lobbyists other clients who have obvious conflicts of interest with Pima County. Only this is Arizona, and the lawyer/lobbyists have made it impossible for any of them to have a conflict of interest, so exuuuuuse us.
Regent Munger is also one of the guys who led the charge on acquiring the IBM site for a new university, conveniently located near a bunch of land owned by legendary land speculator Don Diamond and other GOP fat cats.
The pandering comes when we consider Munger's track record. He, like Pete Wilson, always posed as a moderate Republican and slobbered over being socially aware and fiscally conservative. However, their fiscal conservatism stops at the pork, and Munger's born-again righteousness is simply an attempt to play catch-up on the issues and try to find a new constituency.
Conservatives and Libertarians have always opposed things like affirmative action programs on principle. The Mungers and the Wilsons now do so because they think it's popular. Which is pandering at its worst. And which means the term "moderate Republican" is now interchangeable with "political whore."
--Emil Franzi
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