If you drive around midtown Tucson, you can't help but see Republican Greg Krino's smiling white face on hundreds of very expensive, 4-color, illegal signs (1,2).
Krino is an opportunistic, young Republican write-in candidate challenging Democrat Paula Aboud for her state senate seat in LD28. Aboud and Krino are in a four-way race with former state Representative Ted Downing and Green Party activist Dave Ewoldt.
Normally, Republicans don't bother with LD28 because it is overwhelmingly Democratic-- "about 36,000 Democrats, 22,000 Republicans and 24,000 others spread out across the political spectrum," according to the Tucson Weekly.
While Aboud, Downing, and Ewoldt duking it out from the center to the far left, Krino has the extreme far right all to himself. You know all those things that progressives don't like about the current legislature and Governor Jan Brewer? Let me refresh your memory, in case you have suppressed the last 2 legislative sessions: no support or core services for families, kids, or the poor; minimalist public health; privatization of everything including education, prisons, and parks; give-aways (AKA tax breaks) to the rich and to hell with everyone else; demonization of undocumented workers, etc.
Well, Krino marches in lock step with these Republican core ideas-- hence my headline. He's a scary guy.
I heard him on the John C. Scott show the other day. People-- like former Congressman Jim Kolbe-- are saying that Krino is a "rising star" in the Republican party. When Scott asked him about his stance on issues, Krino said that government should get back to basics-- police, fire, and roads... period.
Yikes! You'll note all of the government services that are not on that list: education, prisons, public health, providing a safety net or support for the poor.
I know this "back to basics" is popular rhetoric amongst the tea bag types this year, but I seriously don't think people realize how this would impact them if these wing-nuts get elected.
As an aside, those 4-color signs are expensive. Obviously, this guy has big money behind him. The corporatists really like having the Arizona Legislature in their pocket.
UPDATE, October 8: Most of Krino's illegally-placed 4-color signs are gone from city streets now. You'll note his new illegally-placed signs are the standard red/black type, no 4-color smiling photo, and still no indication that he is an extremist Republican.
