ARIZONA

Kyrsten Sinema in 2011: 'There’s something wrong with the people in public office in Arizona'

Yvonne Wingett Sanchez
The Republic | azcentral.com
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema seven years ago ridiculed as "crazy" the Republican elected officials leading the state at the time, and the anti-illegal immigration legislation that began in Arizona and was being replicated in state Capitols across the nation.

Sinema, then a state senator and now the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, in a 2011 speech told the Texas Stonewall Democrats that all Republicans in Arizona were “crazy” and could not be distinguished from the conservative "tea party" activists whose influence helped lead to legislation that she and others deemed harmful to Arizona.

The video of Sinema's 2011 remarks resurfaced Thursday on social media and was recirculated by allies of Sinema's Republican Senate opponent, Rep. Martha McSally.

In her 2018 statewide race, Sinema has fashioned herself as an independent-minded Democrat who is interesting in working across the aisle. In her 2011 comments, Sinema repeatedly slammed Arizona Republicans — often generating laughs from the audience — with variations of the term "crazy."

“Over the past several years, people have watched what was happening in Arizona, and been like, ‘Damn, those people are crazy,'" Sinema says in the video.

READ MORE: Where Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema stand on border security

“Is it something in the water? No, the water's fine — we stole it from Colorado," Sinema says to laughter. "There’s nothing wrong with the water. There’s something wrong with the people in public office in Arizona. People say, ‘Oh, the tea party, the tea party.’ Please. Those people have been in charge for, like, 20 years in Arizona. They’re just, they’re called Republicans."

As a child growing up in Tucson, Sinema said she remembered learning a song about Arizona's famous Five C's: copper, cattle, cotton, citrus and climate. 

"But I would add a sixth C," she said. "It's called 'crazy,' because that's what's happening in my state, is pure craziness. Pure craziness."

Sinema started her remarks with: “Arizona: Coming to a state near you.”

She warned that the so-called model legislation crafted in Arizona would eventually appear in their state legislatures with the help of groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council. That organization, which wields tremendous power with conservative lawmakers in Arizona and across the United States, is best-known for producing ready-to-introduce “model” legislation crafted with input from corporate America.

Torunn Sinclair, McSally's spokeswoman, said in a written statement the video shows Sinema is not fit to serve in the U.S. Senate. 

"Arizonans want a senator who is going to have their back, not call them crazy," Sinclair said. 

Helen Hare, Sinema's campaign spokeswoman, said the video makes it clear Sinema was displaying her frustration with special-interest groups' influence on state legislatures.

"She was frustrated that no one in the state legislature was standing up to out-of-state special interests working to take away health care from children, make tuition more expensive, and take job security away from working families," Hare's written statement said. 

MORE: Arizona Republic poll: Sinema has edge over McSally in close Senate race

At the time of Sinema’s remarks, Arizona was ground zero for the debate over illegal immigration.

In Arizona, Republican lawmakers — namely then-state Senate President Russell Pearce and then-Gov. Jan Brewer — had gained international attention for their efforts to make life more difficult for undocumented immigrants. Their controversial bill, Senate Bill 1070, was the nation's toughest immigration bill at the time and sparked a national outcry.

The law led to a torrent of canceled trips to Arizona by would-be tourists and conventioneers, and travel bans by cities and organizations around the country who deemed the legislation discriminatory and in violation of federal law. The state and its lawmakers were routinely excoriated in comedy routines. 

In 2011, the year of Sinema’s remarks, Republicans at the Arizona Capitol had introduced other legislation targeting undocumented immigrants.

One bill would have required hospitals to check a person’s legal status and notify law enforcement if they suspected the person was in the United States illegally. Another would have banned illegal immigrants from going to state universities and community colleges, and from getting federal benefits.

A third targeted the issue of birthright citizenship.

All of the bills failed.

Addressing reproductive rights

Sinema in the video also talked about legislation introduced in other states dealing with reproductive rights and children's health care.

"The bills that you are seeing in the legislature this year to restrict a woman's right to chose, to force her to listen to the heartbeat of the fetus, and to look at a picture, that — I know that's in your legislature," she told the group. "Yeah, it came from my Legislature." 

Sinema invoked Pearce during her remarks, saying he had teamed with ALEC and Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that advocates for less overall immigration, legal and illegal, to advance his ideals. 

"This is a national strategy to mainstream hatred that has been highlighted and flourished in the Arizona Legislature," she said. "Why it's important to think about what's happening in Arizona is simply because that's what's coming to your state next."

However, Sinema also said in 2011 that got along well personally with Pearce.

"Actually, I love Russell," Sinema said. "We get along very well. Not always on policy matters, but on personal matters we do."

In her 2009 book, "Unite and Conquer: How to build coalitions that win — and last," Sinema wrote about her efforts to get to know Pearce and see his "humanity," even though they differed on policy.

"Russell and I still disagree on almost everything, but I no longer feel as hot in the head when he's talking about opinions or policies I disagree with because I can remember how his voice sounded and how his face looked when he talked about taking his wife to the picture show," she wrote. "And because I remember that, I can more often approach him from a place of friendship instead of antagonism."

Voters from Pearce's Mesa district voted to recall him from office in a historic November 2011 election.

Follow the reporter on Twitter and Facebook. Reach her at yvonne.wingett@arizonarepublic.com.

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