No More Mr. Nice Guy!

Arizona Conservative Idiot of the Week: Thayer Verschoor

Thoughtcrime is rampant in Arizona schools! It must be stamped out! This looks like a job for - Thayer Verschoor!

The ultra-right-wing rethug who is the majority leader in the Arizona State Senate is determined to make his pet bill the law of the state. He has written a draconian piece of legislation to stifle all independent thought in the classroom by forbidding "specific endorsement or opposition of candidates, legislation or court action as well as any social, political or cultural issues of a partisan nature" and threatening teachers who fail his litmus test with "suspension, firing, certification revocation or $500 penalty." He also wants to make it a crime to "impede" military recruiters on campus.

Verschoor's first bill on this subject, S-1612, died a well-deserved death in committee. Sane committee members were horrified that this broadly-written bill would be blatantly unconstitutional, have a chilling effect on education and could "even affect trips to the museum, where the history of a political party might be discussed."

Verschoor did not take no for an answer. He used his political muscle and a legislative maneuver known as a strike-all amendment, a technique frequently used to bypass committee scrutiny and force into law some piece of stealth legislation that cannot stand up to the light of day, to resurrect S-1612 essentially unchanged as S-1542. Now this odious bill moves to the senate floor, where there is a good chance that this backward, anti-education state's crazed and ignorant legislators will approve it.

The Arizona state legislature has long been a playground for corrupt crony capitalists and barking-mad lunatics (check out Barbara Blewster for an example of the latter - I guarantee you won't believe what she said about gays and Jews). But Verschoor is an exceptionally dangerous example of the species, being not only droolingly insane but very powerful and ruthless, with a long history of getting exactly what he wants.

Arizona is already the dumbest state in the Union, and ranks dead last by almost every measure of educational quality. Verschoor's bill will be the final nail in the coffin.