LINDA'S TAKE: Why bad politicians get into office

We were warned about Rick Renzi eight years ago.

You may remember that excellent candidates were passed over in favor of the charismatic carpetbagger, whose bank account allowed for slick brochures to inundate rural Arizona mailboxes. Now it’s confirmed, something is allegedly amiss with the interloper.

Last week, Arizona’s 1st Congressional District Representative was indicted on 35 counts. The charges include extortion, money laundering and embezzlement. His situation seems to be business as usual in the GOP, which also squandered the voter’s trusted mandate from eight years ago. Thus, the party and its membership stand in shame. Not because a few have “sinned,” but because many have failed in foolish ways.

Renzi’s indictment is a bit inconvenient. The GOP needs every warm body it can rally in Congress to keep crucial balance in government. I’ll call this race: Baring the unearthing of skeletons or a real gaff, expect a Democratic clean sweep in November. One key reason; Democrat voters will show up.

In fair disclosure, I had an inside look at the first race that put Renzi in office. Along with about a half-dozen other primary GOP candidates running for the new Arizona district was my brother, Lewis Tenney, Jr., a longtime resident of the Rim Country. So, as one could imagine, I received a rare look at the drama.

From the top of the Arizona delegation, where party “brokering” took place, to the bottom where simple people believed in the system - it was a sobering experience. How is it a district that had long lobbied for its own congressional representative to give rural Arizona its own voice elected a carpetbagger who knew zilch about this state?

My brother isn’t happy that I’m hashing over this issue. The successful businessman and reliable public servant in the “high country,” since he first sat on the Heber Water Board at age 21, isn’t one to hold grudges.

There’s something to be learned in the Renzi mess. If we wonder how we got here, how a resident of Virginia could sashay into rural Arizona and win; if we wonder, let’s look at who voted. Simply, Lewis’ voter-base, which is Navajo County, stayed home that day. Lewis had been a front runner in the polls; sometimes leading, sometimes in second place. His loyal base assumed he was a “shoo-in.”

Here’s what every single citizen needs to hear about the upcoming November election: Had even 4 percent more voters in Lewis’ base gone to the polls they would have put a man of integrity, with generational knowledge of rural issues, into office. Never mind the other six counties in District 1, of which all but one beat Navajo County’s turnout.

For months after that race, Lewis was approached by his constituents who, with shame, confessed they didn’t make it to the polls that day because the rain kept them home. Besides, they figured “he had it made, anyway.”

It can be said, our politicians are a reflection of us. Their interests come first. My guess is this story, with an exchange of names, places and parties, is repeated around America even more than the corruption.

Either we common folk get involved or the political power brokers will continue to run this country. We can only imagine how Renzi found his way to District 1, but we know how he was elected. Unless we put on a raincoat and show up at the polls in November, we’ll find out just how bad it can get.

Linda Turley-Hansen is a syndicated columnist and former veteran Phoenix television news anchorwoman who lives in the East Valley. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached by e-mail at letters@lindastake.com.