Arizona Republicans have instituted a new policy to protect themselves from potentially dangerous American reporters. Now, by order of the House speaker, reporters seeking access to the House floor will have to submit to background checks so that Speaker David Gowan can be sure they're not hardened criminals in disguise. Which is quite the coincidence, given that Speaker David Gowan has had a particular issue with a particular reporter recently.
The new policy goes as far as to list specific offenses, including misdemeanor ones like trespassing, which automatically disqualify a reporter from being on the House floor for up to 10 years. That’s significant because misdemeanor trespass is an offense that Arizona Capitol Times reporter Hank Stephenson was convicted of following a bar fight a couple years ago.
Early this year, Stephenson wrote a piece scrutinizing Gowan’s use of a state vehicle during a 19-day period last October during which he logged nearly 4,800 miles of windshield time. Some of the events he traveled to were related to his congressional campaign, and using a state vehicle for that purpose is unlawful. Gowan has since reimbursed the state more than $12,000, and his is office is now under investigation by Arizona’s Attorney General for misuse of public resources.
Yes, what are the odds that the only House reporter who seems to be disqualified by these new, very specific rules is the one whose reporting cost David Gowan $12,000 worth of free state vehicle time. It is uncanny, and so forth, and so on.
To their credit, state reporters are refusing to go along with the "background" checks, because there doesn't seem to be anyone in the state who really believes this is about anything other than David Gowan being peeved that reporters caught him doing something blatantly illegal. Republican governance at work, everybody. Golf claps all around for this one.