NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday January 3, 2008

Bee looks the other way on General's appointment

A Tim Bee appointee is playing political games to prevent Arizona’s top military leader from doing his job.

Sen. Jack Harper, head of the Senate Government Committee, won’t hold a hearing on whether to reappoint Maj. Gen. David Rataczak as Arizona’s adjutant general.

“What kind of leader looks the other way while one renegade senator holds up the reappointment of a brave and decorated military leader?” said Emily Bittner, spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party. “Tim Bee should use his power as leader of the Senate to prevent injustices like this – especially at such a critical time for this state and country. He certainly shouldn’t be in Congress if he can’t lead senators from his own party to do the right thing for Arizona’s military.”

The Arizona Republic on Wednesday also called on Harper to move forward with the reappointment, saying his stance is incoherent. “A time of war is scarcely a good time for a state senator to play ‘payback’ games with the leadership of a state’s military,” the editorial said. link