NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday May 5, 2008

Bee relies on divisive DC politico to raise money

In a quest to court the extreme political right and raise campaign money, Sen. Tim Bee raised money this morning with Grover Norquist, one of the most ideologically extreme Washington politicians.

“If Sen. Bee is a true bipartisan, why is he relying on some of the meanest and divisive partisans of our era? Where does he draw the line on his association with Grover Norquist and Karl Rove – just at campaign cash, or on votes?” asked Emily Bittner, spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party. “Rep. Giffords was elected to change just this kind of politics ­ which is exactly what she has done in office.”

Like Rove, Norquist is a vicious partisan. Norquist made headlines in 2003 when he equated bipartisanship with date rape. (Denver Post, 5/26/2003 )

“We are trying to change the tones in the state capitals—and turn them toward bitter nastiness and partisanship,” he told the Denver Post.

“Bipartisanship is another name for date rape.”

Norquist infamously engineered the “K Street Project” to reward Republican Congressional staff with high-paying lobbying jobs. He also worked closely with Jack Abramoff, and according to the Washington Post, appeared to perpetrate a fraud on taxpayers by selling their clout to Abramoff.

(Washington Post, 10/13/06) According to the story:

Abramoff traded on Norquist’s cachet, at one point referring to him in an e-mail as a “hard-won asset” of his lobbying empire. In exchange for Norquist’s opposition to taxes on (Abramoff client) Brown-Forman products, Norquist recommended that a $50,000 donation be made to Americans for Tax Reform, according to an Abramoff e-mail.

“Tim Bee needs to answer whether or not he stands with Norquist, Forbes and Rove on the issues or whether he’s just trading on their names for campaign cash,” Bittner said. “Bringing in Norquist certainly makes me question his bipartisan image.”

Also today, the Arizona Democratic Party launched a new video of Bee, available at www.crAZyspace.org/timbee