Schools chief apologizes for "hurtful" blog posts

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PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Superintendent of Public
Instruction John Huppenthal broke down in tears Wednesday at the end of a
news conference where he apologized for posting an anonymous blog
comment that denigrated welfare recipients and other postings that were
seen by some as racist.
Huppenthal was barely composed from the
beginning of the packed news conference at the state Board of
Education’s meeting room near the Capitol, but he finally lost his
composure after about a half hour when he tried to explain how those
comments had most affected his longtime assistant.
"We can imagine
the emotional impact. I have talked to people who have been hurt by the
hour," Huppenthal said. The person I feel most — to the point of my own
tears — is my assistant Merle. She has been with me for …. "
Huppenthal then broke down completely and left the room.
The
state’s top education officials, however, said he would neither resign
his position nor drop out of the Republican primary, where he faces a
challenge from a conservative who is campaigning to get the state to
drop new Common Core standards.
He also said he would not back
away from his support for the standards "that are hugely controversial
among the conservative elements of Arizona."
Huppenthal has been
peppered with criticism for a week, ever since it became public that he
had posted on both conservative and liberal blogs under pseudonyms for
several years. Among the posts dating to 2011, when he took his current
office, was one that denigrated both President Barack Obama and welfare
recipients.
"Obama is rewarding the lazy pigs with food stamps (44
million people), air-conditioning, free health care, flat-screen TV’s
(typical of "poor" families)."
Another earlier set of comments
that came to light this week credited former state Sen. Russell Pearce,
the author of the state’s tough anti-illegal immigration law, with
bringing down crime rates. But he went on to call on immigrant to
assimilate, and quickly.
"No spanish radio stations, no spanish
billboards, no spanish tv, no spanish newspapers," he wrote. "This is
America, speak English."
A former superintendent of public
instruction, Lisa Graham Keegan, was among several community members who
called Wednesday for Huppenthal to resign. She said his comments were
so damaging that he can’t effectively lead the state’s school agency.
"The
No. 1 issue for the person who holds the job of superintendent of
public instruction is deep respect and community with the people that we
serve and those that we work with," said Keegan, who served from
1995-2001 as a Republican but now is an independent. "John Huppenthal’s
comments have violated that sacred bond."
Others at the news conference where Keegan spoke echoed her comments.
"We
wouldn’t take the comments that John Huppenthal has said from a student
body president. We wouldn’t take it from a principal at a school," said
Lawrence Robinson, a Roosevelt School District board member. "We
certainly will not take it from the person responsible for representing
all of our public schools and our education."
Huppenthal faces a
primary challenge from Diane Douglas, a conservative Republican who has
attacked the incumbent for his support of the Common Core standards. Two
Democrats, David Garcia and Sharon Thomas, are also in the race.

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