Sec. of State Brewer Takes Issue with Democrats Outrageously False Claim

Calls on Democratic Party Leadership to Repudiate Inflammatory Comments by Staff

PHOENIX -- Secretary of State Jan Brewer today called on Arizona Democratic Party Chairman Don Bivens to repudiate Emily DeRose's recent inflammatory and factually incorrect comments regarding the validation of petition signatures.

On Sunday's KPNX-Channel 12 Square Off program, DeRose accused Brewer of skewing the signature sample sent to county recorders on the transportation initiative. TIME, as the initiative was known, sought to raise the sales tax 1 penny to pay for transportation projects. The initiative needed 153,365 signatures but fell short and will not be on the November ballot.

Secretary Brewer specifically is calling on Chairman Bivens to disclaim the inflammatory remarks, "Chairman Bivens, your employee made a serious allegation against this office that was false on its face. Ms DeRose provided no evidence to back up her spurious claim," Brewer said. "I ask that you repudiate her comments and apologize to the professionals who work for the secretary of state's office and who followed the law to the letter."

Without a shred of alleged evidence to back up her claim, DeRose accused Brewer of manipulating the sample. Brewer flatly denies the claim. In fact, all legal challenges to Secretary Brewer's petition processing were summarily thrown out by the courts.

"TIME spent $1 million for bad signatures, and that is not my fault or the fault of the county recorders who also tossed invalid signatures," Brewer said. “Mr. Bivens and Ms. DeRose are invited to view how the petitions were selected for the random sample at any time,” stated Brewer, “Perhaps then they can understand the process before jumping to an incorrect conclusion.”

Added Brewer, “Political rhetoric is one thing, but baseless accusations implicating the integrity of my Administration is reckless, inappropriate and should not be tolerated.”

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