Sunday, August 09, 2015

This could get *fun* in a hurry: Southern AZ Republicans possibly involved with a prostitution ring

One of the main reasons that I don't subscribe the Cap Times is that it so rarely breaks a story that a) is interesting, and b) isn't already known by folks who pay attention to the antics of AZ's political class.

However, once in a long while...

From the Arizona Capitol Times, written by Hank Stephenson -
If you’re a well-known Republican from south of the Gila River, there’s a good chance your name is listed in police documents alongside hundreds of “Johns” suspected of frequenting a Tucson prostitution ring.

The rest of the story is behind their subscriber paywall, so I don't know with certainty if names are named, but given that this story was posted on Friday morning and the AZ political world hasn't exploded, yet, I'm guessing no names have been published.

Emphasis on "yet".


Stay tuned on this one.



5 comments:

John said...

The story quickly becomes a non-story, when you get past the public “teaser” part. It goes on to say,

“Six of those phones belonged to suspected prostitutes. The seventh belonged to Shaun McClusky, the second-vice chair of the Pima County Republican Party, who briefly ran for mayor in 2011 and now runs a property management business. All the politicos who appear on the police document are in connection with McClusky’s phone…McClusky has not been charged with any crime. He said he was investigated, and later cleared of wrongdoing, by Tucson police because he is a property manager for one of the houses used as an illegal massage parlor.”

State Sen. John Kavanagh
Central Arizona Republican

Craig said...

I have since seen the text of the whole story, and while your quote is from the story, you are leaving out the part where other sources indicate that McClusky was a recipient of some "professional services" from at least one massage parlor that was part of the ring.

From what I understand from some southern AZ stories, this "non-story" has been percolating under the radar for a while, but it seems to have some legs.

John said...

The story unjustifiably "teases" the reader about southern Arizona Republicans possibly being involved in a sex scandal, which is shown to be unfounded in the paid non-public part of the story. That was the way the story was promoted. That is my criticism.

The Capitol Times should not have run the story that way and you should have not repeated it, since you admit not knowing the whole story. Regarding McClusky, he had a legitimate and reasonably innocent reason for his name being involved and was not arrested. These sources are a mystery and the police did not think them credible.

You are playing with peoples' reputations. Do I have to remind you of Joseph Welch's quote in the Army-McCarthy hearings on June 9, 1954, which was "Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

Craig said...

Well, I disagree with you on whether or not the Cap Times should have run the story.

Should they have run a better story? Probably. More detail would be a good thing - it's not like the Cap Times is targeted at an audience with a junior high-level intellect.

Should they have used a better teaser? Certainly.

Having said that, it's still a legit news story.

McClusky may claim to have been "investigated, and later cleared of wrongdoing, by Tucson police", but anyone reading that should remember that he was "cleared" by the same police department that was heavily involved with the ring.

In other words, he has a bit of a credibility problem here. Only a "bit" though - until further evidence comes to light...


As far as "playing with peoples' reputations": Please re-read the original post and the comments.

You should note that I'm not the one who started throwing around any name.


John said...

It was the Capitol Times but point taken that I mentioned him, which I regret. I mentioned him in a secondary manner to dispel the bogus accusations against the lawmakers (at least one innocent Dem, as I understand.)