Representative John Kavanagh responded to my letter about his voter suppression efforts. His defense is the classic “listen to what I tell you, don’t look at what I do.”

Kavanagh defends his behavior by pointing to non-controversial actions. Who could disagree with the bipartisan examples he gave? That’s the diversion. It’s what he doesn’t discuss that is more revealing. His motives are shown by his actions.

Kavanagh doesn’t discuss his actual voter suppression efforts. He supported legislation to suppress votes from “uninformed” voters. He presumes that voters are “uninformed” if they failed to vote in certain elections. Kavanagh has become a professional politician. He and our local Senator flip-flop offices to avoid term limits. Politics and elections are his focus.

Ordinary voters are not professional politicians. Sometimes voters don’t like the choices and don’t vote. Sometimes life’s unexpected events prevent voting. That doesn’t mean that when they vote, they are low “quality” or “uninformed,” as Kavanagh claims. They are citizens, not professional politicians. Kavanagh supported removing them from early voting lists.

Kavanagh sponsored a law to remove control of one voter list from unelected bureaucrats, and to give the control to elected politicians. Giving partisan politicians control over the voter list was too extreme even for Governor Ducey, who vetoed Kavanagh’s bill.

Kavanagh justified his actions during an embarrassing nationwide broadcast as a way to prevent “nonexistent fraud.” He does again in his letter. The mad King in Alice in Wonderland would be proud.

Kavanagh knows Arizona’s voting trends. Voting trends and voter registration patterns are not favorable to Kavanagh’s interests. Fear of voters is the motive. Suppressing votes from certain categories of voters and controlling key voting lists is his solution. Claiming “nonexistent fraud” is the smokescreen to justify his behavior.

We elected him. Is this who we are?