Until late April, I was a fulltime investigative journalist based in Arizona with more than 26 years of reporting and writing on political corruption, corporate scams and general skullduggery that this beautiful state breeds as copiously as thorns on a cholla cactus.
Arizona is ground zero for brazen corruption, and over the past quarter century I've been at the center of some of the biggest storms. In 1989, I broke the Keating Five Scandal that nearly ended John McCain's Senate career after he and four other senators were grilled for months before the Senate Ethics Committee.
In the 1990s, I uncovered the financial corruption of former Arizona Governor Fife Symington that led to his indictment, resignation and conviction in 1997. And in the early 2000s, I exposed Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's persistent abuse of power that has now led to a federal grand jury investigation of his office.
I've always considered myself a representative of the people and I think my journalism reflects this. I love journalism and it's been a rewarding career.
But I've embarked on a new path of public service. I'm now a determined candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate.
In the midst of a beautiful and mild Sonoran spring, McCain made a stunning statement when he declared he never considered himself to be a maverick. McCain's calculated and desperate gambit to appease Arizona's rabid Right, a move that Jon Stewart aptly described as "shorting his soul," convinced me it was time to challenge McCain in his own arena: politics.
My next thought was that Arizona's Democrats must have somebody with firepower who could burst through this window of opportunity, someone who could keep McCain from dancing back to the middle after he dispatches Tea Party idol and Jack Abramoff buddy J.D. Hayworth in the Republican primary.
And what if Hayworth wins the Aug. 24 primary?
The Democrats would be in an ideal position to pull an historic upset, especially after Republican leaders enraged Arizona's Hispanic population with its race-baiting, anti-immigrant bill SB1070 that has disgraced the Grand Canyon State and prompted a surge in voter registration among Latino citizens.
Either way, I figured Arizona's Democrats surely were prepared to put up a fight.
Wrong.
Other than the then-vice-mayor of Tucson, a 32-year-old professional student (five degrees!) who had managed a family ice staking rink and was flush with a nice stash of cash from the family's agribusiness and fertilizer empire (the top Dems call this a "self-funding" candidate), there was no formidable candidate who could beat either Republican on the horizon.
McCain's cynical machinations and the lack of a substantial Democrat to challenge him merged with my lifelong dedication to public service as an investigative journalist. I decided it was time to make a run for the U.S. Senate.
Why would an investigative journalist who made a decent living uncovering one scandal after another decide to enter the seamy world of politics?
The answer is simple: I'm fed up with money-driven politics that brought us to the brink of financial collapse, left the Gulf of Mexico drenched in oil, has given us wars without end, and a 19th Century fossil-fuel-based economy that could reduce America to a second-rate power in our lifetimes.
I relish the opportunity to hire a staff of investigative reporters who will scour every corner of our labyrinthine government and provide the fodder for nonstop oversight hearings on a wide range of subjects -- Wall Street and Big Oil to start -- to be held before disaster strikes again.
In less than a month, with the help of friends old and new from across the state, we collected 12,500 signatures, built a website (www.johndougherty2010.com) and secured a place on the Aug. 24 ballot. This is a true grassroots campaign that seeks first and foremost to break the corrosive influence of special interest money financing elections.
Two other candidates have also joined the race and we now have a four-way primary with early voting beginning July 29. Notably, the leading candidate who has previously held elective office is ducking my request to hold a series of debates.
Perhaps he is taken aback by my website's motto: "Electing Arizona's top investigative journalist is Washington's worst nightmare."
Follow John Dougherty on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnDoughertyUS
Except for the fact he doesn't support AZ1070
Politicians need to realize their duty is to serve the citizens they represent and protect the interests of the nation at large
Open borders and huge groups of non-citizens freely travelling throughout our country with no way of proving their identity has turned us into a repository of every criminal looking for a new start
A recent flight from the Mid -East was diverted to Montreal and they offloaded a top level Al Queda on his way to Mexico city
Anyone who thinks that giving 10-15 million Visas or US Passports to people who cannot prove who they are is not looking out for our national security
This amounts to a new identity to anyone who can make it accross the border
The open border is destroying what little we have left as a nation of laws and security for it's citizens
I for one am sick of the demands by people who have nothing but contempt for our country Demanding special privelage while breaking our laws taking our resources and opportunities
Refusing to learn our language and then demanding to be accomodated
Illegal is not a race it's a crime
Reconquista is racism
The only rights an illegal have are to leave under your own accord or be deported in a humane fashion and any politician who puts trespassers above the rights of it's citizens has no place in office
He does not advocate for open borders, but he also doesn't accept the racial overtones that are evident from the most rabid supporters of SB 1070.
Video blog by John Dougherty on the subject of border security.
McCain is one of the biggest phonies in Washington!
I really want to know why the media allows them to duck being challenged by the opposing side. It's making me detest the control that the "Corporate Media" has over this country. I have sent message after message and get NO response. It all comes down to the almighty dollar, and that's sad, but true.
http://frontrow.dmagazine.com/2010/06/the-jack-abramoff-documnetary-casino-jack-dissects-the-method-of-political-madness/
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Documentary-goes-after-Abramoff----and-capitalism-92795594.html
This guy actually uncovered the Keating Five Scandal-- which almost did in McCain. Would be an interesting opponent. Looking forward to his nomination. And he is a real reporter to boot, not one of the fake ones.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/16/AR2006041601027.html
Aside from flip-flopping on whichever way the political winds are blowing, his more egregious mistake was elevating Sarah Palin to the national stage. I don't care whatever pressure he was under, McCain selfishly put his own political aspirations ahead of America's welfare. That alone should be enough to deny McCain another term.
While it is up to the voters, Arizonans deserve someone who is willing, ready and able to do what is right and who will put Arizona and the country ahead of his/her own self-serving interests.
Dougherty has intellect and fight. He couldn't be a successful investigative journalist without them. He's the one that can bring the fight to McCain. And McCain knows it.
I'm thinkin' you could make this race very interesting .....