Redistricting -- wingnuts and tea partiers turn it up a notch already UPDATED 3:25pm MST Friday

Could they be settling into desperation so soon after Arizona's Supreme Court smacked Gov. Janice on the bee-hind for making the stupid mistake of listening to the right-wing cacaphony?

The Sonoran Alliance this evening posted a photograph of a man and a woman (from behind) walking into a building in Tucson.

The caption reads:

AIRC Commissioner Colleen Mathis & Democrat activist husband, Chris Mathis, visiting the office of Democrat Congressman Raul Grijalva.

However, not only can one NOT tell who the two people are in the photograph, anyone who knows the two of them would say that this picture is NOT of Chris and Colleen Mathis. The hair color might be similar but the way the two are built and carry themselves makes it look very much like it cannot be them.

The accompanying story says only:

This photo was taken mid-July at 738 N. 5th Avenue in Tucson outside the office of Democrat Congressman Raul Grijalva. It shows Chairman Colleen Mathis and her husband, Christopher Mathis, walking to the office of Congressman Raul Grijalva.

Sonoran Alliance has confirmed that Mathis nor any of the other commissioners met with Congressmen Schweikert or Quayle during the entire redistricting process. 

The right-wing propaganda machine is not going to take defeat lying down. LYING, yes, but NOT lying down.

I spoke with people this evening who know and have determined that those two people are NOT either Chris or Colleen Mathis. The location does appear to be the Historic Y building in Tucson. The sign in front of the two people, just to their left, says "The Historic Y 738 N. Fifth Ave."

Apparently, Congressman Grijalva did recently move his office into that building. But he is by no means the only tenant. At least a half dozen environmental non-profit organizations, a medical training business, a couple of dance studios and other enterprises have offices there. So, even IF it were the Mathises, that photograph shows nothing other than two people walking into the building. The photograph was most likely staged for the sole purpose of stirring up the rabid right-wing activists who bullied some or all of the 21 Republican state senators to make the foolish decision to ratify Jan Brewer's latest folly.

It would be very easy to brush this off as the ramblings of nuts. Which it clearly is. BUT who is the audience that Sonoran Alliance reaches? Jan Brewer went off half-cocked when she tried to oust Mathis from the AIRC. She knew for months that she had no evidence of any unlawful acts or omissions. But she had been badgered relentlessly by the kind of people that showed up repeatedly at AIRC hearings and business meetings, sometimes in force and large numbers, beginning at the end of June.

Even a cursory reading of comments after any news story on news websites throughout Arizona, large or small papers, large or small communities, shows that the rabid tea partiers have not and will not let up.

It's time for us to let go of the elation we may have felt for a few hours after learning of the Supreme Court decision.

It's GAME ON.

We need all hands on deck... and any other military and/or sports expression we need to employ to get the point across that the lull we've had while waiting for today's Supreme Court hearing and ruling is over.

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UPDATE Friday afternoon

Sonoran Alliance issued the following statement on its ridiculous photograph.

Sonoran Alliance obviously generated a lot of buzz over the photo that went public yesterday in which an anonymous photographer claims Colleen Mathis and her husband were visiting with the office of Congressman Raul Grijalva in mid-July of this year.

The post and photo has been placed back in pending “private” mode as we double-back once again with the photographer to verify the identities. Because this has generated much wailing and gnashing of teeth among Arizona’s left and provoked the possibility of legal action, we believe it is certainly worth yet another verification with the photographer in order to ensure they are willing to stand by the photo or even go public.

As of this update, two comments had been posted to this statement:

Neil Markowitz says:November 18, 2011 at 2:54 pm
Gnashing of teeth is a rather hyperbolic response. The photo showed my nephew and office mate who both work at the building. You should be more careful about your sources and intentions.
   wanumba says:November 18, 2011 at 3:08 pm
Thought it was a stretch to identify two people when there are 200,000 pairs of people who would look JUST like that from the back and from that distance. Can’t even see their faces.