Conservative Babylon

Claims to fame: Hard-right, anti-choice Republican 2012 candidate for U.S. Congress (for now); Sheriff, Pinal County, Arizona (2008 – ); National Sheriffs’ Association “Sheriff of the Year,” 2011; Ronald Reagan-worshipping, John McCain-loving, Sarah Palin fanboy; anti-immigration “border hawk“; former Mitt Romney campaign chair; former police officer, Chandler, Arizona; former commissioner, Berkshire County, Massachusetts; former city councilmember, North Adams, Massachusetts; former North Adams police officer; two-time failed North Adams mayoral candidate; former headmaster & executive director, DeSisto School, Massachusetts (1999-2001); dragged-out-of-the-closet queen who gives money to anti-gay Republicans; nominee for Biggest Right-Wing Hypocrite of 2012

Moral apex: Most folks would say: “Being dragged forcibly out of the closet after being accused of threatening his ex-boyfriend with deportation.” We’ll get to that eventually (or you can skip ahead to that part of the story) — but, frankly, we’re far more disturbed by his involvement with the DeSisto School. (more…)

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Moral apex: Closet homo outed by respected journalist Kurt Wolfe…

Height of hypocrisy: …after he voted in favor of anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act.

Good news: Said he was “relieved” to be out.

Bad news: He’s still a Republican.

Republican logic: Used convoluted “states’ rights” argument to defend DoMA vote.

Eating their own: After Kolbe admitted he was gay, ultra-right-wing American Family Association petitioned for Kolbe’s arrest under (now-defunct) Arizona state sodomy law.

Ultimate hypocrisy: Still refuses to support the fight for same-sex immigration rights, when he himself is in a binational relationship with a Panamanian man — who, ever-so-conveniently, is able to remain in the U.S. with Kolbe on a job visa.

What you never heard about Jim Kolbe: He was under investigation for sexual misconduct with House pages (sound familiar?) at the same time the Mark Foley story broke (which is why you didn’t hear about the Kolbe investigation). Kolbe was cleared of any wrongdoing in June, 2007.

However: We’re not letting Kolbe off the hook for his involvement in the Foley scandal; in short, he didn’t do any more with his knowledge of the matter than any of the other right-wingers who knew Foley was preying on teenage boys.

Where he is now: Kolbe retired at the end of his 2006 term, became a fellow of the German Marshall Fund, and a consultant for Kissinger McLarty Associates (yes, that Kissinger).

See also: Mark Foley, Jim McCrery.

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Kolbe:

Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.

— Proverbs 3:31

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