Tom Horne must really want to be superintendent of public instruction.

The Harvard-educated attorney has sunk $280,000 of his own money into the primary race so far. That, with other donations, has brought a total of $311,166.

His rich campaign, run traditionally instead of through the publicly funded Clean Elections program, means his two Republican opponents have gotten three times the base amount given to publicly financed candidates facing traditionally funded candidates.

But it’s still not even close to competitive when it comes to money. Each Horne opponent, incumbent Jaime Molera and former Pima County lawmaker Keith Bee, have already gotten all they’re going to get for the primary – $129,450.

In Molera’s case, incumbency should help compensate.

In Bee’s case, an endorsement from the Arizona Education Association and its 30,000 employees can’t hurt.

Horne has been pouring his money into radio and television commercials criticizing Molera for not enforcing the ban on bilingual education, which Molera denies.

Molera fired his own salvo this week, noting that Paradise Valley schools – where Horne sits on the school board – has 14.2 percent of its limited-English speakers taking bilingual classes on waivers. That’s 3 percent more than the statewide average.

Contact reporters Rhonda Bodfield at 573-4242 or [email protected], and Hipolito R. Corella at 573-4243 or [email protected].



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