ANTENORI ARCHIVE, Day 1: Antenori says women can't think for themselves

State Sen. Frank Antenori kicks off his election bid as a victim of his own chattiness, including his claim that women needed protection from their own judgment.

The Pima County Democratic Party is highlighting the Antenori Archives as the campaign season gets under way to bring to light some of the stranger things to come out of the Legislature's least disciplined mouth.

Our first installment involves perhaps Antenori's most notorious bit of motor-mouthing during one of his many votes to restrict women's reproductive health.

He justified his support of the legislation by arguing the Legislature has “a duty to protect either our wives or our daughters from making decisions that may come back to haunt them further down the road in their lives.”

Wait a minute. The final arbiters of a woman's conscience in Arizona should be Antenori and the Arizona State Legislature?

“Voters need to remember that Frank Antenori embodies pretty ancient thinking that women are irrational and it's the government's job to not let them make too many of their own decisions,” said Pima County Democratic Party Chair Jeff Rogers. “Frank means what he says, but his convictions reflect the 1810 consensus -- not the 2010 mainstream.”

Antenori later said of this statement: “I was being chivalrous.”

Rogers replied: “I believe the word Frank was looking for was ‘chauvinist’.”

###