Arizona Democrats censuring Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was stupid and pointless

Sen. Mark Kelly is right.

He said through a campaign spokeswoman that he doesn’t support state Democrats censuring Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

Unlike Kelly, however, it seems that Arizona’s Democrats have not been paying attention – at all – to the other guys.

If they had been keeping tabs on state Republicans, even a little bit, they would have noted that censuring an elected official or other prominent member of your political party has become a completely pointless exercise. One that not only has no ill effect on the branded outlier, but in some ways actually enhances the person’s profile and can raise the censured politician’s popularity within the broader community.

In other words, more often than not, slapping a politician with a censure does just the opposite of what was intended.

Republicans are dumb, Democrats are dumber

It is nonsensical. Arizona Republicans have stupidly done this to their own over the past several years. And now, Democrats have stupidly copied it.

Last weekend, members of the Arizona Democratic Party executive committee passed a resolution to censure Sen. Kyrsten Sinema over her vote to keep the filibuster.

A statement from the group reads in part, “While we take no pleasure in this announcement, the ADP Executive Board has decided to formally censure Senator Sinema as a result of her failure to do whatever it takes to ensure the health of our democracy.”

They “take no pleasure.”

They also impose no real punishment. No consequences. No nothing.

That wasn’t always the case, of course. The notion of censure as a punitive measure comes from a time when politicians had a personal sense of honor. Being censured was being shamed. Publicly. And it meant something.

Ha!

You can't shame the shameless, like Sinema

These days, there’s not a politician in Washington, D.C., or practically anywhere else, who can be shamed.

Arizona’s wackiest member of Congress, Rep. Paul Gosar, was censured by House members. They weren’t willing to expel him, which he deserved. With a censure, Gosar did not lose his title, his salary, his staff, his office or his ability to vote. He called the censure “kabuki theater” and probably won over more of his constituents than he lost.

The Arizona Republican Party censured the late Sen. John McCain.

“For too long we have waited, hoping Senator McCain would return to our Party’s values on his own. That has not happened,” they said in a statement.

McCain never lost an Arizona election.

The Arizona GOP also censured McCain’s wife, Cindy, along with former Sen. Jeff Flake and Gov. Doug Ducey.

Censure was once a scarlet letter. No more

Does anyone remember?

No.

Does anyone care?

No.

Does censuring an elected official do any good?

Yes.

For the politician. Sinema can use the censure as proof that she, like McCain, isn’t afraid to go against the wishes of her party for something she believes in.

That’s how censure works in the 2020s.

What once was a scarlet letter is now a badge of honor.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Censuring Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was stupid and pointless, Democrats