Symington Irony

Several months ago, former Governor Fife Symington announced his endorsement of John Munger for Governor. At the time, Munger touted the much ballyhooed endorsement as a big deal.

Does money speak louder than words?

Today, it was announced that another privately funded candidate, Owen "Buz" Mills, had dumped $2 million of his own money into his campaign (updated link) likely to far outstrip anything Munger has raised to date. The company he has hired to manage his bid?

You guessed it, the Symington Group.

Munger now finds himself at a great financial disadvantage to a virtually unknown candidate who has hired his biggest endorser to run his campaign. Both Mills and Munger, who reside outside of Maricopa County, have a big task of increasing their Name ID against an incumbent Governor and potential candidates in an Attorney General and a State Treasurer.

Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall for that conversation between Munger and Symington?

Without such a large personal fortune to bolster his chances, does Munger regret coming out so strongly against Clean Elections? Even Dean Martin, who filed a lawsuit against Clean Elections, admits that "The system practically forces you to run under it to have any chance of winning."

So where does Symington's loyalty lie? Are we to believe that he stands firmly behind Munger while his firm cashes the checks from Mills?