The closest thing I’ve had to a personal encounter with AZ Senator Rick Murphy was when I went to that Cathi Herrod Church Lady God Bothering Extravaganza a couple years ago. Murphy and his wife were being honored for hoarding foster children for Jesus.
When she was done State Senator Rick Murphy and his wife Penny got up and talked about the many children they’ve adopted and fostered. Which is laudable, except for the part where they emphasized how important it is to inculcate the young charges with “Christian Values”.
But now comes Mary K. Reinhart of the AZ Republic, reporting that AZ Senator Rick Murphy is facing charges of sexually abusing minors under his foster care.
The allegations prompted police to reopen an inactive 2011 case involving Murphy and a teenage foster child, Peoria City Attorney Steve Kemp told The Arizona Republic. According to a Peoria police report obtained by The Republic, the teen accused Murphy of fondling him underneath his clothing every other day for more than a month and offering to buy him a bicycle if he kept quiet.
Murphy has not been arrested or charged in either case. Late Thursday, Murphy said in a statement, “As a family, we have decided we have no comment.”
In 2011, CPS and police removed all seven children living in the four-bedroom home — the alleged victim, two adopted teens and four other foster kids — the same day the boy told his caseworker Murphy had abused him, the 2011 police report states.
CPS and police investigated the teen’s claims. Police concluded there was not enough evidence to charge Murphy, according to the report, and the state did not revoke the couple’s foster-parent license. Police received conflicting stories from the foster child and his former foster father. There was concern that the boy, who had a history of violence, vandalism and school suspensions, might have concocted the allegations so he could return to his former foster home. Murphy denied the allegations, according to that report…
…According to the 2013 report, the child in Murphy’s home accused Murphy of touching the child’s penis “over and under his clothes while at their residence.” The alleged molestation occurred between January 2007 and May 2013.
Separate reports in 2011 and 2013. I’m fairly certain there isn’t a network of foster care kids trading tips on how to burn certain foster parents. But maybe it’s all a big misunderstanding, or an elaborate frame-up of Rick Murphy. Okay. Let justice take its course. Murphy’s political history, however, is a matter of fact and public record. Per Reinhart:
Murphy, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is now in his second Senate term following six years in the House. He has made CPS, foster care and adoption a centerpiece of his political career. In May, he told The Republic that he and his wife have cared for 38 children since they received their state license in 2005. They have adopted five children from CPS.
In campaign literature and in legislative debates, he cites his “daily personal experience” as a foster and adoptive father. He’s railed against CPS for allegedly failing to take children from drug-abusing parents, argued that foster kids should be free for adoption sooner and vowed to make it easier to fire CPS workers.
He has long advocated easing regulations on foster parents and allowing them to take care of more children. This year, he pushed legislation, which Gov. Jan Brewer signed, to extend licenses to two years from one and allow foster families to take in siblings or children they’ve previously cared for, even if it pushed them above their licensing limit.
Murphy wants to make it easier to take children from “drug abusing parents”, which could mean anything from meth to smoking a joint on the weekend, the way the War on (some people who use) DrugsTM is being conducted. Here’s what Murphy himself says on that:
CPS currently calls a long-term (years with no effort to change) pattern of drug use/abuse a “lifestyle choice” that is not necessarily a reason to remove a child. That should by itself be sufficient grounds for the removal of a child, pending efforts by the parent to get clean. Too often, the first “documented evidence of abuse or neglect” is the child’s lifeless body. This ongoing disgrace is simply unacceptable.
We don’t know if he’s guilty of what he’s been charged with but that right there proves he’s a dick.