SEVEN BRIDES FOR ONE BROTHER:

Polygamy Jolts Campaign for Governor (MICHAEL JANOFSKY, October 13, 2002, NY Times)

As if a staggering budget deficit and troubled educational system were not enough campaign fodder for Arizona's leading candidates for governor, this week they found a new issue. Rather, it found them.

Dick Mahoney, a political independent began running 30-second commercials this week that focus on Fundamentalist Mormons in northern Arizona who practice polygamy and suspicions that they are committing sexual abuse, domestic violence, welfare fraud and other crimes. [...]

Mr. Mahoney's commercials are tailored for each opponent, but they open the same way, with scenes of the fiery destruction of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Tex., almost a decade ago and an announcer's assertion that crimes committed in Colorado City and next door in Hildale, Utah, are "worse than Waco."

In a society where we're no longer supposed to make any political judgments about people's sexual preferences and where divorce and out of wedlock births are so prevalent, it's unclear why polygamy is anybody's business. Isn't it just another lifestyle choice? Posted by Orrin Judd at October 13, 2002 9:51 AM