Parker, who has been a Presidential advisor, a “Fiscal Hawk” as mayor and a volunteer pastor, is African American.
Today, Parker blasted the ridiculous attempt by the NAACP President Ben Jealous to smear Tea Party members: “Racists don’t endorse African American’s for Congress, but that’s exactly what the Arizona 2010 Project, Tea Party, did when they endorsed me. It’s shameful for elitists like Ben Jealous, who take their orders from the White House and use race to try and divide America. It is wrong, and our citizens should demand better from these so-called leaders,” Parker said.
Parker, the first African-American mayor in Paradise Valley’s history, is now running to be the first African-American to serve Arizona in the U.S. Congress. Parker previously served as General Counsel of a major federal Agency, then in the White House as Special Assistant to President George H. W. Bush. Later, Parker was nominated by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate, as an Assistant Secretary at the United States Department of Agriculture. What Ben Jealous fails to understand is that Parker’s life story – growing up poor, pulling himself up through hard work and education – is embraced by the citizens who created the Tea Party movement.
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Vernon Parker is supported by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, former Congressman Matt Salmon, and Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio and TASER International Chairman and Co-Founder Tom Smith among many others.
