Arizona’s political hall of shame

Crimes, comebacks and chaos … The reader feedback edition … And we’re gonna need a broader bill.

Last week, we asked you to drop some of Arizona’s most memorable political cheats in the comments.

You didn’t disappoint.

We’re talking shoplifted steaks, gambling bribes and Tom Horne’s baseball cap.

Arizona’s wildest political scandals are salacious, but there’s civic value in remembering them.

Horne, for example, lost his 2014 reelection bid for Arizona attorney general after an FBI probe exposed campaign finance violations and a hit-and-run tied to an alleged affair. Eight years later, Arizonans elected him as the state superintendent of public instruction.

Our memories are short!

On the other hand, it’s comforting to remember that scandals used to have consequences, like after a bunch of state legislators got caught taking bribes in the ‘90s, we created the state’s Clean Elections program to clean up politics.

So today, we’re recapping some of Arizona’s top political cover-ups, comebacks and the occasional prison sentence.