Thomas Charles "Tom" Horne is the current Arizona Attorney General.
He served as the Arizona Department of Education Superintendent of Public Instruction from
2003 to 2011.
Early Life and Education Horne is a graduate of Harvard College magnum
cum laude and Harvard Law School with honors.
During his 30 years of law practice, Horne served as Special Assistant Attorney General
and a Judge Pro Tem in Maricopa County Superior Court and Arizona Court of Appeals.
Horne served as a teacher of Legal Writing at Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law and
is the author a legal text on construction law published by the State Bar of Arizona.
He is peer-rated 5/5.0 by Martindale-Hubbell.
Arizona House of Representatives Horne served in the Arizona House of Representatives
from 1997 until 2001.
He chaired the Academic Accountability Committee and served as vice-chair of the Education
Committee.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Horne served as the elected Superintendent
of Public Instruction from 2003-2011.
Among his earliest acts in office was to push for a strengthening of Arizona’s social
studies standards so that instruction on topics such as the United States Constitution, Declaration
of Independence, and the Greco-Roman basis of western civilization would be emphasized
not only in elementary grades, but reiterated at later grade levels.
Horne also made a priority of enforcement of Arizona’s voter-approved law mandating
that English be the language of classroom instruction.
He also pushed for nutritional standards that removed junk food from schools in the elementary
grades and created incentives for secondary schools to do so on a voluntary basis.
Testing protocols were also significantly changed during Horne’s administration.
He oversaw the development of a dual-purpose assessment that was unique in combining assessments
on both state and nationally-defined standards.
This cut standardized testing time in half, restoring that time to classroom instruction.
Controversy arose when Horne sought to address curriculum matters as they related to racially-based
studies.Horne was alerted to a race-based program in the Tucson Unified School District
and, based on a review of the curriculum, championed a law to address the problems these
materials presented.
A state law was passed that prohibited curricula that either: 1) Promote the overthrow of the
United States government.
2) Promote resentment toward a race or class of people.
3) Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.
4) Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.
In his final act as Superintendent Horne found the Tucson district’s Ethnic Studies program,
specifically the Mexican American Studies component, to be out of compliance with this
law.
Horne was also successful in implementing the Arizona Instrument to Measure Success
test, which was approved by the legislature in the 1990s, but did not go into effect until
2006.
Despite some controversy over the requirement that students pass the test before graduating
high school, the test is now an accepted part of the state education system.
Horne created an incentive program whereby students who exceed standards on the AIMS
test and meet other criteria receive tuition scholarships to Arizona’s public universities.
Attorney General On November 2, 2010, Horne defeated Felecia
Rotellini in the race for Arizona Attorney General in the 2010 elections.
On August 26, 2014, Horne was defeated in his reelection campaign in the Republican
primary by Mark Brnovich.
Brnovich defeated Horne by a margin of 54% to 46%.
Controversies Securities Law Violations
Horne was the president of T.C.
Horne & Co., an investment firm he founded in the late 1960s.
After the firm went bankrupt in 1970, Horne received a lifetime trading ban from the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
The 1973 SEC report alleged that as president of T.C.
Horne & Co, Horne "among other things, violated the record-keeping, anti-fraud, and broker-dealer
net capital provisions of the federal securities laws and filed false financial reports with
the commission."
Horne stipulated to an SEC finding that he and his firm "willfully aided and abetted"
in violations of securities laws.
Office Affair and Whistleblower Investigation In July 2011, the Phoenix New Times broke
a story about a woman who had been hired by Horne to a senior position at the Arizona
Attorney General's office, despite her not having a license to practice law, and alleging
that Horne and the woman were carrying on an affair.
When the New Times reporter filed a Freedom of Information Act request for public records
regarding the woman's hiring, Horne launched a confidential internal investigation to find
the whistleblower who had leaked information regarding the woman to the media.
As part of that investigation, Horne assigned members of his staff to spend months looking
into the matter, and spoke about having his employees' phone conversations eavesdropped
upon—something which, records show, he knew was illegal.
During the investigation, the staff member in charge found evidence of illegal campaign
activity by Horne and other members of the Attorney General's office, and forwarded that
information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In October 2012, other local media outlets in Phoenix published articles citing public
records, sources in the Attorney General's office, and FBI records supporting the allegations
of an affair made by the Phoenix New Times over a year earlier.
Campaign Finance Law Violations In October 2012, after an FBI investigation,
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery concluded that Horne deliberately broke campaign finance
laws during his 2010 election campaign by coordinating with an independent expenditure
committee run by Kathleen Winn.
In April 2014, an Administrative Law Judge concluded that the prosecution in the case
"failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence" that Horne illegally coordinated
with the independent expenditure committee during the 2010 general election campaign
for attorney general In May 2014, Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, to whom that
matter has been referred, rejected the administrative judge's recommendation, and issued a final
administrative decision ordering Horne and Winn to reimburse campaign donors $400,000.
This ruling is currently under appeal.
Allegations of Campaign Law Violations On May 5, 2014, an attorney representing a
former AG staff member and ex-Horne campaign volunteer, filed a litigation hold letter
with the Arizona Attorney General's office, alleging that much of Horne's executive office
staff is involved in "substantial campaigning" for his 2014 re-election, "while on state
time and utilizing State resources," which, if proven true, could "represent a substantial
violation of State and Federal laws which prohibit such conduct"
The allegations first arose in the AG staffer's letter of resignation, which claimed that
the office is "not following campaign laws or finance laws," imperiling her "legal well-being."
Horne has denied the allegations, calling them a "complete fabrication."
On July 7, 2014, the Arizona Secretary of State's Office released a memo, finding probable
cause that Horne violated several campaign-finance laws related to allegations that Horne had
employees doing his campaign work on state time, at the AG's office.
Traffic Violations In October 2007, while State Superintendent
of Public Instruction, Horne was cited for criminal speeding in Scottsdale, Arizona.
During a subsequent year-and-a-half period, Horne was cited for speeding six additional
times, including once in a school zone.
The criminal speeding charge was settled as a traffic offense.
In March 2012, while tailing Horne as part of an investigation into campaign finance
law violations, FBI agents observed Horne leaving the scene of an accident.
An FBI agent took a picture of a black mark on the parked car, which was shown on the
front page of the newspaper.
The FBI report stated Montano [owner of car] advised that he was unaware vehicle had been
hit by another vehicle until SA Grehoski called him to arrange for the interview.
Montano advised that the black mark on the front passenger side of the bumper came from
when his son was parking the vehicle in the garage.
Realizing that it was questionable whether Horne did any damage, the City Attorney agreed
to a settlement in which Horne paid a $300 fine.
See also
English for Children References
Further reading Simpson, Michael W. Tom Horne, Arizona Superintendent
of Public Instruction Verse Tucson Unified School District's Ethnic Studies: A Critical
Discourse Study..
External links Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne official
state government site