By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Capitol Times
Rep. Bob Thorpe locked down his Twitter account, barred reporters from following it and erased several comments after Democrats and civil rights activists called several of his tweets racially insensitive.
The tweets were in response to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement on Monday that the Department of Justice would no longer pursue mandatory minimum prison sentences for many low-level, nonviolent drug offenders. Thorpe, R-Flagstaff, suggested on Twitter that Holder, who is black, was changing DOJ’s sentencing policies in order to give preferential treatment to black inmates.
“Why is Holder now Soft on Crime? Perhaps: blacks = 12%-13% US population, but make up 40.1% (2.1 million) of male inmates in jail or prison!” Thorpe wrote on his Twitter account, @azrepbobthorpe.
