By Ricardo Cano, | Arizona Republic
Up until now, the Democratic primary race for state superintendent of public instruction had been mostly quiet between candidates Kathy Hoffman and David Schapira.
They agree on issues more than they differ.
But a month away from the Aug. 28 primary, one campaign has gone on the offensive with a wave of personal accusations, tossing out allegations of bullying.
Bullying tactics
Hoffman, an educator who’s never sought public office before, accused Schapira, a former teacher, education consultant and Tempe councilman, of bullying tactics in a set of news releases and a paid cable TV ad released this week.
One of the releases focuses on the recording Hoffman took of a phone conversation between her and Schapira in May 2017 in which Hoffman accused Schapira of trying to intimidate her after one of her staffers published a Facebook post Schapira perceived as an attack against him.
Schapira in the recording demands an apology for what he called an “ad hominem attack” and negative campaigning against him and mentions personal background research someone gave him on Hoffman and her family. He later said he would never use such information.
