Lesko standing by ‘fake doctor’ signs against Democratic opponent
Nov 1, 2018, 8:24 AM | Updated: 4:00 pm
PHOENIX — U.S. Rep. Debbie Lesko is standing by her decision to use “fake doctor” signs against her Democratic opponent, even after she took them down once a political action committee pressed her on the issue.
Lesko agreed to take down the signs last month after the Arizona Medical Political Action Committee said they viewed the campaign signs against Dr. Hiral Tipirneni “as an insult to the medical profession, discounting the education and training required of physicians to become licensed and credentialed.”
But Lesko told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Thursday that Tipirneni “has not made it clear that she is not a practicing doctor.
“In fact, the central theme of her campaign — she’s in scrubs, she’s working on patients, and another media organization during the special election pointed out that she hasn’t practiced for over a decade,” Lesko added.
“So I thought it was fair to tell voters that even though her central theme — in all of her photos, all of her TV ads, working on patients — she hasn’t seen one single patient for over a decade.”
Tipirneni told Mac & Gaydos on Tuesday that she has told Lesko, to her face, on numerous occasions, that “I’ve always have made it clear that I am not a currently practicing physician, but I have a medical license that’s been active since 1997 in the state of Arizona.”
Lesko said while she decided to take down the signs, most of the signs were stolen overnight.
“There were hardly any signs left up. What’s interesting is she keeps on putting them in her ads,” she said.
“I just wanted to point out to the voters that she was being disingenuous.”
In April, Lesko defeated Tipirneni in the 8th Congressional District by a margin of 53 percent to 47 percent.
Trump carried the district, which includes suburbs west and north of Phoenix, by 21 points in 2016.
