by HALEY MILLAN Staff Writer
Controversy spread all over the nation Tuesday, May 22 when Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett requested that Hawaiian officials confirm President Barack Obama’s birth documents.
During an interview with conservative radio talk show host Mike Broomhead, Bennett said he wanted to get verification that the president’s birth certificate is not forged. He said it could be a possibility that he would keep Obama off of the ballot in November if he did not get proof. Bennett said he wanted an email from Hawaiian officials and has been trying to get one for eight weeks.
Theorists persist to believe that the birth certificate is phony, even after Hawaii has repeated that Obama was born there in 1961. This all started when Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio began an investigation around Obama’s birth.
According to Bennett, he needs to respond to the 1,200 requests from Arizona residents that are asking about Obama’s birth documents.
“I think it’s really sad that there are people who believe that Obama is lying. This is an old controversy, and it’s a little immature that the Secretary of State in Arizona is bringing this up again and making problems,” says sophomore Grace Jung.
After Bennett made the statement on the radio, people of Arizona complained that Bennett had embarrassed the state. Others are speaking out, saying that Bennett, and his fellow Republicans following the conspiracy, are showing voters how crazy they really are.
Radio station KTAR interviewed Bennett and he said, “If I embarrassed the state, I apologize, but that certainly wasn’t my intent.”
Hawaii gave Arizona the verification that it was looking for, and Bennett said that the case is closed now. Obama will be on the ballots in Arizona this coming November.
Bennett has claimed that he is not a “birther”, a name for conspiracy theorists believing that Obama was born outside of the US, and does not share more outspoken birthers’ beliefs. He said he will also be going through the same process to make sure Mitt Romney was actually born in Michigan.
“Hopefully all of this proof will get people to back off now. I don’t know what more people want after Hawaii has said that Obama was born there. Bennett should learn his lesson and not bother finding out if Romney was born in Michigan,” says sophomore Danielle Paxton. “He’s only putting a bad name on himself.”