Tom Horne

Thomas Charles Horne (born March 28, 1945) is an American politician, attorney, businessman, and activist who has served as the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction since 2023 and previously from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he was Attorney General of Arizona from 2011 to 2015. Horne ran for reelection as Attorney General but lost to Mark Brnovich in the 2014 Republican primary.

He returned to the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2023, having been elected to that office in the 2022 election.

Early life and education
Horne was born in Quebec to Polish Jewish parents. He was raised in New York, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1954. He graduated from Mamaroneck High School in the early 1960s. He was a Democrat before becoming a Republican. He attended the March on Washington in 1963. Horne graduated from Harvard College in 1967 and Harvard Law School in 1970. Soon after graduating from law school, he moved to Arizona.

Legal and business career
Horne was a trial lawyer. Horne served as a teacher of Legal Writing at Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law and wrote a text on construction law published by the State Bar of Arizona.

Horne was the president of T.C. Horne & Co., an investment firm he founded in the late 1960s, while he was a student at Harvard Law School. The firm went bankrupt in 1970, and in 1973, the Securities and Exchange Commission banned Horne from the securities industry for life. The 1973 SEC report said that 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 (i.e., chose not to dispute) an SEC finding that he and his firm "willfully aided and abetted" in violations of securities law; he neither admitted nor denied guilt. From 1997 to 2002, Horne failed to disclose the bankruptcy in corporate filings to the Arizona Corporation Commission on at least four occasions. When asked in 2010 about the omissions, he said he had forgotten about the bankruptcy. Asked about the 1973 SEC ban in 2010, Horne blamed errors by a company that he had contracted to do accounting, and on his attempt to use "early-on computerization" while working and being a law student.

Career as school board member and state representative (1979-2001)
Horne was first elected to public office in 1979, when he was elected to the Paradise Valley Unified School District board. He served on the board for the next 24 years, and was board chair for ten of those years.

Horne was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 1996, and served from 1997 to 2001.

In 2000, Horne ran for the Arizona Senate for District 24, but lost the Republican primary to Dean Martin.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction (2003-2011)
In 2003, Horne was elected Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction; he served two terms, ending in 2011.

Horne oversaw the adoption to new Arizona's social studies standards, implemented beginning in the 2007-08 school year, under which all students "learn lessons in five areas including American history, world history, geography, civics and government, and economics" in each year from kindergarten through high school.

Horne was an advocate for full-day kindergarten, citing research that showed that such programs reduce the achievement gap between students from poor households and those from more affluent homes.

He also pushed for nutritional standards that removed junk food vending machines from elementary schools and created incentives for secondary schools to do so on a voluntary basis.

Horne, a classically trained pianist and founder of the Phoenix Baroque Ensemble, advocated for increasing arts education in schools.

Horne also continued to implement the Arizona Instrument to Measure Success standardized test; performance on the AIMS test (either alone or in combination with Advanced Placement examss and International Baccalaureate exams) determines graduating high school students' qualification for a "high honors" diploma, which guarantees free tuition at Arizona's three public universities.

Horne implemented policies that discouraged bilingual education and sought to shut down the Tucson Unified School District's controversial Mexican American Studies Department Programs. He argued that the Tucson ethnic studies programs "separated students by race, taught them that they are oppressed, and was influenced by Marxist and communist philosophies." He drafted a 2010 state law (which was adopted and went into effect in 2011, as HB 2281.) that effectively banned ethnic studies, and led to the Tucson Unified School District board closing its program in January 2012. A group of students and parents sued over the state law, leading to seven years of legal proceedings. In July 2017, Horne testified in the litigation; in his testimony, he defended the law and asserted that the Tucson program was led by radical teachers. The federal district court, later in 2017, ultimately issued a permanent injunction blocking Arizona from enforcing the law, determining that the decision to ban the Tucson program was "motivated by a desire to advance a political agenda by capitalizing on race-based fears" and was unconstitutional.

Attorney General
On November 2, 2010, Horne defeated Felecia Rotellini in the race for Arizona Attorney General in the 2010 elections.

Arizona v. United States
Within a few weeks of becoming A.G., his office had filed an appearance in Arizona v. United States, defending the governor and the state against the Obama administration's federal court challenge to S.B. 1070. The previous A.G., Terry Goddard, had withdrawn from the case, acceding to the demands of Governor Jan Brewer.

Consumer and antitrust litigation
Shortly after winning the 2010 election, Horne announced an intent to pursuing violations of the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act and other consumer protections violation. This led to a string of sting operations against auto repair businesses in the Valley.

Along with state attorney generals in many other states, Horne's office represented Arizona in multi-state settlements with the nation's five largest mortgage servicers (Arizona's share was $1.6 billion of a $25 billion nationwide deal involving 49 AGs);  with Sirius XM (Arizona's share was $230,000 of the $3.8 million settlement),  and with Pfizer Inc. (over allegations of unlawful promotion of Rapamune; Arizona's share was $721,169 out of the nationwide $35 million settlement).

Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council case
In a 2012 United States Supreme Court case, Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc., Horne argued that Arizona's voter registration requirements were not preempted by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The Court ruled in favor of the Native American tribes, and against Horne and Arizona, by a 7–2 vote. The decision stated: "Arizona is correct that the Elections Clause empowers Congress to regulate how federal elections are held, but not who may vote in them. The latter is the province of the states." However, because Horne's predecessor as Attorney General had not appealed an adverse decision by the commission, the case was sent back for a new petition to the commission to be appealed. It was consolidated with a 10th circuit case, which ruled adversely, and the Supreme Court chose not to review a second time. The Court also held that Arizona may petition to have more requirements added to the federal standard.

Firearms regulations
In 2013 Horne wrote an opinion that defended the state preemption of regulation of firearms; he found that Tucson's city gun laws were unenforceable. In 2012 Horne proposed that a principal or a designee be trained and armed in each school. In 2013, he proposed legislation that would allow teachers to carry guns in public schools.

Same-sex marriage
Horne threatened to sue the city of Bisbee, Arizona, over its 2013 ordinance recognizing same-sex couples. He withdrew the threat several days later when Bisbee agreed to rewrite the ordinance, removing rights reserved for married couples under Arizona law. In October 2014, a federal judge ruled that Arizona's law banning gay marriage was unconstitutional, and Horne did not appeal, stating he felt there was "zero" chance of the ruling being overturned, adding, "I think it is over."

Immigration
In 2013, Horne sued Maricopa County Community College District and Pima Community College, seeking to compel the community colleges to end their policy of providing in-state tuition for "dreamers" (undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children). Horne argued that these students were disqualified from in-state tuition by state law, even if the federal government had approved them to remain and work in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Several students held protests at Horne's office, leading to some being arrested. Horne denied being anti-immigrant, saying he was one himself, being born in Canada. In 2015, a Maricopa Superior Court judge ruled that the "dreamers" could pay in-state tuition rates. However, the State appealed the decision, and in 2017, the Arizona Court of Appeals sided with the AG's office (then led by Horne's successor, Mark Brnovich), ruling that the dreamers were not eligible for in-state tuition.

In 2014, Horne criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for sending undocumented immigrants from Texas to Arizona.

Polygamy
In 2014 a federal jury awarded a couple living in Colorado City, Arizona, $5.2 million, for religious discrimination. Both Horne (on behalf of Arizona) and the Utah attorney general) intervened in the case of Cooke v. Colorado City. Colorado City and Hildale, Utah (both dominated by the FLDS Church, a Mormon fundamentalist group), as well as the twin cities' utility companies, were found liable for violating federal and state housing discrimination laws by refusing to provide water and sewer services to a non-FLDS couple because of their religion.

Horne criticized the Colorado City police force (known as "the marshal's office"), saying it acted as an arm of the FLDS Church instead of the law. In 2012 Horne allocated $420,000 to the Mohave County Sheriff's Office to patrol Colorado City. In 2012, Horne renewed an effort to persuade the state legislature to abolish Colorado City's six-member police department, and assign the Mohave County Sheriff's Office to carry out law enforcement functions in the city. After this effort failed, Horne asked for a federal judge to disband the Colorado City police force, after legislation he supported to do so failed to pass. The court denied the motion, but also instructed the office to avoid discrimination.

Winn-Horne investigation
In 2012, after an FBI investigation, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery concluded that Horne coordinated with an independent expenditure committee run by Kathleen Winn during his 2010 general election campaign for attorney general, thus violating campaign finance laws. 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 and recommended that the case be dropped.

In May 2014, Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, to whom that matter had been referred, rejected the administrative judge's recommendation and issued a final administrative decision ordering Horne and Winn to reimburse campaign donors $400,000. Horne and Winn appealed to the Maricopa County Superior Court, which upheld Polk's decision. In May 2017, however, the Arizona Supreme Court voided the lower-court decisions, agreeing with Horne and Winn that they were denied due process because Polk was involved in the prosecution's strategy and case preparation. The case was sent back to the Attorney General's Office for a final administrative decision.

The state AG's office referred the case to Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre for a final administrative decision, and in July 2017, McIntyre issued a report clearing Horne of wrongdoing. McIntyre wrote that "Both sides to this dispute present equally plausible explanations as to what did or did not occur" during communications between Horne and Winn, and wrote "The record, unfortunately, supports a conclusion that the investigation being conducted was not a search for the truth, but rather, only intended to shore up conclusions already drawn." After the decision, Horne's attorney said that "Justice has finally prevailed" for Horne, and described Polk as "an overzealous prosecutor who chose to act as 'judge, jury and executioner.'"

Use of office staff for campaign
A separate investigation was prompted by allegations that Horne used office staff to campaign for his 2014 re-election campaign. In 2014, a former AG staff member and ex-Horne campaign volunteer alleged that much of Horne's executive office staff was involved in "substantial campaigning" for his 2014 re-election, "while on state time and utilizing State resources," in violation of law. Horne denied the allegations.

In July 2014, the Arizona Secretary of State's Office found probable cause that Horne violated several campaign-finance laws by having employees do campaign work for his campaign on state time, at the AG's office. Horne was denounced by several fellow Arizona Republicans, including congressmen Jeff Flake and Matt Salmon and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. The allegations contributed to Horne's defeat in the 2014 Republican primary to Mark Brnovich (a campaign in which Governor Jan Brewer endorsed Brnovich).

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office declined to bring any criminal charges, determining that the statute of limitations on misdemeanor charges had lapsed and that there was not a reasonable likelihood of convicting Horne of a felony. Separately, the complaint to the Secretary of State's office led to the appointment of two independent investigators (one of whom was a former Arizona Court of Appeals judge) as special attorneys general. They concluded, in a October 2017 report, that Horne illegally used his office staff to work on his re-election campaign, but that criminal charges are unwarranted and that the $10,000 civil penalty that Horne paid to the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission in 2014 was "deemed sufficient" to resolve the issue. The decision also ordered Horne to refile his 2014 campaign finance reports to account for the value of campaign work performed by office staff, as well as for the "market value of rent on a campaign office."

Unsuccessful campaign for renomination in 2014
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%.

Activities from 2015 to 2020
In 2017, Tom Horne joined with Terry Goddard, the Democratic former mayor of Phoenix and Arizona Attorney General, to promote the Outlaw Dirty Money Act, a ballot measure to combat "dark money" (secret campaign spending) by requiring the public disclosure of all major donors to efforts to oppose or support candidates or ballot measures. Goddard and Horne criticized spending by various dark-money operators, including the Koch network. Conservative groups sued to prevent the citizen initiative from appearing on the Arizona ballot, contending there were an insufficient number of valid voter signatures to make it to the ballot. In August 2018, the Arizona Supreme Court agreed, knocking the initiative from the ballot. Many of the signatures disqualified in the ruling were thrown out because they were collected by 15 paid gatherers who failed to respond to subpoenas requiring them to appear in court for the lawsuit.

2022 election as superintendent of public instruction
In 2021, Horne announced his campaign for a third term as Arizona superintendent of public instruction, challenging Democratic incumbent Kathy Hoffman. In the November 2022 election, Horne narrowly defeated Hoffman.

In 2023, Horne sued the governor, attorney general, and an Arizona school district over a dispute on how English-language learner students in Arizona should be taught. In the lawsuit, Horne contends that the 50-50 Dual-Language Immersion model, one of four methods used to teach such students in Arizona, violates Proposition 203, a 2000 ballot initiative.

In January 2024, Horne announced that the state would cooperate with PragerU, urging schools to adopt as part of their curriculum. The announcement was met with criticism since the organization has been accused of promoting climate change denial, anti-LGBTQ+ politics, and whitewashing history. House of Representative Democrat Raúl Grijalva criticized the announcement stating "It’s masquerading as a serious educational resource when in reality it’s unaccredited right-wing propaganda."

Personal life
Horne was married to his wife, Martha, for 47 years. She died in 2019. The couple had five children, one of whom died at age three.

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 by a "civil plea agreement" (i.e., as a traffic offense).