***article first published by 'The Washington Examiner' on October 12, 2018***

A decade before she took an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution, Rep. Krysten Sinema was palling around with anarchists. And while the Arizona Democrat certainly condemns violence now, as a far-left activist, Sinema refused to condemn anarchist destruction of property.

Emails from June 2002 and obtained by the Washington Examiner give insight into Sinema's work as a community organizer for the Arizona Alliance for Peaceful Justice. The group, she wrote at the time, “opposed the use of violence and weapons in all situations” and “believes in world disarmament.” For all those high-minded ideals though, Sinema wasn’t ready to force her beliefs on anarchists.

“When AAPJ attended May Day (sponsored by the Phoenix Anarchist Coalition), we knew that their guidelines differ from ours,” Sinema emailed a fellow protester. “They are okay with weapons and property destruction in some instances, and so those of us who chose to attend the event knew that it would be inappropriate to ask someone to not destroy property or to carry a weapon.”

In other words, Sinema didn’t feel comfortable imposing her beliefs about not destroying property on her fellow protesters. Neither her congressional office nor her Senate campaign wanted to answer questions about why she would both organize and participate in protests with people who insist on a right to riot and destroy property, not just once but routinely. Numerous phone calls and emails went unanswered.

Sinema came of age as an activist during the Iraq War and left behind quite a paper trail from her time as a far-left protester. The founder of another Arizona activist group, Local to Global Justice, Sinema actually partnered with the Phoenix Anarchist Coalition on a regular basis. A February 2003 press release, archived and accessed through the WayBack Machine, lists Sinema as the point of contact for an Iraq War protest co-sponsored by the anarchists.

Sinema and those anarchists were apparently quite close. The Phoenix Anarchist Coalition regularly promoted events organized by Local to Global Justice. The two groups also partnered to host a teach-in event in 2004, where aspiring activists attended workshops to fine-tune their protests.

Sinema currently maintains the slightest of leads over Rep. Martha McSally, a fighter pilot turned Arizona Republican politician, and her time as an anti-war activist who worked with anarchists has come under increased scrutiny.

Sinema has also had trouble because of old videotape — from after she was elected to Congress — in which she gave speeches demonstrating contempt for Arizona and its residents. In one video, Sinema warned a group of liberal Texans to “stop your state from becoming Arizona.” In another, she trashed Arizona as “the meth lab of democracy” to get some laughs at a NetRoots Nation conference.