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The Grijalva/Pastor Mock Turtleneck Mystery

Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva was sitting comfortably in first class, heading to Arizona via Dallas/Fort Worth, when HOH spotted him.

He’s racked up enough frequent flier miles with American Airlines going back and forth from Washington, D.C., to his district that he’s made “platinum status” and is entitled to a free upgrade, space permitting.

We, however, were bleary-eyed and coach-bound and shuffled past the Arizona Democrat to our seat. When the line paused, we stood next to the mustachioed lawmaker who was sporting a stylish black mock turtleneck. We thought nothing of it, until we noticed that this particular black mock turtleneck was emblazoned with the words “Congressman Ed Pastor” in red.

The line started moving again, and we with it, left with more questions than answers. Why would one Arizona Democrat be wearing a shirt with another Arizona Democrat’s name on it? It wasn’t a campaign shirt. We aren’t aware of Pastor launching a fashion line.

Being an early Saturday morning flight, we were a little slow on the draw and never got to catch up with Grijalva to ask why he was wearing a mock turtleneck with Pastor’s name on it. He was one of the first off the plane, after all, while we were one of the last.

Despite numerous outreach attempts to the offices of both Grijalva and Pastor to ask about the mock turtleneck swap, we’ve still heard nothing.

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