Racy photos on website of schools chief's aide draw criticism

The online activity of Superintendent Diane Douglas' chief of staff is raising questions among officials and influential figures in the education community, who view it as inappropriate given his position at an agency responsible for educating more than a million Arizona K-12 students.

Michael Bradley, who is in charge of day-to-day operations at the Arizona Department of Education, runs a website featuring items of general interest, including pictures of dogs and quirky news items, as well as thousands of photos of scantily clad women in costumes, and sexually suggestive images and humor.

It's the racy imagery, including an image of one woman touching another woman's breasts and women eating phallically-shaped foods that has caused concerns.

Bradley, also an author of "PG-13 and R-rated" science-fiction books, defended the images posted at www.mbtimetraveler.com and on a separate social-media site as typical of the popular hobby known as "cosplay," or costume play where women and men dress as characters inspired by popular culture. He says his website is a "re-post website," and that most of the content is sent to him by those who want their images shared. He said similar images are also available on social-media sites such as Facebook.

"You see more at a nightclub," Bradley said of the images on his site. "It's really harmless."

Bradley noted that mainstream news sites, including azcentral.com, post photos of women in cosplay. Bradley said Friday that he plans to delete a collection of sexually suggestive photos of women eating food.

Douglas has known about the website and his writings for months, he said.

A Department of Education spokesman said Douglas was returning to the Valley from Yuma on Friday and was not immediately available for comment.

On the website, Bradley identifies himself as a full-time author and public speaker, but makes no mention of his position as the No. 2 official in the state Education Department.

Concern over Bradley's website has mounted in recent weeks as knowledge of it has spread, reaching the highest levels of state government.

The Governor's Office did not immediately respond for a request for comment.

Former schools Superintendent Jaime Molera says he supports freedom of speech, but that given his position, Bradley's online activity crosses a line for parents and teachers.

"If he's a private guy and this is his genre of writing, that's his decision, and certainly there's a whole lot of people who are into that," Molera said. "At the same time, he's the chief of staff to the state schools superintendent and there is a standard that they have to portray to the public — particularly schoolkids."

Rebecca Gau, executive director of Stand for Children and a former gubernatorial education policy adviser, said she learned of the website weeks ago. She said the content is "offensive."

"There are pictures of women's breasts, there are pictures of paraphernalia related to women's breasts, there are comments about women's breasts," said Gau. "I take my children's digital footprint very seriously, I would expect state leaders to do the same thing.

"When you're paid by taxpayers ... there's a certain expectation that you're going to conduct yourself at all times in a respectable way."

Bradley said the criticism stems from disagreement with the policies and politics of Douglas. He said he warned Douglas that her critics might use the website as ammunition against her.

"It's just enemies looking for a reason to get mad at me," Bradley told The Arizona Republic. "I don't think anybody at the Capitol even knew I had a website, so for them to go to it and complain about it, they just disagree with whatever policy ... the superintendent has, and so they want to find something to criticize me. I'm a pretty clean-cut person."

"People will try to destroy me because they hate Diane Douglas," Bradley said.

Bradley was thrust into the spotlight in February, when he orchestrated the attempted firings of two Board of Education staffers because of their perceived support for the Common Core education standards. The incident led to a standoff between Douglas and Gov. Doug Ducey over who has the authority to hire and fire Department of Education staff.

Bradley launched the website before he began working with Douglas and said he intends to continue operating the site and writing after his employment with the state ends. Bradley said he told Douglas he was an author, and told her about his books, telling her they aren't available in schools and "I'm not a famous author." He said his website has had more than 1 million hits, and about 3,000 hits daily.

Bradley, who earns $150,000 a year, said he does not blog during work hours, but schedules some content to automatically appear during the day.

Asked if the website is appropriate, given his position with the state, Bradley said, "I've kept my writing life separate."

One woman featured in costume on his website has been hired as an executive assistant to Douglas, a $40,000-a-year position Bradley describes as "low-level."

Bradley said he met Cassie O'Quin through the cosplay community. He said they became friendly, and after researching her background he asked if she would be interested in working as Douglas' executive assistant. O'Quin's position is at-will since she reports to Douglas, he said.

Records from the Department of Administration show O'Quin was hired on Dec. 24, shortly before Douglas was sworn into office.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Administration said she is unaware of any state policy pertaining to employees' personal websites.

Former schools Superintendent John Huppenthal, who blogged under pseudonyms during his time in office, declined to comment on Bradley's activities, saying he's now a "private person."

Political analysts have attributed Huppenthal's secret blogging, which included remarks that people who receive public assistance are "lazy pigs" and that Spanish-language media should be shut down, as one reason for his loss to Douglas in the 2014 Republican primary election.

Reach the reporter at yvonne.wingett@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4712.

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