UPDATE: Mr. Quinlan has taken the time to write a lengthy defense of his actions and as part of it, he makes the point that the letter from the State GOP that he took offense to was not the mailer that we wrote about, but a later mailer whose cost he set at 95 cents per piece. Wanting to be as accurate as possible, we contacted the State Party and sure enough, there was a later mailing, although they recalled the price being less “per piece”. We’re not going to quibble over price with Quinlan and we’ll simply accept his estimate. The report he was complaining about turns out to be the State Party Chairman’s report to the State GOP Executive Committee members. Now that a businessman is running the party, it is being run much more like a business, and the Chairman has reported to his “board of directors” as would be expected. Since the Arizona GOP enjoyed relative success in the 2008 cycle, the report also contains some good news for its readers. We don’t find that objectionable so much as accurate but again, will concede to Quinlan his opinion as to the mailer being some sort of needless brag sheet.
Our original post makes the point that what is wrong with Quinlan’s post is the way he slips in an attack on a candidate he opposes into a piece on a different matter entirely. He writes of legislation that attempts to shut down the abuse of taxpayers’ funds to the tune of millions of dollars, then goes sideways to imply that Randy Pullen is guilty of the same ugly behavior, all without disclosing his own agenda. Quinlan’s defense does NOTHING to counter this charge. In fact, it confirms it. Quinlan equates a 95 cent (his price) report sent to 114 people with the waste of millions of dollars. Quinlan would have you believe that a $100 expenditure is an abuse of office by Pullen, although it clearly is not and one would assume that Pullen’s own personal contributions to the State Party have far exceeded $100 in any case. Every night we see Terry Goddard on TV warning us about digital television scams and Quinlan wants us to think of Randy Pullen spending $100 to communicate to the Executive Board of the party he leads. In fact, not all of the Executive Committee are State Committeemen who can even vote for Pullen, but Quinlan wants us to believe that Pullen is guilty of unethical behavior and that he sent this mailer so that he could covertly campaign for re-election at no personal expense to himself. The attack is false (bad) and the manner in which it is delivered is disingenuous at best (worse).
Quinlan also objects to the use of pseudonyms by authors on this blog. He considers it cowardice, but it is not. Quinlan maintains that his clients don’t care if he goes on record attacking the State Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party and, perhaps they don’t. Perhaps his words will not impact his effectiveness on his clients’ behalf. That is a decision for he and his clients to make. But many of the authors on this site do not likely enjoy the same liberty. Many of the posts you read contain informative or provocative thoughts that are only possible because their authors can safely author them. It is no accident that Sonoran Alliance is read by so many people. The quality of the work found here, along with the “scoops” that frequently appear (also made possible by anonymity) make SA a good read just about every day of the year.
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ORIGINAL POST: Blogs have gained national prominence for their ability to scoop the national press, or even make news from the mainstream media’s errors or fabrications — who can forget Rathergate? But blogs also play a similarly vital role: Correcting other blogs. Every blog makes errors and the more authors and posts, the more likely that errors will be made. Certainly Sonoran Alliance has made its share. But innocent errors are different from undisclosed bias or hypocrisy. This is a conservative, pro-life blog, and it says so, plainly. As such, readers know what they are getting before they read a single post. It is unfortunate that other blogs do not disclose their bias in such plain language.
I was reminded of this while reading the blog of Farrell Quinlan, a Phoenix-based lobbyist and consultant. Quinlan has been associated with a number of conservative causes, but Legislative District 20’s new chairman also has an extremely hardline position in favor of “comprehensive immigration reform” and he is a consistent advocate for businesses being able to hire illegal aliens, essentially without consequences. But you won’t find that on his blog. You have to take it upon yourself to look at his client list, find his donations to open-border candidates, etc. Which is a shame, because the average reader who reads his blog posts won’t have that information, so they won’t know the slant that comes with his writings.
Take for instance this post. In it, Quinlan praises Sen. Jim Waring for trying to crack down on elected public officials who use taxpayer dollars to fund communications to the public that do more to promote themselves than anything else. Think Janet Napolitano on Arizona Department of Tourism signs or Attorney General Terry Goddard talking about our television sets going digital. Then Quinlan sticks the knife into State GOP Chairman Randy Pullen, insinuating that Pullen is guilty of the same dirty deed. Quinlan takes issue with a letter that the State Party sent to the newly elected State Committeemen. The letter, which was signed by Pullen, contains a congratulatory salutation, alerts the Committeemen to the impending arrival of their official call, then provides them with a whole host of useful information about the event, including its previously undisclosed location and start time. It also contains information about the awards dinner that will be held the night before the meeting, as well as information about special lodging arrangements for those who are interested in staying overnight. This is particularly helpful for State Committeemen coming in from outside of Maricopa County. The sooner you can know where the block of rooms are reserved, the sooner you can book your own room.
None of that matters to Quinlan, who takes issue with a paragraph that appears below all of that. In it, the State Party mentions its successes in 2008 and warns that the Democrats will be working even harder for 2010, so Republicans will need to be ready too. Actually, its pretty standard, boilerplate, “rah rah” kind of stuff. ”Thank you for your service” and all that. But its signed by Randy Pullen, the State Party Chairman who also is running for re-election, so Quinlan cries foul. In his words, Pullen is using “official party communications with GOP state committeemen to push his accomplishments ahead of the January 24th election of the next state GOP chairman. In that race, Pullen is running for re-election in a rematch with Lisa James who Pullen bested by a slim 4-vote margin in 2006. Regardless of Pullen’s case for a second term, it’s a risky strategy to play so loose with his “franking” privileges with an electorate that is so proud of its conservative credentials. I guess we’ll see on January 24th how ideologically consistent these state committeemen are.”
Quinlan’s complaint is clever to a casual reader, but altogether self-serving to those who recognize his political agenda, and that of his paying clients. We can’t be sure who Quinlan would have sign the letter, if not the State Party Chairman. After all, it comes from the State Party. Several other state offices will be filled at the same meeting, so it is possible that none of the State Party officers would be allowed to sign any letter to State Committeemen that contained any language that might be considered upbeat or positive about the Party, its accomplishments, or its future. And the staff must be considered similarly conflicted out of signing their name because they work for these same people. Then we get to Quinlan’s close, where he warns that committeemen who consider themselves conservative would be hypocrites to support Pullen, in light of this “franking” scandal.
The real issue is that Quinlan opposes Pullen’s re-election and is trying to hurt his campaign. He does so by tying altogether normal and ethical behavior by Pullen to a story about genuine “Abuses” of privilege. He makes them equal, then has the nerve to call out conservatives and to put them on notice that their “ideological consistency” will be measured based on their votes at the State Convention. To be considered ideologically consistent, they must vote against Pullen, because he used his official position to say good things about the party he led. That is the Quinlan Standard for abusing one’s leadership position. Burying an election message into official party communication, thereby abusing one’s position.
Think what you will of Mr. Quinlan’s ideology and tactics. We haven’t gotten to the best part yet!
As we mentioned before, Quinlan is the new chairman of LD20. So Precinct Committeemen in LD20 were not surprised to receive an email from Quinlan that contained details about the upcoming COUNTY meeting, including the agenda and a blank proxy. Standard stuff really, the kind of thing every chairman sends their PCs. Only Quinlan’s email didn’t stop there. Quinlan took it upon himself to also send along a letter from his favored candidate for County Chairman, Jerry Brooks, as well as information about Brooks’ slate of candidates for County GOP officers. Quinlan went so far in his endorsement of certain members of the slate (who were also from LD20) as to call it “essential” that all PCs vote for them, and he urged that his PCs support the entire Brooks slate. Quinlan offered no information about their competition, nor did he make any effort to provide balanced or unbiased coverage of the race. In fact, Quinlan failed to even acknowledge the existence of other candidates. In short, Quinlan used his party position and his official communication to openly lobby for the election of his preferred candidates while failing to provide even a minimal or token amount of information about their opponents.
Ironically, both Quinlan’s post about abusing one’s positon and the email he himself sent out, were both distributed on the same day, suggesting either an utter lack of shame or a startling amount of gall. In either case, Quinlan exposes himself to anyone and everyone paying enough attention to put the facts together, and it is job of the self-policing blogosphere to piece together the puzzle for those who don’t have the requisite time and/or background.
Sadly, Quinlan is the kind of Republican who, on many issues, is capable of making a very real contribution. But by not coming clean about his goals and agenda like he should, and by posing as a neutral observer who is innocently calling attention to public officials acting unethically, he violates his own declared standards and forfeits the mantle of integrity he needs if he wishes to maintain his credibility, in the blogosphere for certain, if not the world at large.
