Constantin Querard

Some time ago, reporters at the State Capitol made note that Phoenix-based political consultant Constantin Querard had been hired by the GOP’s legislative leaders and the State Republican Party to direct its efforts to expand the GOP’s legislative majority. We met recently with Querard, who seems to have made state legislative races his specialty, and he agreed to give us a short interview.

SA: Tell us the nature of your job for the Arizona Republican Party?

CQ: Chairman Pullen took the great step of creating campaign committees to specifically focus on State House and State Senate races and I was asked to consult for those committees.

SA: What kind of work do you do?

CQ: Well, that’s a closely guarded secret. But, since nobody reads your blog anyway, I can probably tell you {laughing}. Most of my work deals with recruiting and training Republican candidates. We don’t want to wait until after the primaries are over to start training because by then it is too late, so we get them ready well in advance. That way, whoever wins the primaries will be ready to beat the Democrats in November.

SA: Will the committees be getting involved in any primaries?

CQ: I don’t imagine so. That meddling has always been a great way to get everyone mad without accomplishing anything positive. Our job is to elect Republicans over Democrats in the general election. Who our Republican candidates are is up to the voters in the individual districts themselves.

SA: What is the outlook for 2008?

CQ: Actually it is quite positive. We have some terrific candidates already filed and running and the voter registration numbers have really moved our way in some key districts.

SA: Like where?

CQ: Well, LD5 has one Democrat House member left, Rep. Jack Brown. But where three years ago we trailed the Democrats by about nine points, we now trail by less than three. And the Democrats that are up there are conservative rural Democrats who are used to voting for Republicans already. LD23, which is mostly Pinal County, is another one where we’ve made huge progress. If you can imagine it, three years ago we trailed by twenty-five points. Now, it is down to five points and we’ll probably take the lead before next November. There are others, but those are the two that jump to mind right away.

SA: You have a reputation for only working for and electing conservative candidates. Are you going to have any trouble working for candidates who aren’t conservatives?

CQ: I don’t think so. It takes 31 in the House and 16 in the Senate to pass anything and with Governor No on the 9th floor, it is going to take 40 in the House and 20 in the Senate to make sure that it stays passed. I don’t think you can get to those kinds of numbers if you have a rigid set of criteria for candidates. The fact is that different parts of the state are going to elect different kinds of Republicans. Getting 40 and 20 that play as a team is really the key.

SA: Do we realistically have a shot at a veto-proof majority in 2008?

CQ: Absolutely. We have a great plan, a great party, and we’ll have great candidates. Plus, we’ll have our secret weapon.

SA: What is that?

CQ: Hillary Clinton! She’s the great uniter as far as I’m concerned. No one can bring Republicans together and make us forget our troubles like Hillary!

SA: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. Can we check back with you for an update sometime?

CQ: Absolutely.