Arizona Politics for Conservatives: Sonoran Alliance
Arizona Politics, News, Commentary and Information with a Blatantly Conservative Worldview Presented by an Alliance of Writers, Activists, Consultants and Government Insiders.
Word just in that the Maricopa County Republican Committee has just endorsed Russell Pearce over Kevin Gibbons in the Republican Primary Senate Race in Legislative District 18.
Donations from Democrats to Gibbons may have had something to do with it.
This means that Russell Pearce has earned the title of Republican nominee incarnate of the Maricopa County Republican Party. Sources indicate that a vote of 20-1 rendered the endorsement.
This Just In from The Gibbons Campaign! We have to admit this was a brilliant PR move by the campaign in making the donation in the spirit of resolving the domestic violence issues among certain elected Democrats.
For Immediate Release: July 3, 2008
Contact: www.electkevingibbons.com
Gibbons donates Pederson money to Domestic Violence Shelter
My involvement in such a meaningful political campaign has proved to be challenging and rewarding. It has become obvious that the message enjoys a broad and enthusiastic acceptance. For all of those who have opened their minds and their check books to this message, I express my heartfelt gratitude.
Earlier this week, I was made aware that my campaign had received an unsolicited contribution from Jim Pederson, former Chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party. Because I’m rather certain Mr. Pederson wasn’t motivated by my plan to cut taxes, I cannot, in good conscience, accept his funds. Nevertheless, despite calls to return the money to Mr. Pederson, I have already donated that money to Autumn House, a local domestic violence shelter.
Max McPhail, Executive Director of the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative, will be on the JD Hayworth Show today, Thursday, at 5:35 pm. You can listen on the radio at 550 am or stream the show over the internet at KFYI.
AZCentral is reporting that Republican Sue Gerard will step down from her position as Director over Arizona’s Health Department after three years of service. Her resignation will take place on August 1st. Gerard was appointed to the position by Governor Napolitano after she lost a Senate Primary race against Republican Barbara Leff in 2002 (by 37 votes!).
The key quote reported on AZCentral probably reveals the reason for Gerard’s resignation:
Regardless of the sunny statements released Thursday by Napolitano and Gerard, their relationship became strained over the last year or so with the uncovering by Gerard’s inspectors of a string of patient-care problems at the Arizona State Veteran Home, which is part of the state Department of Veterans Services.
In May, the state-run nursing home came under criticism after sending home without home-health services or medications a 67-year-old diabetic man recovering from brain surgery. DHS declared that residents in the home were in “immediate jeopardy,” the worst possible designation for such a facility. It was the second time in a year-and-a-half that the home had received the designation.
After that incident, the outspoken Gerard revealed some of her frustration with the Governor’s Office in a series of inter-agency e-mails, which subsequently became public.
In one, Gerard wrote that the Governor’s Office and Department of Veterans Services had a habit of siding with the veterans home rather than DHS when it came to questions of patient care at the nursing home. In another, Gerard described the reaction to her agency’s negative inspections of the veterans home as a “shoot the messenger mentality.
For Immediate Release: Thursday, July 3, 2008
Contact: Tony Reinhard, (602) 503-0291
District 18 Republican Challenger Takes Max Donations from Former Democratic Party Chairman.
Maricopa County Republican Chairman Tom Husband to Gibbons: Give Back Jim Pederson’s Money
MESA – District 18 Senate Republican Candidate Kevin Gibbons has received over $1,500 in campaign contributions from Millionaire developer and former Democrat Party Chairman Jim Pederson and his family. Arizona voters will remember Jim Pederson as the former chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party who also ran as the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate against Senator Jon Kyl.
“I can’t understand why a Republican would take money from people who have clearly aligned themselves against the Republican Party and its principles,” said Maricopa County Republican Committee Chairman Tom Husband, “I have a strong recommendation for Kevin Gibbons: Give back Jim Pederson’s money.”
As Democratic Party chairman, Pederson is remembered for having supported and helped to fund the Clean Elections Initiative, which limits our 1st Amendment rights in state elections. He also is considered to have been instrumental in recruiting Janet Napolitano to run for Governor. Napolitano has gone on to push through a bank breaking 2008-09 budget that includes reliance on debt, property tax increases, accounting gimmicks, fund sweeps, speeding tickets, and increased state gambling just to keep things in balance.
In 2006, Jim Pederson spent millions of his own money to bankroll his Senate campaign. In the end, he lost to Republican Senator Jon Kyl by nearly ten points. Now, Jim Pederson is using his money to fund the Governor’s State Trust Land Initiative and has donated money to the redistricting initiative effort.
“Pederson is up to his old tricks in targeting trusted Republicans just like he did as chairman and when he ran for the United States Senate against Jon Kyl,” said Husband, “The Arizona State Senate can’t afford any more people who take their cues from the Democrat Governor and her people.
In addition to Mr. Gibbons, District 18 also has Russell Pearce, who spent 8 years in the Arizona House, seeking the Republican nomination to replace Senator Karen Johnson as the State Senator for District 18. He is running as a clean elections candidate, while his opponent, Kevin Gibbons is running as a traditionally funded candidate.
“We hope Mr. Gibbons comes to his senses and gives the money back to Jim Pederson”, said Tom Husband.
Sonoran Alliance Note: As noted in an earlier post, Kevin Gibbons is the brother-in-law of Congressman Jeff Flake (see “Kevin Gibbons Fails to Show“)
District 26 Republicans debated last night. As we predicted back in July of 2007, the house primary is fairly congenial while the senate primary is a smack down.
The three house candidates, Trent Humphries, Marilyn Zerull, and Vic Williams, were first up at 6:00 pm. Trent has been studying up and it showed. He was quick on the issues and also had a good mix of free-market solutions combined with a focus on working for Southern Arizona. Many said that Trent was the best of the three.
Marilyn opened strong and had a good closing statement. She did not seem to do as well as Trent during the middle of the event but certainly better than Vic. Her strategy is not based on coming in first in debates. She has a strong ground game running as a mainstream conservative. Marilyn needed to be credible and she accomplished that.
The standout of the house debate was Vic. He stumbled right off the bat on a simple question. Things did not get much better from there. Both Trent and Marilyn had fumbled in previous appearances but tonight was prime time with a huge media turnout and the video tape running. Not a good night to choke.
We covered the senate debate last week so we will link to a detailed story by Jim Nintzel from Scramblewatch ’08.
Arizona Civil Rights Initiative Submits over 330,000 Signatures to the Secretary of State
“Arizona citizens will have the chance to vote for fairness and equality in November”
Today the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative (AzCRI) submitted over 330,000 signatures to the Secretary of State, more than 100,000 over the state requirement.
Andrew Thomas, Maricopa County Attorney and Chairman of AzCRI stated, “The Arizona Civil Rights Initiative is vitally important for Arizona. Our government should be promoting equality for everyone, instead they are using a divisive system of racial and gender preferences. I am pleased that Arizona citizens will have the chance to vote for fairness and equality in November.”
He continued, “In just over 3 months we collected over 330,000 signatures from Arizona voters. That number certainly underscores the public’s desire to end programs that grant preferences based on race. I believe in November the voters of Arizona will overwhelmingly pass the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative.”
Max McPhail, Executive Director, added, “Arizona is one of 23 states that allow the citizens to petition the government directly through ballot initiatives. Watching the democratic process unfold is inspiring.” McPhail continued, “Unfortunately, we had to make special arrangements for the signature submission to the Secretary of State because BAMN, a radical organization from Michigan and California threatened to disrupt the official turn-in in the same manner that they used to disrupt circulators and signers for the last several weeks.”
The Arizona Civil Rights Initiative is dedicated to giving the people of Arizona the opportunity to end preferential treatment based on race, sex, ethnicity or national origin by state or local governments. AzCRI will make Arizona a place of equal opportunity for all, not a state that uses discrimination as a tool to create “diversity.” Achieving “diversity” should never be an excuse to discriminate.
Contact: Max McPhail
602-710-0430
