The most recent Cronkite/Eight poll has the GOP presidential nominee ahead of Obama by 10%. At the time we wrote this the KAET site had not yet posted the details but the Gila Courier blog has lots of info.
Obama VP Prediction
August 19, 2008 By 4 Comments
Things are moving pretty fast on Sonoran Alliance so here’s another post to express your opinion. Last year, I predicted that Obama would pick Clinton as his VP and that was before he even secured the nomination. From what I can tell, her name is still a possibility. My premise was that he needed to keep the party together in order to take on the Republican nominee. Now it’s your turn to predict who Obama will choose and why.
Don’t worry, we’ll also give you an opportunity to predict McCain’s running mate before he announces.
Flake, Shadegg, Franks Call for Removal of JT Ready
August 19, 2008 By 53 Comments
Sonoran Alliance received the following letter from a congressional staffer this afternoon:
August 19, 2008
Mr. Tom Husband
Chairman, Maricopa County Republican Party
Dear Mr. Husband,
It has recently come to our attention that J.T. Ready remains a Precinct Committeeman in District 18.
As you know, J.T. Ready is a member of the National Socialist Movement, better known as the Neo-Nazis. In September of last year, just two months after Mr. Ready was a featured speaker with other public officials and personalities at a rally at the State Capitol, he was a featured speaker at a Neo-Nazi conference in Omaha, Nebraska (a gathering which featured a “swastika lighting” as part of the evening’s activities). He was identified at the gathering as a “Republican Activist from Arizona.” Pictures of Mr. Ready at the Neo-Nazi
meeting can be easily found on the internet.
More recently, Mr. Ready has attended District 18 meetings and was present at the Maricopa County Republican Party meeting earlier this year, where he reportedly distributed racist and anti-Semitic literature. Can you imagine bringing your friends and neighbors to meetings where Mr. Ready is an elected official?
We are not familiar with the process by which elected Precinct Committeemen are removed from office. We’re not even sure our bylaws contemplate such a situation. If such a remedy is available, it should be immediately pursued. If it does not, we should, at a minimum, adopt a resolution asking for Mr. Ready’s immediate resignation.
We simply cannot allow Mr. Ready to serve out his term, even if that term were to expire next week. We need to take action now and send a message that such behavior has no place in the Republican Party.
We have copied this letter to the Chairman of the State Republican Party as well as the Chairman of District 18. We look forward to your timely response.
Sincerely yours,
Congressman Jeff Flake
Congressman John Shadegg
Congressman Trent Franks
cc: Randy Pullen, State Party Chairman; Matt Tolman, District 18 Chairman
Press Release: Crump to Bouie, Withdraw
August 19, 2008 By 19 Comments
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 19, 2008
State Rep. Sam Crump Calls on Tony Bouie to Withdraw from Race;
Endorses Carl Seel for Legislative District 6 House Seat
Anthem, AZ – Today Arizona State Representative Sam Crump (R-LD6) announced that he is endorsing fellow Republican candidate Carl Seel in his race for the State House of Representatives. Crump’s announcement comes after news reports confirmed that the third candidate in the race, Tony Bouie, has lied on several occasions about his party registration.
“I endorse Carl Seel for the Arizona House of Representatives,” said Crump. “Carl has demonstrated a solid commitment to conservative Republican values for many years and has been a tireless worker on behalf of the GOP. I am confident that Carl will be a solid conservative vote when he is elected by the voters of Legislative District 6.”
Crump’s endorsement was announced the day after it was learned that Tony Bouie was caught lying about his past registration to two newspapers and a group of voters. Bouie had been roundly criticized by Republican party members for having been a life-long Democrat until he registered as a Republican only five days before filing to run for State Representative.
Bouie had never denied his past registration as a Democrat until the last couple of weeks when he mysteriously began accusing others of distorting the truth and claiming he had previously been a Republican.
“My opponent will tell you that I’ve been a Democrat all my life, which is very untrue,” said Bouie at an August 12, 2008, candidate forum in Desert Hills. “For nine years, over half my voting life, I’ve been a Republican — but he won’t tell you that.”
Bouie’s lies about his registration were not limited to that one instance. The Arizona Capitol Times recently reported on this subject as follows: “‘The fact is, I’ve been a Republican half of my voting life. From 1995 until 2003,’ Bouie said, he was registered as a Republican.”
The most recent lie by Bouie was on August 14, 2008, in front of the editorial board of the Arizona Republic, the State’s largest newspaper. At that interview, which Crump and Seel also attended, Bouie again stated that he had been a registered Republican in Hillsborough County, Florida, from 1995 to1999. However, after investigating Bouie’s claim, the registrar of voters in Hillsborough County confirmed to the Republic that Tony Bouie had never been registered as a Republican, only as a Democrat.
In an effort to explain his lies, Tony Bouie issued a press release on August 18, 2008, stating that he never was a registered Republican. . . . “Unfortunately, I did not complete the voter registration paperwork to make this switch official,” Bouie stated. “I hope this clarifies any confusion about my party past.”
Sam Crump stated that Bouie’s attempt to cover up his blatant lies is not acceptable. “For some bizarre reason, Mr. Bouie has attempted to start his political career by lying to the voters,” said Crump. “This demonstrates a serious character flaw that is unacceptable and I call on Mr. Bouie to immediately withdraw from this campaign.”
AZ isn’t the only state with Bouie problems
August 19, 2008 By 6 Comments
Looks like Florida, where Bouie came from, is also facing interference from the establishment GOP favoring more liberal Republicans over conservatives. We saw here in Arizona what happened when the party poured money into the GOP primary in District 8 for Steve Huffman over Randy Graf in 2006 – we ended up with liberal Democrat Gabrielle Giffords as our Representative.
From Bay Buchanan:
The Republican establishment is after Gayle Harrell. Florida Governor Charlie Crist and his handpicked State GOP chairman Jim Greer endorsed Harrell’s opponent Tom Rooney last Friday.
Remember, these are the same people whose last minute endorsement of John McCain helped give him the primary and momentum to get the nomination. We can’t let them do it again! Greer says the State Party’s near unprecedented intervention into an open primary is justified in order to “avoid a bloodbath.”
Well now grassroots Republicans want blood!
Many of the county chairmen in the district have made their opposition to this maneuvering loud and clear. One told The Palm Beach Post, “The perception for the rank-and-file Republicans is that people are picking and choosing candidates and the grass-roots network will eventually erode because they feel they don’t have a part in it.”
Because of this outrage, Gayle can still win the election. According to Congressional Quarterly; she is still running strong
“because she has rallied support from some conservatives based on her tough position on illegal immigration. In recent weeks, she has corralled support from activists focused on reducing illegal immigration, including the Team America Political Action Committee, founded by Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo.”
If Gayle pulls through, it will show that the grassroots opposition to illegal immigration is more powerful than the Republican Establishment! The primary is only 8 days away, so we need to act immediately to get Gayle some last minute TV ads on the air. We can’t let Crist and his cronies take us for a ride again!
Will Bouie drop out? What about those who endorsed him?
August 19, 2008 By 10 Comments
Lighthouse Blog has some analysis of Bouie’s endorsements. Considering how heated some of this discussion has gotten lately, we offer no opinion on this.
