Thu 21 Jan 2010
Get Ready For A Rowdy State GOP Meeting This Saturday!
Posted by Arizona Insider under Campaigns & Elections , Conspiracy Theories , Political Parties[31] Comments
Democrats are in disarray, Republicans are making gains nationwide, poll numbers are improving, and generic ballot polls show Republicans poised to make big gains in 2010. With pickup opportunities in CD1, CD5, and CD8 here in Arizona, Saturday’s AZGOP Annual Meeting should be a great time for all.
Or not.
It seems someone isn’t happy with the state of things and is looking to hijack the meeting and maybe the entire Party this weekend. Gila Courier has coverage of a letter that started landing in PC mailboxes and the interesting tale behind it. Others have been warning about the possibility that McCain supporters may make a move to remove State Party Chairman Randy Pullen so that they can take over the party apparatus in advance of the GOP primary against JD Hayworth.
It should be a VERY interesting time for all in attendance.
January 21st, 2010 at 7:41 am
Do you people think the rest of us are stupid? There must really be something to the accusations.
The Gila Courier post is all based on speculation and is obviously nothing but an attempt to save the hide of Pullen. Trying to put all the attention on who else might, just might, be behind it rather than asking if the allegations are true seems to be the bigger assault on party faithful. If those of us who have worked hard, at personal sacrifice, and given all we could whenever we could to be treated with such arrogance as to say. “Oh, nothing is wrong it is just that evil McCain again!” What a bunch of BS!
There is evidence of the RNC money going to the AZGOP but no record of reporting by Pullen.
There are invoices for debt owed and letters of demand, no record of payment and a report listing no debt.
We are supposed to ignore that but believe this twisted supposition of fault by McCain followers and believe that is the bad deed? What a classic case of a shiny object. We are not stupid!
It is becoming more and more apparent that a hierarchy has developed in the GOP. It has nothing to do with growing our party our electing candidates who believe as we do. It is all about building the kingdom of Lord Pullen and Duke Haney. Tell the “little people” lies, misuse their funds, and cheat them when it meets their purpose, that is the way of the current GOP.
I’m telling you folks, these people think they can do anything to anyone and get away with it! Using McCain as straw man is over!
Shame on them for doing it, shame on us if we let them!
Shame on them and shame on us if we let them!
January 21st, 2010 at 8:04 am
STEPFORD WIVES…
Please be sure and attend the meeting on Saturday and do not question anything the Chairman says. Do not listen to that still small voice from within that says…is there something to any of this?
Repeat the phrase below 20 times a day while drinking your Jonestown juice
This is just a vast rhino conspiracy do not question anything and remember, McCain is the enemy.
January 21st, 2010 at 8:39 am
The Arizona Republican Party should be raising money hand over fist these days: with the rising tide of frustration with the Obama agenda, the emergence of the tea party movement and the historical political trends in off-year elections, the coffers should be filled. One need only look at the RGA’s efforts to see how it is done right.
But that is not the case here. The Party is broke (actually, more than broke – it’s in debt), it’s hopelessly estranged from most of its D.C. delegation and the AZGOP is losing the voter registration race at an alarming rate.
McCain, et. al. should be the least of their worries. I hope the State Committeemen will take a step back from the narrow, angry agenda of a few folks (who have questionable qualifications to say the least) and decide for themselves if this current leadership has fulfilled its duty or promises. The answer is no and no.
January 21st, 2010 at 8:56 am
Take over the ‘party apparatus’? Pullen is a huge problem for AZ. How can a CPA be so bad with money? Of all the people in the party, he should definitely know solid accounting practices and the laws that govern campaign finance. The GOP needs to be above all this controversy. The party is in disarray and Pullen is part of the problem.
January 21st, 2010 at 8:59 am
This is Rob Haney trying to take over the AZGOP.
January 21st, 2010 at 9:01 am
The Party is in disarray and Pullen is the problem. We need new leadership. They say if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. Well, Pullen has broke the party beyond all recognition, and it needs fixin’.
January 21st, 2010 at 9:29 am
Who will be doing the fixing? That is the question.
January 21st, 2010 at 9:39 am
I received the letter and will be at the meeting. There seems to be a disconnect here. First, most everyone on conservative blogs are saying that Randy sold out to the delegation and now you are all speculating the the McCain forces are trying to remove him. Does that make sense ? Whatever this is, it is coming from somewhere else.
January 21st, 2010 at 11:21 am
I haven’t seen so much common sense in the comments of a blog post since the 70s. And they didn’t have comments on blog posts in the 70s. Or blog posts. Or the world wide web.
There is clearly a problem. And I’m with Natalie on this one. It smells like Rob Haney.
January 21st, 2010 at 11:22 am
McCain people: Be afraid, be very afraid.
He hasn’t represented AZ or bothered to show up for ANY local meetings except his scripted town halls. His presidential campaign was an embarassment and the good people of this state deserve better. The letter and robocalls are a pathetic attempt to save a long-over political career.
Run, JD, run.
January 21st, 2010 at 11:48 am
Dear Randy Pullen, Why cant you explain why the money never appears on the spending report? ! He is jeopardizing the party’s credibility!
January 21st, 2010 at 11:52 am
I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Haney doing the dirty.
January 21st, 2010 at 11:57 am
Pullen NEEDS to go. He has mispent thousands of dollars and broken finance laws. He took money and didn’t report it. That’s completely illegal.
January 21st, 2010 at 11:58 am
The Guardian is saying haney wants to conduct an internal audit before the Federal Elections Commission steps in. HA! if he waaants to ruin it for everyone, and himself.
& yes! it sure does certainly smell like haney’s dirty laundry.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:22 pm
I can see from the prior posts that we have a whole lot of people willing to throw crap at the fan while hiding behind made up web names. How “brave” and upstanding. You all have just as much backbone as our GOP Senators that tried to sell us the “we did everything to stop the HC bill” while ignoring Sen. Gregg’s Minority Rights memo date 12/1/09 with pages of what they should have and could have done but didn’t do because is “would be seen as obstructionist”, “would not be productive”, “would upset the 200 year decorum of the Senate”, “would ….” BARF!
I’ll be there on Saturday and you won’t have to go around asking are you “Just a PC”, “Cactus Jack”, “nightcrawler” … as you can just call me by my name. How novel. What a spineless and pathetic group of whiners!
January 21st, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Have y’all seen the article on the AZ Gaurdian? I think Pullen’s trying to pull a Nixon here. He’s focusing way too heavily on the whistle-blower, and not on getting/distributing the facts.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:37 pm
So, I have been doing some math after looking at the previous reports that have been filed by AZGOP to the SOS and FEC.
If you add up all the cash on hand balances, and then look at the debt and payroll pattern, it appears that Pullen has less than $5,000 cash on hand between the federal and state accounts!
It’ll be interesting to see how they pay for their big dinner tomorrow night, as rumors are swirling around that they have not yet paid their deposits to the hotel.
The bottom line is the AZGOP is flat broke and Pullen has been pulln’ the wool over the eyes of everyone over the past few years. The only way is for Randy to produce the actual bank statements to the Executive Commitee showing the cash on hand in the account. Why is that such a big deal?
It shouldn’t be, but Randy knows he will finally be caught in his tangled web of deception and will have to come clean about how he has mismanaged the AZGOP finances.
January 21st, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Here’s today’s article katethegreat referenced:
GOP official wants “fraud audit” of party’s books
by Dennis Welch
The Arizona Guardian
Thursday, 21 January 2010
http://www.arizonaguardian.com/azg/
An official with the Arizona Republican Party wants a comprehensive audit of the party’s books to discover whether GOP leaders are mishandling money.
Phil Townsend, chairman of the Yuma County Republican Party, is seeking an independent review to answer concerns that have surfaced during the past month about the GOP’s financial recordkeeping.
In a letter mailed this week to rank-and-file members across the state, Townsend cites several stories published by the Guardian detailing transfers of cash and outstanding debts that were never reported.
State and federal laws require political parties to record all transactions as well as any money owed when filing campaign finance reports.
Randy Pullen, chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, said all the money has been accounted for in the party’s internal records, but he has not explained why it didn’t show up on the legally required financial reports.
Supporters of the chairman are accusing Sen. John McCain of leading a political attack against Pullen, who has been an outspoken critic of the longtime U.S. senator.
But there are many other party members who want to clear up any questions because they fear the Federal Elections Commission could step in, which could put the credibility of the party at risk.
“Perhaps on our own motion, without waiting for a formal demand from the FEC we should consider having a fraud audit conducted,” Townsend said in a letter mailed this week to members of the executive committee of the Republican Party.
In the letter, Townsend accused Pullen of ignoring a critical function of the state party, which is building grassroots support and increasing voter registration.
The Republican National Committee had transferred $50,000 to the state party to help with those efforts. Federal records show the money being transferred out of the RNC’s account but the state party never reported receiving the cash.
Pullen and other officials said the party would be filing an amended report showing the transaction. As of Wednesday, the party had not done so. Brett Mecum, the executive director of the party, could not say why an anemded report hadn’t been filed.
Townsend said in the letter that Pullen intentionally kept the $50,000 transaction off the books so he could pay for a large amount of unreported debt instead of building a stronger base of grassroots support. Townsend told the Guardian that he’ll push for an audit Saturday at the annual state GOP meeting in Phoenix.
The Guardian reported that during the past year, the party carried roughly $120,000 in unreported debt to a pair of companies for political work. Penalties can range from $5,000 to $10,000 for every violation.
The party owed Nathan Sproul, a local Republican tactician, $70,000 for work on the partisan Tucson City Council races, according to records obtained by the Guardian. The GOP also owed a Minnesota-based firm, Strategic Fundraising, about $50,000 for help raising money.
Representatives with Strategic Fundraising and Sproul confirmed the party owed them money. Both said much of the debt has been paid down, but would not reveal how much was left on the account.
Pullen did not return repeated calls Wednesday. But Rob Haney, chairman of the Maricopa County Republican Committee, said this was a political hit job by McCain and his supporters.
“All of this is coming from the McCain cabal,” Haney said Wednesday. “He’s out there trying to take the true conservatives out and bankrupt the party.”
Haney said he has complete trust in Pullen and he doesn’t believe what he reads in the media. Until there is absolute proof, he said, “he’s not going to believe anything coming from the McCain camp.”
Since Pullen was elected in 2007, he’s been a controversial figure within the party. Critics accuse him of being too ideologically driven and not focused enough on raising money.
Since he took over as chairman, fundraising is down. According to the latest FEC reports, the party had about $49,000 in cash on hand. The figure is far below where the party was in prior years, when it had balances in the six figures.
The state Democratic Party has also struggled to raise money. Officials with both parties say the poor economy is largely responsible for the lackluster fundraising efforts.
Still there are many Republicans, like Haney, who are proud supporters of Pullen. Before he was elected, Pullen was a critic of McCain on a number of issues, including illegal immigration.
The feud between the two has continued. Most recently, they appeared to be battling over control of a pool of money meant to help with this year’s efforts to drive more Republican voters to the polls.
That money is known as the Victory Fund. Most of the cash comes from the RNC and is not supposed to be used on individual candidates, but rather for wider political purposes. For example, the money could be used to provide voters with information about early voting and polling locations.
Executive members of the state Republican Party recently voted down one plan for the money because some were concerned about its legality. The fight has exposed a deep rift within the party between McCain supporters and opponents.
A straw poll taken at last week’s Maricopa County Republican Committee meeting showed 82 percent of those in attendance disapproved of McCain, according to Haney. Nearly 70 percent of those polled had positive views of former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth, McCain’s potential challenger.
Regardless of the political infighting, Kim Owens, secretary of the Maricopa County Republican Committee, said a financial review of the state party’s books should be conducted.
Owens, who voted against Pullen the two times he ran for chairman, said it needs to be done to end the speculation. She said she’s always tried to help Pullen despite having voted against him because “he was my chairman and I wanted him to succeed.”
She added that the audit was not about choosing between the party political factions, but rather about what’s in the party’s best interest.
“It’s about what’s the right thing to do,” she said. “If you’ve got nothing to hide then there’s nothing to worry about.”
January 21st, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Either the writer misquoted Haney or he is really telling a big one about the straw poll!
January 21st, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Show us the checkbook Randy! What have you done with the money? Why won’t you talk to the reporter? Where is Tim Lee in this whole affair? The truth will come out and it won’t be pretty.
January 21st, 2010 at 2:29 pm
This is nonsense. Parties and candidates file amendments all the time. Anyone who has run for an elected office or has served as an officer on a campaign knows that.
Shoot. McCain himself has filed multiple amended reports. This is a McCain hit against Pullen and the AZGOP.
Anyway, the story first broke here apparently on SA last week
http://sonoranalliance.com/2010/01/15/fire-or-just-smoke-azgop/
which links to
http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Opinion/063868-2010-01-15-mccain-planned-ambush-of-azgop-state-convention-antimccain-boocrew.htm
January 21st, 2010 at 2:31 pm
BTW, let’s not forget that Townsend the “GOP Official” was a DEM.
McCain + DEMs = True Love
January 21st, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Phil is, and always has been, a Republican. You are confusing Phil with the former chair. Phil has received the state Barry Goldwater Award, Paul Fannin Award, and the lifetime achievement award.
January 21st, 2010 at 3:24 pm
You have a sense of humor Ann.
You correct that error but fail to clarify your personal knowledge that McCain himself has filed multiple campaign finance AMENDED reports as many or most candidates (and state and county parties nationwide) do each year.
That’s what I’m talking about with regards to a lack of integrity from the McCain / RINO camp.
January 21st, 2010 at 3:38 pm
If JD thinks McCain has been in office too long, how does he explain why McCain has been the Congressional leader of the opposition to obama’s attempt to gain government control of health care and the economy? DOes he not watch the news or read a newspaper, other than when it is about himself?
how does he explain that McCain is the one primarily responsible for keeping health care from passing until Scott Brown arrived to end the Democrats lock on the process?
Senator elect Scott Brown has acknowledged that McCain was the one to first help and encourage him. Why would scott brown, the agent of change and the savior of all of us against this health care insanity if he felt McCain was the wrong man for the job in the senate?
As for JD, When JD was in Congress, the congressional staff voted JD the dumbest member of congress and second biggest blowhard. Along with his empty rhetoric, Which in some cases shows borderline racism, he uses crime as a scare tactic *much like our pal Sheriff Joe* to get attention and make voters think they are in constant danger without him! Between the two of them I am shocked there is time for actual local news with all the camera and radio time they grasp for. Sheriff Joe, How about less calling pressers and informing people on twitter about where they can find you making a bust *love that press*and more tactical operations to get the dealers *the real issue* off the streets.
January 21st, 2010 at 3:39 pm
It is your position to hold and I did not feel obligated to question your opinion. Sometimes I just shake my head and pray for you.
Besides, I really do have a job…one that actually pays me…sometimes.
The point of correction about Phil Townsend did need to be clarified. He is a great guy with a true love for the party and feels someone had to step up and call for transparency.
January 21st, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Don’t bother praying for me Ann. Thank you for the sentiment, but I am quite confident in my relationship with the Man upstairs.
Look in the mirror. Every time you attempt to persuade via the omission of facts or via spin, you are lying. Perhaps you will not be convicted in court, but the Man upstairs knows. And so do I for whatever that is worth in blog land.
January 21st, 2010 at 4:58 pm
[...] discussed in a previous post, there is a fight brewing for the State GOP Mandatory Meeting this Saturday. Opponents of State [...]
January 21st, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Oberserve, use your sense of humor…I was being humorous.
January 21st, 2010 at 6:16 pm
It’s really hard to laugh while being chased by black helicopters…I’m just sayin’…
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:31 am
What did you do, Travis?