Archives for November 2006

     Hot AZ It Gets has an update to this issue.

     It may be just fine if Lisa is nominated in another district. As I understand it then the names are forwarded to the county statutory meeting for election of state committeemen.

   So Lisa James wants to run for Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party. Fair enough but according to Phil at Hot AZ It Gets she needs to brush up on her knowledge of the state bylaws. Phil claims that she has made it onto the list of District 20 state committeemen. But according to this link at d8azgop.com she is an alternate from District 8. Which is she, an alternate from LD 8 or a state committeeman from LD 20?

   Please excuse my being from Pima County and not knowing the ins and outs of Maricopa party politics. It is possible that there are two different people named Lisa James that are both planning on going to the state meeting? Please feel free to add any knowledge you have of the situation in the comments section.

   Speaking of comments we do moderate them from new participants but only as a way of filtering spam. So let us know what you think and we will get it on the blog as soon as possible.

Thanks to blogger cpmaz for his comment at Rum, Romanism and Rebellion that led us to http://www.d8azgop.com/

Thursday 11-30-06, 4:45 pm by jlnwd@yahoo.com

Hot AZ It Gets has an update to their original story on Lisa James.

     It was a clear victory Tuesday night for the conservatives in LD 11. Not only did Rob Haney get 215 votes to Symington’s 166 but the whole conservative slate for the District triumphed. John Acer won 1st Vice Chair, Tom Husband got 2nd Vice Chair, Carolyn Berta for Corresponding Secretary, Charlotte Reed for Recording Secretary, and George Teegarden for Treasurer. The best speech of the night was from Tom Husband who was funny but also on message. The largest margin of victory was for Carolyn Berta who received 229 votes to Paul Boyer’s 151.

     Everyone got along very well and was polite to each other but it was a little much to listen to Fife talk about how he was a grassroots guy. He promised better speakers at the meetings and to even cook. Apparently that is not what LD 11 PC’s were seeking in a chairman.

     The turnout was high. One of the counts stated that there were 242 ballots in person and 140 by proxy. Dignitaries included State Senator Jack Harper (who was openly supporting Haney), Superintendent Tom Horne, RNC Committeeman Randy Pullen, Commissioner Jeff Hatch-Miller, Representative elect Adam Driggs, Don Goldwater, and County Recorder Helen Purcell. Speaking of Helen the county brought in their machines to tally the votes. Good idea given the turnout. None of the people who signed the letter supporting Fife were anywhere to be seen. They definitely phoned in their support. (If I missed any other dignitaries and high-power lobbyists in fancy suits please excuse a tired correspondent for not getting every name.)

     It was a long night. The place was already getting full by 6:30 pm. Speeches by the candidates got underway just after 8:00 pm. The final results were read at 9:45 pm. The winners stayed around to chat but the room cleared out pretty quickly. The district is entitled to 133 state committeemen but those results were not announced at the meeting. Given the votes for the district officers and the level of organization displayed by the conservatives it is not likely that many moderates made the final cut.

     Someone had filled the room with Lisa James literature. She is apparently running against Randy Pullen for Republican State Chairman. Good luck to Lisa. I hope she was not counting on LD 11 to put her over the top.

Wednesday 11-29-06, 12:55 am

For a transcript of the best speech of the night go to Hot AZ It Gets.

The Arizona Republic weighs in on the LD 11 election.

For a summary of who was not elected to be state committeemen from Hot AZ It Gets.

(One of the subjects of this story has objected to a certain picture posted here. Since he was nice enough to write in we have updated the photo. We were a little confused by his comment that we “are a disgrace to Republican ideals.” If we are a disgrace I wonder what he thinks of Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney.)

     Rob Haney has committed the worst of sins in Republican politics, talking back. Apparently, the grunts of the party are supposed to sit by quietly as elected officials stray from and trash the values that draw many people to volunteer for the party.

     It seems District 11 passed a motion to censure John McCain. Given McCain’s membership in the Keating Five, the McCain-Feingold anti-speech, incumbent protection act of 2002, McCain’s war on private transfer of firearms, and McCain’s program for a path to amnesty a censure rises to the news level of dog bites man.

     In addition to the censure Haney is supposedly responsible for other sins according to Greg at Espresso Pundit. Greg seems to fault Haney for the defeat of John Allen. Funny thing, I thought the defeat of Allen was because of the 6,369 people who voted for Driggs and the 6,165 people who voted for Hesselbrock. Does Rob Haney control 6,000 votes? He must be a very powerful district chair. No wonder they want him out.

     That brings up the next topic. Now that Haney has been identified as a heretic in the party (forget all McCain’s statements and action against the party) he is being targeted for replacement. By whom? A grassroots organization supported by Jon Kyl, John Shadegg, Jeff Flake, Rick Renzi, Tom, Horne, Gary Pierce, Jim Waring, Laura Knaperek, Steve Tully, and Andrew Thomas. Grassroots my a**. Haney has been target by the powers that be for the sin of speaking out. Despite Greg’s puff piece interview with Fife, the truth is that Haney has been targeted by McCain and the other anointed ones. Problem is that even if they take out Rob there are still those 6,000 voters who strayed from the script during the primary. And we have not even got started on the other districts where the same thing is happening without any help from Rob Haney. LD 26 comes to mind where 10,924 voters missed the memo about supporting moderate / liberal incumbent Republicans in the state senate primary. Interesting thing there is that the moderates are firmly in control of the district leadership and the great unwashed still rose up.

     McCain and Kyl and Shadegg and Flake and Renzi, et all can go after Haney all they want but the people that put him there will not go away and if they do have fun trying to win the next election. Which brings up another point from Patterson’s little rant about Haney. “Haney worked incredibly hard, recruited a ton of Precinct Committeemen.” Funny that sounds a lot like the job of the local Republican county party. You don’t imagine that the county party was derelict in their duties and left the door wide open for Haney to get the base involved? I am not the only one who thinks that similar conditions exist in Pima County.

     The upshot is that the Republican Party is cursed or blessed (depending on your perspective) with a very conservative base and the higher ups had better find a way to live with that or Rob Haney will be the least of their problems.

BTW – Before anyone votes for Symington they should read this article and make sure that they can publicly and convincingly refute every one of the charges or else the Democrats will make Fife the new poster child for the Republican Party in Arizona.

Saturday 11-25-06, 11:50 am

Randy Pullen comments on District 11.

Symington weighs in.