Wednesday, July 20th, 2005...9:07 am
Pedersen Resigns
The following is an e-mail that went out to party volunteers:
Dear Arizona Democratic Party Member,
This letter is to inform you of my decision to resign as Chairman of
the Arizona Democratic Party (ADP), effective immediately.It has been a great honor to have had the opportunity to serve with you
and other local community leaders to build our party and our state. Together, we
have written a record of progress of which we can all be proud.In an era in which our national politics too often is characterized by
withering partisanship and brittle ideology, Arizona Democrats have kept our
focus on solving problems.With Governor Napolitano leading the way, we have advocated mainstream
solutions to the pressing challenges facing families across our state. Whether
it is health care, immigration, job creation or education, we are presenting
workable, common sense ideas to improve the lives of all Arizonans.I assure you that while I am leaving this position, I am not leaving
the fight for a better, stronger Arizona. And to that end, I look forward to
continue working closely with you in the months and years to come.Thank you for your friendship and support,
Jim Pederson
We’ll be seeing a bit more of Jim over the next couple of months though. I mean, I’m not privy of anything like that it has something to do with running against the junior senator…what is his name again. Oh, can’t have anything to do with that.
When I was a vice-chair, I used to joke that I would be in charge if there was a major bus accident. That isn’t quite the case. The first vice-chair can only be in charge on a temporary basis. There is a meeting already scheduled for Flagstaff in August, and the bylaws allow a successor to be elected there.
Back in November and December, when Pedersen was mulling around with not running, the names that had been floated were Pima County Chairman Paul Eckerstrom, Phoenix activist Rick McGwire, and Howard Dean’s Arizona campaign chief Frank Costanzo. The “next in command” would be Vice-Chair Peggy Toomey-Hammann, but some questions recently arose about her eligibility to serve in that office. She made it through that fight, but it can’t help her if she wants a promotion.
When Steve Owens resigned back in 1995, he recruited Rep. Sam Coppersmith to take his place. The Republicans also turned to a recently retired big-name elected official when they picked Rep. Matt Salmon to be their chair. There doesn’t seem to be anyone like that around to do this though.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Fred DuVal won’t make the race for Secretary of State after all, which would leave him free to take this job. Hey, this is what bloggers get paid the big bucks to do: idle speculation.
2 Comments
July 20th, 2005 at 3:18 pm
You forgot another possible candidate: former Tempe Mayor and State Senator Harry Mitchell. This would give Arizona the only Party Chairman commemorated with a statue in Downtown Tempe.
July 21st, 2005 at 1:24 am
Oooh Tom can I play with your “hip hair.” Hahahahaha Sorry could not resist.
I hope that Harry does go for it. He would be cool in it.
As for the Sec. of State’s office. This state likes women in that office so why do we not look of for a woman to kick Brewer’s ass?
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