Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

Some gophers told me that Christine Toretti-Olson will not be running for congress in CD 8. Her husband, Lute Olson, apparently put the kibosh on it. If this is true, it makes sense given his past preferences. Olson is at heart, a Republican, but he is registered as an independent. He tries to stay out of politics, since the crowds at Wildcat games tend to be more Democratic than Republican. His one forray into politics was when he lent his name to a local education initiative, and that was more than a decade and a half ago. One wonders if Lute’s apprehension about his wife involving herself in local politics will keep her from further campaigning for Sen. Jon Kyl.

The story goes that the White House wanted her in the race, so I suppose there are persuasive powers that can still be brought to bear. I mean, they can wire tap now, right? If she still decides to run, there is no end of material for smart alecky bloggers like me. And not just because of the fun I can poke at her for not actually living here (thus the above illustration).

She is one of the top Republican contributors in the country, and, suprise suprise, she is the CEO of a company involved in oil and natural gas drilling. She is the CEO of SW Jack Drilling, and was one of the top contributors to the presidential campaign of then Gov. George W. Bush. She gave an interview to the Los Angeles Times back in 2000 regarding her contributions:

We need to be opening up Alaska and the North Carolina coast. Obviously, it’s not Gore’s priority. If you haven¹t done it by now, the heck with you.

Nice. Not exactly the sorts of attitude you want publicized when you are running for Congress in Tucson.

So, where do the Country Club Republicans go now? The scramble to find a decent moderate that actually wants to run has been almost as futile (but not nearly as comical) as the Republicans’ search for a candidate for governor that someone besides the candidate’s mother might vote for.

Two names have been floated. One is Bruce Ash, who is prominently involved in real estate, chairman of the Jewish Federation and Jewish Community center, as well as a member of countless local boards. He definitely has a rolodex that would enable him to put together a serious campaign. Ash headed up Independent People Like You, a so-called “independent campaign” that blasted Tom Volgy and José Ibarra in the 2003 City Council race.

I know, you all are saying: you mean Independent People Like You were actually Republicans? Shocking, absolutely shocking. Next, I’ll tell you about the Tooth Fairy.

After that election, there was some grousing that the “independent campaign” was too negative, and may have driven down Mayor Bob Walkup’s numbers, who won the election but did not get a majority.

I haven’t heard Ash’s name as much lately. Let’s face it though, how many Republican insiders are going to tell me anything these days?

The other name that has gained more currency lately is Dave Sitton. Sitton is, of all things, the Coach of the U of A’s Rugby team. But believe it or not, that isn’t what he is most famous for. He is also the broadcaster for the Wildcat basketball games (if you happen to catch any USA Rugby events on Fox Sports Net, he’s usually the commentator on those too) as well as the publicity flack for Clear Channel Outdoor. Working for the billboard company puts you only a few steps above the oil and natural gas folks with the environmental community here.

It is in his capacity for Clear Channel that I have dealt with him. When Clear Channel purchased Eller Media, Sitton came to one of the meetings of the Sign Code Committee and addressed us in a very friendly way. This was a far cry from Eller’s representative, Don Dybus, who showed up to two meetings, didn’t introduce himself (even to me, and we’d worked together before) and then wrote op-ed pieces talking about what closeminded nitwits we were.

Can either of them beat Rep. Randy Graf? Graf has been running since 2004, so these guys better get started.

NB - Sitton takes checks from Fox and Clear Channel? We lefties should have a field day with that.