Tuesday, March 21st, 2006...10:16 pm
Volgy Announces Support for Patty Weiss
Former Mayor Tom Volgy announced his support for CD 8 Democratic Candidate Patty Weiss yesterday. In a statement released by Weiss’s campaign, he named her support for Tucson’s campaign financing system and willingness to use it as a national model as one of his chief reasons for his endorsement.
Volgy’s loss in the 2003 mayor’s race occurred because East side Democrats didn’t vote for him. Guess which part of town forms the bulk of Democratic votes in CD 8?
Like Weiss, Volgy lives a few blocks outside of the district. I don’t think it is that big a deal really, but everybody else seems to like to point that one out.
Other former councilmembers seem to have also picked horses. Former councilmember Molly McKasson is holding a “house party” for Jeff Latas. An e-mail that announced the party named McKasson’s respect for Latas’s military career as one of her reasons for supporting him. If you don’t find this ironic, you don’t know McKasson.
Former councilmember Chuck Ford was spotted at a labor rally for Gabrielle Giffords that starred Robert Reich.
25 Comments
March 21st, 2006 at 11:55 pm
Very interesting…..
What about Congressman Grijalva? He resides in District 7 right, and is her big name supporter?
I wonder how he would do on the East Side, Cochise County etc?
By the way, on Giffords’ website:
Only 3 of the top 12 endorsements she has listed reside in District 8. (In the order on her website as of 11:30 PM March 21, 2006)
Her biggest Name Support doesn’t even reside in ARIZONA! (Daschle)
Its interesting the Giffords Campaign is more concerned about $$$ and endorsements rather then issues and solutions. You can’t seem to find where exactly the campaign stands on the issues.
March 22nd, 2006 at 12:24 am
Yes. It is funny how TEDSKI sees irony in the other campaigns whereas he doesn’t see [or rather, point out]some of the irony in the Giffords campaign.
“Like Weiss, Volgy lives a few blocks outside of the district. I don’t think it is that big a deal really, but everybody else seems to like to point that one out.”
TEDSKI, please, take responsibility for what you say. Very wimpy/weak. And it’s not as though Weiss lives in Phoenix and is a carpetbagger. She’s been a part of this community for a LONG time. Also, if you don’t think it is a big deal, then why are you bringing it up [again]?
March 22nd, 2006 at 12:41 am
Least we not forget the biggest irony: Gifford’s repeated marking off Republican on her registration card in the 80’s and 90’s every time she updated her registration until she wanted to run for State Legislature and changed to be a Democrat in 1999.
I would take a Life Long Democrat 8 blocks from CD8 (who happened to reside in CD8 - Former CD5, and before that CD2 until a line on a map moved a few blocks over)
Also, I would take a Military Veteran ANY DAY over a Republican-Turned Democrat.
March 22nd, 2006 at 1:22 am
I haven’t seen any evidence to suggest that Giffords’ party switching was insincere.
May MANY disaffected moderate Republicans vote with and join the Democratic party!
Latas ‘06!
March 22nd, 2006 at 8:57 am
Once again, I get called “whimpy” because I don’t agree with a poster. What would be whimpy is for me to change my opinions only so I agree with you.
I think the whole residency thing is silly. I was pointing it out only to be silly. I guess I should mark my sentences in some fancy type so nobody misses it. Of couse, clearly marking what I write as snarky doesn’t seem to help either.
March 22nd, 2006 at 9:03 am
I find it almost eerie in the parallels between Gabby’s campaign and Elaine Richardson’s campaign in 2002.
Eerie.
March 22nd, 2006 at 9:06 am
Nothing wrong with having people out of the district endorse you, nothing wrong with getting endorsements, definitely nothing wrong with raising money given that this district will cost an estimated $2 Million plus. You have to admit that it is a strength and that it does show a measure of support when a candidate can raise money and when a candidate gets endorsements from leaders and groups.
I think it is so important that as the other candidates get these things they will “tout” them as Patty is doing…
March 22nd, 2006 at 9:11 am
What I find eerie is that the Latas supporters continue to attack Gabby as elitist, wishy-washy, a Republican turned Democrat, and that supporters are even recording her speeches so that they can show her inconsistency.
THAT…is eerie…and even a bit dirty.
Last, I am surprised that none of you are going after Weiss. Given that Giffords is a evil, pro-business “centrist”, it appears that Weiss is the most likely candidate to steal solid liberal votes from your candidate.
Just an observation since there have been so many about Giffords.
March 22nd, 2006 at 9:12 am
Tedski, do cd8 democratic voter and cd burro come from the same IP address?
March 22nd, 2006 at 9:13 am
ahem. Can anyone please explain this east side/west side dichotomy for the ignorant phoenicians?
thank you.
March 22nd, 2006 at 9:18 am
Sorry bored…I will try…and the long time Tucsonans can correct me. The east-side of town in Tucson makes up a large part of CD8. In the city limits of Tucson, it is the strongest of the Republican strongholds. Although, in the last city election, they apparently didn’t vote their numbers and the electoral behemoth of the Democratic party awakened.
March 22nd, 2006 at 10:56 am
MR. T IN AZ–fyi–My name is Gretchen Wagenseller. I don’t know who “cd 8 democratic voter” is.
TEDSKI–I called you wimpy not because I disagreed with what you said, but rather because you were bringing up Weiss’ out-of-district residence up, while at the same time making an excuse for the remark and distancing yourself from what you were saying–”I don’t think it is that big deal really, but everybody else seems to like to point that one out.”
KRALMAJALES–I agree. The DEMs are going to need money [including lots of money from outside CD 8], endorsements, but, most of all, grassroots army to beat the REP in the fall.
I know that the Latas campaign does NOT support nasty/unsubstantiated criticisms of the other candidates. Also, I question whether some of these ANONYMOUSES are Latas supporters since what they are mainly accomplishing is making themselves look ignorant,ranting, etc.and by association, the candidate that people think they are supporting.
March 22nd, 2006 at 11:01 am
A good way to look at the numbers is by County Supervisor Districts. In District 4 (east side) the numbers of registered votes are 37,076 Dem/48,541 Rep/30,000 other. In District 5 (Central Tucson and the west side) the numbers are 40,717 Dem/14,854 Rep/24,000 other.
A lot of Democratic voters live in the Supervisor District 5 but are not in CD8, while most, if not all, of Supervisor District 4 is in CD8.
March 22nd, 2006 at 11:05 am
muchos gracias, kralmajales
March 22nd, 2006 at 11:08 am
Gretchen:
Well said…and interesting point…about Anons being Latas supporters. Could be republican dirty tricksters. The only person that I can see who has anything to gain from a Giffords and Latas fight is Weiss…and actually, I think I got cd 8 democratic voter very wrong…a post way way down in another line of Ted’s has him/her pretty married to Weiss.
Nice job with the numbers, phxkid!
March 22nd, 2006 at 11:24 am
Well as someone who worked for Tom Volgy in the 2003 race, the reason he lost was because he tried to partisan-size the race and fell back on the proven failed tactic of just turning out the base in a non-partisan election. IE: we won a majority of the democratic voters, lost the vast majority of the republican and independent voters and basically lost on the margin of those democratic voters that switched sides and if he had instead focused on door knocking and persuasion he could have eeked it out but choose not to.
So I woudln’t say he is wimpy or unpopular as much as unwise and out of touch of how your average voter feels about him and their every day life and what they want government to do for them.
Still, i agree with Ted that it is indeed “interesting”
this reactionary response from Weis supporters is a little silly in all. Giffords def has the broad based national support but you can either bitch, whine and cry over spilled milk or you can do what Grijalva did and beat them on the ground.
March 23rd, 2006 at 9:06 am
Volgy is a tool. When I was a UA student, I took a poli sci class from him. I wouldn’t place ANY weight behind ANYTHING he said. No, I didn’t receive a bad grade from him, so this isn’t bitterness.
March 23rd, 2006 at 10:30 am
Well, NAR, let’s face it, you aren’t exactly a highly targeted voter in this prmary, are you?
March 23rd, 2006 at 4:02 pm
Endorsements are overrated.
Only a few of the endorsers can actually deliver more than a dozen votes each.
Most of the endorsers depend on friends, volunteers, and staff to get out the vote.
They have to be motivated to do that.
Most professional politicians are too busy raising money to get out the vote.
For that, they need to depend their unnamed volunteers and less on the endorsers.
Some endorsements have negative drag on election day.
Dorothy Finley and Eddie Basha make the cashbox ring, but they can drive away voters.
Volgy’s endorsement is of little consequence one way or the other.
He is now a paid lobbyist for Cox Cable, and he helped dismantle the public access of TCCC that he helped create.
March 23rd, 2006 at 5:31 pm
All good points…
However, endorsements do give the appearance that the candidate is recognized,
the candidate can rely on the name recognition of others to boost their name recognition,
that person can campaign for them and with them to turn out crowds,
they can turnover their contact list and funder list too them…and even raise funds,
and they can even bring out political machines of volunteers.
Some endorsers and endorsements have more of these things and some have less though.
Finally, endorsements can breed endorsements.
So they do matter…they don’t necessarily bring out masses of voters, but they do provide legitimacy at times.
Finally, endorsements never seem to matter much to the candidates that DONT have them. Strange.
March 23rd, 2006 at 6:28 pm
Kralmajales–How true. That applies for all campaign assets.
March 23rd, 2006 at 10:13 pm
I remember all the endorsements Tom Volgy, Elaine Richards, George Cunningham and Mary Judge Ryan had on election day.
Randy Graf didn’t need endorsements to nearly upset a well financed campaign.
Clean Elections candidates win all the time without endorsements.
Truth is, most local campaigns outside of the metro districts usually run without endorsements, websites, TV ads, or much radio.
The lists are actually for sale, or can be culled by skillful database research.
An endorser can’t motivate a politcal machine of volunteers, unless the volunteers are paid, owe the endorser a favor…. or like the candidate.
You can lead a hack to_____ but you can’t make them ________.
March 25th, 2006 at 8:15 pm
I can’t belive the apologists for Giffords. Her SWITCH was ONLY SIX YEARS AGO.
All the inside baseball on this blog is amazing…
You’re all forgetting: THE issue isn’t whether Raul was stupid enough to get behind Giffords too early and that he’s saving face now. THE issue isn’t whether the Dems should get behind the biggest fundraiser. THE ISSUE is taking the House (and in a long-shot the Senate) from the GOP. The only SURE-FIRE way to do that is to vote for the Dem who can easily beat any R who runs, and that is Weiss.
March 25th, 2006 at 8:17 pm
This post has been removed by the author.
March 26th, 2006 at 10:47 am
Tooblue4U:
I can’t believe that you call Giffords supporters “apologists”…the truth is that people like her, like her experience, they KNOW her, and they know what they are getting with her. An excellent public servant who has really done nothing to any of you, but represent you in our State Senate.
I also can’t believe that you folks keep coming after her when she proves successful at something…and Ted trumpets it. Patty Weiss is who you all should be worrying about for a lot of reasons. Similar issues stances…name recognition..and also “fighting the party” and running an “outsider campaign.”
But, hey, the more you come after Giffords, the more you raise her name recognition in other parts of the district…and the more you alienate people who might be in a position to help your candidate later…should he win the primary.
Self Appointed Opinion Leader:
Graf came close…but not close enough in the primary because extremists in his party were unhappy with his moderate stances on the issues.
I hope you are not implying that endorsements for Giffords and Weiss mean no organization. I don’t know Patty’s situation, but Giffords has a pretty massive list of loyal volunteers (yes…unpaid).
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