Thursday, August 7th, 2008...7:36 am
Ah, More Republican Handwringing (Or: Tempest, Meet Teapot)
Those of you that follow the goings on on Sonoran Alliance and Espresso Pundit know that the current earth shattering controversey that serves to show that downtrodden conservative Republicans are a constantly persecuted group in Arizona is….
Well, gosh, it is so hard to even describe.
There are signs for Republican candidates that have elephants on them.
Oh horror of horrors!
Here is the allegation coming from these folks (I’d link the individual posts, but there are too many, just take a visit to either Sonoran Alliance or Espresso Pundit and feel the unbridled outrage): that Protect Arizona’s Future (a group with major funding from the Firefighters, more on that later) are making signs as an independent expenditure for moderate Republicans in a couple of districts, and that these signs have a Republican elephant on them. Of course these candidates are, well, Republicans, so I am a little lost on why this is such a big deal.
Apparently it is a big deal to…um…someone. The claim is that the RNC has a copyright on that elephant, so other groups can’t use it. The State Republican Party has contacted the RNC, and the RNC has sent a letter out to PAF asking that they ”cease and desist” from using the elephant logo. Apparently, the elephant can only be used on behalf of certain Republicans.
Let me sum this up for you: the state Republican party is taking action against a group that is spending money for Republican candidates. That’s right. Not only that, but at least in the case of Pete Hershberger, they are taking action against the people supporting the candidate that has a better chance of winning the general election.
Something else that is funny, here is a group that is union funded supporting Republicans. First off, the allegation was made that they might be spending union dues, which would be illegal. They knew full well that it is PAC money, but if it might not be, that hits their evidentiary threshhold.
Secondly, there is always this claim that these unions are always supporting lefties even if their members are Republicans. So, here is one case of unions supporting Republicans, and they are still complaining. This ain’t even the first time they’ve done it: the Firefighters have supported Republicans for local office down here for a long time, and even unions that are considered more traditionally liberal, like SEIU and the AEA have supported Republicans too.
Because of the Clean Elections laws (the ones that these conservatives have kvetched about, campaigned against but are happy to cash the checks from), candidates that these guys are running against get money to make up for the expenditure against them. They can use that money, I suppose, to make signs with elephants on them.
I’m still enjoying watching these guys rip each other up. I gotta order another hot dog.
NB – Way back in the last century (1994), Lela Alston was running against Lisa Graham for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Graham wasn’t Graham-Keegan yet, and no one knew that she would up and abandon the office when things got tough either. Anyway, the Firefighters funded a independent campaign on Alston’s behalf, making several four by four signs that said “ALSTON – Superintendant of Public Instruction.” That’s right…they spelled it that way. This is the correct way to spell the term in several West Slavic languages, but unhelpful when running for office in Arizona (maybe she got the Czech vote, or maybe there is a Sorbian community near Wickenburg that we don’t know about). Not that this lost the election for her (check the year and then tell me what her chances were), but it doesn’t help a person running for the top education post to have a misspelling on the signs.
Not the best spelling error ever though: that would be a local JP candidate back in 1992 that had a letter in Spanish to demonstrate to her constituents that she was bilingual. The said that she had been a lawyer in the community for ten years, “diez años.” Trouble was, she omitted the tilde over the n, which gives the phrase an entirely different meaning. She narrowly won.
9 Comments
August 7th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Hilarious! Can someone have a copyright on an animal? If so, does the RNC have a copyright on the Indian or African elephant?
August 7th, 2008 at 8:24 am
*snickers*
August 7th, 2008 at 8:30 am
I wish there were some way to add a Republican symbol to Tim Bee’s television ads.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:22 am
If the Dems would copyright the jackass, then we wouldn’t ever have to see a photo of Jimmy “Fat Bastard” Weiers again.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:09 am
hahhahahah Terry!
August 7th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I see the elephants on many of the Republican candidate signs in my area. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got covered up in the general season, though.
I second the compliment to Terry. Good one!
August 7th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
What is even funnier is that they really believe that “the states biggest power broker” personally drove down to “put Hershberger signs all over tucson” like they don’t have anything better to do with their time.
“Nothing will tick off Tucsonans more than someone driving down from Phoenix to tell them how to vote. ”
Because these guys really believe that they are in touch enough to speak for all Tucsonans? Please. I would be willing to bet it was a Tucson resident from outside of district 26 who installed the signs, not anyone from phoenix.
August 7th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Ted, you are neglecting to mention one very important feature of these pro-Hershberger signs, which is that they display conservative “buzz phrases” like “Protecting Our Borders” and “Fighting For Lower Taxes.” It’s an obvious attempt to dissuade voters from buying into the rhetoric coming out of Al Melvin’s camp blasting Hershberger as a moderate and a RINO. These signs, paid for by the firefighters, are direct evidence that Hershberger is running scared and knows that Melvin’s attacks are starting to stick with GOP voters.
Hershberger and his allies are using these signs and other campaign propaganda to “run right” in the primary in a rather cynical ploy to stop conservatives from backing Melvin. However, we can be certain that this charade will be dropped if Hershberger wins the GOP primary. After that, he’ll be back to touting his moderate cred.
Voters in LD26 who want a candidate that is sensible, pragmatic and won’t run a campaign pretending to be someone she is not should wait for November and cast their ballot for Cheryl Cage! Even if Hershberger wins, he’ll still caucus with and vote to keep in leadership the same right-wingers that he claims to take on in the Legislature. It’s discouraging and deceptive for him to run his campaign using the same rhetoric employed by people he usually disdains.
August 8th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
We should get a spray-can template to alert the voting public of POSERs like Tim Bee. He’s just one shade away from Graf and two inches further up Jim Click’s @$$.