Rum, Romanism and Rebellion » Arizona Democratic Party

Bob Lord: Prophet in Our Time

Tedski — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:00:23 +0000

This from Bob Lord’s open letter to Democratic activists, published here last year when he decided not to run for party chair:

I’m virtually certain John Shadegg will not seek re-election in 2010. As he made clear during the 2008 campaign, his heart just isn’t in the job anymore. His decision to reverse his retirement announcement one year ago was less a reflection of his own thinking than that of Republican leadership and conservative special interest groups, who desperately wanted to avoid losing another seat in 2008 and to whom he is eternally loyal. But the dynamics of 2008 won’t be matched in 2010 and, after two more years in the House minority, a role he openly disdains, John will be far less likely to soldier on. His retirement will leave an open seat in Congressional District 3.

It’s Bald Solidarity

Tedski — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:06:43 +0000

Sam Wercinski has landed the endorsement of former Democratic Party Chairman Jim Pederson. Pederson will also be serving on Wercinski’s finance committee.

People that are obsessed with playing the Arizona equivalent of “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” would want me to point out that Pederson is close to David Waid, who served as Pederson’s executive director when Pederson chaired the party. Waid has been advising, in a so far unofficial capacity, the campaign of Wercinski’s opponent Chris Deschene.

Quick Report on the Kingman Meeting

Tedski — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:10:39 +0000

Some sights and sounds from the Democratic Party meeting in Kingman yesterday:

Ed Espinoza from the Democratic National Committee came to address the group. I know Espinoza from his time as President of the Young Democrats of California, and some readers may remember him from his Mr. Super blog, where he anonymously chronicled his life as a superdelegate. Whenever the DNC sends a staffer out to a meeting, we are supposed to interpret this as how seriously the DNC takes us. I don’t know about that, but Espinoza landing in Phoenix and driving out to Kingman certainly demonstrates a personal commitment.
Espinoza gave the news that Phoenix has made the initial cut to be a host for the 2012 Democratic National Convention. This is more a list of which cities qualify to submit bids more than anything else, which roughly coincides with what cities have NBA arenas (Since the 1940, every Democratic convention site but three has been one that also hosted an NBA franchise.) However, I’ve been told that folks at the DNC and in the White House are very interested in having Phoenix host the Democratic convention.
Statewide candidates that made their presence known: US Senate candidates Rodney Glassman and Rudy García, Secretary of State candidate Chris Deschene, Attorney General candidate Felecia Rotellini and Corporation Commission Candidate Jorge García. Probable Attorney General candidate Vince Rabago announced that he was stepping down from his Vice-Chair position, which should end speculation that he isn’t going to run. Rudy García gave a stemwinding speech before the Hispanic caucus that reminded one of something Corky Gonzales would have given in his prime, but it made me wonder how well he’d do in front of a different audience not primed for so many references to Orgullo. Jorge García didn’t speak at either of the caucus meetings I attended, but I saw him roaming the hallways talking to committee members. Glassman has tightened up his message as of late, and even deftly handled a possible gotcha thrown his way by Rudy García. Glassman, by the way, had a crew of folks sporting his t-shirts working the place.
Interesting resignation news came from Amanda Simpson. Simpson is resigning her position on the State Committee to move to Washington. She has gotten an appointment with the United States Department of Commerce, making her the first transgender to get a presidential appointment. Simpson also made history back in 2004 when she was the first transgender to run for office in Arizona. She lost that race in an overwelmingly Republican district, but 31,111 people looked beyond her “status” and voted for her, outpolling the other Democrat in the race.
A slight violation of my pledge to not write about District 28 (it’s tangential!): the committee replaced Vice-Chair Mohur Sidhwa (who resigned to run for state house) with Sharon Covey of Sierra Vista. Rabago announced his resignation, Vice-Chair Matt Capalby announced he’s stepping down to work for Sam Wercinski. Ruben Gallego is making official that he is running for State House, so he will have to step aside as well. We’ll have some stuff to vote on in January, kids!
Did I call this a “Quick Report”? I was deluded, obviously.
A vote on a resolution on election integrity was put off for reasons I didn’t entirely understand, but it didn’t seem to raise a lot of hackles so they couldn’t have been that bad. A bylaws change on the number of meetings was rejected. I wouldn’t have had trouble with reducing the number of meetings a year to three, but there was also an implication from the report on the resolution that we should limit meetings to the “I-10/I-17 Corridor.” Wow, really? These should only be put in places that are a quick jaunt from Phoenix?

Oh, Come On

Tedski — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:32:21 +0000

The folks at the Yellow Sheet decided to take on the Democratic Party for, it seems, a press release that the party sent a year and a half ago.

You may recall that during the heady days of the 2008 campaign, Tim Bee brought George W. Bush to Tucson for a fundraiser for his run for congress. The State Democratic Party pointed out that the Tucson Police Department had to shell out thousands of dollars for the visit, which initially included no public events (although the White House quickly scheduled an tarmac awards presentation when hackles were raised) and was for a political fundraiser at an upscale northside home.

So, enter Joe Biden. Biden came to Phoenix to hold a meeting on the stimulus package and, yes, to do some fundraising too. This means, of course, that the Yellow Sheet had to find some sort of equivalence here. Biden’s visit though, had a public purpose. The folks at the Yellow Sheet (as well as the Republic) pointed out that there were no “Republican dignitaries” at the event. I suppose this means that if Republican officials decide not to come to an event that it is no longer public. Of course, it could be noted that Phil Gordon was there.

The Yellow Sheet reported:

[Jan] Brewer says she wasn’t invited, despite being in direct charge of Arizona’s stimulus money.

As long as we are playing tit-for-tat, Janet Napolitano wasn’t invited to the Bee fundraiser last year either. Folks I talked to that were close to the event claim that Brewer was, in fact, invited. In any case, she knew enough about the event that she sent staff, including her stimulus czar Jim Apperson.

The thing that prompted the Yellow Sheetto pursue this, apparently, was what they saw as “hypocrisy” on the part of the State Democratic Party. The party sent out a press release about the Bee event, but didn’t criticize Biden for doing what actually wasn’t the same thing. They talked to Jennifer Johnson at the State Democratic Party, an organization that didn’t have anything to do with organizing the event, and asked her to justify the press release that Emily DeRosesent out last summer. Johnson, by the way, was not working for the Democratic Party at the time, and DeRose has since moved to Washington.

A recap: Johnson is responsible for and should criticize an event because her predecessor criticized an entirely different sort of event last year. This must mean that everytime the Yellow Sheet writes something I don’t like, I can bring up an e-mail Phil Riske wrote me once. It has nothing to do with anything, but I’m sure it’s equivalent somehow.

My God, He’s Even Lost Bill O’Reilly

Tedski — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:05:08 +0000

(It is worth knowing that O’Reilly, even when he is right, still shows himself to be an idiot. How does Shadegg become si-DAYG?)

The Arizona Democratic Party put out a press release refuting Shadegg’s claims about the bill. I half expected the Arizona Republicans to put out a press release condemning the Dems for attacking a baby (after all, it was Maddie talking, right?). Nothing like that happened. I guess they are as embarassed by Shadegg’s antics as the rest of us.

After the jump, a bit of fact checking on Shadegg’s speech, courtesy of the Arizona Democrats.

Shadegg’s spin: The bill will raise the national debt.
FACT: The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the bill will reduce federal budget deficits by $109 billion.

Shadegg’s spin: The bill will cause people to lose their health coverage.
FACT: Nobody loses their health care under the bill. People who like their plan can keep it. If anything, it enables Americans access to the same kind of affordable and effective health plan that Shadegg and other members of Congress enjoy.

Shadegg’s spin: The bill will result in a government takeover of the health-care system.
FACT: The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says there is nothing backing up the GOP claim, and the bill isn’t expected to have much impact on private insurers.

Shadegg’s spin: Republicans are offering sound alternatives to the bill.
FACT: The Republican proposal left 33 million more people without insurance than the House bill that passed. And the GOP proposal “does not include one of the most popular elements of the Democrats’ plan — a ban on denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions.” (Los Angeles Times, 11/5/09). In other words, Shadegg wants to allow insurance companies to discriminate based on preexisting conditions such as pregnancy. Baby Maddie would not approve…