ALIEN OBSESSION
One of the weirdest moments of the recent Arizona Republican Party reorganization meeting came when a little old lady rose to address her fellow GOPers from a mic on the floor of the Camelback High School auditorium. On the agenda was a resolution on school vouchers, an issue that seemingly had nothing to do with the issue of immigration.
Stephen Lemons
Above: Paul Eckerstrom, the AZ Dems' new chairman. Below: Randy Pullen scores a second term as the state's top GOPer.
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"We ought to do something about school vouchers not going to illegal aliens," croaked the blue-hair, noting that Catholic parochial schools were the biggest sinners in her eyes. "I know that a lot of money [from vouchers] has gone to illegal alien children."
In the confusion that followed during the debate on the voucher resolution, Grandma Moses' suggestion was forgotten, seen as a non sequitur, even by those in agreement. The more progressive tuskers rolled their eyes at her comments. But such moderates — a dirty word among the Republican faithful — were generally in the minority.
Indeed, the rank and file of the Arizona branch of Abraham Lincoln's party remains firmly in the grip of a pathological fear of Mexicans. That's one of the main reasons Randy Pullen beat back challenger Lisa James, despite her stack of endorsements from party leaders like state House Speaker Kirk Adams, state Senate President Bob Burns, state Treasurer Dean Martin, and Congressman Jeff Flake.
Young and smart, with a proven track record as a fundraiser and organizer, particularly in her role as executive director of President George Bush's 2004 Arizona re-election effort, James seemed poised to take the mantle from Pullen, whose tenure has been filled with missteps, ideological preening, and a lack of serious fundraising.
In fact, the largest campaign contribution of the most-recent election cycle — $105K from MCSO Captain Joel Fox — is still the subject of controversy and investigation. Many believe, despite Pullen's repeated denials, that the money was illegally earmarked for a slimy campaign ad against Sheriff Joe Arpaio's 2008 rival, Dan Saban, one that charged Saban with masturbating while on duty.
At the meeting, many GOPers — Treasurer Martin, for instance — seemed disgusted by the mere mention of the ad. When this wacky warbler asked Martin early on why he was supporting James over Pullen, Martin let fly.
"Let's just say the party will be much better off when I don't have to turn off the TV or the radio because there's a GOP ad with sexually explicit language in it," he said.
Ice-cold as an undertaker, Pullen later defended the ad to this clucker, claiming it was the turning point in the Saban-Arpaio match-up.
"I spent $65,000 on an ad that ended Saban's run for sheriff," crowed Pullen. "It was like a nuclear bomb and destroyed any chance Saban had."
As for the ongoing fallout from the Fox contribution, Pullen insisted that "nothing will come of it." After all, he gave back the money, so what's the big deal?
But neither the Saban ad nor the Fox scandal ended up as deciding factors in the race for chairman. Rather, it was Pullen's proud nativism and his deft smear of James as being pro-amnesty. Where James preached party unity and inclusiveness, Pullen had no problem breaking Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment by speaking ill of another pachyderm.
"When our U.S. Senate Republican leadership decided it was time to pass a comprehensive immigration bill, hereby giving amnesty to 15 or 20 million illegal aliens in our country," he reminded during his re-election speech, "I said: 'No.'
"I stood up and was counted," said Pullen, later asking, "Where was my opponent? She was praising our congressional leadership for supporting amnesty."
The crowd booed, a sign that what former Republican County Attorney Rick Romley has termed "the new McCarthyism," regarding immigration, is still in full force.
Not surprisingly, after breaking into smaller groups, GOPers then cast their ballots in favor of Pullen, 521 to 474. That's a substantial margin, compared to the last time James and Pullen went toe-to-toe, when Pullen eked out a victory by a mere four votes.
After her defeat, James acknowledged that Pullen had effectively torpedoed her in his address.
"We have some very divided folks in our party on how they feel about [immigration]," she observed. "They're going to have to find some common ground because, unfortunately, the folks that are going to be deciding that now are in charge at the federal level."
Pullen's side also employed some classic Richard Nixon-esque rat-fucking techniques, such as adding an insert to each Republican's packet stating that James had been "endorsed" by New Times, even though that was patently false.
Though this cardinal's colleague Sarah Fenske interviewed James for a blog item, and The Bird's online doppelganger, Feathered Bastard, labeled Pullen (accurately) as being from "the wacky hillbilly wing of the party," New Times didn't endorse either candidate. New Times almost never endorses candidates, giving us the freedom to ream 'em all at a later date.
Wing-nutty GOP activist (and friend to The Bird) Bob Haran approached this avian as the meeting was breaking up and said, "You know what this means? This means the Arizona Republican Party cannot be bought."
