Sunday, January 25, 2009

Political Mercenary for Hire

Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen was re-elected yesterday at the parties Statutory Meeting held at Camelback H.S. in Phoenix. The election was a repeat of 2007 but not as close. Pullen's opponent, political consultant Lisa James, lost by only four votes two years ago. The vote, as I recorded it when announced was Pullen 521, James 475, other final numbers are going around, up or down one or two points either way, but it was clear that Pullen won.

It wasn't just Randy Pullen that won yesterday, it was a great victory for the grassroots of the GOP, which Pullen clearly represented or maybe it would be more accurate to say that James clearly represented the special moneyed interest who hire lobbyist and consultants like her, in this particularly case, the Wake Up Arizona Coalition, which was formed to oppose enforcement of Arizona employer sanctions law against knowingly hiring undocumented workers, which James' husband, Gordon James, is a member.

There are many different characters and types in politics, one type is the mercenary. A mercenary is someone who serves merely for wages, they really have no loyalty except to themselves and the almighty dollar. Of course they would never call themselves mercenaries, they use titles such as lobbyist, political or public relations consultant, government affairs consultant and, some are even politicians, they work for who pays them. This is not to say that everyone with one of those titles is a mercenary, there are some very principled people in politics and some make a living as consultants and even as elected officials. As politics as become more and more like a business however, more and more of the participants are really just mercenaries.

Lisa James is a mercenary, she makes her living as a hired gun, she works for who pays her. If you go to the Arizona Secretary of State's web site, at http://www.azsos.gov/ and search campaign finance, contributors, and go as far back as the web site allows, 1998, you will find that Lisa James has never given a penny to the AZ GOP or any candidate, not in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, or 2008. She listed running the 2006 AZGOP Victory Program, for which she was paid $100, 000, as a qualification for her as state chairman, but still she wont contribute a single penny to any political candidate or party. Randy Pullen on the other hand has a long history of voluntary political work, for which he was never paid and, making political contributions.

There is another word that political mercenaries use to describe themselves, and that is as professionals and, those of us that are not in it for the money they refer to in a condescending manner as volunteers. Some of the people who are in it for the money I sometimes refer to as the hired help.

Yesterday the grassroots volunteers won and the Arizona GOP didn't slip into the hands of the mercenaries and those that pay them. The Arizona Republican Party still represents the average citizen and not the big money special interest and control of the Republican Party in Arizona is still from the bottom up under the leadership of principled people like Randy Pullen and not from the top down under the control of mercenaries like Lisa James.

Correction- see comments

3 comments:

  1. You are pathetic Haran! You have NEVER even met Lisa James. Not once. You and your Border NUTZ may have won the battle. Let's see how well you do with NO $$$. The Business community that you blast at every opportunity will not be participating in the AZ GOP for the next 2 years. We will be working for candidates, not a bunch of Right Wing crazies like you.

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  2. CLARIFICATION:

    It is the policy of American Conservative Republican not to publish any anonymous article or comment and I have had to reject many good comments for that reason, however, the following anonymous comment points out some facts that need clarification.
    -------------------------------------------------

    Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Political Mercenary for Hire":

    Check your op research there. James gave to McCain and several of his campaign funds, several members of Congress, Tony Bouie, and a few local others (I think Knaperek?). Not to folks I'm especially fond of and no, not to the State Party, but when you're beating on someone for giving nothing at anytime to anybody, you need to get it right.

    Other than that, keep up the good work!
    -------------------------------------------------

    The commenter claims that Lisa James made campaign contributions to McCain, several Members of Congress and Laura Knaperek. In fairness to Lisa James, a check was made only of the Arizona Secretary of State Office web site, which results were published in the article. The SOS only records contributions to committee's registered with them. James may very well have made campaign contributions to federal candidates such as McCain, Members of Congress and, Knaperek when she ran for Congress. She also may have made political contributions on the local level and in other states without it being recorded by the SOS, therefore, the phrase in the fourth paragraph, "Lisa James has never given a penny to the AZ GOP or any candidate," should not have included the words, "any candidate," because there is no proof that she never made a contribution to any candidate, just not a candidate or committee listed with the Arizona Secretary of State. There is also no record that she made a contribution to Tony Bouie's 2008 campaign for the Arizona House of Representative with the SOS.

    The ARC will always welcome corrections and clarifications and we thank the commenter for the information and helping us to be as accurate as possible.

    Thank you,
    BOB HARAN

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  3. Tony GOPrano, above, is really Jeff Vath, he is a Lisa James supporter and McCain worshiper.

    He blogs under Politico Mafioso, which is used to publish press statements for those he supports and insults against those who don't support the same people as himself. He seems to have a particular hatred toward me because I didn't support John McCain during the GOP primaries, I didn't support Tony Bouie for the Republican nomination for the Arizona House from LD 6, and I supported our chairman, Randy Pullen, over Lisa James for Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party.

    Mr. Vath is very intolerant of those whom disagree with him and seems to enjoy hurting others with insults, therefore, I have changed the name of his blog on our links to Porky Pig Blog, in honor of his slovenly appearance and, the insults against me that he seems to enjoy posting.

    Mr. Vath is also a known coward, as evidenced by his refusal to meet me men to men after publishing vicious insults against me on his big fat blog.

    I'm opposed to personnel insults but in fat Jeff Vath's case I will make an exception. Hopefully, some day he will learn to do unto others as he would have them do unto him, but then again, maybe the cowardly, big fat, Jeff Vath enjoys being insulted, therefore, let's just call Jeff Vath - Porky Pig until he grows up.

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