DAVE BRASWELL APPOINTED TO AZ SENATE

By Bob Haran;

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors met this morning in an informal meeting and selected Republican Legislative District 6 Committee Chairman Dave Braswell to fill the vacancy in the Arizona Senate from District 6 caused by the resignation of Pam Gorman, who is running for Congress to fill the open seat caused by the incumbent Congressmen John Shadegg's announcement that he will not run in 2010.

At a special election held by the LD 6 GOP Committee on February 1, Braswell was the first of three to be nominated by the elected Republican Precinct Committeemen of the District. Of the three candidates running for the nomination, Braswell, myself and Lori Klein, Braswell was the only candidate nominated on the first ballot with 64% of the total vote, ( 50% plus one was necessary for nomination ).

On the second ballot, I beat out Klein with 65.6% of the total vote to Klein's 59.6%, both myself and Klein were therefore also nominated. Braswell, having been nominated on the first ballot was not a candidate on the second.

As a now former opponent to Braswell for the appointment, I have no regrets and believe that both the Committeemen form District 6 and the Board of Supervisors made a good selection. Dave Braswell is a good man and should make a fine Arizona Senator. I may have told people too many times that I would have no problem with Dave Braswell as my senator and that is exactly what I got.

I wish Dave success in his new position.

Klein was being backed by candidate for governor and Arizona Treasurer Dean Martin, who preceded Gorman as the LD 6 state senator, Sam Crump, who resigned on February 1 from the Arizona House to run for the U.S. House and LD 6 Representative Carl Seel.

Klein ran into some major problems in her quest for the senate appointment. The first problem was that not being a Republican Precinct Committeemen in LD 6 and having never run for office before, she was unknown by the District 6 Committee. In addition, having never attended a district meeting or making her intentions known, until the last moment, she came on the scene late and was considered an outsider by many of the rank and file.

She may have faced an even more challenging problem for a Republican when it was discovered by this writer that she had contributed to the pro-abortion Wish List, thou she claims to be pro-life.

The last I heard from Braswell and Klein, they both intend to be candidates for the Republican Nomination for the Arizona Senate from LD 6 in the 2010 primary.

I do not plan on running for the senate in 2010.