Reconsidering my (Lack of) Political Affiliation, Part II

In my previous post I openly floated the question as to whether or not I should register as a Republican for the upcoming primary, which will become more of a necessity should John McCain succeed in barring independent voters from voting in his primary. I am now going to present an argument as to why I should not become a Republican. But first, some historical background.

I have lived in Arizona Congressional District 8 (hereinafter referred to as CD8) since February of 1999. The incumbent Congressman was Jim Kolbe, who was in his post for several years. Some viewed him as "moderate", others may have thought he was too far right, and others yet may have thought he was too far left. Whatever the sentiment, I had the sense that he was more popular in this district than he was unpopular, a sentiment borne out with his repeated reelection. All I can tell you is that in my dealings with his office, he was very responsive, sending me a letter that addressed my point. It wasn't a form letter. It was a response to whatever specific concern that I had raised at that time. I may or may not have agreed with what he said, but I always appreciated his taking the time to get back to me.

However, with each election cycle, there was speculation on whether or not he would retire. This began to bubble in the 2003 timeframe. We were figuring that he was going to step down, that maybe it was time to go into retirement, and let someone else have the seat. A conservative state senator named Randy Graf was thinking the same thing, and he made the decision to challenge Jim Kolbe in the Republican Party. The party establishment, of course, paid no attention then to this challenge, but Randy Graf ended up getting 40% of the primary vote....including mine. It wasn't that Jim Kolbe was really all that bad, it was instead a sense that we could do better.

Jim Kolbe went on to win the general election, but after his first year or so into that term he announced that he would be retiring and would not run for re-election in 2006. Then five Republicans who wanted his seat came out of the woodwork. They were Frank Antenori, Steve Huffman, Randy Graf, and two others who I can't remember. The initial reaction from the Republican National Committee (RNC) was "may the best man win" and they indicated that they would stay out of this and then back the primary winner.

It was about that time that President Bush continued his betrayal of the base that elected him by announcing that he wanted amnesty for the 12 million illegal aliens who were in our country. This in turn encouraged the RNC to break the promise that they had made to the voters of District 8. They decided to "anoint" Steve Huffman as the next Congressman.

At that point I was already a registered independent, as that my tipping point had been reached earlier when President Bush nominated Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. I figured that I was giving up my privilege of voting in the Republican primary, but I didn't care at that point. The Republican Party had become the party that they ran against and defeated in 1994. I wanted no part of them at that point.

It wasn't long after that that I felt I had done the right thing. The RNC's anointing of Steve Huffman, a former state legislator, was causing us to scrutinize his record. We knew Randy Graf was a border hawk, but what about Steve Huffman? Steve Huffman was all of a sudden trying to convince us that he would be "tough" on border enforcement, but curiously enough, whenever any border issue came up in the state legislature, he was conveniently absent from the voting record! In other words, he had no track record on this issue to speak of at all!

Meantime, I had learned that according to the Arizona Revised Statutes, that I, as a declared nonpartisan, could vote in the primary of any party that wasn't closed to independent voters. I could show up at the polling station, and vote in the Democratic primary, or in the Republican primary (the Libertarian Party is closed to independents). I then realized that I could go ahead and vote for Randy Graf, although I was equally impressed with Frank Antenori. I figured (and correctly, I might add) that if Steve Huffman were to win the primary, he would run as being tough on the border, and then vote for "amnesty" once elected.

The primary vote was held in September 2006, and Randy Graf won the nomination. In other words, the voters of this district who live here rebelled against the Republican National Committee establishment. The party bosses, who had never set foot in Arizona in all their lives arrogantly decided that they knew better, and we told them otherwise.

This didn't sit well with the RNC. They retaliated against their own voters. They refused to fund the candidacy of Randy Graf, and this ultimately led to Gabrielle Giffords, the Democrat, winning election for CD8.

Should she have won?

At that time, the Republicans had 31% of the registered voters, the Democrats 27%, and the rest were either other parties or independents. This district, owned by the Republicans for 22 years, was given to the Democrats by the RNC, as retaliation for the voters here rejecting their girly-man Steve Huffman. Gabrielle Giffords won re-election again in 2008, and is up again this year.

So what are the Republicans going to do?

I guess that depends. The best known declared candidate is former state senator Jonathan Paton, who resigned his state senate seat a few months ago to formally declare for this race. The next best known candidate after that is ex-Marine Jesse Kelly. Jesse Kelly should be known to you if you've regularly visited the Drudge Report as that I've seen his ad up there numerous times. I don't see the RNC establishment backing him should he win, but I think that they just might back Paton if he wins.

Meantime, I'm still an independent, but I think I'm going to go ahead and register as a Republican for the reasons detailed in my last posting. I really don't want to do this, especially in light of the contempt that the party bosses have for the fine people of this district, but I think it's important to take McCain out sooner rather than later.

Also, there's a rumor that Sheriff Joe is going to run for governor. That's right, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County. He's the sheriff that you've been reading about for several years....the sheriff who brought the chain gangs back to Arizona, the sheriff who makes his inmates wear pink underwear and 1930s style striped prison uniforms, and who just recently is making the prisoners ride exercise bikes if they want to watch TV.

I don't see incumbent governor Jan Brewer winning reelection. She's an improvement over who we had before, but she stumbled badly in her first few months in office and I don't see her winning against Terry Goddard. The voters are angry right now, and I think they'll be even angrier in November.

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Other tidbits, then I'll sign.

Things between Lynette and I are very strong, and we're making plans to visit each other's families. This means trips to San Jose and to southern Wisconsin over the next few months. I'm hoping that San Jose will happen in June, and if it does that will be a short one.....but we plan on returning there in November.

In July, we are planning to go to Wisconsin, with a side trip to Iowa since I want to see Aunt Marge and Uncle Tony. Uncle Tony is still recovering from his surgery. Aunt Marge is in excellent spirits. I really admire her; she sets an example during her adversity that I am in awe of.

The new Bachman & Turner CD is in its final stages from what I hear. I don't know if they're coming to Arizona just yet, but I'm sure they'd like to. If not, then hopefully Las Vegas, since I can get up there and enjoy a scenic drive along US93.

At work, my job responsibilities have changed. I'm no longer helping to develop circuit cards. During my last review my supervisor told me that there were some other opportunities within our group that I should consider, and after spending a weekend thinking about it I decided to pitch in and to help out a project that really needs it. I was expecting it to be temporary but I'm now on that one full time.

The best way to describe it is that I am working on what the circuit cards are actually used for. They reside in an assembly, and that assembly resides in another assembly, and it is that second level assembly that I am now working on.

I think it will be a good use of my skills.