Momentum for change is growing among the AZGOP ranks after a group of State Committeemen contacted AZGOP Secretary Gabby Saucedo Mercer in support of recalling Chair Jonathan Lines. The group had contacted Mercer to announce that they are hoping for a special meeting for the purpose of a Lines’ recall.
| UPDATE |
| Listen to Gabby Saucedo Mercer and John Backer discuss the AZGOP in an interview on the James T. Harris radio show |
Saucedo Mercer notified the grassroots of the group’s intentions in a posting on the Arizona Freedom Alliance website. She wrote:
A group of State Committeemen has contacted me, and asked me to announce that they are now gathering signatures to hold a special meeting to remove Chairman Jonathan Lines from office. I have seen the official call. In my judgment, these are serious people and this is a credible initiative. The date of the special meeting has been set. The official call has been printed. It’s evident to me that this group of State Committeemen is paying close attention to following the Bylaws requirements for a special meeting. All that’s needed to make the call complete is for 20% or more of the State Committeemen to sign the call. It is my understanding that members of this group began to contact leaders and State Committeemen around the state, for signature gathering, this week.
The date of the special meeting will be made public soon after the call and signatures are delivered to me. According to the bylaws, Chairman Lines will have ten days to inspect and challenge any signatures. Then it will be my duty, as secretary, to mail the official call to all State Committeemen. I accept my responsibilities as secretary, and I pledge to the State Committeemen that if a call with sufficient qualified signatures comes to me, I will mail the call.
The campaign against Lines started early this summer by Precinct Committeeman John Backer, who had heard from Republicans across the state that Lines had broken promises. Backer, “a mild-mannered man known for doing the hard jobs no one else wants to do,” according to one Party member who asked to remain anonymous, went to work ascertaining just how serious Party members were about Lines.
Backer says the most common complaint he heard was about transparency and Kenney. Kenney, a caustic crusader for senators John McCain and Jeff Flake, earned scorn for what was described as “thuggish” behavior on behalf of McCain during the 2014 election cycle.
According to Backer, Lines has drawn criticism for blocking efforts to make the Party apparatus more transparent. Backer points to the fact that newly-elected Treasurer Bob Littieri was first denied access to the Party’s financial records, and was only granted access after signing a non-disclosure agreement. Backer says that when Lines blocked the popular Saucedo Mercer from access to Party information, the grassroots had finally had enough.
In an interview on the James T. Harris show, Backer said it was obvious that “something has to be done.” Backer created a website and immediately began hearing from Party members urging him to launch a recall.
The situation came to head at the June 17th AZGOP Executive Committee meeting in Flagstaff. Motions to permit Bylaw Committee members to share contact information and a motion to grant access to the permanent records to Saucedo Mercer were quickly ruled out of order. When Kenney rebuked Saucedo Mercer, who has earned her popularity for speaking truth to power to the nation’s most progressive representative, Congressman Raul Grijalva, Party members were aghast.
Lines and his predecessor were mostly silent and then only offered lukewarm support for President Trump. As a result, Lines barely beat out Trump supporter Jim O’Connor in the AZGOP chair race. While the Party’s establishment continues to resist Trump, the grassroots not only embrace him, they want more representatives just like him.
Nothing could provide better evidence of the divide that Lines has not been able to straddle, as the recent polling which shows that both McCain and Flake are the two most unpopular senators in the country.
The AZGOP sided with McCain during the 2014 cycle and gave short shrift to his primary challengers. Kenney was part of that effort and few supporters of Alex Melusky and Kelli Ward will not forget that any time soon.
Party observers believe that Backer and Saucedo Mercer will come under attack. Backer will be attacked for starting the conversation, and Saucedo Mercer will be attacked for merely declaring that she will meet the requirements of her office.
To date, insurgents have had little luck dislodging the establishment. During the reign of former chair Robert Graham, the insurgents experienced firsthand the depths to which the McCain wing of the Party could go. Graham’s dirty tricks on behalf of McCain earned him a special place in Arizona’s political hall of shame.
Lines’s selection of Kenney has ensured that he cannot shake the Graham legacy. Precinct Committeemen are afraid that Lines will continue the destruction of the Party which began under Graham. The grassroots are determined, says Backer, “to do what they can to see that Trump gets the support he needs to drain the swamp. That starts here – in our own backyard,” says Backer.