AZGOP, the voter vault, and delicious irony

The "voter vault" is the AZGOP's database of voter info (contact info, demographic info, etc.) that is used by Republican candidates use during their campaigns.

The Arizona Republic ran a story detailing how the AZGOP has refused Republican Rick Romley access to the database because of his "past actions."

From the story -

How Republican is Republican enough?

Apparently, it requires toeing the most-conservative end of the party line, as Interim Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley recently discovered when he kicked off his campaign for a permanent job in the county administration building.

{snip}

Mecum questioned Romley's consulting work for Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, a Democrat, and Romley's support of Democratic candidates who ran unsuccessfully against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Gov. Jan Brewer, all Republicans.

Romley did not return calls for comment Wednesday.

But he was not the only Republican iced out of the database.

DeeDee Blase, who heads a conservative Hispanic Republican organization called Somos Republicans, has tried to access the database since October. Blase intended to contact Hispanics identified as independents to "bring them into the tent." She also hoped to nominate Hispanics to fill empty precinct-committeeman positions.

Her quest: "Where are the Hispanic areas so I can target them and educate them?"

Mecum replied to Blase with a similar e-mail, saying access to the voter information was a privilege, not a right. "Concerns revolving around endorsements and public statements you have made in recent months that make me very wary of granting you access to Voter Vault," he wrote.

The money quote was in the middle of the article.

"Voter Vault access is a privilege and not an express right for Republican candidates," Arizona Republican Party Executive Director Brett Mecum wrote in an April 21 e-mail to Romley.

Ummm...the AZGOP really may want to consider selecting another one of its functionaries to speak publicly regarding its Voter Vault. Or at least get a longer memory. In addition, either way, Mecum is probably not the most suitable gatekeeper for Voter Vault access.

From the Phoenix New Times, less than five months ago (emphasis mine) -

Arizona Republican Party Executive Director Brett Mecum is "creepy around women," according to a complaint filed with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

A criminal complaint, dredged up by the Yellow Sheet, was filed against Mecum last month, and it claims he used voter registration records to find a woman's address and crash a party at her house.

Check out the affidavit here.

{snip}

The woman says she never gave Mecum her address, nor did she think he even knew where she lived.

When she asked him how he found her address, she claims Mecum told her he had a staffer look it up on Voter Vault, a state voter-registration list.

Based on the evidence, it seems that the AZGOP is OK with people who stalk women accessing its voter information, while people who criticize Joe Arpaio and Andy Thomas are completely unfit for access to the Voter Vault.

Welcome to the 21st Century GOP.

Note: I generally don't discuss the internal operations of the AZGOP. It's their party (and they'll cry if they want to :) ) and within the bounds of law (SCA, anyone?) and good taste (SCA again), they can do whatever they want to do to themselves.

But they served this one up like a rookie pitcher trying to blow a BP fastball by Albert Pujols.