...State Senator John Nelson (R-Litchfield Park) has dropped his reelection bid, leaving a clear path to the seat for State Senator Don Shooter (R-Yuma) (no Democrat is running in the district). The primary battle was set up when Shooter moved into Nelson's R-leaning district to avoid having to face a strong Democrat in the general election in his former district. That district became a D-friendly one as a result of redistricting.
Nelson, while a die-hard conservative R, would do things that the tea party types frowned upon. Like on those occasions when he would vote in the best interests of his constituents.
At age 76, Nelson has been in public office for nearly three decades, starting with the Phoenix City Council and continuing in the state lege.
Shooter, on the other hand, is a tea party type who never held public office prior to winning a seat in the state senate in 2010. The highlights of his political career thus far: as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he refused to take public comment on the state budget, and at a special session of the lege in 2011, he appeared in costume, in a serape and with a half-empty bottle of tequila in a holster. He chose to use his position not to work for his constituents but instead chose to use it to mock a large percentage of them.
...In a non-Arizona development, but one that is so bizarre that it could be an AZ development, Michigan Congressman Thaddeus McCotter resigned from office.
He's gone from running for president to botching his nominating petitions and ending his reelection campaign in a safe R district to resigning office for reasons that are unknown, thus far.
If that isn't bizarre enough to make him an honorary member of the AZ lege's Republican caucus, consider this - in his farewell statement, he declared that he is becoming a "sovereign citizen."
Ummm...the "sovereign citizen" movement is growing in notoriety, if not numbers. Its ideology is anti-society, anti-government, and violent.
Something tells me that we haven't heard the last of McCotter, and that when he makes national news again, it will be in the police log and there may just be a body count associated with the events that bring him back into public notice.
...Something you may have missed unless you are on all the right (or wrong, depending on your perspective) email lists is the launch of an apparently Republican-sponsored effort to suppress the under-30 vote. It's called "Beers Not Ballots"
Its website (Google it; I'm not going to link to it) is dedicated to urging eligible voters to *not* vote in order to "take direct action" to "delegitimize" the political class.
What they don't say on their website is that the message would be "damn, are we stupid, or what?"
Their scheme for "fixing" our dysfunctional political system is not work to fix it. They want people to believe that not paying attention to and not supporting/opposing particular candidates/officials is the most effective way to convince those particular candidates/officials to do a better job.
Really.
It's a shadowy group. I say "apparently Republican" because while the "movement" is supposedly non-partisan, most of the rhetoric on the website is anti-Obama, anti-health care reform, etc. However, so far I have been unable to find out who is behind it.
The website' "WhoIs" info -
There aren't any names of the people behind this listed on the website or in the emailed press release.
In addition, while the group seems to be most active in AZ and WA, I cannot find any corporate or campaign finance records in either state under that name, nor is there anything on the FEC's website.
The Arizona (East Valley) phone number above tracks back to Mesa, to a likely Republican (didn't check his voter registration, but on his Facebook page, he gloated over Scott Walker's victory in the Wisconsin recall election in June).
Note: I'm not naming him here, not yet, until I can confirm his association with the website and organization. Phone numbers change.
Until more info becomes available...
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