Saturday, November 12, 2011

Campaign committees update...

With the end of the 2011 election season, culminating in Tuesday's historic recall of Russell Pearce, the 2012 election cycle is in full swing.  While some changes will be made if/when Congressional and legislative district lines are finalized, more folks are jumping into races.

...Spencer Morgan of Gilbert has filed paperwork to run for Congress as a Democrat in CD5 (not sure if that is the current CD5 or the one on the draft maps produced by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.)  However, given that his listed website, MorganforCongress.org doesn't exist yet so all he has is his Facebook public figure page, he may not be much of a factor next year.

Note: MorganforCongress.org should not be confused with Morgan4Congress.com.  That's the website of Vincent Morgan, a Democratic candidate in New York City.

Oh, I should note now that all district designations are presumed to be the current ones, unless other indicated.

...Paul Babeu, the Republican sheriff in Pinal County, is "exploring" a run for Congress.  Something that has been reported before, and has been long expected.  Of note to some readers is the listed treasurer for the Babeu committee:  Chris Derose.  He's been in and around the edges of Arizona politics for a while now, including running for a House seat from LD17 in 2006.  If he later moves over to an official Babeu campaign, he won't be there as the voice of moderation (not that anybody expects a Babeu campaign to have any).

...Clair Van Steenwyck of Buckeye has formed a committee to run for the Republican nomination for US Senate.  He appears to be a tea party type.  And I can't say that he is an unserious candidate, but at least Spencer Morgan (above) typed out his paperwork.  Van Steenwyck's is hand-written.

...It's rumored that other candidates (some of the rumors are surprising) will be stepping forward in the next few weeks, while other rumored candidates will choose to pass on a run in 2012.  More when those rumors solidify into confirmable interest/disinterest...

Legislative news -

...Mary Hamway, a town council member in Paradise Valley, is "exploring" a run for the Republican nomination for an LD11 House seat.  However, the "exploratory" designation on her committee appears to be pro-forma only.  She announced in May that she was going to make the run.

...Victoria Steele of Tucson has formed a committee to for a run at the Democratic nomination for an AZ House seat in LD26.

...In Maricopa County news -

- Kyle Jones, formerly a member of the Mesa City Council, has filed paperwork for a run at the Republican nomination for North Mesa Justice of the Peace.  That office is currently held Lester Pearce, the brother of recently recalled (and now former) state senator Russell Pearce.

Not having followed Mesa politics until the last few months, all I know about Jones is what I read in the linked article, but between Jerry Lewis' victory over Russell this week and the appearance of an apparently well-respected Republican challenger to Lester, it's possible that the Pearce machine in Mesa has seen its best days..

...In Scottsdale news...

- Debra Komarnicki of north Scottsdalei, a sales person/manager of some kind for AT&T, is running for a seat on the city council.  She moved here in June. 

Of this year. 

I don't know her.  She may be well-meaning and highly qualified (or not, I really don't know), but Scottsdale is not known for voting for newbies here.  Hell, most cities and towns in the country don't do that.  Anything could happen, but my guess right now is that she doesn't stand a real chance this time around.

- Joe Meli, also of north Scottsdale, has formed a committee to run for City Council.  Know even less about him than Komarnicki, but he looks to have been in Scottsdale longer than a few months.


...In Tempe news -

- GC Saarup has formed a committee for a run at a seat on the City Council.  Know even less about him than about Meli, above.


Expect these posts to come with a more regular frequency as the calendar approaches and turns to 2012..

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