Schweikert Resigns to Run

Maricopa County Treasurer David Schweikert has announced that he is resigning in order to run for Congress in CD 5.  I'll have a full story later.

Here's the full letter.

Comments

[123@gmail.com]

Someone should get Schweikert a communications director who can write in English. That resignation letter is embarrassing. "Shinning" example? "The Treasurer's Office has billions of dollars being collected"?

[Faith]

Did he actually send Chairman Brock a list of accomplishments with his resignation letter or was that solely for our benefit?

[Chastity]

Good luck David!

[Gerry Mander]

I winced reading that. It's ok to be ambitious, but that was too much.

[Dewey]

Great news that they're starting to line up to take Harry on. He'll be ripe for the picking.

But please tell me that the letter was a formality, that the Board knew in advance that he was leaving, and that he didn't just submit a surprise resignation with two business days notice in order to pursue greener (?) political pastures. Seems like with all those billions to take care of that he could have stayed on for say, the standard two weeks?

[BobH]

Poor letter -- as the first document of his campaign, it doesn't bode well.

Item #1 on Schweikert's to-do list: Hire a writer.

[Sheila W]

That is great news! Mr. Schweikert called me personally with an issue I had with property taxes and it was resolved immediately. I will absolutely vote for him. Good luck David, but I don't think you'll need it!

[Robert K]

He didn't give "2 days notice". Everyone that has been following this has known he was talking to the board for weeks.

[Ann]

There is no doubt the letter would be public, on blogs if no where else. This is his first salvo in the campaign. Hey, use whatcha got. The renderings of that action may not be what he expected but such is politics.

We have a full field of candidates but even if I have a favorite, which I do, my goal will be to turn the blue seat red. If we beat up on each other too much, Harry will walk into the seat because the primary will have been so bloody, only the least severely wounded will be left standing. But with weak spots already laid open, Harry will surely pour all the salt in he can get his hands on.

[DGN]

You can't assume that a GOP primary with a bunch of candidates is an automatic win for Harry.

In 1994 (yes a uniquely GOP-friendly year) Hayworth, Schweikert, Husk (and I think I missed someone in there, oh well) all fought a tough primary with Hayworth obviously coming out ahead.

Hayworth defeated Karan English, who, like Harry was a well-known state lawmaker who had a strong base in one city of the district.

Karan was often profiled in the Republic because she was the first woman Member of Congress from Arizona in many years. Harry gets a lot of ink because, well, the Republic likes him.

Karan also had the advantage of being in a nominally Democrat-leaning district, though many Dems in that district are more conservative than a lot of Republicans. Harry's district is overwhelmingly GOP.

Harry runs a pretty good shop. He's done some things better than Karan, who had a tin ear for the media and did not cover her large district well when it came to constituent services and the like.

But CD 5 is still a majority GOP district and that counts for a lot. The GOP nominee will be able to paint Harry in certain ways and no one will be able to call the GOP nominee a bully. The dynamics will be much different than 2006.

Now 2008 may shape up to be another good Democrat year and Harry is not some driftwood that got washed into office on a strong Democrat tide, so it will be tough. But Mitchell did not get elected so much as Hayworth got fired. Mitchell must prove to that district that he can vote their interests. I submit that he has not -- he's a reliable soldier for Nancy Pelosi most of the time.

There are other parallels:

1. Jay Blanchard won a state senate seat in Gilbert-Mesa when Groscost melted down due to alt fuels. Though a Dem, Jay voted pretty conservatively. Yet he was toast by the time the next election came around.

Voters rejected Jeff, but did not embrace Blanchard -- he was a placeholder. They really wanted a Republican again.

2. Sam Coppersmith rode the 1992 Democrat wave and defeated Jay Rhodes who was a weak campaigner anyway and was caught up in the House bank check kiting flap. Ol' Sam knew the jig was up the minute he stepped into office and promptly decided to run for the US Senate where Jon Kyl put the hurt on him. Like Jay Blanchard, he too, was merely a placeholder. The same can happen to Mitchell.

[The Klute]

Of course, if the GOP nominates someone for President who is unpalatable to the base (*cough* Giuliani *cough*) then it'll supress turnout for the GOP in general. If the election was run today, I think that'd be the case.

Having said that, please nominate Rudy or Grandpa Fred. That'll be so awesome.

[carolyn]

See you at the Professional Republican event at Club 6 coming up.