Arizona: Randy Pullen

by David Safier
The back-and-forth between Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist (No New Taxes, Ever!) and Chair of the AZ Republican Party Randy Pullen got a little snippy over the past few days.

On June 4, Norquist accused Pullen of being part of an orchestrated, $225,000 media campaign, agreed to by Brewer, to target Republicans who are "standing strong" by backing the legislature's no-new-taxes budget.

Yesterday Pullen fired back with a, shall we say, testy response.

For the record, your letter is, at best inaccurate, and at its worst an attempt to defame and discredit our Republican Governor and me. In short your letter displays what is most often described as what is wrong with the conservative movement – an insatiable desire to eat its own.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This is starting to get interesting. Apparently nominal RNC Chairman Michael Steele was recently out of the country and he was none too happy to learn upon his return stateside that his lieutenants have been plotting a coup d'état against him in the Banana Republican Party. (Thanks, Dave)

The Moonie Times today has another EXCLUSIVE: Steele fights back against RNC 'scheme' - Washington Times:

The embattled Republican National Committee chairman angrily returned fire in his fight with current and former officers over control of the GOP's purse strings.

Under attack from conservatives since taking office on Jan. 30, Michael S. Steele on Wednesday blasted a group of members pushing for new checks and balances on the chairman's spending powers, accusing them of a power grab "scheme.

I recieved a couple of e-mails this weekend from people preturbed that the state party is hiring a head hunter to search for the next executive director. I share a great deal of the concerns of the people that wrote me, but I did a little poking around and found out a little about what motivated the decision.

First off, the “rollout” of this doesn’t seem to be handled well. Given what has gone on over the last couple of weeks, and the complaints of lack of communication and inclusion for the last few years, it is understandable that many party officers would feel like this decision was yet another one sprung on them.

 
Brett Mecum will remain executive director of the state Republican Party.
Mecum has been in the role on an interim basis since Jan. 1, following the resignation of former Executive Director Sean McCaffrey.
"Brett has proven time and again that he has the abilities and talents to do the job of executive director effectively," party Chairman Randy Pullen said in a statement. "He's earned the confidence of party activists and Republican elected officials throughout the state."
Mecum began work for the state party in February 2007 as communications director. In the fall of that same year, he was named political director, and continued in ...

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