Sean McCaffrey

Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer had set Friday as the deadline for the Arizona Republican Party to respond to a complaint the Arizona Democratic Party filed against it over alleged campaign finance violations, but while it is not known whether the Arizona GOP met the deadline, indications from the Secretary of State's office are that it might not matter.

On Oct. 14, The Arizona Democratic Party filed a complaint against its counterpart over a large contribution from a group then-known as SCA, now known to stand for the Sheriffs Command Association, whose membership was not revealed, and which had not filed as a political committee with the Arizona Secretary of State or the Maricopa County Recorder's Office. 

Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer said she wanted a response to the complaint from the Arizona Republican Party by Friday - including the names of SCA's membership - but as of midday none had arrived. A call put in to the Secretary of State's office at day's end was not returned.

However, it is questionable whether the matter will go anywhere, with or without a timely response from the Arizona GOP.

The Arizona Democratic Party has filed a multi-part complaint against the Arizona Republican Party over $105,000 in donations the state GOP received from a Mesa group called SCA.

According to the latest campaign filing from the Arizona Republican Party, SCA, which is listed as an "unincorporated association of individuals," gave $80,000 to the party on Aug. 21 and another $25,000 on Sep. 10. SCA is the sole entity listed under "individual contributions" in the party's post-primary filing for its state account.

The Democrats allege in a complaint filed Tuesday with Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer that Republicans have violated campaign finance laws by taking money from SCA without obtaining a list of its donors. The Democrats claim this constitutes taking funds from an individual in the name of another individual, which they say is a class 6 felony.

Sean McCaffrey, executive director of the Arizona Republican Party, is hard pressed to explain why the ethics controversies of U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) haven't been a factor in the campaigns of Arizona Democrats who have received contributions from him. "I honestly don't know" why not, McCaffrey told PolitickerAZ.com. The New York City congressman has been embarrassed by numerous revelations about his activities in the past months, from using a rent controlled luxury apartment as a campaign office, to directing congressional funds toward a project bearing his name. Most recently it came to light that Rangel failed to report income from rental properties he owns in the Dominican Republic.

In an interview with PolitickerAZ.com, Sean McCaffrey, executive director of the Arizona Republican Party, described the party's vision of itself under the leadership of Chairman Randy Pullen, and slammed what he sees as irresponsible journalism surrounding the presidential campaign.

McCaffrey maintained that there is no schism between the Arizona Republican Party and its counterparts on the national and county levels, and explained that any appearance to the contrary was an outgrowth of the party's new role.

"The party exists specifically to assist local candidates," said McCaffrey. "The top of ticket for us will be the governor's race and then legislative races."

The Arizona Republican Party is responding to an attack by the Arizona Democratic Party over comments U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Phoenix) made regarding Social Security, saying U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is not fit to handle the issue.

Speaking at a town hall in Denver on Monday, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee responded to a question regarding the solvency of Social Security by saying:

"Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace - it's an absolute disgrace, and it's got to be fixed." 

Newly released data from Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer's office shows the Arizona Democratic Party has grown its ranks by almost 20,000 registered voters since March, over twice as many as new Republicans or independents added.

According to the Arizona Republican Party, though, the secretary of state's figures can be misleading, and don't take into account factors such as purges in voter rolls, the impact of the Democratic presidential primary and underhanded tactics by Democratically-affiliated groups.

"Democrats' efforts to move Arizona forward and put this country back on track are clearly moving new voters to register as Democrats," said Don Bivens, Arizona Democratic Party chairman, in a release announcing the numbers. "These new registration figures confirm our Party's upward trajectory in Arizona. These new registrations also confirm our excellent opportunities to pick up Congressional and state Legislative seats in November."

Democrats have been making strides toward leveling the playing field with their GOP rivals in terms of voter registration since the 2006 election, and now lag behind Arizona Republicans by around 110,000 voters. In 2006, Republicans had over 150,000 more voters than Democrats in Arizona.

The re-election campaign of U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell says they've had trackers at their offices and at events, both in 2006 and this year. Seth Scott, Mitchell's campaign manager, additionally said the campaign's sentiments regarding tracking in the 5th Congressional District race have been mischaracterized, and that they are simply used to tracking, not practicioners of it.

"Congressman Mitchell has been followed around and videotaped by the other party for two years — whether in Washington or home in Arizona," Scott told PolitickerAZ.com via email. "In fact, just last week, we had someone at our office opening videotaping our supporters, our staff and the Congressman."

The Arizona Democratic Party admits it sent an employee to track attendees of a private fundraiser for 5th Congressional District Republican candidate Laura Knaperek, after the incident was exposed on the J.D. Hayworth Show.

Lauren Barnett, Knaperek's campaign manager, decried the incident Wednesday on the KFYI program of former congressman J.D. Hayworth, who was defeated as an incumbent by Harry Mitchell. According to Barnett, guests at a Knaperek fundraising event noticed a man taking pictures of people coming and going and the license plates of vehicles parked outside. The Knaperek campaign asked him who he was, and he told them his name was David Judd, and he worked for the Arizona Democratic Party.

"This is undemocratic, this is reprehensible. What ever happened to freedom of association?" asked Barnett on Hayworth's show.

Emily DeRose, spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party, said she doesn't see anything undemocratic or reprehensible about the Democrats keeping tabs on their opponents. 

"Of course we keep track of what Rep. Mitchell's opponents are saying and doing," said DeRose. "It's part of our due diligence as they run for office."

Sean McCaffrey deserves a lot of credit for trying to bring the Republican Party together.  Find out who joins him as a winner and find out why the state senate as a whole is a loser this week.

The Arizona Republican Party will be handling Sen. John McCain's fundraising in Arizona, according to Sean McCaffrey, the state party's executive director. This is evidence that the rift between the state and national parties, and more specifically the animus between McCain and the state party, has lessened.

"That intra-party stuff is behind us," said McCaffrey. "It's in the past."

The Arizona GOP, led by Chairman Randy Pullen, famously excoriated Sen. McCain over the senator's backing of the Bush immigration plan, which was wildly unpopular with the party's conservative base. Pullen was newly elected when the reform plan came up, and bad blood has existed ever since.