Arizona Republican Party

Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen credits his party's success in the state's legislative races with pure hard work, he said in comments release by the Arizona GOP - taunting the Arizona Democratic Party at the same time.

"Our Republican candidates and our party were outspent in excess of 5 to 1 by the Democrats," said Pullen, "but they campaigned hard and with real ideas about how to address the challenges our state faces."

As of the latest results, it seems at least 35 Republicans will form the majority in the Arizona House when it reconvenes in January - a net gain of two. The Arizona Senate will likely keep its previous balance, 17 Republicans to 13 Democrats.

"While Democrats were trying desperately to buy this election, we simply out-worked them, making hundreds of thousands of phone calls and providing the training and support our candidates needed to be successful," Pullen said.

The Arizona Republican Party will have two events Tuesday evening - one the official McCain party at the Biltmore, and another for those who weren't able to swing a ticket to their nominee's Election Night soiree.

The Phoenix Convention Center will have "a few people," according to the party, as the election returns come in.

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.

DENVER -- Don Bivens, Chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, evoked a sustained cheer from the state's Democratic National Convention delegation when he announced the latest voter registration figures for Arizona.

"For this period, Democrats registered 19,000 new voters," said Bivens. "The Republicans registered something that starts with 8, and independents had about 7,000.

"That means Democrats out-registered Republicans and independents combined," he said, meeting huge cheers.

The Congressional candidates are not the only ones gearing up for the election season, the state parties also filed their federal PAC numbers with the FEC too. 

The Democratic State Party took in $148,417 and spent $163,026 in July leaving themselves $126,012 in the bank.  The Arizona Republican Party received $68,094 while spending $38,050 and ended July with $95,046 in the bank.

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 has filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission against 3rd Congressional District Democratic candidate Bob Lord, who is challenging U.S. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Phoenix) for his seat.

"Lord, a Democrat, filed a campaign finance report showing a number of contributions made on the last day of the reporting period," read the release announcing the complaint. "But an online news site, Politickeraz.com, reported that Lord's campaign manager also expected to report additional contributions that had not yet been received by the campaign."

The Republican attack is based on remarks Andrew Eldgredge-Martin, Lord's campaign manager, made to PolitickerAZ.com on July 3, that the campaign was still counting contributions sent on or before June 30, the last day of the second quarter.

PRESCOTT -- Wednesday night, residents of the 1st Congressional District gathered to hear Republican candidate Dr. Sandra Livingstone inside her campaign headquarters, which occupy the corner of an office building that overlooks Courthouse Square.

Livingstone, who is challenging Republican Party-backed Syndey Hay and other candidates in the primary, filed her candidacy just before the June 4 deadline, and flew under the radar until her Federal Election Commission report came out, showing she had near-parity with Hay in cash on hand. Her June fundraising came in at $4,725 - well behind Hay's quarterly take of about $95,000 - but she has put up $200,000 of her own money, meaning she is very much in the race from a money perspective.

Around 20 people, mainly senior citizens, showed up for the Livingstone town hall, where they heard her discuss Second Amendment rights, energy policy and her recommendations for bringing the nation's finances under control.