By Joanne Moudy
I’ve never been fond of rigged elections, not even in grade school when class leaders were chosen on the basis of who had the best treats to hand out. And I’m especially not fond of our illustrious GOP or RNC leaders picking and choosing primary candidates – months before the voting. But that appears to be exactly what’s happening in the southern region of Arizona.
Pima County is in the midst of a contentious race between three GOP candidates, all vying for a spot on the ballot in the general election against the incumbent Ron Barber. But it currently isn’t a fair fight – at all.
It appears from all indications that Carolyn Cox and her minions have already made up their minds that Shelley Kais is the person to win. But there’s also speculation that they’re getting pressured by the RNC National Committeeman, Bruce Ash, as well as his boss Reince Priebus to toe the line and support the weakest candidate on the ballot.
That apparently means the rest of the candidates and the voters can just go home and accept their word as divine.
Then again, maybe not. In an age where mistrust runs incredibly high against the national GOP leadership, why would anyone believe Ms. Cox or her cohorts in this plot? Especially since sources reveal that should Ms. Kais lose the primary (which is a very high probability) she will be Ms. Cox’s successor to the throne, when Ms. Cox steps down next January.
But the muck and mire run far deeper and wider than this simple breech of integrity. So let’s break it all down.
Pima County has a candidate, Ms. Kais, who has absolutely zero military experience, zero national defense experience, no immigration experience, almost no leadership experience, and no private sector business experience – except running a small company designed to train people on how to use a variety of computer and software programs. And as per their own Website, they currently have no courses offered.
Furthermore, although Ms. Kais resume touts that she completed “Doctoral Coursework at Walden University,” there is no indication of how many classes she actually took. It is also interesting to note that Walden University is strictly on-line and offers no classroom time for Ph.D. candidates. Clearly she did not receive her Ph.D., leaving one to speculate if this is just another attempt at appearing to be something she is not.
Regardless of her inexperience, Ms. Kais’ face is front and center on the Pima County RNC/GOP Website, leaving little doubt of their combined support. A face, mind you, that appears to be from several years ago. She is the only candidate out of the three to be given her own sliding banner at the very top of the GOP’s Website. Why is it that – excatly?
Obviously, Ms. Kais had to start somewhere, so I admire her courage to jump into this race. Except she isn’t starting here. As a matter of fact, two years ago she was Ms. Martha McSally’s wingman . . . or er . . . rather her campaign manager. Ms. Kais’ husband, Jim, even contributed $1,000. to Ms. McSally’s campaign in 2012.
So why the sudden switch? Did they have a falling out? Did their liberal, RINO ‘ideals’ suddenly take divergent paths? Or is Ms. Kais a ringer?
Since neither camp has addressed this rather important aspect of the campaign, one can only presume that, in fact, Ms. Kais is little more than a pawn in McSally’s enormous machine – purposely set in motion to dilute the votes so McSally can get to the top, no matter the deceit.
And feeding fuel to this fire is the Pima GOP, which adamantly refuses to allow Mr. Chuck Wooten to post his press releases, event schedule or even a decent photograph of himself – on the Pima county GOP website. It is pathetic (and unethical) that the local GOP leadership is apparently attempting to circumvent our constitutional election process and rig the outcome.
Shame on the Arizona State GOP for not taking a firm stand in this situation and demanding that the playing field be completely level. On several occasions I’ve heard Mr. Robert Graham make it clear that it is inappropriate for the GOP to pick primary candidates, yet that is precisely what the Pima County GOP is doing.
Ms. Kais has launched multiple, petty attacks on Mr. Wooten, ranging from election fraud due to a glitch in the DMV registration of Mr. Wooten’s party affiliation, to the validity of the signatures he turned into the Secretary of State. Interestingly, Ms. Kais’ focus appears to be inconsequential, housekeeping trivia, and not the pressing issues facing the residents of CD-2.
Our country is in serious trouble and this fall will mark an election of monumental import. As history has shown us, there is an enormous difference between real leaders and politicians. Personally, I’m tired of politicians who’ve come up through the ranks and paid their dues to special interest groups or worked as campaign managers for other candidates.
There is absolutely nothing in Ms. Kais’ background that could possibly indicate she understands the issues, let alone be an effective leader in the U.S. Congress. It’s time for the GOP to treat the candidates equally and let the hanging chads fall where they may.