Planning for the removal of Arizona Republican Party Jeff DeWit and replacing him with current Arizona Corporation Commissioner Jim O’Connor appears to have occurred weeks ago, possibly as early as late-2023.
Party activists notice that O’Connor was featured heavily at the recent Maricopa County Republican Committee meeting and believe it was part of a deliberate effort to raise his profile in anticipation of the coordinated attack on DeWit. These allegations were initially disputed, as Kari Lake’s supporters insisted that the timing was entirely coincidental and that Lake acted as a matter of conscience and in service of a higher moral cause. But earlier today, ABC15 reporter Garrett Archer tweeted out an image of a legal opinion from the staff at the Arizona Corporation Commission, in response to an earlier request from Jim O’Connor himself, asking whether or not he could simultaneously serve on the Commission and as Republican Party chairman. According to O’Connor, he was being asked to serve as chairman.
It is unclear how much earlier O’Connor asked the question, but all of the legal research was completed and the opinion letter was finally delivered back on January 8th, weeks before Lake delivered the coup de grace on DeWit.
“…Corp. Comm Chairman Jim O’Connor asked for AZCC Counsel’s opinion on conflict of interest since he was “asked to serve as the Chair of the Republican Party.””
I was just given this. On Jan. 8 Corp. Comm Chairman Jim O'Connor asked for AZCC Counsel's opinion on conflict of interest since he was "asked to serve as the Chair of the Republican Party."
This morning many @azgop members received a text with a voting slate featuring O'Connor. pic.twitter.com/i27253oKIw
— The AZ – abc15 – Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) January 26, 2024
There is no word yet who might challenge O’Connor but a last minute effort is underway to recruit a conservative challenger with a background in political organization and campaigns, in hopes that the state party might still be of value to Republican candidates in 2024, including President Trump himself.
“The irony is that O’Connor’s most raucous supporters are people who think they are fighting to drain the swamp,” said a Republican State Committeeman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, “instead they are championing a cause built by someone who betrayed and blackmailed a friend and waited months for the opportune time to politically destroy him. They are creating another swamp, and most of them won’t see it. For his part, O’Connor invokes the name of God every chance he gets but seems to be happy building his new political house on shifting sands.”
In 2022, former AZGOP Chair Kelly Ward accused O’Connor of lacking integrity and implied that he was part of a group of “slanderous liars who will say and do anything for perceived power or upstanding leaders who sacrifice to serve.”
