Sean McCaffrey

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.

Now an ethics investigation into Rangel's finances is underway, and national and Arizona Republicans have been trying to pressure 3rd Congressional District Democratic congressional candidate Bob Lord and U.S. Reps. Harry Mitchell (D-Tempe) and Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson) into returning campaign contributions Rangel's fundraising committee gave them.

So far, the effort has been in vain, and the connection between the embattled Rangel and Arizona Democrats has not sparked public controversy.

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.

As of today, Tony Reinhard is the former communications manager for the Arizona Republican Party, and the new executive director of the Maricopa County Republican Party. The move comes after only five months as being spokesman for the Arizona GOP.

"My sincere thanks go out to the AZGOP and the staff here," said Reinhard in an email. "The past five months have been a great learning experience and I look forward to working in conjunction with them to keep Arizona a solidly 'Red State.'"

Sean McCaffrey, executive director of the Arizona Republican Party, will be acting as interim spokesman until a replacement can be found.

"We're very happy Tony has the opportunity to work with the county party," said Brett Mecum, who is the state party's political director.