A Republican National Committee Parliamentarian was brought in, and members of the small 5-person Arizona GOP Resolutions Committee voted to kill a movement to endorse “Anyone but Senator John McCain” at Saturday’s Arizona State Republican Party meeting.
Near the end of Saturday’s state party meeting, State Party Chairman Robert Graham disallowed any floor vote on the “anybody but” McCain resolution. The decision came despite a 2014 state party vote to censure entrenched D.C. Republican McCain.
Early in the day, the Resolutions Committee convened in secret, according to sources. The move left many up in arms that members might not have the opportunity to vote on the measure. During a vote to accept rules and agenda, Graham was challenged over accusations that the 5-person committee convened without notifying others, as well as for the committee’s rejection of the McCain resolution, according to persons close to the proceedings.
Later in the day, hope remained among many present that a floor vote on the anti-McCain resolution would still proceed. Then came arguments from an RNC Parliamentarian brought in for the meeting. The national RNC insider claimed that the body voting to bind the committee to “anybody but” McCain would be illegal, a source inside the meeting told Breitbart News. When asked if any specifics were given or rules cited, the meeting attendee said, “Nope,” that a vote was disallowed and that the Parliamentarian claimed the decision could not be challenged.
Chairman Graham ruled the McCain resolution was “not applicable,” a person present recounted to Breitbart News. “No vote, no debate” was the report, emphasizing that those on the floor were not given the opportunity to discuss the issue at hand.
The resolution (provided from inside the proceedings) read as follows:
AZGOP State Committeemen Endorse Anyone BUT Senator John McCain
We state committeeman of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) fully support our Party platform and the candidates in the general elections that support that platform. However, in the primary elections we are free to endorse and support the Republican candidates of our choice. Since the AZGOP members overwhelmingly censured Senator McCain in January 2014, we had hoped he would have returned to our Party’s values.
He has not. So with conviction we rise and declare:
WHEREAS, Senator McCain is a self proclaimed “Republican,” but is actually a RINO, that was censured by the Arizona Republican State Committeemen on January 25, 2014; and voted for DHS funding that included money for Obama’s illegal amnesty for illegal aliens; and campaigned on securing the border but co-sponsored legislation giving “pathway to citizenship” to millions of illegal aliens; and actively worked to purge the party of grassroots conservatives using out-of-state funding via the Arizona Grassroots Action PAC; and voted to kill an amendment requiring certification that Iran has not directly supported or carried out an act of terrorism against the United States before sanctions can be lifted; and demeaned Republicans who stand for the Constitution, calling them “crazies” and “wacko birds”; and voted to support funding for the Iran Nuclear Deal, Obamacare, Executive Amnesty and Planned Parenthood’s selling of body parts.
BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that the AZGOP state committeemen endorse anyone BUT Senator McCain in Arizona’s 2016 Republican primary election for the U.S. Senate.
The Republican Party of Maricopa County passed a similar resolution just a week ago. Members had the opportunity to vote, and chose 921-582 to pass the endorse “anyone but McCain” in 2016 resolution. The same group voted in January 2014 to formally censure McCain by a landslide vote of 1150-351. The censure cited a continued record of liberal voting.
In the same month, the Arizona Republican Party also voted to formally censure McCain over a record of continued liberal voting. Breitbart News posted video of the 2014 state party vote. There has been no word that the censure was considered “illegal” as the RNC Parliamentarian claimed at Saturday’s state meeting.
Reports in December 2014 accused McCain and his allies of leading a purge of Arizona conservatives from state Republican Party leadership. Politico reported that McCain allies struck back, calling to “unseat conservative activists who hold obscure, but influential, local party offices.”
Dr. Kelli Ward — a former Arizona State Senator — remains the frontrunner in the race to primary the entrenched D.C. Republican. Ward raised over half a million dollars in her first quarter of fundraising, more than any other insurgent U.S. Senate candidate in recent history except Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
An August 2015 poll of 1,400 registered Arizona voters — both Republican and Democrat — put Ward nine points ahead of McCain.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana
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