Very Different Kinds Of Republican Party Purges In Arizona And Hawaii

You may have heard that McCain, in preparation for his reelection run in 2016-- if he wins, he'd be 86 when his term expires-- is trying to purge the Arizona GOP of extremists. Aside from "who would be left?" we might wonder what McCain is afraid of. And, of course it's a primary challenge by a teabagger like Dave Schweikert or Matt Salmon. McCain is trying to purge the party apparatus of the worst of the fascists and racists who dominate it.

Prior to Aug. 26, when the races for the party offices were held, the vast majority of the 3,925 precinct slots were filled by people McCain’s team considered opponents. Now, after an influx of candidates were recruited by the senator’s allies, around 40 percent of those offices-- 1,531 to be exact-- will be held by people McCain’s team regards as friendly. They will have the power to vote down hostile Republican chairmen in each of their respective localities.

“There’s been a huge organizational effort that I’ve never seen before,” said Gordon James, an Arizona public relations executive and longtime McCain confidant. “A lot of the party folks who were hostile to John McCain have been marginalized, and that’s a good thing.”

The biggest foe to fall: Timothy Schwartz, the man who authored the McCain censure resolution. Earlier this month, Schwartz was ousted from his post as a GOP legislative district chairman by a group of newly elected precinct committeemen who voted in favor of a McCain-aligned candidate. Another outspoken McCain detractor, A.J. LaFaro, recently announced that he wouldn’t be seeking reelection to the Maricopa County Republican chairmanship, a tacit recognition that he didn’t have enough support to win.

In an interview, Schwartz blamed his ouster squarely on McCain, whom he said had singled him out. “It’s very clear what’s going on,” he said. “Look, John McCain has prominence and money and influence and because of that he thinks he can ramrod us.”

Something entirely different-- and actually a lot more interesting-- just happened in Hawaii's Republican Party. One of the few Republicans left in Hawaii's state legislature, House Minority Leader Aaron Ling Johanson, was just reelected, in a landslide, and then quit the party and joined the Democrats. That leaves just 7 Republicans in the state House of 51 Members (and just one Republican senator of 25 members). Johanson, at his announcement on Monday: "When I first got into politics four years ago, I ran specifically to support and advocate best policies over partisan ideology and I committed to being the kind of leader that would work to find common ground and do things differently. Increasingly, that has put me at odds with many in the Republican Party. It’s one of the reasons that’s given me pause to evaluate where I belong and where I am."

Johanson is a moderate-- more liberal than plenty of the corrupt conservative Democrats in Hawaii who routinely sell out to corporate interests-- the Ed Case/Colleen Hanabusa Republican wing of the Democratic Party. His departure is an obvious indictment of how irrelevant the Republicans have become in state. He's got a great reputation among political savvy Hawaiians. He's a bit fiscally conservative but definitely moderate on social issues and on the environment. He was one of the few up and coming Republicans who had the potential to be a serious candidate for higher office, but the small, noisy crackpot social conservative wing, who have limited electoral power, have made it hard to be a moderate or liberal Republican. Today they can feel happy their tiny little pup tent is... purer-- self-purged.

When asked why he was choosing to switch parties less than two months later and how his constituents and those who voted for him might react, Johanson said he believes many cast their ballots for him despite being a Republican, not because of his party affiliation.

Johanson said over the past four years there’s been “a commonality and an alignment” with policies his Democratic colleagues have pushed in the Legislature. He said joining their party allows him to better uphold his promises to his constituents and be a leader who can “find common ground and make a difference.”

He said the choice to switch parties has been a gradual and deliberative one over the past four years, but he didn’t officially decide until December.

...Republican Party Chair Pat Saiki sharply criticized Johanson’s decision in a statement Monday.

“For Representative Johanson to sacrifice his principles for political ambition is disgraceful,” she said. “He must be a disappointment to the 3,968 residents who entrusted him with their votes less than two months ago. A person, especially a politician, is only as good as his word. When the person breaks that word, he can never be trusted.”

He’s not the first Republican state lawmaker to switch parties. Sen. Mike Gabbard and Reps. Karen Awana and Jimmy Tokioka are among the latest who have become Democrats. Awana was unseated by Republican Andria Tupola, a first-time candidate, in November.

 “It is no secret that running as a Democrat in Hawaii makes life much easier for any politician,” Saiki said. “However, it takes courage to stand up to the political machine that has dominated island politics since statehood. Representative Johanson now becomes part of that political machine, and he’ll have to fall in line.”

...Johanson, who was the minority leader in the House, may open up an avenue for a far more conservative block of Republicans-- including Reps. Bob McDermott and Gene Ward-- to gain control of that leadership position.

House Republicans have been in gridlock over their leadership roles for the next session, though Johanson said that wasn’t why he switched parties.

“I think many in the local Republican Party are becoming more narrow in their demand for ideological purity as well as in their demand for a combative tone and posture,” he said.