ARIZONA REPUBLICAN KEN BENNETT DEFIES McCAIN-- PASSES ON CHANCE TO RUN ON THE McCAIN TICKET IN ARIZONA

Gee, all it took was a little reminder that the residents of AZ-01 are still pissed off that Ken Bennett, then the president of the Arizona state Senate, used his influence to get his son off the hook after 40 incidents of raping young boys with broomsticks and flashlights, and whooooosh... Bennett disappeared from electoral politics again. Well, actually, that isn't exactly accurate. First Bennett tried mounting a defense by likening the rape incidents to-- his own word-- "goosing." And that was the end of the Ken Bennett For Congress campaign.

So even though McCain-- who detests the other Republican who had been favored-- demanded Bennett run, and he told the old curmudgeon that he would, he just declared today-- once again-- that he's out and not getting back in. Meanwhile, the woman who was the object of McCain's wrath, Kris Mayes, has also left the field, after McCain demanded that the local GOP not support her. Originally they had looked at her as a godsend who would save them from the aftermath of the Renzi scandal and the prospect of having to run far right extremist Sydney Hay, widely viewed as a lunatic fringe candidate with no real chance of winning.

There is now a clear path to Congress for progressive grassroots candidate Howard Shanker-- unless the Inside the Beltway types can persuade enough Arizonans to vote for their corporate careerist shill, Ann Kirkpatrick, someone who stands for nothing whatsoever (Rahm Emanuel's favorite kind of candidate). This would be a good day to donate to Howard's campaign, right here at the Blue America Act Blue page. The first 5 people who donate $25 or more today get an autographed copy of The Truth by Al Franken.

RENZI'S REVENGE ON THE GOP?

Arizona Republican Rick Renzi isn't thrilled with the lack of support he's gotten from the Republican Party since a Grand Jury announced his astounding 35 criminal indictments on everything from bribery and money laundering all the way up to extortion. His party left him hanging in the wind to die... slowly. They look away his committee positions, planted news stories in his district indicating he should resign and eventually even his ally John McCain kicked him off the Double Talk Express. (He had been co-chairman of McCain's campaign but McCain can only have unindicted crooks on his campaign, not indicted ones.)

There is nothing that Republican Party wants more than to lull voters into forgetting they have been the party of systemic corruption for years. Renzi isn't helping that at all. His trial was scheduled to begin this month and would surely have been over long before McCain and Republican incumbents have to face the voters in November. But after Renzi asked for a delay, a federal court announced today that the potentially explosive trial will begin October 14, smack in the middle of the election campaign.

Complicating the matter further, is that McCain, in a pique of typically hysterical vindictive pigheadedness, forced the local AZ-01 Republican Party to jettison their favorite candidate to try to hold Renzi's seat, Kris Mayes (who McCain holds a grudge against because she once worked for the Arizona Republic), in favor of a McCain crony, Ken Bennett. The problem with Bennett isn't that he's a McCain crony but that he is widely hated in AZ-01 for using his influence to free his son from punishment after the younger Bennett was convicted of using broomsticks and flashlights in 40 incidents of rape against 18 young boys, many repeatedly.

McCAIN FORCES ARIZONA GOP TO THROW CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE KRIS MAYES UNDER THE BUS

One of the many red seats the GOP is desperately trying to hold onto is that of indicted criminal Rick Renzi (R-AZ) who is retiring from Congress-- and public life-- and is likely to be facing as many as 30 years in prison for too many charges to list here. He has already stepped down as co-chairman of the Double Talk Express. Howard Shanker, the Blue America-endorsed candidate for the seat Renzi is abandoning is doing very well and my contacts in Arizona tell me that McCain has gone ape-shit and demanded the local GOP deep six their weak and hopeless candidate, Kris Mayes, and stick in a GOP good ole boy in her place.

The local GOP didn't have much to chose from; it was either Hayes, who is an Arizona Corporation Commissioner with little to offer but who hasn't been arrested or involved in any major criminal activities, or a certifiably insane wingnut-- and political semi-enemy of McCain's-- Sydney Hay. McCain's infamous volatile temper exploded and he started screaming he doesn't want any Hays or Mayes running for that seat and he demanded that local Republicans get former state Senate President, Ken Bennett, into the race. Bennett, like Hay, is a fanatic right wing kook but he has worse problems that have kept him out of the race. His son Clifton "confessed to police that he... sodomized the 11 to 14-year-old boys with broomsticks and flashlights in at least 40 incidents, court documents show." Rumors have been rampant that his father, the then would-be congressman, got him off the hook. McCain says no one gives a damn about the broomsticks and demands Bennett get back into the race. McCain's pal, Jim Click, a Tucson car dealer who is the Daddy Warbucks of the Arizona GOP, is also pushing for Bennett. Click and McCain may not care about "broomsticks" but the victims and their families are still furious. Zachary Motcheck, 13, the first to report the assaults to authorities, was angry when Bennett's kid got off with a slap on the wrist. "I think it's pretty stupid. "It's unfair, and it's just because Bennett's dad is a senator... What they did was wrong, and they both deserved more jail time." Although the county prosecutors had asked for 3 months in jail for the assault, the judge overruled them and gave Bennett's kid 30 days.

McCain, who has his own set of lobbyist and corruption problems to deal with, is unconcerned with Bennett's ethical problems. In 2004, Bennett sponsored legislation that would have allowed his family’s oil firm, Bennett Oil, to claim money from the State Assurance Fund for the cleanup of underground fuel leaks. The state had already paid Bennett Oil Co. $336,000 from the State Assurance Fund to help with cleanups. The fund was fed by a penny tax on every gallon of gas sold in Arizona. The bill would have required that the state pay even if the cleanup was covered by the oil company’s insurance. The bill would have reversed a court decision against Bennett’s company and ordered the state to pay instead.

Meanwhile, former Arizona Congressman Matt Salmon and Malcolm Barrett, chairman of the National Propane Gas Association, and a Prescott native like Mayes, have pledged their support for Mayes' run. Barrett will serve as her finance chairman. This puts them at major loggerheads with McCain-- who likes to think of himself as the king of Arizona Republicans.

Howard Shanker, who was endorsed yesterday by Arizona's most progressive and most admired member of Congress, Raúl Grijalva, is non-plused by the Republican in-fighting. "It doesn’t really matter who the Republicans run for the seat. Whoever it is, we get another rubber stamp Republican politician pushing for the continuation of policies that have been proven not to work over the past seven years. I am running to represent the people of this District, not some platform that is out of touch with what the people need or want. I will protect working families, champion alternative energy development, defend a women’s right to reproductive choice, and move to end the war in Iraq. No matter who the Republicans run for this seat, the best they can do is business as usual, and we know that the status quo is not acceptable.”

Please consider giving Howard a hand in banishing these Republican losers in another district ripe for change. The Blue America page is open... 24/7, and even contributions of $5 and $10 are very much appreciated.


UPDATE: O!M!G!

Last night I was reading David Brock's Free Ride and... wow!!! The vindictive and vicious old man, who has a long-running feud with the Arizona Republic actually had a reason for making the local GOP throw Kris Mayes under the bus. In 2000 Kris was a political reporter for the Republic and McCain wouldn't even let her on the bus. Brock reported on how national reporters-- who were all up McCain's ass and basically just passing along the p.r. line that was fed to them every day-- were surprised when Kris' little rental car followed the "Straight Talk Express" around the country. Eventually even McCain was too embarrassed and he relented. Apparently, though, he's still holding a grudge, one of the character traits the national media ignores but the Arizona media knows all too well.

RENZI THROWIN' IN THE TOWEL. ANYONE SURPRISED?

You shouldn't be. Speculation has been raging for months and very few incumbents relish the idea of running a campaign from a prison cell. And Rick Renzi (R-AZ) is most likely headed for one before the '08 election. He would have resigned already-- after the FBI and IRS raided his place and seized his papers-- but the Republicans begged him to stick it out because they're too broke to fight for his-- or Doolittle's-- seats in special elections now.

Yesterday's Washington Post carried a statement from Renzi calling it quits:

"I will not be seeking re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008," Renzi said in a brief statement released by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The Arizona Daily Star has the local angle and Roll Call fleshed it out a bit: "I will not be seeking re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008. I am honored and thankful to serve Arizona's first district and appreciate all that we have accomplished together over the past 6 years."

The Republicans, of course, are better off without him, and in that hot sun down there, plenty of easily brainwashed Republican voters will forget in a year and a half that Republicans are the party of organized crime. There are a few Democrats who have already jumped into the race. The Insider Establishment is rallying around State Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, who I've heard nothing but crap about from my Arizona friends. The woman who ran last time (and held Renzi to a 51% share of the vote), Ellen Simon, told me on the phone she wasn't going to run again-- a real shame. The progressive who is taking up the challenge, however, Howard Shanker, sounds like a great guy.

I found an interview with Shanker in a local paper. The last question and his answer revealed a lot:

Democrats took hold of Congress in 2006 with the winds of change at their backs. How do you think they have performed, so far, and how difficult to you think it will be to actually change the entrenched business of politics once you're a House member?

Democrats took control of Congress but they still cannot override a Presidential veto. The Democrats have done some good (and some not so good) already. The impression I have is that some Democrats feel like they have to somehow pander to the right on various issues in order to stay in office. There is validity to the proposition that an elected official has to represent all of his or her constituents. There should, however, also be a number of issues that are important to any elected official (why else would they run) on which they take a specific and well enunciated stand that doesn't change unless presented with compelling facts that justify a change in position. I think that many of our Representatives may be missing, or sacrificing, some of this passion or commitment on issues like the war, the environment, alternative energy, fiscal responsibility, in exchange for political expediency. Compromise in Congress is essential, but like anything else, there has to be a good reason warranting any particular compromise or decision. It will likely be difficult to change the entrenched "politics as usual" once I am in office -- but not impossible and we need to start somewhere. As I discussed in response to one of your earlier questions, I represent environmental, Native American, civil rights, and community groups in litigation against the federal and state government on a regular basis. In other words, my chosen career path can be compared to banging your head against a wall for a living. I strongly believe that if you bang your head against a wall long enough, eventually the wall is going to break. Realistically, as a junior Congressman I could likely begin to chip away at "politics as usual" from the outside. Given enough grass roots support and a little time, however, I have no doubt that the wall will break.

The Republicans are likely to nominate someone even further to the right than Renzi, perhaps even an out and out maniac like Ken Bennett, a Mormon fanatic with a very bizarre history of family problems. Bennett's son Clifton "confessed to police that he and Wheeler sodomized the 11- to 14-year-old boys with broomsticks and flashlights in at least 40 incidents, court documents show." Rumors have been rampant that his father the would-be congressman got him off the hook.