Strike Everything

U.S. Rep. David Schweikert says he won’t get the committee assignment he wanted most, but he is still holding out for an assignment that “has something to do with numbers.”

Schweikert made an appearance, along with U.S. Reps. Ben Quayle and Paul Gosar, at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s “Welcome to Washington” breakfast today at the Hyatt. The three Republican freshmen said they had moved into their offices in D.C., and are expecting to receive their committee assignments by Friday.

Prime committee assignments will be even more valuable this year, and harder for freshmen to attain, because House leaders have decided to reduce the number of members serving on the committees.

Gosar, who represents the mostly rural 1st Congressional District, used a very unfortunate pun by saying he would be a ”natural” choice for a seat on the Natural Resources Committee, though he didn’t sound very optimistic that he’d get it. 

By the way, Gosar, a dentist by trade, used a toothbrush as a visual aid during his speech. It was part of an analogy about brushing away the plaque in Washington.

Quayle didn’t say which committees he was lobbying for. He said he plans to stand tall for Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District in whatever capacity is chosen for him, later taking a tone reminiscent of Ringo Starr when he told the crowd that he is just “really happy” to be serving in Congress.

Schweikert, who knocked off Harry Mitchell in Arizona’s 5th Congressional District, said he has been told that he won’t get his first choice of committee assignments: Financial Services. Instead, the former Maricopa County Treasurer said he is still in the running for a different committee where his skills with accounting and statistics would be useful.

Schweikert didn’t get into specifics, but all of his talk about numbers probably means he put in for Ways and Means or the Budget Committee. As a test of boldness, he may have requested a spot on Appropriations, though seats on that committee are extremely valuable commodities and usually off limits to freshmen.

“My gift is creating spreadsheets,” he said after the breakfast event.

We see lots of things from our virtual perch high above 1700 W. Washington. Our exposure to all things political in Arizona typically results in some mix of these three reactions: Often we laugh, occasionally we’re astonished, and rarely we’re surprised.

Our continual challenge to present the news to you, our faithful readers, in such a way as to grab your attention, sometimes produces wild and outlandish results. Our creativity can be entertaining, but in many cases it’s just too far out there to present in a serious manner.

However, readers, you are about to benefit from our newsroom’s sleep-deprived and coffee-fueled state on this Nov. 3, so here are eight headlines from the election that never made it into the Arizona Capitol Times – and for good reason.

• Brewer has did it!
• Citizen Goddard – even more boring than Politician Goddard
• Quayle ready to knock the hell out of Washington… if he can find it
• Prop. 203 outcome still hazy
• Terry, Barry and Larry announce reality TV series, premium ice cream brand
• Horne: Secretary of State is a step up from AG, right?
• Ducey creams Cherny
• Schweikert offers to buy Mitchell’s abandoned CD5 office

David Schweikert’s campaign appears to be falsely claiming that a Democratic activist and Harry Mitchell’s campaign conspired to damage Schweikert’s signs.

The claim, issued in a press release Oct. 26 with the headline “We Caught Them!,” stems from a dust-up between a Schweikert supporter and a man who allegedly pushed down two anti-Mitchell signs and was cited by police for doing it.

But the Oct. 23 altercation between the two men appears to be isolated and did not directly involve either campaign, according to both the Schweikert supporter who filed the police report over the incident and the man accused of damaging the signs.

The man accused of knocking down the anti-Mitchell signs, 73-year-old James Arnold Lucas of Tempe, told the Arizona Capitol Times that he has never worked or volunteered for the Mitchell campaign, nor has he ever been involved with the Arizona Democratic Party beyond being a registered Dem.

Both the Mitchell campaign and Democrats say they also have never heard of Lucas, and the Schweikert campaign also could not provide evidence that Lucas was a political operative.

Lucas said he was on a morning bike ride Oct. 23 in south Tempe when he saw what he believes were the illegally placed signs that were obstructing the view of a Mitchell sign. He also claimed that the signs did not have the required “paid for” disclosure, and he felt angry about the situation, but disputes a Tempe police report that he kicked one sign and ripped another from the ground.

When asked what he did, Lucas replied: “One of them was bent. You are asking me to admit to what may be a criminal action,” he said of the alleged bent sign.

“I wouldn’t have cared if it was a Republican or Democrat (sign). If you are attempting to stop to get someone’s message out, I am infuriated,” Lucas said. “My wife is a Republican. If anybody thinks I’m going to do something to have a major fight with my wife of 27 years, I don’t think so.”

The man who filed the police report was identified as Donald R. Sanders, who told police he has a sign company called Jet Media, which has done campaign sign work for Schweikert.

But Jet Media owner Jim Torgeson said that Sanders’ signs were not commissioned by the Schweikert campaign, and that they personally belonged to Sanders, not the company.

“That’s all Donny, all the time. This is not something that is billed to David Schweikert,” Torgeson said. “This is not a Jet Media promotion.”

Sanders said he witnessed Lucas bend over two signs that were placed by a Mitchell sign. One of them said, “Mitchell a part of the problem since 2006.” The other possibly said, “Voted for Obamacare,” Sanders said.

He said he plans to pursue prosecution of Lucas. He said his signs did not have the “paid for” disclosure because he spent only $220 on the signs, well below the $500 threshold that would have triggered disclosure under state law.

“If he thought I was wrong, then he should have called the authorities,” Sanders said. “I’m pretty offended that this guy seems to think he can step all over my First Amendment rights.”

Sanders also said he was working on his own behalf, not Jet Media’s.

Meanwhile, the Schweikert press release called the man a “Democrat activist” and went on to say that “Mitchell’s campaign team knows better,” and rehashed allegations from 2000, when Mitchell was accused, and later admitted to the Arizona Republic, of stealing an opponent’s signs.

Schweikert’s campaign manager, Oliver Schwab, defended the press release to reporter Jeremy Duda today.

“Who else would be ripping down political signs?” Schwab said. “If you are taking down signs you are clearly an activist.”

- Bill Bertolino

It turns out the primary is still on Aug. 24 after all.

Just days after declaring that he was cutting his television ad spending in half because he had such an insurmountable lead in the Republican primary for Arizona’s 5th Congressional District, David Schweikert ramped up his advertising with a $14,000 cable television buy for the last week before the primary. The spending boost comes after Schweikert had halved his $12,000-a-week television advertising budget.

Campaign spokesman Oliver Schwab said he stands by his Aug. 13 statement that the former Maricopa County treasurer is so far ahead of rivals Chris Salvino, Susan Bitter Smith and Jim Ward that the primary is essentially over based on internal polling and early ballot returns. But he said the campaign wants to reach out to primary voters who will vote in person on Election Day.

“We made the decision to make sure that we finish strong. There’s every reason in the world to fight until the last moment,” said Schwab, who told the Arizona Capitol Times on Aug. 13 that Schweikert was “so far ahead” that he’d cut his ad buys in half.

But Ward said Schweikert’s about-face was a sign that his position is weaker than he’d let on.

“If he’s so confident, then why is he at the last minute here scrambling and making a TV investment if he wanted to save his money for the general? It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” Ward said. “He must be reading the same numbers now that we’re reading, which show him losing all sorts of momentum.”

Ward accused Schweikert of ignoring the majority of primary voters who hadn’t yet cast their ballots and taking their votes for granted when he essentially declared the race over. Ward said his polling has picked up over the past couple weeks, though he wouldn’t say where he stood in his campaign’s internal polls.

“I just think it’s folly and the height of arrogance to declare victory and basically tell people who haven’t voted that you don’t care about their votes. And that’s what David Schweikert did,” Ward said. “As a result he’s going to lose a lot of those votes. And they’re coming our way.”

The new ad buy began on Aug. 16 and is scheduled to run through the 29th. Schwab said Schweikert also increased his radio advertising on KFYI.

According to records from Cox Cable, Schweikert spent an average of $10,000 a week on cable television ads through June and July. Schwab said the campaign cut back on its ad buys in August so it could preserve money for a general election matchup against incumbent Democratic Rep. Harry Mitchell. But the campaign decided to use the money it saved to make a final advertising push to reach out to Electin Day voters.

Schwab said Schweikert isn’t taking anyone’s vote for granted, but still believes Bitter Smith, Salvino and Ward can’t catch up with him.

“Looking at the grassroots momentum behind our campaign, I think the voters are showing in their support for David that they want a true conservative,” he said. “The polls do show that.”

-Jeremy Duda