AZ Dems State Chair Robert Branscomb is Ousted by State Committee Members

The vote was 476 to remove Branscomb and only 56 to retain him.

In a historic, once-in-a-lifetime meeting, the state Democratic Party’s committee members voted to remove Chair Robert Branscomb, who has led the party into chaos since his election in January. Branscomb has been charged with lying, incompetence, leading the state Democratic Party to financial ruin and obstructing the regular operations of the party.

It took a vote of 2/3 of the state party’s 702 state committee members or 468 votes, to remove Branscomb. First Vice Chair Kim Khoury will assume the role as state party chair.

Paul Eckerstrom, the Senior Vice Chair of the ADP, ran the meeting and faced numerous motions and points of order that delayed the meeting. Parliamentarian Coby King patiently clarified the procedural points.

Branscomb himself spoke at the end and was given extra time to do so. He complained that there had been “a lot of noise, a lot of cherry-picked comments.” He claimed that “the party is not in freefall,” even though the state party Treasurer, Greg Freeman, said the party was in a financial mess because of Branscomb’s excessive spending.

Branscomb claimed that when he was elected in January, the party was in disarray, but it now it had a strategic plan and a newsletter. However, many Democratic Legislative District leaders said there was no strategic plan and that he had abandoned them during the CD7 election yesterday, and that he would not answer their calls.

Diane McMahan, Chair of the Mohave County Democrats, said there was no strategic plan for rural counties. She said the rural party websites operated by the state party had not been working for 7 months. “The rural counties are turning red,” she said. “Branscomb failed to bring in rural Democratic voters.’

Branscomb said, “This recall is based on misrepresentation. We cannot move backward into dysfunction.” However, dysfunction is precisely what Branscomb’s leadership has brought to the Democratic Party.

Pima County Democrats Chair Eric Robbins said that the executive board was eager to support him, but that Branscomb treated the board as the opposition. Robbins said that Branscomb’s incompetence only worsened with time. Robbins said that Branscomb suspended the email of Kim Khoury, the First Vice Chair, for no valid reason.

Even worse, Branscomb had given the confidential list of state committee members to a Republican candidate for office, who called and lobbied Democratic state committee members not to attend the meetings (which would have assured Branscomb’s retention.)

Kathleen Sauer, Chair of the Yavapai Democratic Party,” called this violation “despicable.”

Xanthe Bullard, the chair of the Yuma County Democrats, said Branscomb failed to perform even basic functions, like supporting Democratic volunteers in the CD7 election. Branscomb went on a paid vacation on the day of the election. She said that volunteer county party chairs “got no support” from Branscomb, and that Branscomb “did not care about the Democratic Party.

Executive Director’s incompetence

State Party Executive Director Michael Ruff, who was hired by Branscomb, was repeatedly criticized during the meeting for his incompetent handling of the voting with Election Buddy. He seemed unfamiliar with how to operate it, which caused long delays in tallying procedural votes.

Melissa Garza stated that Ruff had failed to prepare for the meeting, which lasted 3 hours and 22 minutes.

Michael Slugocki, the Chair of the Rules Committee, said he had asked Ruff for a week to provide him with access to Election Buddy, but he failed to do so.

Carol Casey said it was “suspicious” that Ruff had mentioned how many people were added to the meeting to vote after the 6 pm cutoff for registration. Ruff was very slow to display the vote results by sharing his screen on Zoom.

ADP Executive Director Michael Ruff has printed out a confidential hard copy of all 702 Democratic State Committee members and gave it to Republican Stephen Neil Jr., who is a candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Branscomb denies this, but two members of the ADP Executive Committee confirmed this actually happened.

Working as a Republican, Neil has been calling and sending robocalls to Democratic Committee Members, telling them to skip the July 16th Special Meeting to remove Branscomb. A low turnout would have guaranteed that Branscomb would get to keep his job.

Branscomb called a bully

Janeen Conolly quoted LD18 Democrats Chair Steven Jackson, saying that Branscomb was bullying Democratic elected officials and making false claims of racism.

Ryan Kashanipour, an elected precinct committeeman in LD18, stated that the ADP staff intended to file unfair labor practice charges against Branscomb due to his resistance to their unionization efforts.

Aaron Marquez reiterated that the problems of the party were caused by Chair Branscomb and Executive Director Michael Ruff. “They inherited $1.5 million” from the previous chair, “but not a single month of fundraising was in the black.”

State Committee member Luis Cabrera said Branscomb made the party dysfunctional. “He brought not leadership, but disrespect. His incompetence was on full display. The Chair treated the executive committee as a joke. His performance has been a disaster.”

Derek Duba of LD11, co-chair of the Veterans’ Caucus, said Branscomb fired key staff members within days of taking office. A national hiring process was started to find a new Executive Director but Branscomb disregarded the candidates who were recommended. “Then he sent out a mass email (on April 19) that turned our internal dissension into a public conflict. Branscomb has brought distraction, division and dysfunction.”