Democrats and a Day for E.Orr

The caption is a paraphrase of Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (1983).

It turns out that some staffers from the Pima County Democratic Party and Arizona Democratic Party were not as thorough in their review of the petition signatures of state Rep. Ethan Orr (R-Tucson) as their cocksure snarky press releases this past week would indicate.

They spiked the ball before they were in the endzone — a a rookie mistake.

Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez conducted the requisite review of petition signatures after the petition challenge was filed last week, and determined that “E.Orr” filed 393 valid signatures, just barely enough, only 32 more than required — which means 241 of his 634 signatures were invalid.

The Tucson Sentinel reports that Democrats will withdraw the challenge in the wake of the report from the Recorder’s Office. Recorder: Orr has sigs to remain on ballot:

The suit, filed by attorney Jeff Rogers, a former chair of the Pima County Democratic Party, will be withdrawn before it is heard by a court next week, as Democrats conceded that Orr filed more than the necessary number of signatures. They had claimed that he was 15 signatures below the threshold to qualify for the ballot.

While local Dems had spent the middle of the week crowing about their giving Orr a political black eye, they were quieter on the issue following the Recorder’s report.

 * * *

Jason Ground, a spokesman for the Pima Dems, acknowledged that his party may have been quick to declare victory.

“The folks who checked the signatures were pretty sure,” he said Saturday. “As I understand it he’s only a few sigs on the good side. Something like 40 percent are still bad. That’s just another example of shoddy work … even if he’s still on the ballot he should be embarrassed.”

In other developments that added up to a bad week for Orr, he lost his job at the nonprofit Linkages, with some insiders with knowledge of developments suggesting that the legislator had fallen out with GOP heavyweight Jim Click, who founded the organizations that helps train and provide job placements for disabled people.

Orr said Tuesday that he resigned from Linkages on Friday, but both he and Click denied that there has been a falling out between them.

Sources with knowledge of the relationship between Click and Orr, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the pair had disagreements over political policies and issues over the management of Linkages and another firm being started by Orr.

Orr denied that there are any differences between the two men.

“I have nothing but the utmost respect for Jim Click,” he said Tuesday. “Jim is still backing me.”

Responding to that report on Wednesday (while I was interviewing Orr on the John C. Scott radio show), Click said he still supports Orr politically.

“I don’t have any disagreements with Ethan Orr,” Click said in a voicemail. “We have not had a falling out.”

“I’m going to do everything I can to help him with this issue of the signatures,” Click said. “I’m thrilled Ethan won this seat; I’d like to see him keep it.”

The Arizona Daily Star’s Pueblo Politics Blog adds, Orr will remain on the ballot:

Local attorney Jeff Rogers said he disagrees with the County over the actual number of valid signatures but acknowledges Orr has enough to run.

“Despite throwing out over 240 invalid signatures, Orr may in fact meet the bare-minimum requirement to qualify for the ballot,” Rogers said. “The Pima County Democratic Party will withdraw our petition challenge and focus on defeating Orr in the General Election.”

* * *

Orr called the lawsuit “frivolous” and “should never have been filed in the first place.”

“I hope that my opponents will reimburse the taxpayers for the efforts the Pima County Recorders office went through to disprove these attacks,” Orr said.

Looks like some Democratic staffers have some splainin’ to do: they made themselves look foolish, created some sympathy (and likely campaign contributions) for E.Orr, and gave him some bullshit talking points he could use with the GOP-friendly Daily Star. “Democrats and a Day for E.Orr” indeed.