Nancy Young Wright: Second Choice of LD 26, First Choice of CHuckelberrians

UPDATE 12pm: The Board voted 4-1 (Ray Carroll being the dissenter, as he so frequently is) to select Nancy Young Wright as the new State Representative for LD 26. Interestingly, even though Jorgenson got the most support among the PCs of 26 (not to mention Lena’s) the Board nominated Nancy immediately, and Ray Carroll couldn’t get a second when he suggested that Don deserved an up or down vote on the record before considering Nancy. Nancy is going to file papers to run today, so she will definitely be seeking re-election. She also said that she will be resigning her current job with the county, as she was a direct employee, not a contractor. Don Jorgenson and Cheryl Cage were both in attendance at the Board’s meeting and were very supportive of Nancy once the vote confirmed what everyone expected. Don is certainly still running as Nancy’s running mate. I don’t know whether Cheryl Cage will also run, or if she will return to running the LD 26 campaigns. I will be sitting down with Nancy as soon as her schedule allows to give everyone a feel for her priorities for this and future sessions.

Earlier:

Nancy Young Wright is, by all indications, the designee of the
CHuckelberrians on the Board of Supervisors, though I suspect even she
may not have been aware of that fact until recently. She strikes me as
an honest person, and she gave no indication when I specifically
questioned her ties to the members of the Board on the night of the LD
26 meeting that she considered herself any sort of sure thing or a
special favorite of the CHuckelberrians. Some others at the meeting
were suspicious of her employment ties to the current county
administration, however.

My math puts it 3 to 2 for
Wright: Bronson (who may be Chuckelberry’s point guard on this power
play), Valadez and Day. The emails are flooding in to the Supervisor’s
offices from every county employee under CHuckelberry’s thumb in favor
of Wright.

What is truly ironic about all of this is that I truly don’t believe
that the CHuckelberrians, including CHuckelberry, understand what they
are getting with Nancy. They may think they are getting a compliant and
grateful tool in the State Lege, but I suspect what they might get
instead is a fierce citizen-activist whom they can’t control. Perhaps
the deepest irony of all is that one of the reasons why Nancy got the
strength of support she did from LD 26 PCs is because she was recommended
by the Pima County Democrats’ attorney on the Election Integrity lawsuit
that CHuckelberrians are fighting so hard against, Bill Risner.

I truly think that the Board should give LD 26 PCs, and Lena, their
first choice. But if they go with their second choice, Nancy,
CHuckelberrians might end up with a cuckoo bird in their nest, and Dems
might wind up with both LD 26  House seats  because of Jorgenson’s
strength as a candidate and the LD 26 Dems’ outrage driving them
even harder to elect him. This incident could also be a very potent
arrow in the quiver of any Democrat who decides to step forward and
challenge Sharon Bronson in the primary.

I’m off to the 10 a.m. Supervisor’s session to watch this in person.
I suspect that a lot of folks from LD 26 will be there to lend a piece
of the minds to the CHuckelberrians; apparently, they haven’t got their
own.