Payday Joe Flores holds a press conference

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Payday Joe Flores doesn't have much campaign cash to spend so he got creative on Wednesday with an earned media event posing in front of Pima County Democratic Party headquarters with a handful of supporters who are not photoshopped, and expressed faux outrage that the Democratic Party endorsed incumbent Regina Romero in the Ward 1 City Council Democratic primary. Payday also demanded that party chair Jeff Rogers resign as party chair.

To quote the Bard, "It is a tale. Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

If Payday, who has never been active in Democratic Party politics or functions, had bothered to read the Pima County Democratic Party Committee By-Laws, he would have discovered Article V, Section F, Paragraph 2, which plainly states:

2. In any election (primary, general, special, partisan or non-partisan) with multiple Democrats running, the County Executive Committee as a body shall not selectively support or endorse the candidacy of certain Democrats and exclude other Democrats from such support unless a majority of seventy-five per cent (75%) of the Executive Committee members present and voting shall approve such exclusion. A candidate may decline to accept such support without disqualifying other Democrats from receiving support.

This provision does not prohibit or restrict any person from exercising his or her right as a citizen privately to express his/her opinion.

As the Arizona Daily Star accurately reported today in Flores campaign asks party chair to resign: "Democratic leaders, on a vote of 36-0 with one abstention, took the unprecedented step in March of endorsing Romero over Flores."

The vote was in full compliance with the party bylaws. And the one abstention later changed his vote to "yes," making it unanimous. So does Payday want the entire Pima County Democratic Party Executive Committee to resign as well?

The move is not actually "unprecedented." The Democratic Party has denied access to its headquarters and use of its resources to fake Democrats in the past. In 2006, William "Wild Bill" Johnson who ran for Congress in the Democratic primary as a fake Democrat is one who immediately comes to mind. I know that there has been a primary endorsement for some office in the distant past, but I am not able to to recall the particulars. Martin Bacal, who is the institutional memory of the party, would probably know.

It is the people behind Payday's campaign, in particular former state senator Luis Gonzales and Jesse Lugo, who are the real story. They are part of an anti-Grijalva organization that goes way back. And Congressman Grijalva has endorsed Regina Romero. It's bad blood. As the Tucson Weekly reported back in August 2002, Monkey Business | Feature | Tucson Weekly:

Luis Gonzales has a history with Grijalva; he filed to run against him for the county board seat in 1992, but Grijalva got a court to toss him off the ballot because his nominating petitions contained too many forged signatures.

Gonzales, 59, got his start in politics with a run for the governing board of Pima Community College in the mid-'70s. He lost by fewer than than a dozen votes, but by then he had the bug; he jumped into a state Senate race in 1976 and again lost, by fewer than 50 votes. The third time proved to be the charm; he took another shot at the state Senate in 1978 and won this time.

Gonzales served four terms in the Legislature, but his hubris did him in. He left the statehouse to challenge Congressman Mo Udall in 1986. Two years after losing that race, he took a shot at southside titan Dan Eckstrom in a primary for the Pima County Board of Supervisors. Four years later, his name was tossed off the ballot when he challenged Grijalva. Three years after that, he lost a run for the Tucson City Council to José Ibarra.

Outside of politics, Gonzales has had a variety of jobs, including a stint as town manager of Guadalupe and an administrator with the Pascua Yaqui gambling operation. He's recently been working for an tribal casino in Alpine, Calif., although he's on leave while he pursues the congressional seat.

Despite his losses, he still has a political machine in parts of the district, particularly in the Pascua Yaqui tribe. As his campaign manager, he's tapped conservative Democrat Jesse Lugo, who is also busy supporting Republican Matt Salmon's gubernatorial run.

Now Luis Gonzales and Jesse Lugo are running the campaign of this stealth Republican fake Democrat, Payday Joe Flores. Some things never change.