Sayonara Sam Stone

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

After Sam Stone was exposed by POLITICO as the source of the Martha McSally gambit to undercut Jesse Kelly so that he would lose the Special Election and McSally could run in the GOP primary in August, McSally had no choice but to staunch the bleeding. Too late.

McSally allowed Stone to save face by claiming that he quit, but who are they kidding? Stone was fired. The Arizona Daily Star reports McSally rep quits amid 'advice' flap:

[Sam Stone], the campaign spokesman for Republican congressional candidate Martha McSally, is out after he reportedly offered campaign advice to a staffer of Democrat Ron Barber.

The unsolicited advice – apparently jotted down on a business card – provided tips to the staffer on defeating fellow Republican Jesse Kelly.

Sam Stone decided to step down as communications director to do what's best for McSally, said Christian Morgan, her campaign manager and spokesman for now. But McSally wasn't pleased that Stone offered advice to Barber's campaign, Morgan said.

"Obviously, a staff member for the campaign lending aid and support to Mr. Barber's campaign was not what Martha wants," said Morgan, who added that McSally offered her support to Kelly during the Congressional District 8 campaign.

McSally's campaign issued a news release Tuesday announcing the resignation and thanking Stone for helping to launch the McSally campaign during the CD8 primary.

McSally's statement (h/t Tucson Weekly):

Members of my campaign team are representatives of who I am, what I stand for and why I am running for Congress. Because of that, my communications director, Sam Stone, has resigned his position with the campaign effective immediately. Sam was a valuable member of our campaign and helped us go from zero to 25% in just 68 days during the Special Election in April. We need to reform Washington and change who we send there. The people of Arizona deserve the best from its elected leaders and candidates, and I will give it to them.

McSally thought it was "outside of the bounds" for Stone to give any kind of help to Barber, a Democrat who holds many of the opposite views of McSally and other conservative Republicans, Morgan said.

"Stone would not comment about the encounter or his resignation." I'll bet.