$63,000 for part-time work at one event at the end of a political campaign.
Can I apply for a job like that and not report it too?
Brian Schmitt, the new Executive Director of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission after winning a three to two vote on Tuesday, has some explaining to do.
The Republican operative who was once Chief of Staff to Phoenix City Councilman Jim Waring had to answer follow-up questions to the Commission after not having revealed his work for the Martha McSally 2020 Senate Campaign.
The explanation he offered was:
“I was asked to help with the last event of the cycle. It takes place on the Yavapai County Courthouse steps… A friend called and asked me to help coordinate the logistics and that was my only involvement…
That event was kind of a one-off…My full-time job is really what I do. This is just, I used my campaign experience to help out.”
$63,000 to just help out?
Who is he kidding?
There are many struggling political operatives that wish they had the one-off financial windfall opportunities like Mr. Schmitt.
Suffice it to say, Democratic-leaning groups are not satisfied with Mr. Schmitt’s explanation or his election to the Executive Directorship of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.
Charlie Fisher, the interim Executive Director of the Arizona Democratic Party published a statement that read:
“Yesterday’s decision by the Independent Redistricting Commission was shocking and disappointing. The Republicans and the Chair of this Commission chose to break with history and select an Executive Director who was unable to earn the full support of the commission, in direct contrast to Chair Neuberg’s previous pledges to build consensus and avoid split votes. All of this was done in order to hire the most partisan, least experienced candidate among the five interviewed.
I am not familiar with the financial decision-making of the McSally campaign, but I’ve been around politics long enough to confidently say an outside consultant being paid more than $63,000 to “help out” at a single event is preposterous. The fact that Mr. Schmitt omitted this information from his application and has yet to satisfactorily explain his campaign cash windfall is unethical and should have disqualified him entirely.
The Arizona Constitution requires that members of the Independent Redistricting Commission uphold the integrity of the redistricting process and the public’s trust in it. Mr. Schmitt’s lack of transparency about his political activities, loyalties, and benefactors are at odds with those sacred principles.
The Arizona Democratic Party calls on the Independent Redistricting Commission and the Arizona Department of Administration to pause the employment process, and refrain from installing Mr. Schmitt as Executive Director until these questions are answered by an independent inquiry. The people of Arizona must have a complete picture as to who will be leading the operations of this independent, nonpartisan commission.”
Molly Mitchell of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) also released a statement that read:
“Yesterday, Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) voted 3-2 to offer the job of Executive Director to Brian Schmitt, who has worked as a Republican operative for his entire career. Schmitt has spent the last decade as Chief of Staff for conservative Phoenix City Council Member Jim Waring. He is also listed on expense reports from the Republican National Committee in 2020 and 2018. This is the first time in the history of Arizona’s redistricting commission – three previous Executive Director hires – that the Executive Director selection was not a unanimous vote.”
“If the IRC wants a truly independent and impartial redistricting process, they should not select the most partisan applicant to serve as the executive director. We call on Chair Neuberg and the Arizona commissioners to recommit to consensus building and for all future Commission hires to not have overtly partisan backgrounds.”
“The Commission should be working to hire diverse and qualified staff, and yesterday’s decision is a concerning step toward having the Commission be influenced by partisan officials.”
Arizona State Legisalture Democratic Leaders Rebecca Rios and Reginald Bolding released a joint statement which said:
“It’s deeply dismaying that the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission voted 3-2 to offer the critical role of Executive Director to Brian Schmitt, a Republican operative who failed to disclose to the commission recent, relevant and partisan campaign work. Schmitt’s name is linked to a 2020 campaign disbursement from Martha McSally for Congress in the amount of $63,652.44, made three days after the November election, as well as disbursements from the Republican National Committee in 2020 and 2018. This type of campaign work, and the candidate’s decision to initially withhold that critical information from his application, should have been immediately disqualifying.”
“Schmitt, chief of staff to Republican Phoenix City Councilman Jim Waring, tried to downplay this five-figure payment from McSally by saying, ‘a friend called and asked me to help with logistics, that was my only involvement.’ Such a large payment for something as minor as ‘logistics’ for a Republican candidate is alarming and needs to be independently investigated. The Independent Redistricting Commission must be seen as exactly that –independent. This selection – the first in the Commission’s history where the selection was not unanimous – risks losing the public’s confidence and trust in the Commission to redraw Arizona’s congressional and legislative districts fairly and transparently. The Commission’s work is too important to every Arizonan to take this risk.”
In a state with just under seven and a half million people, it should not have been difficult to find one independent person without political and financial baggage with the appropriate experience to serve as the Executive Director of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.
It is time to relieve Mr. Schmitt of his new duties and start at the drawing board again to find someone that will receive unanimous support from all the commissioners.
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