Palace Intrigue or Betrayal?

2011-2023

Pima County is a historically blue county with almost 60% voting Democrat in the Presidential election since 2000. If Pima County is ever to become a RED county, the Republican party must work together.

The purpose of this site is to demonstrate what has been done over the past decade and provide information which will show:

  • why we can’t win if we don’t start working together, and
  • weed out those who want to disrupt success.

Chairmen by Year

Funding and Individual Contributors

People make the party. Dollars support the initiatives. Leadership inspires the goals. In 2021-2022, we saw a significant increase in individual donors and the highest fundraising in a decade. Our recruitment of ELECTED Precinct Committeemen continued to grow and in October 2022, we had the highest number of ELECTED Precinct Committeemen in the past decade.

Challenges to the 2021-2022 Board

Every organization faces challenges. Most of our challenges came from within our own palace walls. While the accusations were unsubstantiated, Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals Number 11 were at play:

“If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.” 

Rules for Radicals

Justine Wadsack Accuses PimaGOP of “felonies” on FB

3rd Vice Chair Accuses 2nd Vice Chair of Conflict of Interest

The 3rd Vice Chairman, Cheryl Caswell, accused 2nd Vice Chair Anna Clark of a conflict of interest. It was determined that Anna had terminated her contract with candidate Walt Blackman before the race became a contested race.

Attacks from Outside Pima County

Outside of Pima County, Frank Antenori, State Committeeman and PC of Cochise County, attempted to destroy the Pima County Republican Chairman and party with unsubstantiated statements and accusations. He ranted on KVOI, WakeUp Tucson with his accusations. When the host, Chris DeSimone asked him to come back with proof, we have never heard from Frank again on KVOI. His complaint which he then filed with the Arizona Secretary of State was determined to be a clerical error. The AZSOS helped us make the correction. In an attempt to ensure transparency, the Pima County GOP shared all the correspondence.

AZSOS Complaint Filed by Frank Antenori

AZSOS Complaint Chair Kais Response

Attorney Advice Regarding AZSOS Complaint

Lawfare Against Pima County Republican Party begins with its Members

Change is always a difficult, and redistricting is always a challenge. When the new districts were forming, the Legislative District Chairman of the former districts (LD 3, 4, 9, 10, 11) worked together with a facilitator to organize the new districts (16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23). Most of the 2021 districts had 2 or 3 chairman from the former districts working together to organize the new district. There was one district in Pima County (LD 14) that did not want to do it that way — they wanted lawfare.

Lawsuit

RAFAEL “RAY” A. IHLY, individually; CHERYL
CASWELL, individually, ANASTASIOS
TSATSAKIS, individually, SUZANNE JENKINS,
individually, EILEEN WILSON, individually,
LEIANN ANDERSON, individually, ROBERT
MONTGOMERY, individually, ELIZABETH
SPECK, individually, RONALD HART, individually,
PAULINE HART, individually, and BOBBY
WILSON, individually,
Plaintiffs,
vs.
SHELLY KAIS, Chairman of the Pima County Republican Committee,
Defendant