http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/knau/local-knau-928389.mp3
Phoenix, AZ – Woods was the state attorney general for eight years. This year,
when he looked at the candidates running for that office, he
decided that Felecia Rotellini is better qualified than Tom
Horne. The problem with that from the perspective of Rob Haney,
chairman of the Maricopa County Republican Committee, is that
Woods is a Republican precinct committeeman. And Rotellini is a
Democrat. Haney said that Woods, by virtue of his position, is
obliged to support the party's nominee.
(And if you don't want to support them, then don't say anything
and go about your business supporting other Republicans. Or, if
you want to endorse the candidate of an opposing party, then
resign your position so that someone else can take that role on.)
The committee can't eject Woods from the party. And it can't even
oust him as precinct committeeman. But what it can do is strip him
of his internal voting rights, which is what was done Thursday
night. Woods, in a letter to Haney, was unapologetic. He said by
the party's logic if there were a race between Thomas Jefferson
as a Democrat and Lindsay Lohan as a Republican, he could not
support Jefferson. And Woods said he isn't terribly concerned
about losing those voting rights, saying the committee has been
busy with such important resolutions as secession from the union
and what he called the never-ending pursuit of the president's
birth certificate. For Arizona Public Radio this is Howard
Fischer.