Ernesto Portillo Jr. of the Arizona Daily Star today reported on a scandal in the Republican party which has been brewing for months. RNC National Committeeman Randy Pullen, who was elected over former Committeeman Mike Hellon at this year's State convention by just 5 votes, is alleged to have prevailed by vote fraud. An internal party investigation alleges Pullen supporters used each other's credentials to vote multiple times and stuff the ballot box.
The Republican party's attorney reports that "the available evidence is sufficient to conclude that illegal voting likely took place in the election for national committeeman," and that "the evidence is sufficient to make an election challenge."
Randy Pullen is one of the leaders of the Prop 200, the "Protect Arizona Now" initiative. That initiative is predicated upon an allegation of wide-spread voter fraud by illegal aliens and Mexican national residents in Arizona. Because of that association, the allegations of Pullen's fraudulent victory are particularly damning, and if true, highlights an undeniable degree of hypocrisy in the hard right of the Arizona GOP.
Arizona GOP party Chairman Bob Fannin, and other party leaders, have decided not to pursue a new National Committeeman election for fear that the resultant wide-spread revelation of vote fraud within the party might generate negative publicity. But it may also denote a certain ideological satisfaction with the outcome of Pullen's stolen election.
The author's blog is BlogForArizona.com.