An Arizona Republican Party internal memo leaked to the Gateway Pundit raises serious concerns about unethical use of party resources and systematic failures that the Deputy Communications Director fears will lead to a loss in 2020.
The memo, sent by Deputy Communications Director Robert Maxwell to Executive Director Kyle Pierce on Wednesday, outlines failures that were observed in 2018 — such as resources being misappropriated for the benefit of Chairman Jonathan Lines’ reelection bid and Governor Doug Ducey using the party as his “personal political operation.”
The memo begins with Maxwell explaining how much he loves the party, the president, and Republican activists in the state. He said that because of that, he is “saddened to write this memo.”
“I have witnessed systemic failures within the Arizona Republican Party that not only led to the most significant Republican losses in a generation in 2018, but if allowed to persist will cost President Trump Arizona in 2020, thus costing him our electoral votes. President Trump should not be forced to worry about Arizona turning blue, yet if the AZGOP doesn’t do something to radically shake up its strategy that is exactly what will happen,” the memo says.
Maxwell goes on to list “just a few” of the issues he says he has personally witnessed that left him greatly concerned for the future of the state’s party. He alleges that “more often than not, both before and after the 2018 general election, the AZGOP office is entirely empty except for a single low level staffer or volunteer.”
The memo also blasts the party for acting as Governor Ducey’s “personal political operation” and failing to recruit and support Republican candidates.
“While I have tremendous respect for Governor Ducey and have been energized by his pledges to make Arizona the most prosperous state in the nation, I do not believe that the AZGOP should have operated as his personal political operation, especially given that it did so at the detriment of other important Republican candidates like Martha McSally, Frank Riggs, Jill Norgaard, Frank Schmuck, and Steve Gaynor, among many others. The AZGOP, for whatever reason, failed to provide any substantive support to our top tier Republican candidates, which significantly contributed to their losses.
Maxwell goes on to blow the whistle on AZGOP staff taking extended vacations for three, four, five — and even six weeks — while still collecting paychecks and using party resources. He also states that the party continues to spend “hundreds of thousands” of dollars each year on vendors that provide zero creativity to the mission.
Regarding Chairman Lines, Maxwell’s memo says that he has been absent and “largely unavailable” to staff and grassroots leaders, both during and after the election. Meanwhile, he says that AZGOP resources, most specifically staff, paid consultants, and headquarters, are being “misappropriated for the benefit of Chairman Lines’ reelection bid.”
“On numerous occasions in the past weeks, and presently, AZGOP resources have been used to strategize and run his campaign. This is a blatant abuse and misuse of power and resources. The AZGOP headquarters has been turned into a de facto war room for Chairman Lines to win his reelection. Can you imagine the outcry that would ensue if a city councilmember, legislator, or the governor were running their campaign out of the office they had been elected to steward?” Maxwell’s memo continues.
The memo concludes by asserting that due to the serious indiscretions of those tasked with running the Arizona Republican Party, he can no longer in good conscience continue to serve in his current role as Deputy Communications Director.
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“I cannot remain a part of a system so broken and focused on self-interest rather than Party interest. I hereby tender my resignation, effective immediately,” Maxwell wrote.
When asked for comment by the Gateway Pundit, Maxwell reiterated the disappointment and dismay that he expressed in the memo.
“As someone who has fought in the trenches for Republican principles and candidates for years, it hurts me to leave a position where I thought I would be able to do so much good for the Party,” Maxwell said. “Unfortunately, it seems individuals have turned the AZGOP into the personal political machine for a select group of swampy consultants and self-interested political operatives. When President Trump is fighting day in and day out for the American people in Washington, I simply won’t sit idly by as the political elite in Arizona undermine his chances for winning our state.”
