Vernon Parker is an African-American running for the Republican nomination for Governor in the state of Arizona. The first reaction of many conservatives is to do everything possible, pull out all the stops, and make sure he wins the nomination in order to show the world we’re not racists, but Vernon Parker is not a true conservative, and Republicans shouldn’t rush to promote him.
The first huge strike against him is he made national headlines when he received a large federal, taxpayer-grant (over a million dollars) for a minority owned business. My first reaction is ,”What is a true “conservative” doing taking advantage of taxpayer dollars because of his skin color. The grant is under even more suspicion since he has been accused of falsifying the documents.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/washington/07sbiz.html?_r=1
Vernon Parker also has a very light resume, and his position as mayor of Paradise Valley is a joke. The position is unpaid and unelected, it’s chosen by the city council. Paradise Valley residents have become so fed up with Vernon Parker they’re attempting to change their constitution so mayors now have to be elected by direct vote.
When are Republicans going to stop thinking that by nominating black candidates the Left is going to stop calling us racists, or that blacks are going to automatically going to start voting Republican?
There are far better candidates in the running that can actually be effective Governors in office. Republicans need to stop playing this game that we need to promote every black Republican (regardless of the quality) in order to show the world we’re not racist.
I want more minorities to become part of the Republican Party and the conservative movement, but I think Republicans overcompensate and promote any huckster that comes along and says they’re a Republican. We’ve been bitten by this before, just see how thankful someone like Colin Powell was. My point here is I want Republicans to look past skin color when they decide they’re going to promote minority candidates.
Dan McLaughlin
Moe Lane
Neil Stevens
Steve Maley
I'll wait to hear from our Arizona RS members
civil truth (Diary) Thursday, September 24th at 3:36PM EST (link)Haven’t heard anything here that indicates where he stands on the issues that will shape Arizona’s future and his attitude towards the role of the Federal government and the current leadership.
The greatest evil…is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern. -C.S. Lewis
http://www.gmsplace.com/
Vernon Parker won't a dozen votes.
mbecker908 (Diary) Thursday, September 24th at 4:11PM EST (link)No statewide name recognition, hell, no name recognition in metro Phoenix. In the world of trying to turn a molehill into a mountain this diary is king.
There Will Be A Big Push For Him
DavidSage (Diary) Thursday, September 24th at 7:46PM EST (link)I don’t think Parker will win the primary, but some of the more establishment Republican lobbyists in the state will make a big push to promote him.
Jan Brewer (the current AZ Governor) is an embarrassment to the Republican Party, and blew an incredible opportunity to clean the mess Napolitano left behind. Her approval ratings are below Mark Sanford’s.
I tend to agree that Vernon Parker is more of a lightweight, ladder-climbing politician than a movement conservative, and the million-dollar, minority business SBA handout taints him. He’d definitely lose the general against Democrat Terry Goddard.
The best shot Republicans have is probably state treasurer Dean Martin, who is an excellent conservative. Ken Bennett, the current Secretary of State is also a strong alternative.
Neither Parker or Brewer even come close to "lightweight"... nt
mbecker908 (Diary) Friday, September 25th at 1:38AM EST (link)What Do You Mean?
DavidSage (Diary) Friday, September 25th at 2:53PM EST (link)When I referred to Parker being a lightweight, I just mean he doesn’t have much experience and he seems out of his league to be running for Governor.
Being mayor of Paradise Valley carries about as much responsibility as being on the PTA. The man has never held an elected office. It’s just a leap to go from where he is now to try and run for Governor.
As far as Brewer goes, I never said she was a lightweight, she has been elected statewide as Secretary of State, but she still has been a disaster. If Republicans lose the Governorship, it will be squarely on her shoulders. I would have preferred Democrat Napolitano to have finished out her term.
A short story about Dean Martin and how his political career started
ColdWarrior (Diary) Thursday, September 24th at 11:57PM EST (link)as related to me by Rob Haney, the current Maricopa County GOP Chairman. (A digression: Rob won his seat by a margin of 20 votes out of 800 cast by the 800 precinct committeeman who bothered to show up for the county convention this year out of the 1,989 or so elected PCs out of the 6,350 or so available slots representing the 694,000 or so registered Republicans in Maricopa County — conservative precinct committeeman MATTER).
Back when Slick Willie was in the middle of his the Lewinsky travails, and had he had been proven to have lied under oath, Rob and Dean both walked out of their Sunday church service, along with others, when their pastor told the congregation they needed to forgive Slick Willie. Rob’s thinking was that because Slick Willie refused to apologize to the nation and had put it through the whole ordeal of trying to cover up his actions, requesting the congregation to forgive someone who had not asked for forgiveness or taken responsibility for his transgressions was outrageous. Rob did not know Dean. They started chatting in the church lobby about what had just transpired. Soon Rob was able to to see that Dean was a bright guy and a conservative. Rob was a relatively new precinct committeeman and he told Dean, “You know, you sound like a real good conservative — you ought to be a precinct committeeman.” Dean’s response was, “What’s a precinct committeeman?” Rob proceeded to recruit Dean.
The rest was history. A few years later, Dean became our State Treasurer.
Become a precinct committeeman. It’s fun. No telling what might happen to you.
Thank you.
ColdWarrior
www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com
In 2012, will YOU become a “voting member” of the Republican Party in your precinct?
Where it all started. Twitter @kaltkrieger
Unified Patriots.
Learn how to GOTV at The Concord Project and at Procinct and