McCaffrey: 'Intra-party stuff is behind us;' GOP funds will go to state party

The rift between the state and national Republican parties, and more specifically the animus between presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain and the state party, appears to be  lessening. The Arizona Republican Party will be handling McCain's fundraising in Arizona, according to Sean McCaffrey, the state party's executive director, as opposed to the Pima County Republican Party, which was reported to have control of state funds until recently.

Although unconfirmed by either the Republican National Committee or the Pima County Republican Party (whose chairman, Judy White, did not respond to requests for a comment), it is widely acknowledged that fundraising operations had lately been directed through Pima County as opposed to the ARP."That intra-party stuff is behind us," said McCaffrey. "It's in the past."

McCaffrey was responding to a PolitickerAZ.com inquiry into the unusually large sum the Pima GOP reported collecting in 2007, and persistent reports of a fundraising turf war between Republicans in the south and those in Phoenix. 

The Arizona GOP, led by Chairman Randy Pullen, famously excoriated Sen. McCain over the senator's backing of the Bush immigration plan, which was wildly unpopular with the party's conservative base. Pullen was newly elected to his position when the reform plan came up, and bad blood has existed ever since.

What is certain is that the Pima GOP raised almost as much as the state party between November 2006-December 2007. The total receipts for the Pima County Republicans were over $204,000, while the Arizona Republican Party brought in above $214,000. By contrast, the Maricopa County Republican Party, which represents an area five times as populous as Pima that includes numerous political battlegrounds, counted contributions totaling around $26,500.  

However, as focus moves onto the general election and securing Sen. McCain's home state, the Arizona Republican Party seems to be enjoying a better relationship with McCain and by extension the national party he now leads. McCain has been setting up Victory committees throughout the country that will spearhead fundraising, and Arizona is no exception. According to Sean McCaffrey, the Arizona Republican Party will function as McCain's Arizona fundraising arm. "Victory is a state party operation."

Friction between Phoenix and Tucson has also been exacerbated by congressional candidate and state Senate President Tim Bee hiring Nathan Sproul as a top advisor. Sproul, who was executive director of the Arizona Republican Party under an old regime, is a long-time foe of Pullen's, having gone as far as to record robo-calls against his leadership in May of 2007. Sproul has also been close with the national party, and was paid over $8 million to register Republicans under the aegis Voter Outreach of America in 2004. The company, operated by Sproul's firm Sproul & Associates, was accused of up ripping the forms of people trying to register as Democrats, and was investigated by the secretaries of state of Oregon and Nevada.

It had recently been rumored that Sproul was leaving the campaign of state Sen. Pres. Tim Bee (R-Tucson), who is running for the U.S. House; however, a campaign spokesman this weekend told PolitickerAZ.com there was "nothing to those reports." Sproul's departure would have been welcome news according to some Pullen allies, but McCaffrey didn't comment on matters related to the Bee campaign.

"We leave the federal candidates to the federal folks," said McCaffrey, referring to the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is charged with raising money for U.S. House candidates.