Frank Antenori Writes Pima GOP Chair Shelley Kais Supports HB 2839

Was it Stupidity or Pure, Deliberate Sabotage?

Pima County GOP chair derails Senate effort to fix HB2839, the PC election elimination bill.

Dear Fellow PCs,

In what can only be described as a stunning display of ego, self-promotion and tooting one’s own horn, Pima GOP chair Shelley Kais went into a Senate hearing like a bull in a china shop, and that’s not just an analogy.

The Senate Judiciary hearing was to simply review and approve the repeal of section 4 of HB2839 so it could go to the Senate floor for a vote. As you know, HB2839 contained a provision, Section 4, which eliminated elections for all Precinct Committeemen in the 2022 election cycle. 

Over the past several days, Republican legislators and leaders had been negotiating with Democrats to get the required 4 additional votes in the Senate and 9 votes in the House, to enable the emergency clause, which is needed to repeal the section immediately. Without those 4 Democrat votes to get to 20 votes in the Senate and 9 Democrats to get to 40 votes in the House (2/3s of the chamber) it would take 90 days after the legislature adjourns before the fix would go into effect. Essentially a day late and a dollar short.

Rather than coordinating with our GOP legislators, and joining what was a group strategy to obtain the required Democrat support, Shelley Kais chose a different strategy. She went in there like an angry 3rd grade math teacher scolding unruly students, with a display of rudeness, condescension and total lack of respect for the body in which she was speaking; that everyone in attendance that I spoke with was astonished by the display.

Watch the video here:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wX4zJY2axnc&feature=youtu.be

One GOP legislator told me that the video should be played at every LD meeting in the state as an example of how NOT to talk at a committee hearing. Evidently, Shelley never read “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”

The egomaniacal display, put on by Ms. Kais only had one effect, and it was a detrimental one. Democrats that were initially receptive to the fix, were so insulted and put off by her condescending and egomaniacal rant, that they notified the committee chairman, Sen. Warren Peterson, that they could no longer vote for the trailer bill to repeal Section 4.

Sen. Peterson called for a short recess to try to do damage control, but to no avail. Democrats wouldn’t budge. He was forced to return to committee adjourn the hearing without a vote on the bill until Thursday; hopefully to buy more time to repair the damage Ms. Kais had done.

So if Ms. Kais’s strategy was to scold the legislators into fixing the bill, that strategy failed miserably.

So one has to ask, what was really her strategy?

Did she really intend to get section 4 of HB2839 repealed or did she intend to deliberately sabotage the effort so the bill as currently passed, would give her total control over the PC selection and appointment process?

Over the weekend, Ms. Kais held an emergency “informational” meeting with the Pima County Republican Party Executive Committee to get approval for an emergency resolution to send to the legislature. The resolution she proposed actually said nothing, I’ll say it again, NOTHING about repealing Section 4.

Here’s a link to screenshots of the resolution: https://www.flickr.com/photos/195245260@N08/51929764535/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/195245260@N08/51928158072/in/dateposted-public/

This resolution was simply another example of self-promotion and what many believe was an attempt to usurp state chairman Kelli Ward who had already met with legislative leadership to cooperate, quietly and tactfully, with getting the bill fixed.

In Ms. Kais’s own words, her intent was “to get out in front” with the resolution. Get in front of what one might ask? What was ironic, Ms. Kais was actually doing what she allegedly was so upset with the legislature for doing.She quickly cobbled together a resolution, didn’t provide copies or allow ALL members of the Executive Committee to read it (only her chosen accomplices in LD11), or discuss the resolution or offer amendments. Instead she thwarted every effort to do so and bullied them into voting for it.

Sadly, with the exception of only one courageous member, Cheryl Caswell who stood strong on the principle of wanting to read it first and offer amendments or table it for a more thorough review, the rest of the board blindly followed their “Supreme Leader” in this reckless and possibly deliberate strategy and they all voted to blindly approve it and sign their name to it.

So to summarize:

1)    HB2839 was passed and signed by the Governor with an Emergency Clause (2/3s vote). Section 4 of the bill eliminated PC elections in 2022 and allowed the GOP County Chairs to control the appointment of PCs, potentially allowing them to “hand pick” the very people that would vote for them at the November reorganizational meeting. Can anyone say Politburo?

2)   Shelly Kais’s initial resolution said nothing about repealing Section 4. Not one of her original 6 items presented on the Zoom call requested a repeal.

3)   She rushed the resolution through a late night Zoom call, didn’t provide advanced copies to all ExCom members, didn’t allow time for them to review it, didn’t allow ample opportunity for board members or county PCs to make suggestions or edits, then forced a vote on it.

4)   She did not coordinate with any legislators as far as we know (except for maybe Vince Leach), she went barreling into a Senate committee hearing, pissed off both GOP and Dem legislators, then had the audacity to issues a self-promoting press release about it.

5)   Kais put her own self-promotion in front of what was best for the state. Her stunt effectively stalled efforts to repeal Section 4, and could have possibly, permanently, endangered getting the bill fixed.

My assessment:

1)   This was either outright stupidity or sabotage. I’m probably giving her more credit than she deserves, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that she’s not stupid and this was sabotage. Either way, it was one or the other.

2)   The legislature already had enough of a challenge to get this bill fixed and was dealing with a sensitive, diplomatic effort to get the required Democrat votes to get it repealed. They didn’t ask for, nor did they want her help.

3)   Her grand standing display in the committee was at a minimum arrogant and disrespectful and an embarrassment for the GOP Senators and legislators present, the State Republican Party and the Pima County GOP.

So again I ask the PCs of Pima County: Why do you put up with this?

Contrary to her self-promotion, cheerleading and bullying, this selfish egomaniac has done nothing, and continues to do nothing to help Republicans win in 2022 and 2024. To the contrary, she now appears to be working against those efforts.

You need to call for her resignation or recall her for the good of the party. The only divisive force in the Pima GOP is Shelley Kais. You want unity? The only way to get that is for Shelly Kais to go. When she leaves, we can then come together and start focusing on what the Party should be doing, not these manufactured distractions.

If she stays chairman, she will continue to sow the seeds of division. Shelley Kais does not have the ability to be humble, to listen, and to repent for her mistakes. She will continue to be the “my way or the highway” bully she’s been since getting elected.

PCs of Pima County, you have a clear choice, the question is, will you have the courage to make it?

Respectfully,

Frank Antenori

Precinct and State Committeeman, LD14 (new LD19)

Watch Shelley Kais get nasty while testifying before a Senate committee. This may have been an act because Shelley appears to have turned off the Democrats needed to join Republicans to repeal section 4 of HB 2839 with her insulting tone. I am the first to say you have to get nasty to politicians but these Democrats will probably let the GOP own this HB 2839 and it only benefits the establishment and the likes of Pima GOP Chair Shelley Kais.