Medicaid wounds are still raw in GOP

If the latest fracas between Gov. Jan Brewer and Republican Party operatives is any indication, it's going to be a long, ugly 13 months until the 2014 primary election.

Brewer recently reached out to the right wing of her party in hopes of healing wounds left by the bipartisan passage of Medicaid expansion, saying it's time to put differences aside and unite for the good of the party.

Conservative Republicans responded by sharpening their invective and moving forward with a series of "no confidence" votes against the governor and the 14 GOP lawmakers who backed the governor's expansion plan last month.

Supporters of the new law to broaden health-care coverage for the poor under the federal Affordable Care Act say the legislative precinct committee members represent a small fringe of the GOP and their symbolic votes don't matter.

But at the same time, they warn that, in some districts, working to knock off GOP moderates in the primary could give the seats to Democrats in the general election.

Brewer was concerned enough to send a letter Friday to thousands of precinct committee members across the state who make up the grass-roots political machinery of the GOP, making her case for Medicaid expansion and asking for their support.

"To continue efforts to potentially hurt and intimidate those who stood with me only puts Republicans' chances for electoral success next year back into harm's way," the governor wrote.

"We are allies. It is time to move on, work together for a united front in 2014 and focus on the key issues that face our state, including the economy, quality education and public safety."

Brewer sent a similar missive to GOP officials in March, when they were passing, during legislative-district meetings, harshly worded resolutions that opposed expansion and threatened the political careers of Republican lawmakers who supported it.

At that time, the governor argued that the GOP would be more at risk if it turned down the federal funds that will pay for most of the expansion and kicked their constituents off Medicaid.

But the conservative party loyalists say Brewer and the Republicans who teamed with Democrats to pass expansion have abandoned conservative GOP principles and made matters worse by pushing the bill through in a three-day special session that the governor called without consulting GOP leadership.

"They're elitists who think that what they've done can be forgiven. They're mistaken," Maricopa County GOP Chairman A.J. LaFaro said. "We are not going to be able to defeat all of them, but we will definitely defeat some of them. They are Arizona's 15 most wanted."

So far, GOP executive committees in five legislative districts have approved no-confidence resolutions or resolutions to censure the renegade Republicans and Brewer for supporting Medicaid expansion.

Most also include Rep. Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale, who voted for expansion once but against it in the end. Another vote is scheduled in Mesa's Legislative District 16 on Thursday.

The votes have no legal impact, but GOP officials hope they will help turn voters against the incumbent lawmakers.

Rep. Heather Carter, R-Cave Creek, was out of town late last month when her Legislative District 15 GOP committee gave her a no-confidence vote.

Carter, who shepherded the expansion bill through the House, said she's proud of her vote but doesn't want to dwell on divisions within the party.

"I don't make decisions based on my political future," she said. "I make decisions based on what's best for my state. If you look back in history, when the Republican Party has done well, they have always provided a big tent."

Veteran Arizona pollster Bruce Merrill said the GOP split over Medicaid is another example of the conservative takeover of the state's GOP machinery.

"It just shows the extent to which the Republican Party is really fractured," said Merrill, a senior research fellow at Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy. "The right wing has really taken over the party."

Merrill said the precinct committee members should not be underestimated in their ability to get conservative candidates elected in primaries, when most Arizona races are decided.

They may not represent mainstream Republicans, he said, but they know how to play politics.

"They're a smart, hardworking group of people who understand how the system works," Merrill said. "I reluctantly give them credit. … At the precinct level, they help you win."

Rep. Carl Seel, R-Phoenix, said he's not concerned about whether bouncing moderate Republicans could give Democrats the advantage in some districts.

As he sees it, the moderates, by voting with Democrats to pass Medicaid expansion, already have given Democrats control of the House, where the GOP holds a 34-26 advantage.

"One could make the argument that those nine turncoat Republicans in the state House are now Democrats," Seel said.

"It's not safe for any of them."

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