Oh, what a tangled website they weave

(PNI) What's good for the goose …The state Republican Party last week sent out an e-mail criticizing the state Democratic Party for removing "important files and records" from their site.

"Several years worth of agendas, minutes and event reports have vanished from the website," according to the Republican statement.

A search of the site shows there are no minutes to be found, and a Google search leads to a link to nothing.

Democratic party spokesman Frank Camacho did not return a call seeking comment.

The more records available to the public, the better, at least in Insider's eyes. Which got us wondering …

If the Republicans have deemed these documents so vital to the public, surely they would make available the same information on their website.

Nope.

Stay interesting, our candidates … After going after Democratic opacity, the state GOP set its sights on what it viewed as Democratic mediocrity: gubernatorial candidate Fred DuVal, whom the GOP labeled "the most uninteresting man in the world."

DuVal rose to the challenge in a, dare we say it, interesting way. He shipped a case of Dos Equis beer to GOP Chairman Robert Graham, along with a photoshopped picture of himself as the beer's bearded pitchman, aka the "Most Interesting Man in the World."

"Stay desperate my friends," DuVal wrote in his note, signing it as "the most electable man in Arizona."

DuVal, who so far is the only Dem in the race for governor, said he wanted to set a new standard for statesmanship. If that new standard involves cases of cerveza, Arizona's political climate just might get merrier.

Now there are two …As opponents of the state's new election law circulate petitions to get it on the 2014 ballot so they can make a case for how awful and terrible it is, not one but two groups have formed to defend the wide-ranging bill.

But what they will do, exactly, is unclear … even to the spokesman who is representing both the Protect Our Secret Ballot group, headed by state Sen. Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale, and the Stop Voter Fraud group, led by former state lawmaker and congressional candidate Jonathan Paton.

"I can't tell you what they're doing," said Barrett Marson, of the groups that support House Bill 2305. After all, he noted, the measure has yet to be referred to the ballot (opponents face a Sept.12 deadline) so there is nothing to strategize.

That hasn't stopped the Stop Voter Fraud group from raking in $60,000 in big-dollar contributions, with $50,000 coming from the limited-government American Action Network and $10,000 from the Arizona Republican Party. The committee turned around and promptly spent $10,000. But Marson said he didn't know what that money went for.

As for Reagan's group, the Senate Elections Committee chairman said she wanted to keep her options open, but it was important to have a committee for fundraising. But if they're out tapping donors, they're doing it in smaller chunks, which means they don't have to adhere to a state law that requires immediate disclosure of contributions of $10,000 or more.

Quote of the week

"I believe there are more important issues than my last name. But sometimes you have to put sugar on the broccoli to get people's attention and bring these issues to the front." -- Phoenix City Council candidate Austin Head, whose "I (heart) Head" campaign signs have helped him get voter attention in a race crowded with well-known names.

Compiled by Republic reporters Mary Jo Pitzl and Alia Beard Rau. Get the latest at politics.azcentral.com.

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