Latest Mark Spinks Info Good News, But Raises More Questions than Answers

I was forwarded an email last night that originated from Randy Pullen:

From: Randy Pullen
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 2:34 PM
Subject: RE: POLITICO MAFIOSO: Tom Morrissey's First 100 Days by TheOnlyTrueConservative


Talked to Tom today.  Mark is no longer working at AZGOP.  His transition contract ended.


Randall Pullen

While Mark Spinks' departure is undeniably good news for the Party, the message raises a few questions.


The way Randy phrased his message, it made it sound like Mark is no longer working at AZGOP because his contract expired.  I suppose that's how I'd try to spin it if I were Tom Morrissey. 

 Pretend that he was only a temporary employee anyway, so now he's gone, like we planned it all along.  But if that were true, it would mean that Mark would also have known in advance that he was going to be gone.


However, it was just a few days ago that Mark Spinks sent out a bizarre, highly-caffeinated 1000 word rant to several hundred recipients (full text below).  Mark was responding to the recall effort that is being mounted against Tom Morrissey, and he was not happy.  He didn't sound like Mark Spinks the private citizen in that email, he sounded decidedly like Mark Spinks, AZGOP contractor/staffer.


Like this part:

To kick off, we are hosting a Republican's United for Victory Rally on May 21st.

Please hold the date and plan on showing up in support of the Party, Principles, and Community we believe in. Bring your signs, and banners and show support for YOUR AZGOP, YOUR COUNTY, YOUR DISTRICT & YOUR LOCAL TEA PARTY. We will be sending out the time and location later this week but please hold the date now.

(This is an event for grown-ups, but just in case you little Grijalva children do want to attend, we will set up a daycare area on site to entertain you with crayons, games, and face painting)

Not exactly the phrasing of a guy who knew his contract would be ending.


So what is the real reason behind the departure of Mark Spinks?  If he was fired by Tom Morrissey, Tom should say so.  It would be the first sign of good judgement we've seen out of the Morrissey regime.  But Tom Morrissey only talks about accountability and transparency.  He doesn't practice it.


What were the terms of Mark's contract, and how long did it run?  What was the original scheduled end date?  Was that date modified or changed recently?  Is it mere coincidence that his departure comes after the launch of a recall effort and Mark's rambling, offensive conspiratorial email?


I can't imagine that any real answers about why Mark Spinks is gone will be forthcoming.  Stonewalling and remaining silent seems to be the entirety of Tom Morrissey's press policy.


I guess I'll have to take Mr. Pullen at his word and assume that Mark Spinks has gone back to being Mark Spinks, private citizen, proprietor of the Arizona Liberty Project, and serial defendant, but we'll be watching the FEC filings closely to ensure that there's not some shady shell game going on.


But for now, I can't tell you how happy I am to not have to think about or write about this creep anymore.  Bye-bye Mark.  Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

In the spirit of a complete and accurate record, here's the full text of the email that Mark sent out late last week:

From: Mark Spinks
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 4:55 PM
To: Mark Spinks
Subject: Requesting Your Resignation

It's great to see the overwhelming support for the Chairman and team at the AZGOP in response to this latest attack. I also want to thank everyone that has sent Tom, Brett, Teresa, Thayer, myself personal emails and calls of support. It is sad that our party has to deal with the pathetic and pitiful children that act this way.

They sneak around believing they are anonymous because they know what they are doing is pathetic but everyone knows who they are. Their emails get forwarded to us from their "loyal" backers, their phone calls recorded and shared as well. So why are they doing this? Is it really because they disapprove of the performance?

Are they truly against the AZGOP this year out fundraising 3 of the last 4 years YTD?

Are they truly against the AZGOP bringing in the top Republican Fundraiser and possible Presidential candidate to help us out?

Are they truly against the AZGOP having a flood of volunteers wishing to be part of the team for the first time in forever?

The truth is the AZGOP has been able to succeed in spite of your best attempts to derail and destroy it. They are succeeding in spite of you attacks and distractions. Just think how far along they would be if they didn't have to stop and deal with this every day?

No, the real issue is power, control, and greed. Everything we are fighting to purge from our government we also need to rid ourselves of in our own party.

Yes, cowards, there is a problem. YOU.

You are a cancer and virus that has been infecting this party for years. Your bitterness, anger, and hatred towards anyone and everyone that doesn't give you 100% of what you want is childish at best. You use the word Honor in your letter? Where is the honor in cowardly anonymous blog attacks and emails? Where is the honor in not even being adult enough to even sit down with Tom, Brett, or myself to discuss concerns you may have about any of us. You are pathetic, not honorable. At least we have the strength and courage to stand, in public, and fight for what we believe in regardless of your attempts to distort, trash, and slander us.

You play the victim card at every turn. One of you in an especially pitiful display even played the race card and used the shooting in Tucson to garner some sympathy and take your attempts to destroy this party to the media for your 15 minutes of fame. You guys go around and tell everyone to stop donating, to boycott Arizona-GOP. Now who does that remind me of? Oh yes, Grijalva. He turned on his own state because he disagreed with ONE stance it took and instead of being an adult and leader and sitting down to discuss his disagreement, he chose to be a child throwing a temper tantrum. You cowards are now those children. We have our own pathetic Raul Grijalva Republicans. Rahm Emanuel would be proud of you guys.

The real reason some donors are hesitant to give isn't the team at the AZGOP, it's the childish behavior of this team of cowards. People want to see return on investment. They want to see professionalism, and when they see this childish pathetic behavior from a handful in our own party, some in board positions even, then they want to avoid it. They move their money elsewhere so it can be managed by adults.

So should there be a recall? Absolutely, on each of you. Any elected member of this party that openly and directly tells others to stop supporting, to stop giving, to boycott Arizona-GOP, should be removed from office. It is time we stand up to the bulling, threats, and intimidation from this small group of nasty people.

Our country is in the nightmare it is in because we choose to appease everyone and everything out of fear of what they will do to us. Instead of having the spine to stand strong we constantly cower from them. We are doing the same with these idiots in our own party. It's time we stand united against this cancer in the party.

There is already a movement to form a new conservative party in this state. If we split the party over a handful of useless individuals then we risk losing big in 2012. The Democrats are loving this. They will use Anthony Miller's pathetic display after he stepped down in LD20 against us, and they will use this pathetic display as well. So those of you who say Boycott and Remove the Chairman, congrats on being the strongest machine the Democrats have in Arizona right now. You are far more effective than Move On and Organizing for America combined. The handful of you are causing more harm to the party than everyone else combined.

With that said, the sooner we can purge ourselves of these people the faster we can move on to the real task of Victory in 2012.

To kick off, we are hosting a Republican's United for Victory Rally on May 21st.
Please hold the date and plan on showing up in support of the Party, Principles, and Community we believe in. Bring your signs, and banners and show support for YOUR AZGOP, YOUR COUNTY, YOUR DISTRICT & YOUR LOCAL TEA PARTY. We will be sending out the time and location later this week but please hold the date now.

(This is an event for grown-ups, but just in case you little Grijalva children do want to attend, we will set up a daycare area on site to entertain you with crayons, games, and face painting)

Let's stand together moving forward, address our issues with one another in private, and exit the room in support of the bigger picture. Together we can succeed but if we let this small group infect the whole, we will fail in 2012. We owe it to our elected officials, our PC's, our registered Republicans, and our community to do this.

Please join us May 21st for the Republican's United for Victory Rally. Let's turn this pathetic attack into one of our biggest successes and achievements and show the Democrats that we are united in the fight to remove Obama in 2012!

Thank You,
Mark Spinks