Scottsdale-area grassroots Republican precinct committeemen in Legislative District (LD) 3 (previously District 23 before redistricting) put together a “Golden Ticket” for voters in their district this year listing which candidates to vote for and which ballot measures to support in the November 8 election. They expanded it to include as many LDs as they could obtain information for, and now have almost all 30 LD “Golden Tickets” posted. However, some Republicans are loudly objecting, including Nancy Ordowski, the first vice chair of LD-3, and there is some opposition to limiting the number of endorsements for the Paradise Valley Unified School District Governing Board (PVUSDGB).
Maricopa County GOP Member-at-Large Brian Ference, who was substantially involved in preparing the Golden Tickets, designing the One Day Vote website for them, told The Arizona Sun Times he believes those objecting are “RINOs” who are disgruntled that their gubernatorial candidate Karrin Taylor Robson lost the primary to Trump-endorsed Kari Lake.
Ference said significant opposition to the Golden Tickets has come from Ordowski, who gave a speech at the district’s meeting on September 8 that generated backlash. He said Ordowski is refusing to authorize payment of invoices for LD-3 because they involve promoting the Golden Ticket. “Undeterred, the PCs have donated and paid from their own money and are now seeking reimbursement from LD-3,” he said.
Ordowski began her speech by saying, “We are on a path of political suicide in LD-3.” She identified the alleged troublemakers as “the far-right militia, radicals talked about by the media.”
She said, “Censures and resolutions have no consequences.” She warned that censuring the FBI could result in the FBI putting LD-3 leadership and PCs on a watchlist. She said some PCs are using Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals tactics to “destroy” LD-3. She claimed, “These destroyers came from their failure to create the Patriot Party and there is infiltration into this LD and the Republican party throughout Maricopa and beyond.”
The meeting descended into name-calling as an unidentified woman called Ordowski a “traitor” and said “walk her out.” It eventually dissipated with a few more angry exchanges.
Ference said Ordowski’s objection isn’t valid, because LD-3 voted to approve a $1,200 voter texting campaign for the Golden Tickets and $5,200 for a door-knocking campaign. He called for the first vice chair to resign.
Ference told The Sun Times he is not associated with the Patriot Party in any way. “Several supposed leaders of the Patriot Party have publicly disavowed knowing me in Republican Briefs and on Twitter,” he said.
Michele Swinick, who launched a grassroots effort to pressure elected officials to stop using electronic voting machines, discussed Ordowski’s speech on her Rumble channel shortly afterwards, comparing it to a Liz Cheney speech. She told The Sun Times, “It’s much bigger than the Golden Ticket controversy. She gave a Biden-like speech calling the grassroots patriots right-wing militia, saying we wanted power and control and to take over the party. It’s what the RINOs and establishment really think about us.”
The Arizona Sun Times asked Ordowski for comment but did not receive a response by press time.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Person Voting” by Tom Wolf. CC BY 2.0.
