Retired IBM technician Rob Haney of Phoenix is a rather annoying thorn in the political side of Sen. John McCain. Haney, chairman of the Republican Party in McCain’s home legislative district, clearly would prefer that McCain leave the party, or even better, just leave his Senate office for another Republican to hold. Haney is convinced that McCain isn’t a real conservative and is disloyal to the Republican Party’s platform on issues ranging from campaign finance to gun control to climate change to immigration enforcement. Haney has said so to just about any journalist and citizen blogger who will listen. But a couple of my favorite quotes went to The Nation’s Max Blumenthal:

“McCain is mentally unstable and vindictive and out of control.”

—Huffington Post, Feb. 15, 2007

“The guy has no core, his only principle is winning the presidency. He likes to call his campaign the ’straight talk express.’ Well, down here we call it the ‘forked tongue express.’”
—The Nation, Feb. 21, 2007

Haney got quite a bit of national media coverage after the McCain camp tried to seize control of legislative District 11 during the 2006 state primary through the election of precinct committeemen, also known as PCs. This low-level office is the key to participating in the party’s official machinery. Party leaders must start out as PCs and must be voted in by other PCs.

A number of McCain backers were elected as PCs in 2006, but not enough to take down Haney, who has continued to speak out even after McCain earned the Republican nomination for president last spring. Given McCain’s frequently hot temper, you can guess what he did for this year’s state primary on Sept. 2.

“You’d think he’d try to put things aside and unify the party with a presidential election going on. Instead, he tried even harder,” Haney told me Thursday.

The McCain camp elected another slate of impressive candidates to this obscure post, including former Govs. Fife Symington and Jane Hull and current Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne. Creating the most buzz in Republican circles was the defeat of Haney supporter Tom Husband, who will have to give up his title as chairman of the Maricopa County Republican committee.

But Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who also lives in the district, weighed in on behalf of Haney and his slate of candidates. That might have tilted the scales against McCain, although no one will know for sure until District 11 PCs gather in late November to choose district leaders.

“By my reckoning, we still have a considerable margin,” Haney said. “I was surprised by that myself.”

And as District 11 has perhaps the largest number of PCs in the state, that outcome could heavily influence who is chosen as the party’s statewide chairman in 2009. Current chairman Randy Pullen also lives in District 11, and he’s another party activist who has publicly clashed with McCain before.

As for Haney, he’s going to vote Republican in the presidential election on Nov. 4. But he won’t see it as a vote for McCain.

“How could you be enthusiastic for someone who has done his best in the past four years trying to decimate the conservative base, including you? There is hope with Sarah Palin.”