The June 4 letter by a former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party, Kurt Davis, illustrates why the party is in trouble. Davis seems to think that (1) loyalty to elected officials supersedes everything else and (2) supporting a U.S. senator is more important than supporting other elected officials, including precinct committeemen, and the party platform. Most people would respectfully disagree.

In the first instance, our loyalty belongs foremost to the U.S. Constitution, which is the safeguard of our freedom, then to the party, and last to elected officials. It is a happy thing when all three are in harmony and we can support public officials because they support the Constitution. But beware the officeholder who violates the Constitution. No one owes him any loyalty. In the second instance, the state party chairman is chairman of the whole party — not just certain elected officials. Davis apparently believes that elected officials are anointed and that once elected, they are above criticism. That would be true only in a totalitarian system.

It appears that Davis’s real gripe is that the public is angry about Sen. Jon Kyl’s support for an illegal immigration amnesty bill. Davis criticizes our current party chairman, Randy Pullen, for not backing the bill that Sens. Kyl and Edward Kennedy, and President Bush are trying to foist off on the American people. Does Davis think that our senators own the party and can do what they want in Washington? Perhaps Davis thinks that the chairman of the state party should meekly endorse anything elected politicians choose to do.

Contrary to Davis’s claims, Pullen has never, to my knowledge, “attacked, vilified and attempted to tarnish” any officeholders, especially Kyl. A review of Pullen’s recent statement on immigration reform appears on the state party Web site where anyone can see it. This statement shows respect and admiration for Kyl’s record, as well as concern over the immigration bill now pending in Congress. Pullen’s concern reflects the feelings of the vast majority of the elected precinct committeemen and other elected Republican officeholders in the state. This concern is an expression of Pullen’s, and most of Sen. Kyl’s constituents’, support for the Constitution, which requires that we protect our borders from invasion. Pullen works for all elected officials, not just the ones who go to Washington. Pullen has done a masterful job of rallying the grass roots and refocusing them to stay with the party and work hard to uphold party principles.

For years, the Republican Party has been driven by the selfish interests of bigdonor, multinational corporations and their sophisticated lobbyists. People are sick of it. Big business, in partnership with our government, is the main force behind our current immigration problems. They were the ones behind the drive to pass NAFTA in the early 1990s, which sent millions of jobs to Mexico and overseas. Big business along with our federal government is behind the push to move shipping operations to Mexican ports, bypassing the ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach and thus throwing thousands of longshoremen and U.S. truckers out of work.

Big businesses are the ones currently pressuring Congress to keep the borders open so they can profit from the cheap labor flooding our country. Big business in concert with our federal government is pushing to condemn farm and ranch land to build highways from Mexico all the way to Canada so that they can bring foreign products from Mexico to the United States. Big business and the federal government are pushing to allow Mexican trucks into the United States in violation of our safety standards and environmental protection laws, which will jeopardize the safety of every American who shares the roadways with these notoriously dangerous trucks and truck drivers.