Dear PCs of Maricopa County

Last year I asked for your vote for 2nd Vice Chairman, not as part of any slate but promising to work with whoever got elected. I campaigned on my campaign experience and my conservative endorsements. These endorsements were from people who knew my work ethic and professionalism. They were from multiple District Chairmen, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, County Attorney Bill Montgomery and many other legislators and elected officials.

After earning your vote I dove headfirst into the job. The Chairman tasked me to build a basic party infrastructure for the Members-at-Large, LD Chairs and PCs. Within the first month I had it ready, proofed, and the Chairman promoted and implemented it.

Next, the Chairman asked me to concentrate all of my energy on his primary agenda which was to build the PC ranks. So I put together a PC recruiting contest. With the hard work of many PCs, MALs and District Chairmen we recruited hundreds of new PCs!

Many PC were asking for resources. I often said, "We should go down as the board that provided every tool and resource a PC could ask for" so I created a PC Resource Guide, unique to each district, and enlisted the help of Nancy Cottle to help me fill it with content and edit it. It was nearly 80 pages, containing nearly every tool imaginable. It was finished in August of 2015 but has yet to be sent to print by our county office.

I point this out to demonstrate that I am always excited to be part of growing, educating and helping our county party. However, as a business professional who works in finance and has worked on campaigns that have had to comply with FEC rules and Arizona election laws, I saw things that concerned me. Things like actual question marks under MCRC Expenses in our financial statements.

I was concerned by press releases claiming the MCRC had raised tens of thousands of dollars that were not reflected in our treasurer reports.

I was concerned that we had received donations from federal PACs but had not filed any FEC reports.
These were serious concerns and I reached out multiple times to our Chairman to find the answers I was looking for. I expressed my concerns that these issues were placing the board and each board member at financial risk. Sadly, on most every occasion, the Chairman's response to me was some variation of "Don't worry about it, I have it handled." As you can imagine, 5, 6, 7 months of this behavior generated a great deal of concern, both for me and many other members of the board. Finally in November, I came to the board and asked for a vote of "No Confidence" in the chairman and to call for an audit to be done as per our by-laws. The resolution failed by one vote, 14-15, with Chairman Bowyer casting the tie-breaking vote.
Remarkably, this demonstration of concern from the board did nothing to change the autocratic manner in which the Chairman conducted business. In fact, he canceled the December meeting and the Chairman and/or his allies spent their time setting up a web site about me and our 1st Vice Chair that featured a defaced picture of my wife and me.

This Saturday's special meeting, organized and executed in relative secrecy, is simply a continuation of the Chairman's behavior towards anyone who questions him. And the tactics employed - calling the meeting in relative secrecy, inserting a hit piece in the PC literature packet without providing me or the 1st Vice Chairman the same opportunity, including a recall of the Chairman in the call while excluding his own position in the rules for balloting, is all conduct unbecoming of a Maricopa County Republican.
The questions that I and other board members have raised were simple, reasonable, and in the best interest of the Party. Nearly a year later, instead of answering these questions as is his responsibility per our by-laws, our Chairman is consuming thousands of man hours of our collective time to punish those who dare to ask these simple yet important questions.
I ask you to vote NO on the recall and stand with those of us who believe in accountability and transparency.
As always, my email and phone is open to you if you have any further questions.

Thank you all for your hard work and efforts,

Aaron Borders
2nd Vice Chair, MCRC
480-359-5079