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Democrats Shocked by Giffords Aide’s Decision to Join McSally Staff
Roll Call ^ | January 12, 2015 | Nathan L. Gonzales

Posted on 01/13/2015 1:20:22 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife

C.J. Karamargin isn’t the first congressional staffer to cross the partisan aisle, but some Democrats are shocked this former staffer to Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is working for the new Republican congresswoman in Arizona’s 2nd District.

On Jan. 9, in a hiring coup, freshman GOP Rep. Martha E. McSally announced Karamargin as her new district director. Karamargin was communications director for Giffords at the time of the Tucson shootings before handling media relations for Pima Community College. The timing of the hiring — just one day after the four-year anniversary of the Tucson tragedy — also gnawed at still-raw wounds among Giffords’ allies.

“Yeah, that’s pretty poor timing,” said a Democratic source who hadn’t heard about the hiring until contacted by The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report/Roll Call. “It’s sad. But I’m bitter, I know.”

On Jan. 8, 2011, Jared Loughner shot and killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Giffords and then-aide Ron Barber, at a constituent event in a grocery store parking lot.

“We are like family, and this was uncharted territory,” Karamargin told The Washington Post six weeks after the shooting.

Giffords subsequently resigned from Congress, and Barber won the special election to replace her. After narrowly losing to Barber in 2012, McSally defeated the congressman by 167 votes in November.

Giffords’ political action committee, Americans for Responsible Solutions, was active in the race for Barber and against McSally. Karamargin is a former journalist with the Tucson Citizen and Arizona Daily Star.

“I do know that yesterday he didn’t let anyone know that he was applying in McSally’s office,” a second Democrat said on Jan. 9. Karamargin attended some of the memorial events on Jan. 8, according to the source, but was conspicuously absent from the private dinner hosted by Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly.

More than 50 people attended the event including survivors, first responders and virtually all of her former staff, except for a few who live out of state. Attendees also included former Giffords scheduler Pam Harrington, who served on McSally’s transition team, and Shay Saucedo, who now works for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

“The residents of Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District have entrusted Congresswoman McSally with a tremendous responsibility — to be their voice and their advocate in Washington,” Karamargin said in the release. “It is humbling that she has entrusted me with the responsibility to serve as her District Director. I consider it a great privilege to be able to help the congresswoman make a positive difference in the lives of the people who sent her to Washington.”

Karamargin told The Arizona Republic he would not comment further. He did not return an email request for comment from CQ Roll Call.

“I’m not surprised she would try,” the second Democrat said about McSally, who read the names of the shooting victims from the House floor on Jan. 8. “But I’m surprised anyone would join [McSally’s] operation, yes.”


TOPICS: Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: 114th; 2ndamendment; giffords; karamargin; mcsally
Imagine - no one is permitted to leave the Progressive's carefully crafted Gabby Gifford's Tucson Shooting Cult.
1 posted on 01/13/2015 1:20:23 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
It's curious that the tragedy usually omits the Republican federal judge who was assassinated while playing up Giffords as if she were the sole victim (nevermind it was a deranged leftist who did the shootings).
2 posted on 01/13/2015 1:31:11 AM PST by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

My question is why would a freshman congressman hire a democrat operative?


3 posted on 01/13/2015 1:31:26 AM PST by Popman
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Perhaps she was sickened by post shooting dogmatism of Ms. Giffords and her husband, just like most of us.


4 posted on 01/13/2015 1:47:15 AM PST by edpc (Wilby 2016)
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To: Popman

I’m not in Arizona but will note that Karamargin had moved on to being Pima Community College’s Vice Chancellor for Communication 7 months after Jared Lee Loughner shot and wounded Gifford (6 killed, wounded 13).

A story at the Huffington Post (fwiw) quotes an anonymous friend of Giffords as saying that McSally is working to appear moderate (but they’re not buying it).


5 posted on 01/13/2015 1:47:19 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Popman

My question also. I wouldn’t hire a former Democrat politico to scrub my toilets.


6 posted on 01/13/2015 1:52:48 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: Gaffer

I am aware Reagan was a Democrat. His conversion was years in the making and a result of a party departing with his ideals and conscience. I don’t see how any of that would apply in this case. The freshman is being lazy and trying to get a leg up on the inner workings of the system, I’d expect. He should find someone not tainted by Democrat scourge, learn, and follow conservative ideals - not “how things work” as they are.


7 posted on 01/13/2015 1:56:36 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: Popman

They seem to be generic and interchangeable. All they have to do is change their hat.


8 posted on 01/13/2015 1:57:13 AM PST by SWAMPSNIPER (The Second Amendment, a Matter of Fact, Not A Matter of Opinion)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

That Republican judge wasca devout Catholic known as a judge of integrity. He was pro-life in contrast to Giffords.


9 posted on 01/13/2015 2:04:55 AM PST by amihow
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To: Popman

A good HOR rep needs a staff that deals with the needs of constituents competently. I don’t have any problem with a rep choosing staff that is experienced and qualified at that.


10 posted on 01/13/2015 2:19:55 AM PST by grania
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

The GOPe think stunts like this will get them votes from the Left. That’s who they want as their base.


11 posted on 01/13/2015 2:28:25 AM PST by RginTN
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Strange story. The dems seem awfully touchy about a fairly ordinary party switch. And to fuss about the timing ... sheesh. The world does not revolve around Gabby Giffords.


12 posted on 01/13/2015 2:46:32 AM PST by sphinx
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To: Popman

My thoughts exactly. Why would McSally risk having this new hire become a leak directly into the Rat cloakroom?


13 posted on 01/13/2015 2:53:12 AM PST by Tucker39 (Welcome to America! Now speak English; and keep to the right....In driving, in Faith, and politics.)
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To: Popman

It sounds like she hiring him to do primarily constituent work, I imagine most of that stuff is non-partisan and non-ideological. He would be familiar with much of the issues that their constituents would have.

My congressman is an idiot, but I’ve called his office several times and been very impressed with the people he has working for him.

I never really had a problem I needed help with, so I can’t judge on that. But he does keep getting re-elected so my guess is his office is pretty good with that stuff.


14 posted on 01/13/2015 2:53:46 AM PST by jocon307 (Tell it like it is.)
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To: grania

What else is they good at? Carrying info back to their old (real) party?


15 posted on 01/13/2015 2:57:28 AM PST by Tucker39 (Welcome to America! Now speak English; and keep to the right....In driving, in Faith, and politics.)
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To: Gaffer
The freshman is being lazy and trying to get a leg up on the inner workings of the system

Lazy? Perhaps.

Smart? Definitely. Better to have someone who knows the lay of the land in your office than sitting back at home.

16 posted on 01/13/2015 3:49:34 AM PST by MAexile (Bats left, votes rights)
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To: MAexile

I sure as heck wouldn’t trust this person. Not ever.


17 posted on 01/13/2015 4:22:09 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: Popman

Damned good question!


18 posted on 01/13/2015 4:27:08 AM PST by Timber Rattler (Just say NO! to RINOS and the GOP-E)
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To: Popman
My question is why would a freshman congressman hire a democrat operative?

Depends on how high up the strategy chain the operative is. When my district's House seat flipped D to R in the '94 Gingrich takeover (and has never looked back), the new Congressman hired some of the Dem committee staff for day-to-day functions, one of whom was a former student of mine. She was glad for the job, he was glad to tap into her insider knowledge, and she had enough integrity (well, she had taken my Ethics class :> ) not to undermine his efforts, until she could get a job more to her ideological bent. Incidentally, she ended up marrying a back-home lawyer, and is still on the wrong side of the aisle, in spite of some efforts to the contrary.

19 posted on 01/13/2015 4:54:43 AM PST by chajin ("There is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

McSally came to DC and voted for Boehner.

Now she hires a Dem operative.

Two strikes.


20 posted on 01/13/2015 5:11:41 AM PST by exit82 ("The Taliban is on the inside of the building" E. Nordstrom 10-10-12)
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