Friday, August 31, 2018

BREAKING: Planned Parenthood Super PAC Begins Multi-Million Dollar #AZSen Campaign With $1.1M Canvassing, Digital Ad Spend

Earlier this year, Planned Parenthood's political organization announced that Arizona's Senate race would be one of its top eight campaigns in the nation. Today, they disclosed their first $1.1M have been spent on digital advertising and canvassing.

Planned Parenthood Votes is spending $600,000 to set up in-house canvassing operations with main offices in
Tucson, Phoenix and Tempe. The other half of the spend is on digital ads like the ones pictured here - both targeting GOP nominee Martha McSally's healthcare positions and touting Democratic nominee Kyrsten Sinema's.

The biggest individual donors to the PPV Super PAC are Richard Rosenthal (Cincinnati) and Amy Goldman Fowler (New York), having contributed $2M each. PPV indicated they plan to spend $20M in 8 key Senate and Governors' races across the country.

On its political website, PPV notes that Sinema has a 100% voting record and is a former PP patient, while saying "(McSally) voted eight times to 'defund' Planned Parenthood health centers."

#50ShadesOfDarkMoney: Planned Parenthood Votes is organized as a Super PAC that appears to be disclosing all of its donors. It therefore has a 5 on the transparent end of the #50ShadesOfDarkMoney scale.

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Thursday, August 30, 2018

BREAKING #AZ02 TIDBIT: DCCC Makes $111k Ad Buy Vs. Marquez Peterson Day After Primary

With no time to lose, the national DCCC spent $122k the day after the primary on an ad opposing Republican nominee Lea Marquez Peterson in southern Arizona's competitive CD2.

We do not yet have a copy of the TV ad, just the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's FEC disclosure of the expenditure. Marquez Peterson is facing off against former Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick in the contest to replace Rep. McSally in the swing seat.



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WATCH: New Ad From GOP Super PAC Tries To Tie Sinema To Sanctuary Cities (#50ShadesOfDarkMoney)

Kyrsten Sinema supports "sanctuary cities", according to a new, major ad buy from One Nation hitting the airwaves today. That news might come as a surprise to many Arizonans. They remember a couple of years ago when the Congresswoman was one of just six Democrats to vote for a House bill which would have barred communities from receiving federal law enforcement monies if they failed to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

One Nation is a GOP Super PAC that has ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and heavyweight political consultant Karl Rove. It does not disclose its contributors, and is not divulging how much money it is spending on the ad posted below.* However, it purchased $93,000 worth of ad time on one Phoenix station (KPNX) alone.

The ad notes that Sinema voted twice last year against an amendment and a bill that would have penalized the cities (none in Arizona). Neither of those measures have been considered by the Senate. And, the ad closes by urging you to contact Sinema and ask her to vote for a similar measure recently proposed by members of the Freedom Caucus.

However, it does not mention that Sinema crossed the aisle to vote for the first such measure in 2015 - derisively referred to by one Democrat as "the Donald Trump Act" because it was rushed to the floor shortly after the then-candidate used the killing of Kate Steinle in San Francisco to define his campaign.

Sinema issued a statement saying that  “(w)hile today's bill is far from perfect, it addresses timely and important issues impacting our citizens' security."

An article yesterday in the New Yorker discussed the problems that Sinema's political evolution has caused with some fellow Democrats. Her 2015 "sanctuary city" vote was one that gave those supporters heartburn. Today's new ad probably will not be the first time that Republicans try to point out that those cross-party votes did not buy her much immunity.


#50ShadesOfDarkMoney scale: One Nation earns a 50+ for being as dark as dark money comes. Not only are they not disclosing their donors, but they are fashioning their ads so that the expenditures are not disclosed either.

*One Nation is fashioning the ad as an issue ad that does not need to be disclosed. Not coincidentally, the ad is only scheduled to run through next week, which keeps it outside of the 60-day period before the November 6 election. One Nation did the same thing during the primary, running an ad praising Reps. Martha McSally and David Schweikert for their work on border security.

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Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Two Removed, One Stays On - Arizona Supreme Court Reshapes November Ballot With After Hours Decisions; "Invest In Ed" and "Outlaw Dirty Money" Are OFF

With no oral arguments and just a few pages of opinions, the Arizona Supreme Court tonight re-shaped Arizona's November elections by removing two ballot measures - the Outlaw Dirty Money and Invest In Ed initiatives are gone, and the Clean Energy measure remains on.

The trio of 5pm rulings came the day before the Arizona Secretary of State had to send the final ballot measure information to the state's County Recorders for ballot preparation/printing.

Briefs for the cases were filed over the past few days, with the final ones reaching the Justices yesterday. Fuller legal opinions are forthcoming from the Supreme Court, but here are there decisions with barebones reasoning.



1) READ OPINION: @OutlawDirty Money Initiative REMOVED From November Ballot; Arizona Supreme Court Upholds Constitutionality Of Striking Signatures Collected By Circulators Who Don't Show Up In Court After Subpoenaed


2) BREAKING, READ OPINION: @CleanHealthyAZ Energy Initiative Remains On Ballot


3) BREAKING, READ OPINION: @investinedaz Initiative Description "Creates a Significant Danger Of Confusion", Removed From Ballot


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BREAKING, READ OPINION: Invest In Ed Initiative Description "Creates a Significant Danger Of Confusion", Removed From Ballot

Saying that:
"A majority of the Court finds the proposition’s description of the change in tax rate combined with the omission of any discussion of changes in indexing for inflation collectively “creates a significant danger of confusion or unfairness,”
the Arizona Supreme Court removed the Invest In Ed initiative from the November ballot.








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BREAKING, READ Court Opinion: Clean Energy Initiative Remains On Ballot









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BREAKING, READ Supreme Court Opinion: Outlaw Dirty Money Initiative REMOVED From November Ballot

The Arizona Supreme Court has removed the Outlaw Dirty Money ballot initiative from the November ballot and has upheld the constitutionality of the 2015 statute requiring the striking of all signatures collected by circulators who do not show up in court after receiving a subpoena.



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Monday, August 27, 2018

BREAKING: Judge Denies APS-Backed Challenge To Clean Energy Signatures; On To The Supreme Court (READ Opinion)

(UPDATE, 4:45pm: Arizonans for Affordable Energy confirms that it will appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court. Spokesman Matthew Benson acknowledges that it is "disappointing", but says today's decision "does not alter our belief" that not enough valid signatures were filed. However, his final comment lacks some of the previous certitude: "...it is only prudent to be certain the initiative has met the bare standards necessary to be on the ballot.” Full statement at bottom of article. )

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Daniel Kiley today denied an effort by an APS-backed effort - along with the Chamber of Commerce and some lawmakers - to knock the Clean Energy initiative off of the November ballot. An APS representative has already indicated that an appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court is coming.

(The 33 page ruling is published in full below.)


After a five-day trial, Judge Kiley found that most of the challenges by Arizonans for Affordable Energy were not proven and/or appropriate. The group had claimed that only 22% of the submitted signatures should be considered valid, which would have left Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona considerably short of the 225k signature threshold.

During the trial, Kiley did throw out the 40k+ (otherwise-valid) signatures gathered by paid circulators who did not show up for the trial after being subpoenaed, and he did strike approximately 79k challenged signatures for other reasons. The Judge did not give a final hard figure after taking those into consideration, as well as the high validity rate found by County Recorders in their statutorily-mandated 5% sample.

However, he did explicitly deny two allegations that had been highly touted by AAE - that the circulators had not been inappropriately-paid based on their signature output (the Legislature banned that following the minimum wage initiative in 2016) and that the Committee's internal notes that only 47.28% of the signatures that they were about to turn in indictated that they should not have been permitted to submit all of their signatures.

The Clean Energy Committee - the ballot measure will be labeled as Proposition 127 - celebrated the verdict in what they called a "desperate lawsuit...that demonstrated the length that APS will go to stop voters from having their say on a 50% renewable energy standard by the year 2030."

Spokesman DJ Quinlan told Arizona's Politics that he expects an appeal and that "the original contention of the lawsuit was that nearly 75% of our signatures were invalid. They were clearly just lying about that."

Arizonans for Affordable Energy has not yet responded to our requests, but APS lobbyist Chad Guzman tweeted that an appeal is imminent.




Full Benson Statement: “While disappointing, today’s court decision does not alter our belief and that of plaintiffs that the ‘Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona’ initiative failed to collect the minimum number of valid signatures necessary to qualify for the November ballot. In fact, the initiative campaign admitted as much in the under-oath testimony of its campaign manager and via internal campaign documents revealing the campaign itself believed it had fallen short of the 225,963-signature ballot threshold mandated by the state. Plaintiffs are preparing an immediate appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court.

“Proposition 127 would fundamentally alter the Arizona Constitution and implement costly new regulations to raise electric rates for Arizona families and businesses. Before we proceed any further down this path, it is only prudent to be certain the initiative has met the bare standards necessary to be on the ballot.”

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ARCHIVE: (WATCH) McCain's "World's Greatest Deliberative Body" Speech; Last Public Address

It was 13 months ago when the late Sen. John McCain delivered this address to his Senate colleagues, and that we immediately posted the video and transcript(s). In several ways, this was a more dramatic and enduring floor moment than his instantly-infamous thumbs down on the late night Obamacare repeal vote.

I covered McCain in his first campaign for the Senate seat that had been held by Barry Goldwater. At the time, he was prickly to me - and most fellow reporters - and to his opponent (Richard Kimball). Though he was long known for that and his temper, both faded as the years went by and he was more secure about his position and his place in history. 

That nearly noone can say that they agreed with him, his positions and even his political tactics all of the time should serve as evidence that he charted his own course as he attempted to serve his country.

I am replaying his final speech from 13 months ago, partly in the hope that we will move back towards being able to work together to solve issues both domestic and international.

Truly, thank you for your service, John Sidney McCain III.

* * *

Here is the video and the closed-captioning transcript of Arizona Senator John McCain's impassioned plea for the Senate to get back to being "the world's greatest deliberative body." The closed captioning was provided by C-Span (and is not always fully accurate)

(Click on the picture below, the video will pop up in a new window.)



Washington, D.C. ­– U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today delivered the following remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate:
“Mr. President:
“I’ve stood in this place many times and addressed as president many presiding officers. I have been so addressed when I have sat in that chair, as close as I will ever be to a presidency.
“It is an honorific we’re almost indifferent to, isn’t it. In truth, presiding over the Senate can be a nuisance, a bit of a ceremonial bore, and it is usually relegated to the more junior members of the majority.
“But as I stand here today – looking a little worse for wear I’m sure – I have a refreshed appreciation for the protocols and customs of this body, and for the other ninety-nine privileged souls who have been elected to this Senate.
“I have been a member of the United States Senate for thirty years.  I had another long, if not as long, career before I arrived here, another profession that was profoundly rewarding, and in which I had experiences and friendships that I revere. But make no mistake, my service here is the most important job I have had in my life. And I am so grateful to the people of Arizona for the privilege – for the honor – of serving here and the opportunities it gives me to play a small role in the history of the country I love.
“I’ve known and admired men and women in the Senate who played much more than a small role in our history, true statesmen, giants of American politics. They came from both parties, and from various backgrounds. Their ambitions were frequently in conflict. They held different views on the issues of the day. And they often had very serious disagreements about how best to serve the national interest.
“But they knew that however sharp and heartfelt their disputes, however keen their ambitions, they had an obligation to work collaboratively to ensure the Senate discharged its constitutional responsibilities effectively. Our responsibilities are important, vitally important, to the continued success of our Republic. And our arcane rules and customs are deliberately intended to require broad cooperation to function well at all. The most revered members of this institution accepted the necessity of compromise in order to make incremental progress on solving America’s problems and to defend her from her adversaries.
“That principled mindset, and the service of our predecessors who possessed it, come to mind when I hear the Senate referred to as the world’s greatest deliberative body. I’m not sure we can claim that distinction with a straight face today.
“I’m sure it wasn’t always deserved in previous eras either. But I’m sure there have been times when it was, and I was privileged to witness some of those occasions.
“Our deliberations today – not just our debates, but the exercise of all our responsibilities – authorizing government policies, appropriating the funds to implement them, exercising our advice and consent role – are often lively and interesting. They can be sincere and principled. But they are more partisan, more tribal more of the time than any other time I remember. Our deliberations can still be important and useful, but I think we’d all agree they haven’t been overburdened by greatness lately. And right now they aren’t producing much for the American people.
“Both sides have let this happen. Let’s leave the history of who shot first to the historians. I suspect they’ll find we all conspired in our decline – either by deliberate actions or neglect. We’ve all played some role in it. Certainly I have. Sometimes, I’ve let my passion rule my reason. Sometimes, I made it harder to find common ground because of something harsh I said to a colleague. Sometimes, I wanted to win more for the sake of winning than to achieve a contested policy.
“Incremental progress, compromises that each side criticize but also accept, just plain muddling through to chip away at problems and keep our enemies from doing their worst isn’t glamorous or exciting. It doesn’t feel like a political triumph. But it’s usually the most we can expect from our system of government, operating in a country as diverse and quarrelsome and free as ours. 
“Considering the injustice and cruelties inflicted by autocratic governments, and how corruptible human nature can be, the problem solving our system does make possible, the fitful progress it produces, and the liberty and justice it preserves, is a magnificent achievement.
“Our system doesn’t depend on our nobility. It accounts for our imperfections, and gives an order to our individual strivings that has helped make ours the most powerful and prosperous society on earth.  It is our responsibility to preserve that, even when it requires us to do something less satisfying than ‘winning.’ Even when we must give a little to get a little. Even when our efforts manage just three yards and a cloud of dust, while critics on both sides denounce us for timidity, for our failure to ‘triumph.’ 
“I hope we can again rely on humility, on our need to cooperate, on our dependence on each other to learn how to trust each other again and by so doing better serve the people who elected us. Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio and television and the Internet. To hell with them. They don’t want anything done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood.
“Let’s trust each other. Let’s return to regular order. We’ve been spinning our wheels on too many important issues because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from across the aisle. That’s an approach that’s been employed by both sides, mandating legislation from the top down, without any support from the other side, with all the parliamentary maneuvers that requires.
“We’re getting nothing done. All we’ve really done this year is confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Our healthcare insurance system is a mess. We all know it, those who support Obamacare and those who oppose it. Something has to be done. We Republicans have looked for a way to end it and replace it with something else without paying a terrible political price. We haven’t found it yet, and I’m not sure we will. All we’ve managed to do is make more popular a policy that wasn’t very popular when we started trying to get rid of it.
“I voted for the motion to proceed to allow debate to continue and amendments to be offered. I will not vote for the bill as it is today. It’s a shell of a bill right now. We all know that. I have changes urged by my state’s governor that will have to be included to earn my support for final passage of any bill. I know many of you will have to see the bill changed substantially for you to support it.
“We’ve tried to do this by coming up with a proposal behind closed doors in consultation with the administration, then springing it on skeptical members, trying to convince them it’s better than nothing, asking us to swallow our doubts and force it past a unified opposition. I don’t think that is going to work in the end. And it probably shouldn’t.
“The Obama administration and congressional Democrats shouldn’t have forced through Congress without any opposition support a social and economic change as massive as Obamacare. And we shouldn’t do the same with ours.
“Why don’t we try the old way of legislating in the Senate, the way our rules and customs encourage us to act. If this process ends in failure, which seem likely, then let’s return to regular order. 
“Let the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee under Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Murray hold hearings, try to report a bill out of committee with contributions from both sides. Then bring it to the floor for amendment and debate, and see if we can pass something that will be imperfect, full of compromises, and not very pleasing to implacable partisans on either side, but that might provide workable solutions to problems Americans are struggling with today.
“What have we to lose by trying to work together to find those solutions? We’re not getting much done apart. I don’t think any of us feels very proud of our incapacity. Merely preventing your political opponents from doing what they want isn’t the most inspiring work. There’s greater satisfaction in respecting our differences, but not letting them prevent agreements that don’t require abandonment of core principles, agreements made in good faith that help improve lives and protect the American people.
“The Senate is capable of that. We know that. We’ve seen it before. I’ve seen it happen many times. And the times when I was involved even in a modest way with working out a bipartisan response to a national problem or threat are the proudest moments of my career, and by far the most satisfying.
“This place is important. The work we do is important. Our strange rules and seemingly eccentric practices that slow our proceedings and insist on our cooperation are important. Our founders envisioned the Senate as the more deliberative, careful body that operates at a greater distance than the other body from the public passions of the hour.
“We are an important check on the powers of the Executive. Our consent is necessary for the President to appoint jurists and powerful government officials and in many respects to conduct foreign policy. Whether or not we are of the same party, we are not the President’s subordinates. We are his equal!
“As his responsibilities are onerous, many and powerful, so are ours.  And we play a vital role in shaping and directing the judiciary, the military, and the cabinet, in planning and supporting foreign and domestic policies. Our success in meeting all these awesome constitutional obligations depends on cooperation among ourselves. 
“The success of the Senate is important to the continued success of America. This country – this big, boisterous, brawling, intemperate, restless, striving, daring, beautiful, bountiful, brave, good and magnificent country – needs us to help it thrive. That responsibility is more important than any of our personal interests or political affiliations.
“We are the servants of a great nation, ‘a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.’ More people have lived free and prosperous lives here than in any other nation. We have acquired unprecedented wealth and power because of our governing principles, and because our government defended those principles.
“America has made a greater contribution than any other nation to an international order that has liberated more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history. We have been the greatest example, the greatest supporter and the greatest defender of that order. We aren’t afraid. We don’t covet other people’s land and wealth. We don’t hide behind walls. We breach them. We are a blessing to humanity.
“What greater cause could we hope to serve than helping keep America the strong, aspiring, inspirational beacon of liberty and defender of the dignity of all human beings and their right to freedom and equal justice? That is the cause that binds us and is so much more powerful and worthy than the small differences that divide us.
“What a great honor and extraordinary opportunity it is to serve in this body.
“It’s a privilege to serve with all of you. I mean it. Many of you have reached out in the last few days with your concern and your prayers, and it means a lot to me. It really does. I’ve had so many people say such nice things about me recently that I think some of you must have me confused with someone else. I appreciate it though, every word, even if much of it isn’t deserved. 
“I’ll be here for a few days, I hope managing the floor debate on the defense authorization bill, which, I’m proud to say is again a product of bipartisan cooperation and trust among the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“After that, I’m going home for a while to treat my illness. I have every intention of returning here and giving many of you cause to regret all the nice things you said about me. And, I hope, to impress on you again that it is an honor to serve the American people in your company.
“Thank you, fellow senators."

 


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Friday, August 24, 2018

UPDATE: Monday A.M. Status Conference On Outlaw Dirty Money's Challenge To Recorders' Decisions

A status conference has been set for Monday morning at 10:30 on this week's court challenge filed against several County Recorders by the Outlaw Dirty Money ballot measure committee.


ODM is challenging some of the signatures that were invalidated by the County Recorders during their 5% sample check. The proposed constitutitional amendment to require disclosure of political funders came up 104 signatures short after the sample.

Other legal issues raised by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club and the committee were resolved this week in another court and an appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court has been filed.



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BREAKING: FEC Cites 5 Arizona Candidates For Failing To File Pre-Primary Report

The Federal Elections Commission announced this afternoon that it has cited five Congressional candidates for failing to file their final, pre-primary campaign finance report. Two of the candidates are repeat offenders, and one filed her report today.

The Pre-Primary report was due on August 16, and covered the period from July 1 through August 8. The FEC sent the candidates notices on August 17, and gave them until yesterday to file them without being publicly-named.

The repeat offenders are Nick Pierson, a Republican running to face Rep. Raul Grijalva in CD3, and Jose Torres. Torres is running for the Democratic nomination in Rep. Andy Biggs' CD5.

The other three are:
--Bruce Wheeler, Democrat in CD2
--Catherine Miranda, Democrat in CD7 - she filed her report today
--Irina Baroness Von Behr, Republican in CD9

The FEC has latitude to enforce the reports, and will likely assess administrative fines.


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#AZGov BREAKING UPDATE: Ken Bennett Files Suit Vs. His Secretary of State Successor, Alleges Her Office Prevented Him From Qualifying For Clean Elections Funding

(UPDATE, 4:50pm: Bennett has received a Monday morning (8:30) hearing on his Special Action. Arizona's Politics received a copy of the Complaint from the Secretary of State's Office, and it is reproduced below.)

(UPDATE, 5:00pm: Bennett and AZSOS Communications Director Matt Roberts both tweeted their frustration this afternoon.








Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Bennett has filed a last-minute lawsuit against his successor in the Secretary of State's Office, alleging that the department's website shutdown prevented him from qualifying for Clean Elections funding.

The primary election is this coming Tuesday, August 28, and the deadline to turn in the qualifying $5 contributions was the 21st. The Secretary of State's online contribution portal shut down at 5pm that evening, and Bennett is contending that it should have shut down at midnight.

Bennett was unable to find an attorney to take the dispute to court, and he has filed it this afternoon on his own. He did file suit against both Reagan and the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, but failed to separately request an emergency injunction or any immediate action by the court

As Howie Fischer (Capitol Media Services) detailed yesterday, even if Bennett is successful in his action, any Clean Elections money would have to be spent before Tuesday's election. 

Arizona's Politics has requested a copy of the filing and will provide it once available.

Monday, August 20, 2018

#AZSen (BIG) TIDBIT: Sinema Campaign Blasts Thru $10M Mark; Increases Cash On Hand For General Election

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-CD9) plowed through the $10 Million mark in campaign receipts for her U.S. Senate race, according to her most recent FEC filing. The benchmark was likely reached sometime in mid-July, and the Democratic frontrunner now has $2.5M cash in the bank, despite having spent more on television ads than any of her opponents.

Sinema raised approximately $200,000/week during the "pre-primary" period of July 1 through August 8. Her primary opponent, attorney Deedra Abboud, has been running a shoestring campaign.

On the Republican side, frontrunner Rep. Martha McSally (R-CD2) is locked in a tight battle with Kelli Ward and Joe Arpaio. None of the GOP candidates' pre-primary filings are yet available - they were filed with the U.S. Senate, and it takes time for them to be posted on the FEC site.  However, as of June 30, McSally had had $4.2M cash on hand.



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Arizona Voter Registration Groups Sue Secretary Reagan For People Who Change Addresses With MVD; "Stamping Their Feet" Or "Protecting Qualified Voters"? (READ COMPLAINT)

The League of Women Voters has filed a federal lawsuit against Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan on Saturday, as a result of a disagreement over when and how to change people's addresses for voting purposes after they filed a change of address with the Motor Vehicle Division. Is it an example of "stamping their feet in front of a judge" - as claimed by Reagan's office - or "protect(ing) thousands of Arizonans from the irreparable loss of their right to vote this November"? That will be among the questions for the judge to decide.

Joining LWV in bringing the suit are voter registration groups Promise Arizona and Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, with legal assistance by the ACLU (national and Arizona chapter) and others. They are asking that the Court order the Secretary to instruct County Recorders to count provisional ballots that may be voted at the voters' old address (because that still shows as their voter registration address despite filing a change with MVD).

The Court is also being asked to order the Secretary of State to notify - before mid-September - all voters who filed change of addresses with MVD. The letter would instruct them as to their voting options and would include a voter registration form.

After the voter registration groups reached an understanding last week with MVD, AHCCCS and DES about future cure to the agreed violations of the federal Motor Voter Act, Secretary Reagan announced that she had rejected the demands because changes are already scheduled for 2019 and trying it now "would only produce voter confusion." Secretary of State Communications Director Matt Roberts told Arizona's Politics that:
"It’s disappointing that organizations like the ACLU, Mi Familia Vota and the League of Women Voters are seemingly more interested in stamping their feet in front of a judge rather than accepting the fact that the changes they want are already scheduled. We’re confident the court will agree that sending a letter to five hundred thousand people saying the state changed their voter registration address right before an election isn’t the greatest idea."
Reagan noted last week that the groups were demanding that the Secretary of State's Office "unilaterally change" the voter reg addresses "without voters consent" and that they were preparing for legal action on that issue. That may be why the lawsuit does NOT ask for the registration addresses to be changed at the moment, but for the other two "remedial" actions.

Ceridwen Cherry, staff attorney for the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, explains to Arizona's Politics:
“If a voter moves, their voter registration address is not updated and if they attempt to vote at the polling location that matches the address on their outdated voter registration (i.e. for their old address), they will be required to vote a provisional ballot at that location. But because of Arizona’s out of precinct ballot rules, that provisional ballot will not be counted, even for the races that the voter would be eligible to vote for at the polling location that matches their new address.
“As to timing, we filed the lawsuit as soon as it was clear that the SOS was not going to make these address updates on her own accord.”
The plaintiffs have asked for an immediate hearing, for the Secretary of State to produce a draft letter by August 31, which would be sent out by September 14. The voter registration deadline and when early ballots go out are in the first week of October.

Reagan is locked in what could be a tight primary battle for re-election, against Steve Gaynor. The centerpiece of Gaynor's campaign is attacking a Motor Voter settlement agreement entered into with at least one of the legal groups involved in today's action. The Democratic candidate is Katie Hobbs.


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Saturday, August 18, 2018

WATCH/READ: President Trump Speech Re: Afghanistan Strategy (8/21/17), Plus New Reporting

Tuesday will mark one year since President Donald Trump's major speech on his changes to the
country's "new strategy" for dealing with the U.S.'s longest-running war. Given that, and the recent reporting from Afghanistan, it seems an appropriate time to re-visit that speech. Here are both the video and the transcript, followed by a new report from the New York Times.



This transcript is from the White House's official site. (It has not been checked for accuracy.)




Who Is Winning the War in Afghanistan? Depends on Which One



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Friday, August 17, 2018

BREAKING: Problem Solvers Hide Identity To Accuse #AZ02 Candidate Heinz Of Hiding His; James Rupert Murdoch Largest Contributor (FOLLOWING MONEY IN ARIZONA'S POLITICS)

fROM OUR OVER-WORKED IRONY DEPARTMENT: A centrist group that is apparently trying to hide its identity disclosed last night that it is spending $10,000 to accuse Democratic Congressional candidate Matt Heinz of hiding his positions. The group is likely supporting former Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick in this month's primary, and its largest single donor is 21st Century Fox CEO James Rupert Murdoch.

Progress Tomorrow, Inc. filed its independent expenditure report with the Federal Election Commission last night (see, below). The spend is on digital advertising opposing Heinz. Progress Tomorrow has received all of its $1.3M in funding from two other new Super PACs - Forward Not Back and United Together.
And, they have received their funds from a variety of donors - the largest donation coming from 21st Century Fox owner James Rupert Murdoch.* (His was the only $500,000 check.) Sometime-Arizona residents Jerry Reinsdorf and Bud Selig are other large contributors.

Further, this network of Super PACs - while not dark money - seems to trace back to the No Labels group/movement. No Labels works to bring Democrats and Republicans together in Congress, and sponsors the Problem Solvers Caucus. Former Rep. Kirkpatrick was a member of the caucus during most of her time in the House representing CD1. Here is a link to the Chicago Sun Times investigation that made the connections between Progress Tomorrow & Co., and No Labels.

Their efforts to disguise the connection makes their digital ads against Heinz all the more ironic. (Bonus irony: Kirkpatrick has also been accused of being too NRA-friendly.)



* CLARIFICATION: James is actually one of Rupert’s sons. And, he has supported both R’s and D’s in the past.

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Thursday, August 16, 2018

#AZSen TIDBITS: Dem Group Adds $200k To Its Pre-Primary Anti-McSally Ad Campaign

8/16, 5:15pm: A major Democratic Super PAC disclosed today another $211,000 ad buy opposing Rep. Martha McSally (R-CD2) in the U.S. Senate campaign. The Republican primary concludes on August 28.

Priorities USA Action has now spent nearly $850,000 in opposing the GOP front-runner. Opinions vary on whether the group is trying to influence the GOP primary or just getting an early start on softening up McSally (before she can begin positive ads on August 29). The ads have targeted McSally's healthcare reform votes (i.e. "age tax").

Priorities USA Action's single largest donor is George Soros - a frequent target for Republican attacks. Soros has contributed at least $5M to the group this cycle.



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BREAKING, READ: Arizona Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence In Minutemen Murders

The Arizona Supreme Court today upheld the death sentence issued to Jason Eugene Bush on a 6-1 vote, for his role in the break-in and murders committed by a group of Minutemen militia members near the Arizona-Mexico border in 2009.
Benjie Sanders/Arizona Star

Judge Larry Winthrop* concurred that there were no reversible errors by the trial court, but that the death penalty itself is "unconstitutionally cruel" and "unconstitutionally unusual" and therefore should not be imposed.

Writing for the majority, Justice John Pelander called Winthrop's dissent "odd" and spent the next five pages dissecting it before concluding that there was no basis in this case for determining whether the death penalty is constitutional. (Chief Justice Scott Bales wrote a one-paragraph concurrence echoing that last point.)

Bush was part of a group of Minutemen border militia members who decided to try to fund their organization by robbing and killing drug smugglers. They pretended to be immigration officials and entered the Arivaca home and killed 29-year old Raul Junior Flores and his 9-year old daughter Brisenia. Ringleader Shawna Forde is already on Arizona's death row.



*Winthrop is a Court of Appeals judge who was sitting on the case due to the recusal by Justice John Lopez.
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