Thursday, December 15, 2022

BREAKING: Kyrsten Sinema Parts Ways With Longtime Democratic Campaign Compliance Firm (READ FEC Filings)

UPDATE, 1/20, 12pm:



***
ORIGINAL ARTICLE, 12/15, 2:30pm: "Kyrsten Sinema Parts Ways With Longtime Democratic Campaign Compliance Firm (READ FEC Filings)"
Now that Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema is no longer a Democrat, she is parting ways with her longtime Democratic compliance firm. Today's development also raises the question of whether she will have to rebuild other parts of her campaign finance juggernaut.

Common Cents Consulting is an Arizona compliance consulting firm that has worked with Sinema since before she entered Congress in 2012. And President Darryl Tattrie notes in his LinkedIn profile that he has been "happily helping democrats win compliantly since 1997 :-)."

Sinema's three campaign committees - her principle "Sinema for Arizona", the "Getting Stuff Done" leadership PAC, and the "Sinema Leadership Fund" - all filed amended Statements of Organization with the Federal Election Commission today replacing Common Cents with the apparently-unknown "Santa Rosa Partners"*.

It is unclear whether the major switch was initiated by Sinema's campaign organization or by Common Cents Consulting. Arizona's Politics has reached out to both and will update as warranted.

In the past two years - a non-election cycle - Sinema's three committees paid Common Cents more than $170,000 to make sure that they remain in compliance with federal campaign finance laws. During that period, Sinema raised more than $9.1M. Combined, the committees are holding some $9.7M cash on hand.

Other parts of Sinema's campaign infrastructure could also be in for changes. ActBlue is her contribution-processing platform, and it specifically states that it serves "Democratic candidates". Sinema's principle committee paid ActBlue $126,000 in the 2021-22 fundraising cycle. NGPVan provides voter outreach services (and more) to Sinema's committees; it features its support to "Democratic and progressive campaigns and organizations". NGPVan was paid more than $60,000 this past cycle. Arizona's Politics has reached out to both and will update as warranted.

Those companies do provide services to multiple Democrats running against each other in a primary election. However, if a Democrat is running against an Independent Sinema in the general election, different pressures will likely apply.

* The new email address given to the FEC for the committee is "compliance@SantaRosaPartners.com". No website or search results come up for that entity and no other federal campaigns reported paying that entity in the past two years.

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Monday, November 21, 2022

WHAT TO COUNT ON WHEN WE'RE RECOUNTING"


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Friday, November 18, 2022

BREAKING - WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Caroline Wren Raised $3M For Jan. 6; Today, She's Sr. Advisor For Kari Lake's Post-Election Plans

Kari Lake's trip to Mar a Lago yesterday may have been for more than just schmoozing. Caroline Wren was a major fundraiser for the Jan. 6 rally, and has now popped up as the gubernatorial candidate's "Senior Advisor", and is spreading inaccurate information about last week's election.

Wren was intimately involved with the planning for the Trump campaign's January 6 events in 2021, and boasted that she had raised $3M to support the rally portion. Her appearance on Steve Bannon's show yesterday as Lake's Senior Advisor raises all kinds of questions about how the former newscaster is going to contest the November 8 results. (Lake is currently more than 16,000 votes behind Democratic nominee Katie Hobbs, and is a few thousand votes short of receiving an automatic recount.)

Wren's involvement came to light as the nationally-known Rasmussen organization repeated some of her comments as facts (without attribution). Upon questioning by Arizona's Law, they linked the Wren video as their "source".

Wren stated that she had inside information that "48% of voting centers encountered tabulation problems on Election Day, when voters voted for Kari Lake 3-to-1", after "0% of the voting centers encountered tabulation problems" during the Early Voting period that began October 12.

This is an inaccurate claim in several different ways. First, 48% is a gross overstatement of the Maricopa County E-Day problem. 70 of the 223 Vote Centers is far less than 48%. Each center had two tabulators, so even if only one was having problems (which does not make sense if the problem was the printers' settings), that Vote Center was still able to tabulate ballots.

A bigger misleading statement was her comparison to the Early Voting period. In person ballots printed at those 12 27-day sites or the 43 12-day sites were NOT tabulated at the Vote Centers. As any person who voted then - and they were Democrats and Republicans - will tell you, those ballots were placed in signed envelopes and sent to the County for verification and tabulation (on significantly different tabulating machines).

Wren is a former national finance adviser to Trump's 2020 campaign, and previously worked for Sen. Lindsey Graham and Utah Governor Jon Huntsman. She has been subpoenaed by the House January 6 Select Committee.

It has been reported that, at the infamous command center meetings on January 5 (2021) at the Willard Hotel, Wren boasted that she had raised $3M for the Jan. 6 rally and had "parked" monies with Turning Point, the Republican Attorneys General Association and others to support it.

Wren may not have raised money on Bannon's show yesterday, but the host did warn/predict that Lake is "a fighter" and her campaign is going to do something "more aggressive". Wren agreed and immediately noted "the courts are not on our side." 

The implication was left unsaid, but Kari Lake promptly tweeted the interview with the comment, "Caroline gets it."

Her most irony-filled statement was when she leveled the accusation against the County: "It's either total incompetence, or it's malice."

The full interview - complete with misleading and false statements - is here.

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Saturday, November 12, 2022

BREAKING: AZ's CD6 Is Now In the RECOUNT ZONE; Ciscomani's Lead Steadily Dropping

UPDATE: AZ's 2 uncalled U.S. House races are headed in different directions!

CD1: Inc. R @RepDavid's slowly closing in on D @JevinHodge. Picked up 0.3% today.

CD6 (Open): D Kirsten @EngelForArizona also picked up o.3% today, continuing her steady climb vs 
@JuanCiscomani
 
CD1: Hodge up by 2,541 (50.4%-49.6%). Has dropped daily (50.9, 50.8, 50.8, 50.7, 50.4)

CD6: Ciscomani up by 1,382 (50.2-49.8%). Has dropped daily (51.9, 51.2, 51.0, 50.5, 50.2)

CD1: At present time, the recount number would be approx 1,600. Hodge is about 900 above recount.

CD6: At present time, the recount number would be 1,546. Ciscomani is only up by 1,382. IF counting was ended now - it is NOT - there WOULD BE A RECOUNT!



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Thursday, October 27, 2022

NEW: Big Money and Dark Money FLOOD Arizona For Senate Showdown - GOP Outspends Dems $11.7M To $6.5M... THIS WEEK Alone

More than $18 Million has been spent in Arizona's critical U.S. Senate race THIS WEEK alone. And, Republicans groups outspent Democrats $11.7M to $6.5M.

Arizona's Politics has scoured the filings required to be filed with the Federal Elections Commission, and they demonstrate the parties' supporters kicking in big time down the stretch. (Here's our separate article on the Super PAC created to support GOP nominee Blake Masters. )

The Republican effort to play catch-up - Kelly's campaign has greatly out-raised and out-spent Masters' - is demonstrated by the several different groups chipping in major independent expenditures. In addition to the $5.3M spent by the Masters-centric Saving Arizona PAC, Club for Growth spent $5M, the NRA Victory Fund spent nearly $200k on digital advertising today, the Sentinel Action Fund put $500k into TV, American Principles Project threw $300k at digital and the inappropriately-named Women Speak Out spent $272k on canvassing, digital and other media.

The Democratic-philic groups spending to re-elect Sen. Mark Kelly were led by the leadership-associated SMP ($4.1M) and Priorities USA ($1.3M). The SD PAC and Somos PAC each spent about $160k, on digital advertising and canvassing, respectively.

Arizona's race moved today to being rated as a "toss-up" from "leans Democratic" (by Cook Political Report).

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BREAKING: Peter Thiel Gives In, Kicks In; But, His Blake Masters Super PAC ALSO Gets $3M In Dark Money (#50ShadesOfDarkMoney)

The Blake Masters supporting Super PAC started by billionaire Peter Thiel has gone dark. Dark money, that is.

Saving Arizona PAC received $3M earlier this month from the American Exceptionalism Institute, Inc. It was disclosed in a filing today with the Federal Election Commission, but there is no way of knowing who is funneling that money to help elect Blake Masters to the U.S.  Senate.

The other big news from today's filing is that Peter Thiel - Masters' former employer - has given in and kicked in another $2.5M to support his protege. After spending $10M to get Masters through the primary election, Thiel told Mitch McConnell and Republican leaders that it was their turn to pull Masters through the general.

Saving Arizona then became a vehicle for other big money Republicans wanting to try to snatch back the Arizona Senate seat from Mark Kelly. 

Arizona's Politics speculated earlier this month that dark money may have taken over the Super PAC. We now know it was five days earlier that AEI had already done it.

It has spent $5.3M in the past week. For more on the $18.2M spent in Arizona's race THIS WEEK, go here.
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Friday, October 21, 2022

THE MASTERS NETWORK: Winkelvoss Twins/Big Tech Investors/Uihlein Invest $4.5M Into Blake Masters' Candidacy (FOLLOWING $$$ IN AZ'S POLITICS)

The question raised last week when Saving Arizona PAC placed a $2M ad buy to support Blake Masters in his run to unseat Senator Mark Kelly has been answered. The Winkelvoss twins, Richard Uihlein and several big tech investors have stepped in to kick in at least $4.5M.

There has been much speculation about whether Masters' former employer, Peter Thiel, would continue to support the GOP nominee after spending $10M in the primary contest. He had refused and there was reporting that Thiel was facing off with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the rest of the GOP's big money establishment in who should provide the support to try to win back the Arizona seat. The plot thickened last week with the $2M ad buy and the $5.2M total spent since the primary.

This report shows that Thiel stuck to his guns, and that the Super PAC vehicle is being driven by billionaires Richard Uihlein ($3M) and Cameron and Tyler Winkelvoss ($500,000 each). (Yes, the twins featured in The Social Network movie about the disputes surrounding the founding of Facebook. They had previously contributed $50,000 each to Saving Arizona) 

Another $250,000 was kicked in by another Peter Thiel protege - David Sacks and his wife Jacqueline. They ran their money through the "Purple PAC"*

A couple of regular Arizona Republican contributors also threw in some money - builder Tom Lewis ($50,000) and Services Group of Arizona ($10,000)

Amazingly, though, this is just a drop in the bucket of money being spent on the Arizona Senate race. According to AdImpact, the overall spending has reached $110M (as of yesterday), with more than $18M in advertising spots already reserved for the next 19 days.

$80M has been spent by Kelly and Democratic-philic groups and only $30M on the Republican side.

And, just today, Saving Arizona PAC dropped another $1.4M in advertising and $114,000 in "signs".

*Interestingly, the Purple PAC has only sent small contributions to several Republican Senators, and Arizona's other Democratic Senator, Kyrsten Sinema.  

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Thursday, October 20, 2022

READ/WATCH: Former AZ Journalists Unite To Support Truth, Journalism, Democracy

As readers of Arizona's Politics and Arizona's Law might expect, I was quick to sign on to the statement issued by former Arizona journalists "IN DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY, THE FIRST AMENDMENT AND THE FOURTH ESTATE".  The effort and news conference yesterday were led by Rhonda Bannard, Steve Krafft and Marlene Galan.* It was an eloquent and non-partisan plea for people to vote in this incredibly-important election. (The statement and some of the video are below.)

The critical nature of our plea for TRUTH was made even more crystal clear today, when Ben Petersen, the apparent "RNC Arizona Communications Director", tweeted out a completely false tweet purporting to quote Senator Mark Kelly saying that his Democratic colleague (Katie Hobbs) should "just run a better campaign." Kelly made that statement *explicitly* about their Republican opponents, Blake Masters (Senate) and Kari Lake (Governor).

With the veracity of the tweet already being challenged, Kari Lake decided to run with the obvious falsehood. "Wow. @SenMarkKelly just threw @katiehobbs completely under the bus."

Again, Lake knew or should have known that the key part of the quote was actually about HER and not her opponent.

Lake has proven the importance of those editors and colleagues. And those of us who are no longer in the profession but are concerned about the health of our First Amendment and our democracy.

That is why we are speaking out.



*Thanks to friends Nancy Puffer and Sal Caputo, both there in the accompanying picture.

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Wednesday, October 12, 2022

BREAKING: WATCH New $2M Ad Supporting Blake Masters, Raising Question: Will We Know Who Is Paying For It? (Plus, the Return Of Sean Noble) (#50ShadesOfDarkMoney)

The Super PAC dedicated to supporting Blake Masters' Senatorial run had been funded by his former employer, billionaire Peter Thiel. But Thiel insisted he was not adding more to the $10M he put in to help  power Masters through the primary election.

And, he has kept his word, according to the Saving Arizona PAC men (or, women). 

So, who has put in the $5.2M that has been spent by the Super PAC since then? The next finance report is due in 15 days, and we will learn whether or not the original source(s) is/are disclosed.

Adding to the speculation that we will learn that the money is dark is the return of DC London to the stage. The firm is run and co-founded by Sean Noble, the one-time dark money king for the Koch Brothers network and for outgoing Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. DC London started running the digital media campaign for Saving Arizona after the primary.

Adding a touch of irony to the funding question is that the new ad mimics late night local advertising that inevitably smacks of hucksterism. (It is an obvious attempt to break through the blizzard of serious negative political ads.)

The new $2M ad buy was first reported by NBC News. Watch it below.


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Thursday, September 29, 2022

WATCH: "Blake Masters Supports Compromise" - New Million Dollar Ad Tries To Help Re-write Abortion Positions (FOLLOWING $$$ IN AZ'S POLITICS)

A new $1M digital ad buy from the Women Speak Out PAC touts GOP Senate nominee Blake Masters as one who "supports compromise" on abortion issues, and tries to portray Sen. Mark Kelly as being "extreme".

The irony of an effort to erase Masters' extreme rhetoric during the contentious GOP primary is capped by the fact that the principal funder of "Women Speak Out" is Richard Uihlein. The conservative billionaire's apparent gender switch would typically raise eyebrows in today's Republican party.

The digital ad buy was disclosed to the FEC yesterday. The SuperPAC is part of the Susan B. Anthony List organization and is primarily (more than 2/3) funded by Uihlein's Restoration PAC.

In addition to claiming that Masters "supports compromise", it touts that he supports regulating late-term abortions "with an exception to protect the mother". He had previously proclaimed support for "personhood" provisions that grant rights from the moment of fertilization. (And, this ad uses the term "late term" while actually tying it to a sonogram.)

The ad also misrepresents Mark Kelly's positions. Kelly recently pointed out that Roe v. Wade permitted restrictions late during pregnancy and that he supports that.

Here is the new ad:

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Tuesday, September 27, 2022

VoteVets Starts $225k Digital Advertising Campaign To Blast Masters On Abortion (ARIZONA'S POLITICAL SHORTS)

VoteVets Starts $225k Digital Advertising Campaign To Blast Masters On Abortion 

VoteVets has launched a $225,000 digital advertising campaign to blast Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters for his (earlier) anti-abortion stances. Featuring Army veteran Hillary - who lost her husband during the war in Iraq - the ads call Masters' positions "un-American".

The ad was co-launched with SMP. That Democratic organization accepts dark money. VoteVets reports that it has now spent nearly half-a-million dollars opposing Masters.





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Thursday, September 22, 2022

TONIGHT: 3 AZ GOP Reps. Vote Against Bipartisan Bill Boosting Police Funding (ARIZONA'S POLITICAL SHORTS)

Three Republican Arizona Congressmen voted against a bipartisan bill in the U.S. House of Representatives today to boost funding for local police departments. The package will send $3B in grants over the next five years to small local and tribal agencies. It passed the House, 360-64.

Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar and David Schweikert were among the 55 Republicans who opposed the measure. Nine Democrats voted against it, complaining that there were not enough accountability measures. Arizona Republican Debbie Lesko and the state's five Democrats supported the measure.

A review of the text of the bill shows the grants would provide for signing and retention bonuses, de-escalation training, body camera programs, and education/training for dealing with domestic violence and mental health situations.

The Senate passed a slightly different package, and the differences will have to be ironed out before sending it to President Biden's desk.


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Monday, September 12, 2022

SRP Offers Several Half-Hearted Reasons Why It Contributed $50,000 To Republican Governors, Benefitting Kari Lake Gubernatorial Campaign (NEWS ANALYSIS)

Two weeks ago, Arizona's Politics reported on APS and other "establishment Republicans" donating more than $2 million to the Republican Governors Association ("RGA"), and how that money was working to support the election of GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake. The article created a stir partly because RGA Chair - and outgoing Arizona Governor - Doug Ducey and other contributors had endorsed Lake's primary competitor (Karrin Taylor Robson).

The other reason it created a stir is that APS and SRP are big contributors to that RGA effort, in what political analyst Chris Herstam calls a "rotten game". As noted then, we asked both utilities to explain why they gave the monies and their reactions to it benefitting the more extreme Lake.

The question of public utilities and political contributions is a recurring one, and today's decision by SRP to raise customers' rates will likely bring renewed interest in it.

Salt River Project ("SRP") did respond, and a dialogue continued until late last week. SRP raised a few different points, and we wish to present them along with some added context. 

SRP made two separate $25,000 contributions to the RGA this past June. Their first reaction to Arizona's Politics was "Historically speaking, SRP has contributed to both the RGA and DGA. The contributions you are addressing occurred before the primaries. Monies were restricted to administrative support such as for maintenance of the organization and/or event programming. The funds did not go towards supporting any particular candidate."

We did not include that statement with the initial article because two of the three distinct claims were unsupported. And the article did, in fact, focus on the fact that the contributions were made before the donors knew whether Lake or Taylor Robson would win the primary. 

We pointed out to SRP that our experience in reviewing Arizona contributions and expenditures by the RGA - and, the Republican Attorneys General Association, and their Democratic counterparts - *contradicted* the claim of monies to both parties and that the RGA did not segregate monies in admin accounts and independent expenditure accounts.

We asked SRP for a listing of other political contributions to highlight partisan even-handedness, even suggesting broadening it to contributions made to other political committees. We also asked for information on SRP's PROCESS for green-lighting political contributions. After all, APS/Pinnacle West has created a webpage explaining their "Political Participation Policy" and disclosing some contributions which would not otherwise come to light. Finally, we asked for support on how SRP restricted its monies from going to support negative political ads.

Finally, SRP responded in more detail on Thursday. Their statement did evolve and tried to address some of the concerns. It included an RGA invoice that says it was for a 2022-23 membership "(Operating Account)". As you can see below, at the bottom, the invoice says monies may go to their PACs (for ads).
Historically, SRP has supported the Western Governors Association, a bipartisan group of Governors that advocate for western states’ unique perspectives on federal policy making.
SRP has also contributed to other organizations including the Republican Attorneys Generals Association, the Democratic Governors Association and the Democratic Attorneys General Association – when Arizona elected Democrats to those offices. I don’t have immediate access to the list of contributions dating back to 2003 to 2009, which is the last time Arizona elected a Democratic Governor, and it would involve a research process that is not within my bandwidth.
It is important to contextualize that SRP’s mission to provide low-cost and reliable electricity and water supplies is aided when our elected leaders and public policy makers have the opportunity to gather insights about emerging and important public-policy issues concerning SRP and the utility industry.

Besides failing to shed any light on SRP's process for making obviously-partisan political contribution, there are several gaps (to put it politely) in their logic. 

The Western Governors Association is not a purely partisan organization and should not be compared to either the RGA or the DGA. (It was Ducey himself who told CNN earlier this year that the RGA is in business to elect Republican state executives, and that they are good at it, as well.)

It took less than 5 minutes for Arizona's Politics to pull up and review the contributions reports for the Democratic Governors Association for the comparable year 2006. Needless to say, there are NO donations from SRP. 

Further, the (first) June contribution was for a 2022-2023 membership and that would seem to contradict the statement that these partisan contributions are to somehow keep SRP's mission in front of already-elected leaders. The legislative session was nearly over and Governor Ducey was on his way out the door. Also, SRP did not pay such "membership" fee(s) during 2021-2022, when the Governor was still gearing up for water-related policy-making.

Arizona's Politics has requested an interview with anyone at SRP who is involved in making the political contribution decisions, and will publish a follow-up report if warranted.

Former lots of stuff* Chris Herstam, who can simply be called an Arizona political analyst, explained to us why SRP's actions and explanations are "perverse":

“It’s perverse to see Arizona corporate entities launder their large campaign donations through a Ducey led association that is spending millions on electing extremist Kari Lake. Even more unacceptable are public utilities like SRP & APS playing the rotten game - two companies that would not be in business without Arizona ratepayers.”

Arizona's Politics is an unaffiliated, non-partisan political news blog. When we engage in analysis or commentary, we attempt to label it as such. This article may be classified as "news analysis" because it attempts to "provid(e) interpretations that add to a reader's understanding of a subject." Arizona attorney and journalist Paul Weich reported this article; Paul Weich has also run for the Arizona Legislature as a Democrat.

* Herstam has been a legislator, gubernatorial chief of staff, Insurance Dept. Director, President of AZ Board of Regents, and a lobbyist. He has earned his self-described Twitter bio as "former lots of stuff".

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Thursday, September 1, 2022

BREAKING: DSCC Blasts Blake Masters With New $1.8M Ad Buy, Still Trails GOP Counterpart (MONEY IN AZ'S POLITICS)

Arizona TV stations continue to reap the benefits of Arizona's swing state status, as the national Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ("DSCC") today disclosed a $1.8M ad buy to blast Blake Masters.

The buy - actually, two separate spends - brings the DSCC total benefitting Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) in his re-election battle to just over $5.3M for the cycle. 

Its Republican counterpart ("NRSC") last disclosed a new buy two weeks ago, but has spent more than $6.1M.

The NRSC and the DSCC are the parties' official disclosed-money operations to support U.S. Senate campaigns. Both are paired with operations that accept dark money contributions, and Republican leader Mitch McConnell is currently in a dispute with Blake Masters' benefactor and former employer, Peter Thiel over who should fund the negative ads against Kelly. According to yesterday's Washington Post, the Senate Leadership Fund canceled $8M in ad reservations to pound Kelly during the next few weks.

Here are the amounts spent to date in this cycle by each of these major organizations:

MARK KELLY
$29,775,670.13    Kelly's official campaign committee (not just advertising) (thru 7/31)
$  5,301,779.57    DSCC (thru 9/1 IE reports)
$  2,966,161.10    SMP (partly dark) (thru 8/31 IE reports)
$                           Majority Forward (nothing reported to FEC this cycle, but have run ads)
$38,043,610.80

BLAKE MASTERS
$  3,338,840.68       Masters' official campaign committee (not just advertising) (thru 7/13)
$  6,143,060.12       NRSC (thru 8/20 IE reports)
$                              Senate Leadership Fund (nothing reported to FEC this cycle, but have run ads)
$                              One Nation (nothing reported to FEC this cycle, but have run ads)
$10,651,381.19       Saving Arizona PAC (Thiel-funded pro-Masters Super-PAC) (thru 8/2 IE reports)
$20,133,281.99



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Monday, August 29, 2022

BREAKING: APS Spent $851,000 To Help Kari Lake's Gubernatorial Effort; Ducey-Led RGA Spent More Than $9.2M

UPDATE, 1/2/23, 12pm: "BREAKING: APS Spent $851,000 To Help Kari Lake's Gubernatorial Effort; Ducey-Led RGA Spent More Than $7M"

APS, Arizona's largest public utility, continued to spend big to back Republican Kari Lake in her failed effort to succeed Doug Ducey as Arizona Governor. The utility gave more than $850,000 to the Ducey-led Republican Governors Association in the past election cycle, $600,000 coming *after* Lake won the Republican primary (in August).

The national RGA, in turn, funneled more than $9.2M into the Governor's race in the final five weeks of the campaign. The money was given to the Yuma County Republican Central Committee and then spent on advertising - political party entities receive lower advertising rates than non-official-party organizations. 

(Because the Yuma County committee also accepted contributions directly - not only from the RGA - and because its most recent report was through Oct. 22, the final amount spent is not yet clear. For instance, the RGA gave more than $1.1M to Yuma GOP on October 28, and others likely contributed as the race tightened before Election Day.)

Arizona's Politics reported in August about the large, pre-primary contributions given by APS and Karrin Taylor Robson to the RGA, in light of the apparent intra-party schism between more "Establishment" Republicans and those receiving the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.

Many of those large contributors did NOT give money to the RGA after the primary, but a few Ducey allies did. We are thus updating the list published in August to reflect those changes, and adding some of the other contributors who gave directly to the Yuma County GOP.

As noted in a very good article yesterday from Bob Christie(!) of Capitol Media Services, APS also appears to be trying to do "some fence-mending", sponsoring inauguration events for the winning candidate, Katie Hobbs.

Here is a list of the largest Arizona contributors to the RGA* in 2022:

1. PinnWest, $851,000 (2021-22 combined)
2.     Suspense, $250,000 (Oct. 17, Yuma, new to list, Ohio)
3.     Fuji Food Products, $200,000 (Oct. 13, Yuma, new to list, CA company)
3.     Scott Schirmer, $200,000 (Oct. 20, Yuma, new to list)
5. University of Phoenix, $155,000 (up from #4)
6. Blandford Homes, $150,000
7.     GM, LLC, $150,000
8. Tom Lewis, $125,000 (gave to both RGA and Yuma, homebuilder)
9. Randy Kendrick, $100,000 (AZ Diamondbacks, new to list, contributed on 8/22)
9.     Dante Ghilotti, $100,000 (Oct. 13, Yuma, new to list, CA construction)
9.     SGA, $100,000
9. Timothy Day, $100,000
9. Charter One, LLC, $100,000
9. DFX, LLC, $100,000
9. Drew Brown (DMB Development), $100,000
9. Thirunavukkaras Thangarthinam (MST Solutions), $100,000
17. John Hammergren, $70,000
17. Gregory Milzcik, $70,000
19.    The Geo Group, $50,000 (Oct. 13, Yuma, new to list, private prison contractor)
19. Offerpad, LLC, $50,000
19. Gila River Indian Community, $50,000
19. Lawrence Heitz, $50,000
19. Quynh Nhu Palomino, $50,000
19. Robert Delgado (Pres. Of Hensley), $50,000
19. Shamrock Foods, $50,000
19. SRP, $50,000
27. El Dorado Holdings, $40,000
28. Art Martori, $35,000
28. Barbara Barrett, $35,000
28. Jim Click, $35,000
28. Marilyn Hayden, $35,000
28. Jerre Stead (Clarivate PLC), $35,000
28.    Craig Jackson (Barrett-Jackson Auctions) $35,000 (new to list)
34.    Robert Kiyosaki, $25,000 (Oct. 20, Yuma, new to list)
34.    Don Tapia, $25,000 (Oct. 13, Yuma, new to list, now retired in FL)

The RGA's post-general report is posted below. Here is a link to the 3rd quarter report, and here's the link to the Yuma County Republican Central Committee's pre-general report.

*The RGA was the principle funder of the Yuma County Republican Central Committee, so we are including large contributors who gave directly (aka downstream) to the latter

ORIGINAL ARTICLE, 8/29, 4pm: "BREAKING: APS Spends Big To Elect Kari Lake; So, Too, Do Former Taylor Robson Endorsers, Others"
Arizona’s two largest electric utilities have brought the power – and, the money – to Kari Lake’s effort to become the next Arizona Governor. Even if unintentionally.

APS’s parent company, Pinnacle West, has contributed more than $251,000 to the Republican Governors Association this election cycle, and Salt River Project (SRP) chipped in $50,000. APS has had a recent history of contributing large amounts to help elect outgoing Governor Doug Ducey and Attorney General Mark Brnovich, as well as funneling millions through dark money organizations to elect Corporation Commissioners.

The contributions to RGA are publicly disclosed quarterly, in filings with the Internal Revenue Service. A review of the most recent reports (below) indicate that PinnWest gave $101,000 in 2021 and $150,000 through the first six months of 2022. SRP’s two $25,000 checks both were reported this past June.

Ducey is the Chair of the national RGA powerhouse, which has raised $60M in 2022. RGA Press secretary Will Reinert tells Arizona’s Politics that the RGA is all in on the Arizona race between Republican nominee Kari Lake and Democrat Katie Hobbs. “In the Spring, we reserved $10M in ad time, and we added another million after the primary.”

Before the August 2 primary, Ducey blasted Lake and had been evasive during a CNN interview about whether the RGA would support Lake if she defeated Karrin Taylor Robson. ("To be determined...we don't support landslides.") The ad buys answer that question, and the first ad (which has stopped running) featured a woman associated with QAnon with the ad referencing child trafficking.

APS and SRP are not the only Arizona companies or individuals who put in significant amounts of funds to the RGA effort, even before the primary was decided. More than $2M in Arizona monies went to the RGA; there are 29 who contributed at least $10,000.  The RGA is gradually transferring it – and more – to its Arizona political committee to pay for the ads. (Note: Contributions to candidates are limited, but there are no limits to organizations such as the RGA. PinnWest does not contribute to the Democratic Governors Association.)

Many big contributors were Taylor Robson endorsees, and Arizona’s Politics has reached out to a few for their comments. None have responded yet, but it calls to mind Ducey’s well-reported comments indicating that he preferred Wendy Rogers to her (last) Democratic opponent because he wants to “move my agenda forward”. (We have also asked APS and SRP for comments, and will update this article as warranted.)

Lauren Kuby is running on a Democratic slate for Corporation Commission. Her slate partner is Sandra Kennedy, who is one of the candidates who was slimed by APS's previous dark money campaigns. Kuby issued this statement to Arizona's Politics:

Over $250,000 to weaken democracy, take away abortion rights, and deny climate science. Not a good look for APS... when we know that over 70% of Arizonans want to see a transition to a clean energy future. Their contribution to the Governor's race is disturbing. The flow of money to legislators who want to kneecap the powers of ACC stands in contradiction to their pledge to stay out of the ACC race. Let's shine a spotlight on these contributions, as the voters have a right to know who's trying to influence their elections and increase their electric utility rates.
Here is a list of the largest Arizona contributors to the RGA in 2022:

1. PinnWest, $251,000 (2021-22 combined)
2. Blandford Homes, $150,000
3. GM, LLC, $150,000
4. University of Phoenix, $125,000
5. SGA, $100,000
6. Timothy Day, $100,000
7. Charter One, LLC, $100,000
8. DFX, LLC, $100,000
9. Drew Brown (DMB Development), $100,000
10. John Hammergren, $70,000
11. Thirunavukkaras Thangarthinam (MST Solutions), $70,000
12. Gregory Milzcik, $70,000
13. Tom Lewis, $50,000
14. Offerpad, LLC, $50,000
15. Gila River Indian Community, $50,000
16. Lawrence Heitz, $50,000
17. Quynh Nhu Palomino, $50,000
18. Robert Delgado (Pres. Of Hensley), $50,000
19. Shamrock Foods, $50,000
20. SRP, $50,000
21. Art Martori, $35,000
22. El Dorado Holdings, $35,000
23. Barbara Barrett, $35,000
24. Jim Click, $35,000
25. Marilyn Hayden, $35,000
26. Jerre Stead (Clarivate PLC), $35,000

Links to the 2022 reports - 1st quarter and 2nd quarter.

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Friday, April 15, 2022

BREAKING: Sinema Adds $1.4M To Her Warchests For 2024; Travels With Security Detail

Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema received less contributions from corporate PACs in the 1st quarter of 2022, but built up her warchests to $7.7M cash on hand for the 2024 campaign.

The reports also disclose that the lawmaker spent nearly $10,000/month for a traveling security detail as she continues to deal with disgruntled fellow Democrats.

The bottom line numbers for her main campaign account look like this, with her increasing the bank account balance to just shy of $7M:

Of those receipts, $185,500 are from PACs (mostly corporate).

Sinema's leadership PAC - Getting Stuff Done PAC - brought in another $197,500 in PAC monies. A quick perusal shows a number of pharmaceutical and financial companies kicked in. The PAC contribution total is half of what she brought in in that category for the last quarter of 2021.

Her security detail expenses - paid out of the leadership PAC - totaled $28,656 for January through March. The report (below) also shows trips to Park City, Utah and a $34,500 tab at the Enchantment Resort in Sedona (for event facility rental).

Sinema is likely to face a Democratic primary challenge in 2024, and a difficult general election if she proceeds. Rumors continue to circulate that she either will run as an Independent or make a Presidential bid.

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Thursday, March 31, 2022

BREAKING: Ken Bennett, Senate's Election "Audit" Liaison Starts Last-Minute Bid To Re-Join The Senate

The State Senate's liaison to last year's notorious Maricopa County election "audit" is making a last-minute bid to re-join the State Senate.
(Ken Bennett watching a Ninja)


Ken Bennett was previously best known for his 1 1/2 terms as Arizona's Secretary of State and his stint as President of the Senate. He filed a Statement of Interest yesterday to begin collecting signatures for the GOP nomination in LD1, and would be replacing current Senate President Karen Fann.

Two Republicans have already filed their nominating signatures - former Rep. Noel Campbell and Steve Zipperman. Bennett's six day sprint indicates that he and others are likely not happy with those choices.

The deadline for all partisan candidates to submit signatures is this coming Monday, April 4. With the eQual system BACK ONLINE as of last night, Bennett has the opportunity to get some 450 supporters to sign online.



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Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Arizona's Paul Gosar Voted "Nay" On Supporting People of Ukraine; Here's Why His Reasoning Is Nonsensical (READ Resolution)

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 426-3 today to support the people of Ukraine. Arizona's Paul Gosar (R-CD4) was one of those "nays". His reasoning completely misreads the resolution.

(from 2021)

Gosar was joined by fellow Republicans Kentucky's Thomas Massie and Montana's Matt Rosendale. They are obviously the only three who misread the plain language as a declaration of war.

Gosar issued his anti-war manifesto on Twitter tonight, claiming "There is language in HR 956 giving Ukraine defacto NATO status with reference  to Art. 5. Which is mandatory war authorization."
This would come as major news to the rest of the House, President Joe Biden and the rest of the world.

(As a side note, Gosar has been in Congress for long enough that he should automatically type the correct bill or resolution number. "HR 956" would be a bill to pass law. What he voted on today was "H.Res. 956", which is a resolution. Searching for "HR 956" would bring you to the pending "National Aviation Heritage Area Reauthorization Act".)

Here is the reference to NATO's Article 5: "The House of Representatives...(7) reaffirms its strong support for the security of United States allies and ironclad commitment to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); (8) emphasizes that NATO’s relationship with Ukraine is a matter only for Ukraine and the 30 NATO allies;..."

That is CLEARLY not giving Ukraine "defacto NATO status". Rather, it is reminding Vladimir Putin that a further attack on a NATO member would be met by U.S. and NATO defense, and that Russia has no right to dictate whether Ukraine and NATO can have discussions (far) down the road. Ukraine is sovereign and can associate with other countries.

Here is the full resolution:


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Thursday, February 3, 2022

Doing the Devil's Work, With Sinema (HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU, ARIZONA)

Headlining Politico this afternoon:



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Monday, January 31, 2022

BREAKING: Sinema Raises $1.6M In 4th Quarter, Crushing Previous Periods


***
BREAKING: @SenMarkKelly campaign picks up steam, narrowly misses $9M 4th quarter; has $29.2M in bank for this year's campaign


*******
Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema crushed her previous prodigious fundraising numbers in the 4th quarter of 2021, as nationwide publicity about the heartburn she was causing fellow Democrats was increasing.

Sinema raised $1.6M in the last three months of 2021, bringing her cash on hand to a staggering $5.8M. By contrast, her three previous cash hauls were $0.4M, $1.1M and $1.1M, respectively.

Sinema does not face a reelection battle until 2024. Some Democrats have begun fundraising to finance a challenger to her in the primary - generally considered to be either Rep. Ruben Gallego or Rep. Greg Stanton.

The entire report is not yet available on the FEC's website, but here is a snapshot:

Perhaps of more interest will be what was happening next door with her leadership PAC. Sinema's "Getting Stuff Done PAC" took in an additional $477,000 - $340,000 of that from a wide variety of corporate PACs. And, she spent $274,000 of that, including trips to London, Paris, Thanksgiving at L'Auberge in Sedona and Christmastime on Miami Beach. There were also many purchases from various wineries totaling more than $6,000.

The list of corporate PACs was not surprising, as there has been other reporting - pharmaceutical and financial companies stood out, as did several from media interests (including $5,000 from the Fox Corporation PAC).

Page through the report to get a more extensive feel for Sinema's contribution base.

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Friday, January 14, 2022

HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU, ARIZONA: Fallout From Sinema's Filibuster Speech, LCCs Most Likely To Spread Misinfo Because They Like Chaos

("Here's looking at you, Arizona" is an occasional series highlighting coverage of Arizona's politics, as seen through the lens of media outside of the state.)


Links to these articles:
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Thursday, January 13, 2022

WATCH: Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Remains "Stubbornly Optimistic" That She Can Help Cure "Disease of Division"

Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema delivered her 19 minute defense of why she is remaining steadfast on opposing changes to the Senate's filibuster rule, stating that she remains "stubbornly optimistic" that the country can come together and cure the "disease of division".

Her hastily-announced speech on the Senate floor came shortly before President Joe Biden was to arrive at the Capitol to meet with Senate Democrats about moving forward on voting rights measures, and throws the plans to pass the bills into more uncertainty.

We were going to post C-Span's transcript of the speech, but their automated transcribing system leaves to much to the imagination. We will post a better transcript once received. 



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