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Friday, August 16, 2024
BREAKING UPDATE: "Cornel West WITHDRAWS Petitions To Get On Arizona November Ballot; Allegedly Forged Elector's Signature Likely Cause"
8/17, 5:30pm: "BREAKING UPDATE: "Cornel West WITHDRAWS Petitions To Get On Arizona November Ballot; Allegedly Forged Elector's Signature Likely Cause"
Cornel West will not be on Arizona's General Election ballot. His campaign for President indirectly blamed a Republican-linked circulating company for its last-second decision to withdraw the ten boxes of petitions they had delivered to the Arizona Secretary of State earlier in the day.
Mike McCorkle, West's Ballot Access Counsel, told State Election Director Lisa Marra that "Due to circumstances beyond the campaign's control, we cannot in good conscience authorize the filing of any further documents on the campaign's behalf, so we must withdraw from our effort to be on the state's ballot this November."
Earlier in the day, McCorkle apologized, saying "We generally try to have our act together a lot better than this."
An Associated Press article last night detailed how one of the paid petition circulators for "Wells Marketing" changed her mind about helping West get on the ballot when she read reports that Wells was a Republican-funded effort to drain votes from other candidates. However, Wells apparently listed Denisha Mitchell as one of West's 11 Arizona Electors and forged her signature on the paperwork.
*********
ORIGINAL ARTICLE, 8/16: BREAKING: Robert F. Kennedy FILES Arizona Paperwork, Lists Same New York Residence Found To Be "Sham" Address; Says He Turned In 110,000 Signatures
The plot thickened this afternoon, as Independent Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. turned in a purported 110,000 signatures to get on the Arizona General Election ballot, but listed a home address in New York that a judge in that state found to be a "sham" address.
While Arizona does not require a Presidential candidate to live in New York, Kennedy did sign the nomination paper attesting that the Katonah address is his "actual residence address".
The nomination paper will likely be one of the bases for filing a legal challenge to keep him off the Arizona ballot. Arizona - unlike New York - is a swing state and even though Kennedy only polls at 5% in Arizona, both major parties are wary of Kennedy tipping the balance to the other party.
Validity of the signatures will be another. Out of the "purported" 110,000 signatures turned in, 42,303 need to be considered valid.
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Thursday, August 15, 2024
NEW, HISTORIC: Arizona Democrats Put Historic Electoral College Slate On November Ballot
(Update, 4:30pm: Please see below for an update on Cornel West campaign.)
Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris graduated from an HBCU. Now, word comes out that Arizona Democrats have put the historically first all-female Electoral College slate onto November's General Election ballot.
In the other major party slot, the Arizona Republicans have gone with an all-new slate since 2020.
The Chairwomen of each party have complete discretion in determining which 11 Arizonans will cast the state's Electoral College votes for the winning Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates. In recent years, both parties choose about half men and half women.
Arizona Democratic Party Chair Yolanda Bejarano went bold, choosing 11 women. This is believed to be the first time any state has done that. Arizona's Politics asked for an explanation:
"There is so much on the line this election-- including a woman's right to choose what she does with her own body without government interference. Each of these women have been stewards of democratic values in Arizona and have been a part of the fight to move our state forward. We are all incredibly excited to vote for the first woman President who will restore and protect women's rights."
Here are the lists for both parties:
Democrats:
Adelita Grijalva
Amelia Flores
Constance DeLarge
Coral Evans
Dora Lisa Vasquez
Doreen Garlid
Maria Valdez
Marisol Garcia
Molly McGovern
Priya Sundareshan
Yolanda Bejarano
Republicans:
Abegal Gonzalez
Belinda Rodriguez
Dottie Lizer
Gina Swoboda
Lisa Green
Myron Lizer
Nathan C. Jackson
Robert L. Swoboda
Steven R. McEwen
Thomas W. Lewis
Trevor Smith
This is the 2nd Presidential cycle in a row that the AZGOP Chair has designated herself and her husband as Electors. Bejarano also put herself on the slate.
*****
In other news on how the top of Arizonans' ballot will look, Saturday is the deadline for independent candidates to file at least 42,303 valid petition signatures to get a ballot slot. As of this morning, no candidates' campaigns have set up an appointment with the Secretary of State's Office, as that office requests.
However, Arizona's Politics has viewed correspondence from the campaign for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. with the Secretary of State's. It is widely believed that they collected the necessary signatures early in 2024 and have been waiting until the deadline to turn them in. One or both major parties are likely to consider filing legal challenges to the petitions. An "independent" Super PAC made for most or all of the paid circulators.
Potential independent candidate Cornel West also had paid circulators in Arizona, although it is unclear exactly who was the original source of the money for those. There has been no correspondence from either West or the paid circulating company and the Secretary of State's.
The Libertarian and Green parties already have their candidates on Arizona's ballot.
(Update, 4:30pm: Within minutes of publishing this article, Arizona's Politics received an update from the Secretary of State's Office. Independent candidate Cornel West has JUST set up an 11am, tomorrow, to turn in their petition signatures. It appears that West's ballot access counsel was in occasional contact with Lisa Marra, Arizona State Election Director, and the appointment was set up this afternoon. While it is not clear who may challenge Kennedy petitions, it is very clear that Democrats are likely to challenge West's. )
Disclosure: This article was reported by co-founder Paul Weich. In his private time, Mr. Weich is a Democratic activist.
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Friday, April 12, 2024
BREAKING: RETIREMENT MONIES? Kyrsten Sinema Continues Accepting Corporate PAC Money After Announcing Retirement; APS Among Those Kicking In
Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema continued to accept corporate PAC monies last month following her announcement that she would not seek reelection. The PAC for APS was among those contributing to a fund that could help fund her post-Senate life.
Sinema announced her retirement on March 5. In the few weeks following, her leadership PAC ("Getting Stuff Done") took in $25,000 from a total of five contributors.
GSD PAC ended March with more than $360,000 in the bank. And because Congress has not passed bills trying to restrict how that money can be spent, the options upon retirement are very open.
Currently, Sinema's GSD PAC has spent much of its money on security and travel. In this new report, for instance, Sinema spent more than $5,000 in Paris (France) in February, staying at the Le Roch Hotel & Spa.
Leadership PACs are not forced to terminate when a member of Congress leaves office. For example, Sinema's predecessor was Jon Kyl. He transferred more than $200,000 from his campaign committee to his leadership PAC, and disbursed it to other candidates and groups. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer set up a federal Super PAC, and was able to use that to pay one of her children for several years after she left office. ("Gov. Brewer's Super PACs: Retirement Fund, 2016 Run Against McCain, Or Just "Stay Active" Money?")
Other than the Pinnacle West PAC (APS's parent company), PACs for General Dynamics, BAE Systems, Southern Company and Southwest Airlines Pilots each handed over $5,000 after March 5.
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Monday, April 1, 2024
UPDATE: AZGOP Admits Failing To Report and Pay Rent On Office Building For Several Months
The Arizona Republican Party confessed today to the Federal Elections Commission that they failed to report and pay rent "for multiple months" in 2023 due to their "shortage of cash-flow and donations."
The unsigned filing from the AZGOP is in response to the FEC's inquiry about why "limited administrative expenses" were disclosed in the last three months of 2023.
The party says the lack of paid expenses was accurate. "Please note that the Committee had a shortage of cash-flow and donations up until the end of 2023. Rent for multiple months of 2023 was actually paid on January 11th, 2024 and was properly documented and filed in the 2024 February Monthly Report."
Indeed, on Jan. 11, the AZGOP cut a $75,000 check to its wholly-owned subsidiary, "Arizona Freedom Center, LLC" for rent. You will recall that it was just last week that Axios's Jeremy Duda reported that the AZGOP had decided to sell its office space in central Phoenix.
However, paying "multiple months" of rent in January opens up the question as to why those multiple months were not reported as debts owing in the many monthly reports filed since the office condo was purchased in June 2023. Such information is required to be reported to the FEC (and thus, to AZGOP members and the public).
Another point the FEC may follow up on is what other revenues the AZGOP's Arizona Freedom Center LLC is bringing in and what expenses it is paying. The seller, CJR Investments, does hold a $1.3M promissory note secured by a deed of trust on the office. (Duda reports the purchase price was $1.9M, which would lead one to believe the AZGOP put $600,000 down, but is required to make monthly payments.)
Jeff DeWit was the AZGOP Chair until January, and Gina Swoboda is the new Chair. The most recent report shows that AZGOP now has $426,000 in the bank (as of end of February) and reported debts of $62,736. Arizona's Politics tried to reach Treasurer Elijah Norton, and will update as necessary.
This article was reported by Tempe elections attorney - and Arizona's Politics co-founder - Paul Weich.
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Wednesday, February 7, 2024
NEW, UPDATE: Kari Lake AMENDS Financial Disclosure Statement To Add Trust; No Indication It's To Protect Assets From Richer
There was plenty of coverage* of the new financial disclosure statement filed with the U.S. Senate by Kari Lake. And that reporting may have prompted Lake to file her (first) AMENDED statement this past weekend.
Instead of owning ZenVideo, LLC as wife and husband, Lake and Jeffrey Halperin (her husband) actually own it - estimated to be worth between $100,000 to $250,000 - as part of their living trust.
The video production company has not earned Lake any income during the past year-plus (per the disclosure statement), and it does not appear that Lake either recently placed it in the trust nor placed it there with the intent to protect the assets from creditors. Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer recently filed a defamation lawsuit against Lake regarding her statements about the elections.
The trust appears to be the type of living trust which would not be protected from judgment enforcement. Lake and her husband placed two pieces of real property into the trust in late 2021, and those documents indicate that the trust is revocable and that they are the beneficiaries. People often use such trusts as part of their estate planning.
Those properties appear to be their home and a condominium, both in the Biltmore area. While a personal home is not required to be listed in the Senate's disclosure statements, Lake does list a rental condo that she is receiving rent of between $1,250-4,165 per month. (The disclosure statement does not list it as a trust asset, and that might require a second amendment.)
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Monday, January 15, 2024
BREAKING, STOP THIS STEAL: George Santos Treasurer(?) Hiding Out After Allegedly Embezzling $50,000 From Arizona Congressional Candidate
A one-time Treasurer(?) for fraudster/expelled Congressman George Santos is apparently hiding from law enforcement after being accused of embezzling at least $50,000 from an Arizona Congressional candidate.
Walt Blackman (R-Snowflake), who is currently running to regain a seat in the Arizona Legislature, leveled the charges in a letter filed with the Federal Election Commission ("FEC") on Sunday afternoon.
I hereby formally report a series of unauthorized and illicit financial transactions within the 'Committee to Elect Walt Blackman for Congress,' masterminded by Mr. Thomas Datwyler. In a clear breach of financial protocols and without requisite approvals from our committee, Mr. Datwyler diverted campaign funds into unauthorized external accounts. He established at least one additional account and illicitly reallocated a sum of not less than $50,000 from our General Election fund to an undisclosed location.In addition, Mr. Datwyler knowingly issued multiple checks as refunds to general donors from accounts deficient in funds, resulting in the checks being dishonored upon presentation. This malfeasance led to non-payment to our vendors and a cascade of unsettled campaign liabilities. Given my lack of access to these implicated accounts, it is our contention that Mr. Datwyler has embezzled an estimated amount of $50,000.Law enforcement agencies have been notified of these infractions. The inability to locate Mr. Datwyler has temporarily hindered our ability to file a complete legal report. Upon determination of his whereabouts, it is our intention to formally lodge a complaint and initiate legal proceedings against Mr. Datwyler for the crime of theft, advocating for maximal prosecutorial action. Concurrently, civil litigation for recovery of damages will be pursued against him.
Datwyler became Blackman's campaign treasurer shortly after he announced his intent to move from the Arizona State House of Representatives to the U.S. House in early 2021, and remained in the post through his loss in the Republican primary (to Eli Crane).
In addition to a short, disputed stint as the expelled Rep. George Santos' (R-NY) treasurer last year, Datwyler was the financial person for several other Republican candidates in 2022. At least three of them have had to pay fines to the FEC for Datwyler's actions (inactions).
Datwyler has also been active running a Super PAC in Iowa supporting Ron DeSantis's presidential campaign, and this New York Times article outlines a concerning set of connections between several political operatives.
Blackman is asking the FEC to show mercy - to him, not to Datwyler - and to waive any penalties. After raising and spending more than $1.1M, Blackman has approximately $12,000 left in his campaign account. (We cannot know for sure, because none of the required 2023 reports have yet been filed.)
Blackman, who tried to help "Stop the Steal" in 2020, is running in the wide-ranging Legislative District 7, which is currently represented by two Republican Davids, Cook and Marshall.
(Arizona's Politics has attempted to reach Blackman for comment, and will update this article as needed.)
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Monday, November 20, 2023
FACT CHECK: NRSC Gets Early Start, Launches 1st FALSE Ad of 2024 #AZSenate Campaign In Double-Negative Fashion (WATCH Ad)
With the battle for the narrative of who benefits from a three-way race for Arizona's U.S. Senate seat in 2024 raging, the Republicans are launching a double-negative attack ad bank shot against presumptive Democratic nominee Ruben Gallego and incumbent-possible-independent-candidate Kyrsten Sinema. While the attacks against Sinema are predictable ("liberal Democrat"), the NRSC lobbed FALSE invective against Gallego.
Polling is consistently showing Gallego winning the likely three-way race against former Democrat Sinema and Republican frontrunner Kari Lake. What is less clear is whether Sinema draws more from the Republican or the Democrat in such a race.
The National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) announced a digital advertisement - meaning we do not know how much money, if any, is really being spent on it - today. By knocking Sinema as a "liberal Democrat" who votes with Biden, they are trying to prevent Republicans from sliding to Sinema AND they are trying to make it more palatable for Democrat to vote for her.
The attacks on Gallego are also supposed to slide more Democrats to Sinema. However, their pickings in that category were slim.
The first attack was that he "ripped off immigrants". This laughable conclusion cites an Arizona Republic article from this past March, which details Gallego's small involvement in helping a man who was going to create a bank focusing on the needs of undocumented immigrants in the Latino community. The bank never got off the ground, and the man is repaying the six investors. Gallego did not recruit investors, according to the cited Corporation Commission Order.
The second attack was calling Gallego a "deadbeat dad". That term has a very specific definition in the public sphere as someone who has not paid their required child support. There have been no allegations by Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego that her ex has ever had such an issue, and in fact, both have indicated that their parenting of their young son has been amicable.
Fact Check Conclusion: The NRSC has lobbed two FALSE accusations at Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego.
The ad was first reported on and linked by Politico.
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Sunday, October 15, 2023
NEW, BAILED OUT: AZGOP Covers Bills With Late September Bailout From Waste Management Founders, Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins, Freedom Fund
The Arizona Republican Party received a late-September bailout from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and some of his allies. Facing a checking account balance not sufficient to cover their monthly expenses, the AZGOP received ore than $34,000 from the National Republican Senate Committee.
That was made up of $20,000 from the founders of Waste Management Inc, (Dean and Rosemarie Buntrock) and additional $5,000 checks from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (through his Bluegrass Committee), Maine Senator Susan Collins (through Dirigo PAC) and Idaho Senator Mike Crapo's Freedom Fund.
The state party's kitty was below $15,000 on September 1 - an unusually low amount for any state party committee. (Expenses in September were $55,000, although much of that was covered by transferring monies from another account.)
The AZGOP's net worth on September 30, was just $20,790 - the cash balance of $54,959 less the debts owing of $34,169.
By contrast, the Arizona Democratic Party reported a September 30 net worth of more than $770,000 (with just a couple of thousand dollars of outstanding bills).
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Thursday, July 13, 2023
WATCH: Full Debate Of Rep. Crane's "Don't Say DEI In the Military" Amendment; It was more than just "colored people" (READ Text of Amendment)
Arizona Rep. Eli Crane (R-CD2) drew national attention when he blurted out that his amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act "has nothing to do with whether or not colored people or Black people or anybody can serve, okay."
Rep. Joyce Beatty, who was handling the debate for the Democratic opposition, immediately called for the offensive term to be stricken from the record. Crane asked to amend it to "people of color", but Beatty refused and the words were removed from the record by unanimous consent.
The heated exchange came at the end of the 10-minute debate, and Crane was forceful - and occasionally, sarcastic - in arguing for his bill. He claimed that "what's divisive is that the military is becoming a political - a social - experiment, before saying he doesn't know how many Democrats served in the military.
Here is the actual text of the amendment, which the House approved later in the evening on a party-line vote. Given his remarks about "social experiment", the core purpose appears to be to prevent any training involving "diversity, equity, or inclusion".
More of Crane's comments: "The military was never intended to be inclusive. Its strength is not its diversity. Its strength is its standards."
--"Diversity can be a great thing, but it cannot be our focus. And I'm going to tell you guys this right now: you can keep playing around these games with diversity, equity and inclusion, but there are some real threats out there. And if we keep messing around and we keep lowering our standards, it's not going to be good."
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Friday, April 14, 2023
BREAKING: Gallego Raises $3.8M In 1st Quarter Of Senate Race, Easily Out-Raising Independent Sinema
Rep. Ruben Gallego raised $3.8M in the same period, after announcing that he would seek the Sinema-vacated Democratic nomination for next year's election. He now has $2.7M in the bank.
Gallego quickly stepped into the void and cranked up the national fundraising machine. His expenses were more than $2M, so he only added $1.4M to the cash on hand. However, the report does send a statement to both the incumbent and Republicans looking to enter the race.
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BREAKING: Sinema Sets New Fundraising PR - Rakes In More Than $2.1M In 1Q23, Including Money From New "No Labels" Party
Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema was a prodigious fundraiser as a Democrat. As an Independent, she has shattered her previous fundraising PR (personal record), raking in more than $2.1M in the first three months of 2023.
She also received a modest $10,000 in February from the No Labels PAC (the maximum they could give). They filed petition signatures to become a ballot-worthy political party on Arizona's 2024 ballot.
That $2.1M is approximately $500,000 more in total receipts than she collected in her previous record quarter (1Q22). Approximately $252,000 is from PACs, and the rest from individuals.
(To arrive at the PAC figures, we inspected both her primary committee and her joint fundraising committee reports.)
Amazingly, Rep. Ruben Gallego raised $3.8M in the same period, after announcing that he would seek the Sinema-vacated Democratic nomination for next year's election. He now has $2.7M in the bank.
We have not yet had a chance to dig into the 870+ pages of contributions and expenses. If anything jumps out at you, please feel free to call it to our attention, Paul . Weich . AZlaw @ gmail.com (no spaces).
Below is a snapshot of today's filing, a table of her previous fundraising numbers, and the principal committee report.
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Tuesday, February 28, 2023
NEW AND FIRST: AZ Senate Leaders Met About "Hostile Behavior" In Elections Committee Weeks Before Bribery Conspiracy Theory
Democratic and Republican leaders in the Arizona State Senate met to discuss the activities in the Senate Elections Committee, weeks before Thursday's "presentation" went off the rails in pushing a vast cartel-led bribery conspiracy theory.
Arizona's Politics/Arizona's Law has verified (from two different sources) the Feb. 6 meeting between Senate President Warren Petersen and Minority Leader Raquel Teran and ranking committee member Juan Mendez. Democrats say Thursday's day-long presentation to the House and Senate Elections Committees "of course violated what Democrats had hope would come of the meeting."
The Feb. 6 meeting was requested by the two Democratic Senators after Senate Elections Committee Chair Wendy Rogers had used two successive weekly meetings to host unsworn presentations pushing unproven allegations about the 2020 and 2022 elections. They indicate that Rogers also displayed "hostile behavior" in cutting off
Democratic members and forbidding them from speaking words like "conspiracy theory".
Democratic members and forbidding them from speaking words like "conspiracy theory".
Calli Jones, the Communications Director for the Democratic caucus in the Senate, tells Arizona's Politics that "the continued statements throwing Representative Harris under the bus are a weak attempt to shift the blame away from Republican leadership."
Arizona's Politics has asked Senate President Petersen for responses related to the February 6 meeting and the subsequent committee meetings/presentations. We will update this article as warranted.
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Thursday, February 9, 2023
NEW and FIRST: Hamadeh Supporter Sets Up Federal SuperPAC... To Support His Rearview Mirror AZ AG Campaign (READ Filing)
Abe Hamadeh lost his 2022 election for Arizona Attorney General, and the position is not up for election again until 2026. He is continuing to contest his super-close loss to Kris Mayes, with a Motion for a New Trial pending in Superior Court.
However, a new federal SuperPAC - along with a new website - will allow you to make unlimited contributions to support his quest.
The "Arizona's Bold Era PAC" (aka ABE PAC) filed with the U.S. Federal Election Commission late Tuesday night. Interestingly, no concurrent state filing seems to have been made.
ABE PAC is an independent expenditure effort, which means it cannot coordinate efforts with Hamadeh. The only name attached to it is the Virginia woman who filed the statement of organization, Maria Wojciechowski.
Wojciechowski is also the treasurer for the well-funded American Patriots PAC and an America First Oklahoma PAC. We have reached out to her to learn more, and will update as warranted.
The first finance report is not due to be filed until the end of July.
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Friday, January 27, 2023
TODAY: 2 of AZ's 3 Democratic Reps. Vote With GOP House To Prohibit U.S. Petroleum Reserves From Going To China(ARIZONA'S POLITICAL SHORTS)
1/27, 3:30pm: "2 of AZ's 3 Democratic Reps. Vote With GOP House To Prohibit U.S. Petroleum Reserves From Going To China"
Two of Arizona's 3 Democratic Congressman voted with the House GOP (and a majority of Democrats) to prohibit sales from the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve from benefitting China. The largely symbolic measure passed the House today, 331-97.
Reps. Ruben Gallego (D-CD3) and Greg Stanton (D-CD4) joined all Republicans and 95 other Democrats in voting "aye". Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-CD7) was the only Arizonan to vote "nay".
The language of the bill could fit on a postcard: "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Energy shall not draw down and sell petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve—
(1) to any entity that is under the ownership, control, or influence of the Chinese Communist Party; or
(2) except on the condition that such petroleum products will not be exported to the People’s Republic of China.
The issue arose last year when gas prices skyrocketed and the government sold off a portion of the reserves. The measure is largely symbolic because (a) it is not likely to pass the Senate and be signed into law by President Joe Biden, and (b) because even the sales from the reserve are part of a global petroleum market - the price per barrel paid by China would be the same if the reserve barrels were sold domestically or to China.
***
1/27, 3pm: "Lake and Senior Advisor Lose In RNC Chair Battle; Latter Makes News For Expletive-Filled Campaigning"
No word on the language former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake used in California today during the RNC meeting, but her senior advisor made some national news for it.
Lake and Caroline Wren were at the meeting trying to help Harmeet Dhillon push Ronna McDaniel out of the RNC Chair. According to Politico's reporting, Wren's efforts as top adviser seemed to focus on dropping f-bombs.
Wren had also been an advisor to former President Donald Trump and was a key fundraiser for the Jan. 6 efforts.
McDaniel retained the Chairmanship. Wren's streak continues.
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Wednesday, January 18, 2023
NEW: Former AZ Lawmaker's Charter Schools Secure New Muni Bond Issue, Bringing State-Blessed Debt Load To $89.5M (ARIZONA'S POLITICAL SHORTS)
(CORRECTION: This article has been re-written to reflect that Eddie Farnsworth is not a brother of current State Sen. David Farnsworth. Eddie's brother named David is the current Executive Director of the entity which purchased the Benjamin Franklin Charter Schools from Eddie. Arizona's Politics regrets any confusion resulting from the error.)
Congratulations to former State Senator and Charter School mogul Eddie Farnsworth. His new $19.5M Arizona IDA bond issue hit the market this past week, to benefit the Queen Creek campuses.
Farnsworth's brother, David (not related to the current State Senator David Farnsworth), is the Executive Director of the Benjamin Franklin Charter Schools. David represented BFCS at the Nov. 30 meeting when Arizona agreed to grant its blessing to make the loan (aka the bonds) tax-free to the lenders (the bondholders). Bond experts Moody’s notes that the charter schools will now have $89.5M in state sponsored bonds outstanding.
While with the Arizona Republic, Craig Harris* reported extensively on the former lawmaker's efforts to build a long-term money-making charter school operation.
* Get ready, Coronado (CA, and seasonal AZ refugees), Craig announced yesterday that The Coronado News will be starting up on Feb. 1. He'll be the editor. Congratulations to David AND Craig!
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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.
We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com or call 602-799-7025. Thanks.
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!
We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com or call 602-799-7025. Thanks.
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