Thursday, September 5, 2019

NEW: House Ethics Committee Notes It Is STILL Investigating Rep. Schweikert, $677,000 In Legal Fees So Far

Arizona Rep. David Schweikert is still actively being investigated by the House Ethics Committee. That is the reminder that came from the committee today, and a reminder that the legal fees incurred by Friends of David Schweikert is greater than $677,000.

The press release and report (revised, below) came because the 2nd referral to the Ethics Committee has now been open for one year. By rule, the report must be made public if the investigation has not been completed within that year.

Today's release comes nearly five months after a similar public release. However, that April action related to the first referral by the Office of Congressional Ethics. The second referral added four more counts to the first.

The new report also notes that the OCE Board - which includes former Arizona Congresswoman Karan English - unanimously voted to dismiss the allegation that "Rep. Schweikert may have improperly tied official activities to past or potential campaign or political support."

The counts that are still under investigation include allegations that the Congressman allowed his taxpayer-funded office budget to be spent improperly, pressured his Congressional staff to perform political activity, and omitted required information from his financial disclosure statements.

In the most recent campaign finance report, Schweikert's committee indicated that it incurred more than $94,000 in legal fees in the quarter ended June 30, 2019. (During that period, the Committee paid approximately $240,000 to three different law firms, although much of that was paying previously-billed monies.)

Schweikert's campaign was underwater on March 31, owing more than the cash it had in the bank. That is no longer the case, largely thanks to fundraising efforts by the Club for Growth and the House Freedom Caucus.

Rep. Schweikert's office has not yet responded to Arizona's Politics' request for comment.










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Wednesday, September 4, 2019

NEW: APS Sends $150,000 To Republican Governors In 2019, As Corporation Commissioners Also Look To Future

As APS prepares to handle questions from Arizona Corporation Commissioners today regarding its past - and, future - political spending, Arizona's Politics can report that APS has already contributed at least $150,000 this year to the Republican Governors Association.

The Corporation Commission meets with APS/Pinnacle West CEO Don Brandt this morning, and added the utility's political spending to the agenda late last week. As the AZ Mirror reported yesterday, at least two of the Commissioners are also looking toward the monopoly's future spending and not just the millions plowed into the 2012, 2014 and 2016 elections.

Bob Burns is one of the Commissioners who added the political spending to the agenda, and he told reporter Jeremy Duda that "“My focus is the commission. The past is gone. We need to know what’s going to happen in the future.”

It appears that APS is also looking to the future. In an RGA filing with the IRS one month ago, it was disclosed that Pinn West (APS' parent company) already donated $150,000 in 2019 (January 3). (Filing is posted below.) The RGA's primary objective is to elect Republican Governors, and it was a primary source of outside funding for Governor Doug Ducey's campaigns in 2014 and 2018. Arizona's Politics has long documented the APS contributions to the RGA; last year - an election year - APS sent $200,000 to the RGA.

With the Governor term-limited, the funds are likely intended to help the RGA bolster Ducey's popularity, with the added benefit of boosting the next GOP candidate in 2022. (APS/PinnWest does not donate to the Democratic counterweight, although it claims to support "broad political participation".)







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