NEW, TAKING BIPARTISANSHIP TO THE BANK: Sinema Chips In To Pay GOP Colleague's $490K Legal Fees For Pre-COVID Stock Selloff Investigation (ARIZONA'S POLITICAL SHORTS)

5:30pm: TAKING BIPARTISANSHIP TO THE BANK: Sinema Chips In To Pay GOP Colleague's $490K Legal Fees For Pre-COVID Stock Selloff Investigation

Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema sent $2,000 to the legal defense fund for one of her Republican colleagues earlier this year. Richard Burr was then part of the bipartisan group to push the hard infrastructure bill through the Senate.

The investigation into Burr's $2.3M of stock sales shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of the economy was closed by the US Department of Justice in mid-January. However, he had incurred $490,000 in legal bills and set up the legal defense fund (permitted under Senate rules).

Forbes' Zach Everson first reported on the Sinema contribution, in addition to the other 36 current and former lawmakers who picked up more than half ($280,000) of the attorneys' tab.

The other Democrats who chipped in were Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Mark Warner (D-VA) and Angus King (I-ME). (King caucuses with the Democrats and even matched his committee's contribution with $5,000 of his personal funds.)

Such across-the-aisle contributions are very rare. And indeed, the $2,000 contribution from Sinema's leadership PAC ("Getting Stuff Done PAC") is the only contribution the GSD-PAC has made to a Republican.

Sinema's leadership PAC currently has $335,000 in the bank, and her main campaign committee has $3.6M.

8/23, 11am: NEW: Sinema Digs In Hard On Fellow Dems' "Soft" Infrastructure Bill, Tries To De-Couple It From Her Bi-Partisan "Hard" Bill

Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema is digging in her heels on opposing the Democrats' two-track infrastructure plan.

After getting Senate approval for the bipartisan "hard" infrastructure bill that she helped negotiate, she is warning the House of Representatives that she is opposing the $3.5T "soft" infrastructure bill that President Biden and Democratic leadership saw as an inextricable companion measure.

Politico reported this morning on the warning shot from the 1st term Senator (who is not up for re-election until 2024):

The $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill “is a historic win for our nation’s everyday families and employers and, like every proposal, should be considered on its own merits,” said Sinema spokesperson John LaBombard. “Proceedings in the U.S. House will have no impact on Kyrsten’s views about what is best for our country - including the fact that she will not support a budget reconciliation bill that costs $3.5 trillion.”

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BREAKING: Maricopa County Supervisors Calls Meeting Tomorrow Afternoon To Discuss Election "Audit" Subpoenas; 20th Snap Meeting of the Year

UPDATE, 10pm: It is NOT just the subpoenas that are on tomorrow's executive session agenda. As it turns out, the Supervisors will ALSO get an update from the County Attorney's Office about the Attorney General's investigation of them regarding their subpoena responses. That investigation was prompted by Sen. Sonny Borrelli's referral.

The 3rd agenda item is to receive legal advice about the County's "authority and responsibility re: COVID-19", and "compliance with state laws and executive orders". The County Schools Superintendent is NOT listed as being part of this agenda item, as more school district governing boards have been considering whether or not to require the wearing of face masks.

Here is the full agenda:

 

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has called a snap meeting for 24 1/2 hours from now in order to discuss the current situation with the State Senate's election "audit" subpoenas. This is the 20th time this year that the GOP-dominated Board has held special or emergency meetings to discuss the ongoing post-election mess.

The Board has to call it an "emergency" meeting if they post it less than 24 hours before the starting time; there have been 11 such meetings this year.

Tomorrow's executive session is set for 3:00pm tomorrow, and notice went out at 2:40pm. The substantive agenda was not yet posted.

The County has provided some information responsive to the latest round of subpoenas sent out by Senate President Karen Fann and Judiciary Chair Warren Petersen. However, they have filed a number of objections to most of the demands for data.

Here are the both the subpoena and the County's response and objections to it.

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SUMMARY of the SIX Referenda Petitions Being Circulated By Two Different Groups

Longer version, with official summaries - and, links at the bottom:

Referendum definition – Arizona Is one of only 23 states where voters have the right to *refer* a law (after the Governor signs it) to the ballot. The law does not go into effect unless the VOTERS pass it. (It only goes to the ballot IF enough valid petition signatures are collected.)

Initiative definition – Arizona voters can collect enough valid signatures to place a proposed law onto the election ballot.

(The referendum petitions each need 118,823 valid signatures turned in before September 28, 2021. The initiatives need 237,645 valid sigs before July 8, 2022.)

1.      “PEVL Purge”, SB1485. Sponsor: Arizona Deserves Better

The best known of the passed/signed voting suppression bills, it turns “PEVL” into “Evil”.

Overview: "This petition seeks to refer SB1485 to the ballot for a vote. This bill substantially changes the Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL), now used by most Arizonans to vote. It renames the list and purges it periodically. Government notices would be sent to people based on their frequency of early voting. People who are mailed notices would be required to respond to stay on the list. If enough people sign this petition, the people of Arizona will be able to vote to prevent this bill from becoming law and keep the Permanent Early Voting List. "

 

Summary: SB1485 is trying to fix a non-existent problem.   The effect is to make it more difficult for citizens to participate in the election process… for no valid reason. For example, if a person is an infrequent voter (votes only  in presidential elections) and misses one presidential election, they can be taken off of early voting/PEVL. NOTE:  There are laws already in place to clean up the PEVL list of people who have moved (etc), and there is no “fraud problem” this law would fix.

 

2.      HB2569. Sponsor: Arizona Deserves Better

This referendum would allow counties to receive private grants to help with voter registration or early voting efforts. The Legislature does not always provide requested funding.

Overview: "This petition seeks to refer HB 2569 to the ballot for a vote. HB 2569 stops elections officials from receiving private grants to help them run elections or register voters, even if the Legislature provides inadequate funding for elections administration and voter registration. Election officials have used grant funds to purchase equipment used to provide timely and accurate election results. If enough people sign this petition, the voters will decide whether election officials should be allowed to accept private grants. "

 

Summary: In the last election cycle, grants were given to counties to support early voting. For example, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg gave grants supporting early voting efforts in Maricopa County (i.e. providing more drop box locations, etc.). The grant – with non-partisan conditions - was approved by the County Board. This new law would prevent grants being accepted in the future. The referendum’s purpose is to continue allowing grants to be accepted to fund early voting (etc) efforts in the future.

 

3.      SB1828 (Sxns 13, 15). Sponsor: Invest In Arizona

This is one of the three measures passed to try to un-do the Invest In Ed initiative passed by voters. It is the “flat tax” law.

Overview: "This petition seeks to refer sections 13 and 15 of 2021 Laws, Chapter 412 (SB 1828). Sections 13 and 15 together create new income tax brackets and rates that apply when state general fund revenue exceeds certain amounts."

 

Summary: This massive budget bill reduces state revenues by $1.9B/yr. It gives wealthiest Arizonans the biggest tax break by making flatter tax brackets. This referendum would prevent the legislature from circumventing the will of the people to fund our public education.

 

4.      SB1827 (Sxn 4). Sponsor: Invest In Arizona

This is the 2nd anti-Invest In Ed law pushed by Gov. Ducey. It cuts K-12 spending by $250M+/yr.

Overview: "This petition seeks to refer Section 4 of 2021 Laws, Chapter 411 (SB 1827). Section 4 creates a maximum combined individual income tax rate of 4.5%, inclusive of the regular income tax imposed by A.R.S. § 43-1011 and the 3.5% income tax surcharge imposed by A.R.S. § 43-1013 (which was approved by Arizona voters in 2020 as Proposition 208). If a taxpayer's total tax rate exceeds 4.5%, the regular income tax rate imposed by A.R.S. § 43-1011 would be automatically reduced to cap the taxpayer's total tax rate at 4.5%."

 

Summary: This budget bill would prevent our state from collecting money from the wealthiest Arizonians – to fund education. It would shrink the general fund by almost $500M/yr and cut K-12 spending by $250M+/yr. This referendum would prevent the legislature from circumventing the will of the people to fund our public education.

 

5.      Anti-voting omnibus bill. SB1819 (Sxns 4, 5, 21, 25, 33). Sponsor: Arizona Deserves Better

This picks out several of the worst election measures thrown into a budget bill. Many of these had failed to pass the Legislature earlier under regular procedures. Here’s a summary:

1a) Ordering Arizona Game & Fish Department to conduct voter registration efforts;

1b) allowing the Legislature to designate an individual or company to have access to voter registration databases and make sure that registrants who do not provide proof of citizenship can only vote for President and Congress;

2) calling for ballot paper to contain watermarks, bar codes and other *possible* anti-fraud measures;

3) spends $500,000 to investigate social media platforms and search engines to see whether they help some candidates and/or hurt others;

4) tasking the Auditor General to report on voter registration and outreach events attended by the Secretary of State and the Maricopa County and Pima County Recorders (item one also would require those elected officials to publicly report their event calendars);

5) removes Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ authority to defend court cases about elections, and gives it to Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich. (Really! It shifts back after they leave those offices!)

 

6.      “Small business” tax credit bill. SB1783. Sponsor: Invest In Arizona

This clever effort to un-do Invest In Ed redefines “small business” to include nearly every wealthy individual, and allows them to take a “small business tax credit” for the amount that would have gone to education funding.

Overview: "This petition seeks to refer 2021 Laws, Chapter 436 (SB 1783). The principal provisions of this bill would: (a) allow "small business taxpayer[s]," as defined in the bill, to elect to report certain forms of income as "small business income" and pay taxes on that income at rates set by the bill and (b) establish new income tax brackets and rates for trusts and estates."

Summary: This bill would stop more than $290M/year from K-12 education – one-third of the Invest In Ed funds.

 

7.      Initiative: Voters’ Right To Know. Sponsor: Stop Dark Money

Overview: "This Voters' Right to Know Act secures for Arizona voters the right to know who is trying to influence Arizona elections using paid, public communications. It eliminates dark money barricades. Any person spending over $50,000 on statewide campaigns or $25,000 on other campaigns must disclose the original sources (people or corporations who actually earned the money) of contributions over $5,000. They must also disclose their largest donors on campaign materials. The Act will also protect local policymakers' ability to require additional disclosures. The Citizens Clean Elections Commission, a non-partisan, voter-established body, will enforce this Act. Violations could incur substantial penalties."

 

8.      Initiative: Predatory Medical Debt Collection Protection Act. Sponsor: Healthcare Rising AZ

Overview: "Caps interest rate on "medical debt," as defined in the Act; applies this cap to judgements on medical debt as well as to medical debt incurred. Increases the value of assets -- a homestead, certain household possessions, a motor vehicle, funds in a single bank account, and disposable earnings -- protected from certain legal processes to collect debt. Annually adjusts these amended exemptions for inflation beginning 2024. Allows courts to further reduce the amount of disposable earnings subject to garnishment in some cases of extreme economic hardship. Does not affect existing contracts. Does not change existing law regarding secured debt."

 

--To read full texts of any of these laws or initiatives – as well as the others on file – use this link to an updated page of the Arizona Secretary of State’s site: https://bit.ly/AZInitsAndReferenda

--Sponsoring organizations: ArizonaDeservesBetter.com, InvestInAZNow.com, StopDarkMoney.com, HealthCareRisingAZ.org

-- Explanatory Articles: Election omnibus referendum: https://bit.ly/AZp1925; PEVL Purge referendum: https://bit.ly/AZp1921; Invest In Ed referenda: https://bit.ly/AZp1926, https://bit.ly/3wuSQH9

--Prepared by Marion and Paul Weich (Questions/suggestions 602-908-9132)

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WE HAVE LIFTOFF: Mark Kelly Simultaneously Upholds Senate's Tradition and Arizona's Tradition In 1st Floor Speech; Starts New Leadership PAC (WATCH/READ)

8/4, 3:00pm: WE HAVE LIFTOFF: Mark Kelly Simultaneously Upholds Senate's Tradition and Arizona's Tradition In 1st Floor Speech; Starts New Leadership PAC (WATCH/READ)

The U.S. Senate is a tradition-bound body, and Mark Kelly fulfilled the tradition of giving his "maiden" floor speech today. He also fulfilled an 8-year Arizona tradition, becoming the 4th consecutive Arizona Senator to use the speech to honor the late Senator John McCain.

Beginning in 2013 with Jeff Flake, Arizonans have seen two Republicans and two Democrats take to the floor. All have lavished praise on McCain, and the last three have bookended their speech with comments about trying to follow in his footsteps.

Kelly (D-AZ) went it one better, recognizing Cindy McCain in the gallery.

Sure, he also talked about his childhood, his courageous wife Gabby, the infrastructure bill and border security and immigration reform. But, McCain has become the embodiment of bipartisanship and independence that Kelly (and Flake, and Sinema, and McSally) wanted Arizonans to remember today.

"His legacy, it's something that cannot be matched, but it's what inspires me serving in the Senate seat, and it's his example of bipartisanship, or independence, that continues to demand more of us. So, I'm going to continue focusing on delivering results, on beating this virus, and reinventing our economy for the future so that hard-working Arizonans have every opportunity to succeed. Arizonans sent me here to have their backs, and that's what I intend to do. Thank you and I yield the floor."

Now that he's delivered the maiden speech, Kelly can now abide by another Senate tradition and be as long-winded as he wants to be.

Earlier this week, Kelly registered his new Leadership PAC with the Federal Election Commission. "Liftoff PAC" is, of course, a clever nod to his Space Shuttle captaining past. But, it will also give him another opportunity to not take money from corporate PACs, even though they are often the primary funders of such entities.

P.S. Just because he can now be seen and heard, it does not mean that he automatically gets all of the respect a U.S. Senator deserves. Here's how C-Span's closed captioning brought MARK Kelly back down to earth.

7/28, 4:40pm: BREAKING: Doug Ducey & Wendy Rogers(?!?) Operative Sets Up New Federal Campaign Committee, "Secure Arizona's Future"

A South Dakota political operative with longstanding Arizona ties boosting Doug Ducey's first gubernatorial run and Wendy Rogers' last Congressional campaign formed "Secure Arizona's Future" this week.

Joel Arends used a Phoenix mailbox and 602 Google Voice number to create the federal SuperPAC. 

Arizona's Politics first spoke with and wrote about him in 2014 when he used the dark money Veterans for a Strong America to start attacking Christine Jones when she was running in the Republican gubernatorial primary against Ducey. The notorious ads tried to link Jones to both Hillary Clinton and Benghazi.  We later learned that Arends' group received a total of $275,000 from Ducey-supporting Sean Noble's "dark money washing machine" in 2014, before VSA had its status revoked by the IRS. 

Arends popped up in the desert again in 2018, collecting almost $350,000 to spend supporting Wendy Rogers in a failed Congressional campaign against Rep. Tom O'Halleran (D-CD1). Arends was treasurer for "Defending Rural Arizona". Rogers is now an outspoken State Senator.

It is unclear whether Arends already has a candidate in mind for this committee - some political operatives set these up in case they land an Arizona-minded client. Ducey is term-limited from running for re-election, and Rogers has not given hints about making a fifth run for Congress.

The voice mailbox for Arends' law office in South Dakota is full, but Arizona's Politics was able to leave a message for Arends on his Arizona Google voice number. We will update this article as warranted.

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NEW INVESTIGATION: NAU Foundation Hides "Extraordinary" $5.5M Proposed Fine; Among Largest Penalties By Trump's FCC For Alleged Misuse of Educational Broadband Licenses

While the rest of the world was still buzzing about the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol, then-President Trump's FCC was hammering Arizona's NAU Foundation with one of the largest suggested fines in the country, $5.5M. Although they had done away with the requirement that licensees of the Educational Broadband Service ("EBS") spectrum use the frequencies for educational purposes, they approved $47M+ in proposed fines.

The NAU Foundation leadership would not say whether they have informed the Board of Directors of the potential mega-hit. And, Washington lobbyists hired to "interact" with Congress had no apparent impact.

For the rest of this investigative report, please head over to our sister site, "Arizona's Law".

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TEXTS DON'T LIE: Yes, Maricopa County, There IS Another Election THIS YEAR...For Most Of You (READ: list of local jurisdictions)

Most Maricopa County voters are on the PEVL*, and many signed up last year for text and email updates about their ballots. That means that A LOT of these observant voters were mystified yesterday when they received a notification from Maricopa County Elections saying their "ballot is being prepared. It will mail on 10-06-2021."

Arizona's Politics heard from about a dozen different people. (And, I was most mystified because I had not received such a text purporting to be from Maricopa County Elections. Until 8:52pm, that is.)

After late night messages to and from the county and Recorder Stephen Richer, and several conversations today, we were finally able to get the complete list of which cities/towns and school districts were going to be asking their residents to vote in this off-year election. Without mapping out the sometimes overlapping jurisdictions, it is safe to say that most of the county's voters will be getting a ballot in October.

Previously, the Recorder's website listed all of the voting jurisdictions. However, curious voters were unable yesterday to access that list. Here it is:

Thanks to Recorder Stephen Richer and Elections Department Communications Director Megan Gilbertson for helping get us the complete list.

And, even if you are not on the PEVL, keep an eye on your mailboxes in October, because this election will be by MAILED BALLOTS ONLY. 

*PEVL remains unchanged, for now. The Legislature/Governor's new law removing the permanent from the early voting list does not go into effect immediately. Opponents are circulating referendum petitions to put it to the ballot in 2022; if they obtain enough, it will not go into effect unless voters approve it in November 2022. (And, they *would* receive a ballot for that election if they are on the list.)

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BREAKING: County Supervisors To Hold Special Meeting Wednesday To Discuss Response To Senate's "Audit" Subpoena (READ Subpoena)

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting tomorrow to discuss their response to the latest election audit-related subpoena from some Republican Senators.

At the 9am executive session, the Republican-dominated Supervisors will get legal advice from the (Republican) County Attorney's Office on several related matters: (1) compliance with the subpoena (below), (2) election administration and equipment, (3) "election-related public records requests", and (4) "election-related litigation". The two currently-active lawsuits related to public records requests do not involve Maricopa County, so the last two topics would appear to be forward-looking and/or requests that are not yet in the public sphere.

The new subpoena issued yesterday repeats some of the demands made in the previous one. Maricopa County turned over ballots, machines, voter registration records and more then, and that led to the recount/"audit" which began in April. The County did not turn over some items then, and the Senate has not tried to enforce compliance.

The new subpoena, signed by Senate President Karen Fann and Judiciary Committee Chair Warren Peterson, demands compliance by next Monday (August 2).

Maricopa County Supervisors Agenda - 7-28-2021 by arizonaspolitics on Scribd

Senate Subpoena to Mari Cty 20210726154038182 by arizonaspolitics on Scribd

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NEW: Rep. Schweikert To Endorse Old Colleague Matt Salmon For Governor (ARIZONA'S POLITICAL SHORTS)

Arizona Rep. David Schweikert (R-CD6) is set to endorse Matt Salmon in the crowded GOP field for Governor. Politico notes that the two served in Congress together and have the Freedom Caucus in common. They also represented neighboring districts.

Salmon (and the other leading Republican contenders) spoke at the Trump Rally in Phoenix this past weekend. He followed reported frontrunner Kari Lake, repeatedly attacked the "fake news media" and "liberal elites", and passionately declared that "God is on our side".

Although 15 Republicans have filed Statements of Interest to run for the position being vacated by Doug Ducey, Salmon is among the five considered to be leaders for the nomination. (Secretary of State Katie Hobbs is considered the strong Democratic frontrunner, although there are other contenders.)

(For video, click here or on picture)

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