"Appearance of impropriety": a phase the AZ Supreme Court should take to heart

AZ government is routinely considered to be among the most corrupt in the U.S., at least among neutral observers.  And like a lot of political phenomena here, much of it is rooted in the legislature (I've seen too many bills that looked as if they were written by an industry lobbyist and given to a member to slap their name on as sponsor).

But that's OK, because the legislature writes the laws that say it is.

From Illinois State University's Institute for Corruption Studies

The thing is, it's not just legislators; their contempt for civil society and standards of behavior for (putative) public servants suffuses other branches of government.

From AZCentral, written by Richard Ruelas and Ray Stern, dated 10/12 - 

A state Supreme Court Justice and former Phoenix councilman had great seats at DBacks game. Who paid for them?

Fans of both the Arizona Diamondbacks and Arizona public officials wanted to know: Was that really state Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick and former Phoenix Councilman Sal DiCiccio with the great seats behind home plate for Wednesday's epic game?

Indeed it was, as Bolick and DiCiccio confirmed. Which brings up another question: Who paid for the Bolicks' seats, which are among the most expensive at Chase Field?

The tickets may be bad enough, but hanging with someone like DiCiccio?

*Not* a good look for justices on the AZ Supreme Court.

Dear USPS: Got your next wall photos for ya

 I was going to title this with a "Dear USDOJ..." title, but it was too long.

As in "Dear USDOJ: A bunch of crazy people, insurrectionists, insurrectionist-enablers, and wannabes met in a rather infamous town...and bragged about it."

I don't know if it quite falls into the category of the 1957 Apalachin gathering of the Mob (as far as I know, no arrests happened today), but it seems to qualify as the modern equivalent.

Ginni Thomas: albatross

And not just around Clarence Thomas' neck.

From CNN -

Ginni Thomas pressed Arizona state lawmakers to upend Biden's win by choosing Trump electors instead

Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pressed two Arizona state lawmakers after the 2020 presidential election to upend Joe Biden's popular vote win in that state by ensuring "a clean slate of electors" was chosen, according to emails released Friday.

The emails -- which started with what appear to be pre-generated form letters from conservative activist Ginni Thomas to Arizona state representatives Russell Bowers and Shawnna Bolick -- show that she encouraged both lawmakers to "fight back against fraud" and exercise what she characterized as their constitutional authority to unilaterally choose the electors rather than accepting those based on popular vote results.

The article *did* raise a couple of questions (aside from the obvious one of why is Clarence Thomas still a member of the Supreme Court when his wife is a traitor) -

1.  Why didn't the article mention the fact that Rep. Russell Bowers is, in fact, Rusty Bowers, and is Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives?

2.  Why didn't the article mention the fact that Rep. Shawnna Bolick is, in fact, married to Clint Bolick, a member of the Arizona Supreme Court, and is also a candidate for the Republican nomination for Arizona Secretary of State, the person who oversees Arizona's elections?

3.  Pardon my cynicism, but I have a sneaking suspicion the Senate president Karen Fann has a similar email from Ginni Thomas.  Of course, Fann has email issues of her own.

The blind leading the blind?

Example 1:

Example 2:

Two are members of Congress; two are members of the Arizona legislature who are running for Arizona Secretary of State.