This could get *fun* in a hurry: Southern AZ Republicans possibly involved with a prostitution ring

One of the main reasons that I don't subscribe the Cap Times is that it so rarely breaks a story that a) is interesting, and b) isn't already known by folks who pay attention to the antics of AZ's political class.

However, once in a long while...

From the Arizona Capitol Times, written by Hank Stephenson -

If you’re a well-known Republican from south of the Gila River, there’s a good chance your name is listed in police documents alongside hundreds of “Johns” suspected of frequenting a Tucson prostitution ring.

The rest of the story is behind their subscriber paywall, so I don't know with certainty if names are named, but given that this story was posted on Friday morning and the AZ political world hasn't exploded, yet, I'm guessing no names have been published.

Emphasis on "yet".

Stay tuned on this one.

Steve Yarbrough: man of many professional hats...

...Attorney, state senator, executive director,...and siphoner?

Whether it is taking money from public education, or taking money from the front organization set up to facilitate the taking of money from public ed, there's a loud sucking sound wherever the influential state senator is around...

Every year or two, somebody in the MSM takes notice of something that lege watchers have pointed out for more than a decade - the windfall reaped by State Sen. Steve Yarbrough (R-LD17) from his scheme to siphon money from public education into private pockets by virtue of a "school tuition tax credit".

The way that the tax credit works is that taxpayers with money donate money to a school tuition organization that awards "scholarships" to pay for students to attend private schools.

"Scholarships" is in quotes because the recipients are frequently the children of donors.

The most recent MSMer to weigh in on this particular scheme: Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic.

From her column -

It was pitched as a small tax-credit program to help poor and disabled students attend private school.

Eighteen years later, $140 million is now being diverted from the state treasury, most of it to pay private-school tuition for non-poor, non-disabled students.

{snip}

Yarbrough's the guy behind most of the bills to expand Arizona's tax credits for private-school tuition. He's also the executive director of one of the state's largest- school-tuition organizations – non-profits that collect tax-credit donations then dole them out as private-school tuition scholarships.

{snip}

By law, STOs get to keep 10 percent of what they raise in tax-credit donations. This, to administer the program.

In 2013-14, Yarbrough's Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization collected roughly $17 million in tax-credit donations. That's a sweet $1.7 million for overhead.

Of that, Yarbrough collected nearly $146,000 in compensation, according to his latest IRS filing.

Roberts has a follow-up column here.

This is far from the first time Yarbrough's been in the spotlight.  Approximately six years ago, when the East Valley Tribune still had a print edition, a team of reporters there did an in-depth examination of the entire school tuition tax credit program called Rigged Privilege.

Yarbrough has been involved with ACSTO for more than a decade, apparently since its inception, as an organizational officer and executive director.

No matter what his official title (he's been ACSTO's vice president, secretary, or treasurer, or various combinations of those), his base compensation has remained in the range of $96K - $106K per year.  He also receives "other compensation" that has varied from ~$5K to ~$45K.

What *has* grown significantly as time has gone on is ACSTO's "processing" costs.

From 2001 to 2004, the organization did not list any processing expenses on its annual Form 990 filings with the IRS..

In 2005, Yarbrough became the organization's Executive Director.  Processing expenses were listed as $24,440.

In late 2005, he, his wife, their business partner, and his wife formed the company HY Processing.

In 2006, ACSTO reported paying HY $363,320 for processing donations and scholarships.

In case you think I'm being selective, reports for subsequent years show payments of $426,895, $482,945, $406,875, $392,110, $426,655, $560,710, and figure not disclosed, all to HY.

That's over $3 million paid to his own company that is easily documented. If the undisclosed figure is even just an average of the previous six years, that would put the total near $3.5 million.

And that doesn't even include the organization's rent payments to its landlord.

Who is, you guessed it, Steve Yarbrough.


Maybe they should consider changing the organization's name to "ACSTL" -

Arizona Christian School Tuition Laundry.

Ducey pays off a critic, begging the question: Is there a "hush money" line item in the state budget?

From the Arizona Republic, written by Mary Jo Pitzl and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez -

Arizona Board of Regents Chairman Mark Killian, an outspoken critic of the state budget backed by Gov. Doug Ducey and the Legislature, is now a Ducey Cabinet member.

Ducey announced Friday that Killian is being installed as his Department of Agriculture director, and noting that he "brings decades of unique public service and private sector experience, and his extensive and successful background in farming and ranching will be hugely valuable in this role. He's a welcome addition to this department and our administration."

 Per Ballotpedia, the director position pays better than $102K per year.

Guess that I never have to worry about the Ducey administration offering me a job - I may be soft-spoken, but biting my tongue is not in my job skill repertoire.

KPHO expose: AZ Lege and ALEC - $ = access

Alternate title: "Chutzpah, thy name is Republican legislator"

Once in a while, some of the denizens of AZ's chapter of the MSM do some actual good work.

In this case, Morgan Loew of KPHO (Channel 5) took a camera to the Arizona recruiting dinner of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

ALEC is a notably shady organization that serves as a front for lobbyists looking to influence (mostly) Republican legislators.  In many states, Republican legislators have pushed or are pushing ALEC- (and industry-) written measures that benefit Big Business, such as bills expanding private prisons, reducing anti-pollution laws, and creating industry-friendly (and human-unfriendly) Stand Your Ground laws.

The video of the KPHO's story -

CBS 5 - KPHO

Some of the legislators who attended the closed-to-the-public meeting (Republicans, one and all):

Representatives -
Debbie Lesko
Eddie Farnsworth
John Kavanagh
Carl Seel
Brenda Barton
Bob Thorpe
David Livingston
J.D. Mesnard
Justin Olson
Michelle Ugenti
T.J. Shope
Adam Kwasman
Jeff Dial

Senators -
Senate President Andy Biggs
Nancy Barto
Chester Crandell
Don Shooter


Rep. Lesko is ALEC's chair in AZ, and she was quoted as saying that ALEC is "a great organization".

It would have been more believable if the late John Gotti had defended the Gambino crime family as a "benevolent neighborhood improvement association".

Sen. Shooter spotted the camera near the end of the event, and he demanded that it be shut off.

Guess he had a problem with being seen as dirty.

But not with being dirty.


Anyway, have to give credit where credit is due (even if it is of the backhanded variety).  They weren't really trying to hide their interest in the event.

From the lege's events calendar on its website -

 



For the record, if a Democrat had attended the meeting, I would have called him/her out on it - corruption is corruption.

Appointments to Arizona state commissions and boards - low profile but hardly harmless

Now that most legislative committee work is over for this session of the Arizona legislature, it's time for "old home week".

Also known as "executive branch confirmation hearings".

Actually, it's going to last a few weeks, but you get the point.

Many of the people who have been appointed to one or another commission are former electeds or are well-connected to current electeds.

Just this coming week, various Senate committees will consider the nominations of:

Claude Mattox, Citizens Transportation Oversight Committee, a former member of the Phoenix City Council (Senate Transportation, Monday, 1 p.m., SHR3)

Russ Jones, Arizona Power Authority, a former state representative (Senate Government and Environment, Monday, 2 p.m., SHR3)

Gayle Burns, Arizona Early Childhood Development and Health Board, wife of Bob Burns, former president of the Arizona State Senate (Senate Health and Human Services, Wednesday, 2 p.m., SHR1).

The thing is, this stuff is "normal", at least in a "it's not what you know, it's who you know" sort of way.

Once in a while though, there comes once such appointment that makes people go "Hmmmm....".

Such as...

Warde Nichols, Governor's Regulatory Review Council (GRRC), a former state representative (Government and Environment).

There's a bit of "synergy" with this appointment - the GRRC is empowered to block any new agency rules that it deems unfit, and Nichols is a principal of a lobbying firm that focuses on helping businesses avoid or otherwise deal with government rules.

Sen. Rick Murphy challenging Sen. Steve Yarbrough for the gold medal in the "Brazen Chutzpah" competition

By now, everyone in the lege-watcher universe knows about Sen. Steve Yarbrough and his penchant for pushing self-enriching tuition tax credit measures in the lege, measures that add to his personal wealth.

And even though his activities have been public knowledge for years now, every year, Yarbrough pushes more self-serving measures through the lege.

Why shouldn't he?  Other than the news stories, he hasn't faced any pushback for his actions - he keeps getting reelected and this state's prosecutors won't touch him.

Now, one of his Senate colleagues, Rick Murphy, has apparently taken the lesson from Yarbrough's situation to heart - go ahead and use the lege as a conduit for self-serving agendas.

Last summer, Murphy was caught up in a scandal when there were allegations the he abused some of the children placed in his care as a foster parent.

After an investigation by Peoria PD and CPS found insufficient evidence to support criminal charges, the matter was dropped.

Well, the police and CPS dropped the matter, but Murphy most assuredly has not.

Apparently, Murphy is still pissed off to no end that they dared to investigate him.

So he has proposed a series of bills to "remedy" the situation.

- SB1405, holding a public employee personally liable for any damages that someone else may suffer as a result of the employee's actions, even those conducted in the normal course of the employee's duties, if the actions were "grossly negligent", "malicious", or show a "reckless disregard of damages that could occur".

On the agenda for the Senate Government and Environment meeting on Monday.

- SB1406, reducing the admissibility of police reports is domestic violence-related court proceedings.

On the agenda for the Senate Public Safety meeting on Wednesday.

- SB1407, affecting the grounds under which a parent-child relationship may be terminated.

On the agenda for the Senate Health and Human Services meeting on Wednesday.

- SB1410, requiring the police to arrest any party involved in a domestic violence dispute if there is evidence that the party engaged in any sort of act that could be construed as domestic violence (i.e. - if a man assaults his girlfriend and the girlfriend tries to push him away, both would be subject to arrest).  Also contains a clause that would expand the definition of "domestic violence" to include if someone "knowingly making a false statement to a government entity against another person".

On the agenda for the Senate Public Safety meeting on Wednesday.

- SB1411, a rather punitive proposal making life even more difficult for people seeking orders of protection, including raising the burden of proof required for the issuance of such orders.

On the agenda for the Senate Public Safety meeting on Wednesday.


The bills, as proposed by Murphy, would forestall investigation of all but the most brazen domestic violence and child abuse cases.

And given the current CPS scandal involving allegations of child abuse that went uninvestigated, Murphy's move to hamstring such investigations in order to protect himself from future investigations qualifies him as more brazen than Yarbrough.


Note: OK.  Upon examination of the bills that Murphy has proposed, I think the statement "Apparently, Murphy is still pissed off to no end that they dared to investigate him" should be amended.

By dropping "Apparently". 

Huppenthal betrays Arizona's children and his constituents

John Huppenthal is Arizona's Superintendent of Public Instruction.

He seems to have a bit of a problem with the "Public" part, however.

From the Arizona Republic -

GOP solution to CPS scandal: Help abused children in AZ by undermining the education and health of all children in AZ

In the classic novel 1984, George Orwell coined a term, "doublethink", meaning the acceptance of two contradictory ideas at the same time.

It seems that the GOPer caucus of the lege has made doublethink a linchpin of their ideological platform tactical planning.

From Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services, via the Arizona Daily Star -

A veteran state lawmaker wants voters to siphon cash away from a program for early-childhood development and redirect it to help fund services for foster children and the families that care for them.

Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said it’s clear that additional money is needed to ensure laws against child abuse and neglect are being enforced.

Child Protective Services has been running a backlog of 10,000 cases listed as inactive, meaning there has been no action on them in at least two months. And that is on top of the more than 6,500 complaints that were recently discovered to have been entirely ignored and now are finally being investigated.

All that, Kavanagh said, will have to come from general tax revenues.

But he said there is other money potentially available for foster-care families: revenues from an 80-cent-a-pack tax on cigarettes that voters approved in 2006. He said some of the funds from First Things First, which now finance everything from pre-kindergarten programs to subsidized child care, might be better spent on families with more immediate needs.

First Things First is an early childhood health and education project implemented by the voters in 2006 when it became obvious that the Arizona Legislature, as a group, is more intent on sacrificing Arizona's children on the altar of GOP ideology/corporate greed than it doing its job - working for the benefit of all of Arizona.

First Things First, being created by a ballot question approved by the state's voters, is subject to the Voter Protection clause of the Arizona Constitution and can only be changed or ended by another ballot question.

The Republicans in the legislature have been attacking First Things First since its inception.  In 2010, they put a question on the ballot to end it and grab the money for its own purposes.

That question failed miserably, even in what turned out to be a massive R wave year.

Apparently, this year they're going to try the "We're going to help the children by hurting the children.  It's for the kids.  Trust us.  Really, just trust us" gambit.


Truly, if the majority in the lege has its way, those children in Arizona who are fortunate enough to reach adulthood (or, at least, old enough to be tried as adults), will make fine fodder for the ever-well -funded private prison industry.

I wonder what motivate$ their anti-children and pro-pri$on policie$?  Hmmm...

State appeals court blocks higher campaign contribution limits

...At least until the inevitable appeal by the Republican political leadership...

In a curiously-worded ruling, the Arizona Court of Appeals blocked the hugely increased campaign contribution limits passed by the legislature in HB2593.

At least, they're blocked for state-level candidates.

Under the provisions of HB2593, limits on individual contributions to a political candidate were raised from $450 (local and county races), $440 (legislative races), and $912 (statewide races) to $5000, and aggregate limits, the total that an individual may give to candidates and political committees that give to candidates went from $6390 to no limit.

The ruling from the Court is more than 30 pages long, but the "money" line (so to speak :) ) is the last one -

For the foregoing reasons, we vacate the superior court’s order denying preliminary injunctive relief in its entirety, remand to the superior court for it to reconsider Petitioners’ request for declaratory and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, and, pending its decision on remand, direct the superior court to maintain the preliminary injunction currently in effect enjoining the Secretary from enforcing or implementing the provisions of House Bill 2593 applicable to non-participating candidates for statewide and legislative office. 

I'm not a lawyer, so obtain the counsel of an actual attorney before accepting or giving campaign contributions, but that phrasing seems to set the campaign finance limits for state-level candidates to the previously-established lower numbers ($440 and $912 for legislative and statewide candidates, respectively) while leaving in place the looser limits, and non-limits, for local- and county-level candidates.

The Arizona Secretary of State's website already reflects this development -

This isn't over - an appeal by AZSOS Ken Bennett, AZ Senate President Andy Biggs, and AZ House Speaker Andy Tobin, the Rs fronting the higher limits, is likely.  Assuming they go for it, the next stop is the Arizona Supreme Court.

Stay tuned...

Mary Jo Pitzl of the Arizona Republic has coverage here.

Inquiring minds want to know: Is Republican candidate for SOS Wil Cardon encouraging petition fraud?

As in most states, in Arizona the chief elections office is the Secretary of State.

The two Republican candidates (so far) are State Sen. Michele Reagan and businessman (and 2012 candidate for US Senate) Wil Cardon.

Both candidates look to be running on campaign platforms that seem "counterintuitive" for candidates who are asking voters to put them in charge of the state's elections.

Reagan was the public face of most of the voter suppression provisions in HB2305, a bill so onerous in its design and planned implementation that a multipartisan (and nonpartisan) coalition of activists were able to gather enough signatures to refer the measure to next year's ballot.

Note: she wasn't the final sponsor of HB2305.  She tried to push most of the provisions through as individual bills.  However, her bills failed so most of the provisions were crammed into HB2305 and the package was railroaded through the legislature in one bill.

With Reagan staking out the "voter suppression" campaign turf, that apparently leaves Cardon with limited options, and he seems to be grabbing the "fraud" ground.

From his campaign's FB page -

Questioning my own eyes, I enlarged the picture -

Now, I could be wrong, and feel free to correct me if I am, but I think that the person signing Cardon's petition above is just a shade too young to do so.

Legally, anyway.

Investigative journalism: Republican AG candidate Mark Brnovich and his ties to private prison corporation CCA

While the current Arizona Attorney General, Republican Tom Horne, has proven to be such an embarrassment to the "powers that be" in the AZGOP have allowed at least one of their water carriers to mount a primary challenge to him.

Mark Brnovich, director of Arizona's Department of Gaming and a long-time Republican apparatchik, has announced that he is running for the office.

To the best of my knowledge, he didn't give his girlfriends taxpayer-funded jobs, commit hit-and-run accidents, violate campaign finance laws, or has been permanently banned from securities trading by the SEC.

However, he does seem to have a very questionable association in his closet, one that a state's top law enforcement officer wannabe is going to have trouble explaining away.

From an in-depth article published by the Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch, written by Beau Hodai -

A former Corrections Corporation of America “senior director of business development” and lobbyist is planning to run for the office of Arizona's top law enforcement officer, Attorney General.

On September 3, Arizona Department of Gaming Director Mark Brnovich sent a letter to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, declaring his intention to resign his post, effective September 20. Although Brnovich has yet to file any formal campaign/committee registration documents with the Office of the Arizona Secretary of State Division of Elections, the Capitol Times reported on September 4, that Brnovich had reserved the website address, "mark4ag.com," on August 23.

{snip}

According to statements of financial disclosure filed with the Office of the Arizona Secretary of State Division of Elections by Brnovich’s wife, former Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner and current Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Susan Brnovich, Mark Brnovich served as a “senior director of business development” for CCA during the course of 2005, 2006 and 2007. CCA was not Brnovich's sole source of employment during at least part of this time. He also worked as a federal prosecutor while working for or on behalf of CCA during part of this time, according to the financial disclosure forms of his wife.

Statements of financial disclosure filed by Susan Brnovich, per her employment with the courts, are only available with the Office of the Arizona Secretary of State Division of Elections dating back to 2005. There are no publicly-available records of Mark Brnovich's financial interests or employment prior to this point.

Biographical data submitted to the Arizona Legislature pursuant to Mark Brnovich's March 31, 2009, appointment as the director of the Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG) states that Mark Brnovich began his employment with CCA in 2005. Similarly, lobbyist records maintained by the Office of the Utah Lieutenant Governor show that Mark Brnovich was a registered lobbyist for CCA in that state during 2005 and 2006. (Utah lobby reports filed for Brnovich during 2006 and 2007 pertain to Brnovich lobby activity on behalf of CCA during 2005 and 2006).

The entire article is well-researched, well-sourced, well written and well worth a read.

Especially as the 2014 election season ramps up...

AG Tom Horne and AZ state government: Do as we say, not as we do

But at least they're consistent about it - no matter what their angle of attack, they are always looking to protect well-connected and deep-pocketed corporate interests to the detriment of public interests.

Last week, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne (R-Disbarment waiting to happen) joined a group of red state AGs in a lawsuit against the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Among other things, they are demanding that the EPA release some emails and other documents to them.

From the Chicago Sun-Times, written by Tim Talley (emphasis added) -

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and the attorneys general of 11 other states sued the Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday demanding that the agency turn over documents the states allege will show a pattern of cooperation and collaboration with environmental organizations.

{snip}

The states’ lawsuit seeks to enforce federal Freedom of Information Act guidelines involving the states’ request for letters, emails and any other correspondence between the EPA and environmental organizations before they sue the agency. The attorney generals want to analyze the documents to determine the nature of EPA’s legal strategy concerning environmental groups.

In one instance, the lawsuit says the states made a FOIA request to EPA in February seeking records about the agency’s negotiations with environmental groups that led to binding consent decrees concerning state implementation plans for the EPA’s regional haze guidelines under the Clean Air Act.

Horne has even taken to bragging about it on the AZAG's official Twitter account -

 Sounds, well, not "good" (at least, not if you like breathing), but at least "straightforward".

Straightforward, that is, until you hear about the story broken by John Dougherty of InvestigativeMEDIA (emphasis added).

From the story - 

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is refusing to release more than a dozen emails with the governor’s office concerning the issuance of the air pollution permit for the proposed Rosemont copper mine.

Most of the withheld emails are between Kevin Kinsall, Gov. Jan Brewer’s policy advisor for natural resources, and Eric Massey, director of the ADEQ’s Air Quality Division. Kinsall and Massey exchanged a dozen emails between last Aug. 1- 8, 2012, during a crucial period when the state took control of Rosemont’s air pollution permit from Pima County.

The ADEQ announced last Aug. 3 that it was asserting authority over the review and issuance of Rosemont Copper Company’s application for the pollution permit for its massive open pit copper mine planned for the Santa Rita Mountains southeast of Tucson. ADEQ stated it was assuming oversight of the permit to “ensure regulatory certainty and enhanced environmental protection.”

So, let me get this straight -

Tom Horne is suing the federal EPA to force the release of emails and other records while (apparently) turning a blind eye to the state's version of the EPA and its non-release of emails and other documents?

How long will it take for this to become the symbol of the Arizona Attorney General's Office?

Pic courtesy http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Two-Face

Dear US House freshmen: Doing bad works for good reasons is still doing bad works.

I don't expect to be in complete agreement on every issue with the elected officials who represent me, even those who I support, but I do expect my elected representatives to perform their duties in a completely ethical manner.

*Especially* those I support.

There were a number of Democrats in this year's freshman class in the US House of Representatives, including Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona's 9th Congressional District.

Those freshman members who were deemed to be most vulnerable in 2014, including Sinema, were given seats on the House Financial Services Committee to give them access to the deep-pocketed lobbyists for the financial services industry.

As such, most of them are doing very well with their campaign fundraising efforts.

Well, DC is a "quid pro quo" kind of place, and it's time for the freshmen to give a little "quo" for all of the "quid" that they've been getting.

From the New York Times, written by Eric Lipton and Ben Protess -

Bank lobbyists are not leaving it to lawmakers to draft legislation that softens financial regulations. Instead, the lobbyists are helping to write it themselves.

One bill that sailed through the House Financial Services Committee this month — over the objections of the Treasury Department — was essentially Citigroup’s, according to e-mails reviewed by The New York Times. The bill would exempt broad swathes of trades from new regulation.

{snip}

...But most of the Democrats on the committee, along with 31 Republicans, came to the industry’s defense, including the seven freshmen Democrats — most of whom have started to receive donations this year from political action committees of Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and other financial institutions, records show.

Six days after the vote, several freshmen Democrats were in New York to meet with bank executives, a tour organized by Representative Joe Crowley, who helps lead the House Democrats’ fund-raising committee. The trip was planned before the votes, and was not a fund-raiser, but it gave the lawmakers a chance to meet with Wall Street’s elite.

In addition to a tour of Goldman’s Lower Manhattan headquarters, and a meeting with Lloyd C. Blankfein, the bank’s chief executive, the lawmakers went to JPMorgan’s Park Avenue office. There, they chatted with Jamie Dimon, the bank’s chief, about Dodd-Frank and immigration reform.

I understand the desire of elected officials to win re-election and am fully cognizant of the fact that any Republican running against her is likely to be far worse.

Having said that however, each of the seven Democratic freshmen on the committee (and, for that matter, all of the Democratic members of the committee) got where they are in large part because of a massive amount of grassroots support.

Those grassroots supporters didn't stuff thousands of envelopes, make thousands of phone calls and canvass thousands of miles of neighborhoods only to see their candidates turn into ethical reincarnations of JD Hayworth.

Yes, re-electing Congresswoman Sinema and the rest of the freshman Democrats would be a "good" thing, but actively aiding and abetting the banksters in return for generous campaign contributions is most definitely "bad" and just may help the Republicans in the long run.

Most everybody expects Republican electeds to be at least a little dirty, even their supporters - they hold public service and public servants themselves as utterly contemptible, and use that attitude to rationalize contemptible behavior of their own* - but Democrats tend to be seen as the "good guys" (no, not all perfect, and certainly not all "guys").  As such, they are held to a slightly higher standard.  That's why John Ensign (R) got to resign with his pension intact and Rod Blagojevich (D) got to go to prison.

In short, an elected Democrat who is perceived to be as ethical as an elected Republican is well on the way to becoming an unelected Democrat.


For the record, while I absolutely deplore corruption on the part of public officials regardless of partisan affiliation, I think that the most annoying part of this behavior is that it gives credibility to the "they're all dirty" crowd, those whose political thoughts and knowledge can comfortably fit on a bumper sticker.


* - I am not the first to make this observation.  The late, great, Molly Ivins once made almost the same observation about the presidential administration of George H.W. Bush, and things have only become worse since.

Ken Bennett: The man who would be governor already on the Koch brothers' payroll

Turns out that AZ Secretary of State Ken Bennett, a likely candidate for governor in 2014, is already "supplementing" his income like someone who is ready for the 9th floor.

...For the record, to the best of my knowledge, everything Bennett is doing is allowed under Arizona law.

...For the record2, everything Bennett is doing is definitive evidence supporting the idea that the last people who should be allowed to write or enforce ethics laws covering public officials are the public officials themselves.  That's kind of like trusting the Mob with the writing and enforcement of racketeering laws.

From AZFamily.com (Phoenix channel 3), written by Dennis Welch (emphasis added) -

He's the state's top election official, but Secretary of State Ken Bennett is on the payroll of a political activist who spent millions of dollars last year trying to influence campaigns throughout the country.

Since taking office in 2009, Bennett has been paid tens of thousands of dollars by Richard Stephenson, a wealthy businessman and a key player for the political group, FreedomWorks.

Bennett, who had worked for his family owned oil business in the past, draws a monthly $2,000 salary for his work as a board member for the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, a for-profit company Stephenson started in the 1980s.

FreedomWorks is closely tied to the Koch brothers.  FreedomWorks is the result of a merger of two right wing groups, one of which was founded by the Kochs.

Bennett isn't the first candidate for governor paid off by the Kochs and/or their allies - witness Scott Walker (R-WI),  John Kasich (R-OH), Rick Snyder (R-MI) and Rick Scott (R-FL).

Bennett disclosed the directorship on his most recent financial disclosure forms (for years 2010, 2011, and 2012) without disclosing the amount of his compensation.  Which isn't required under the ethics laws that cover the behavior of elected officials in Arizona.

Additionally, on his 2012 form, he disclosed a gift from Stephenson that was greater than $500.  Which is as specific as he was required to be under the ethics laws that cover the behavior of elected officials in Arizona.

Which begs the question -

Why do we have ethics laws for public officials when they are watered down to the point of ineffectiveness by public officials?


Anyway, this may go a long way toward helping Bennett secure the Republican nomination for governor next year - he's now shown that he can be bought, and that his benefactors have even deeper pockets than Chuck Coughlin, the current governor's "benefactor".

Update on 5/8:  Regular reader Thane added a comment suggesting that I add the word "ally" to the title of this post.  I won't do that, but I will acknowledge the possibility of what I think Thane is trying to point out.  

Stephenson, who is clearly a Koch ally, may be trying to form his own herd of pet governors to supplement the herd of Koch bought-and-paid-for governors.

Either way, Bennett (and the others) are clearly on the payroll of people who place their personal interests before those of the interests of the people of the United States.

Which isn't a big deal, except that Bennett (and the others) all took oaths of office, picking up the burden of public trust.

Glad-handing, self-dealing, hypocrisy, and more: The Goldwater Institute unmasked

Arizona Working Families and The Center For Media and Democracy have just released the results of a joint investigation into the activities of the Goldwater Institute.

Many local observers think of GI as a deep-pocketed corporate lobbying group pretending to be a non-profit "think tank" dedicated to protecting the interests  and "liberty" of Americans.

Turns out that many observers think correctly.

Among the findings of the investigation:

- GI took nearly $2 million of organization funds and loaned it to the company of one of its directors (a little eyebrow-raising at for-profit organizations,  treads perilously close to stepping over the line into legally actionable at non-profits) 

- GI purports to be non-ideological, but hides the name and nature of its donors.  However, many of those donors have to report their expenditures.  And many right-wing corporate front groups report giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to GI.

- GI, always claiming to act the interest of "protecting liberty" has no problem with taking liberties with and promoting corruption on, the taxpayers' dime.  After winning a lawsuit to overturn part of Arizona's Clean Elections law, making it easier for their donors to buy elections again, GI billed the state's taxpayers for the time and effort that it took to screw over the people of AZ.  GI received approximately $1 million in public money for their activities, and promptly paid their already highly-paid employees tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses.


The report also spends a lot of space highlighting and explaining GI's close ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, the shadowy group that works to bring corporate lobbyists together with state legislators, all for fun and profit (the corporations', not the states').

The report isn't terribly long (a little less than 40 pages) but it is a must read for anyone who cares about how laws are actually made in Arizona, and what has truly been behind some of the looniest of the loony measures in the AZ legislature.