Tom Horne: Something reeks

And I'm not talking about his personal hygiene.

From KPNX, written by Joe Dana

She ran Phoenix’s largest special needs clinic. Now she’s criminally indicted.

A high-profile Phoenix business owner who once ran the state’s largest children’s special needs therapy clinic is charged with stealing nearly $3 million in COVID small business relief funds.

A grand jury indicted Bridget O’Brien in August of 2023 on 17 counts of fraud and theft, though 12News just learned of the charges this week. O’Brien has pleaded not guilty and is due for a status conference in court next month.

[snip]

An attorney representing a civil plaintiff accused O’Brien of lying to a judge about having Cancer. Though O’Brien never showed actual medical proof of cancer treatment, a bankruptcy judge who oversaw the case ruled in O’Brien’s favor. In that case, O’Brien’s attorney was former Attorney General Tom Horne. Horne is now the state superintendent. He is also a longtime acquaintance of O’Brien. An email from Horne to 12News states he met O’Brien because her mother worked for him in the Attorney General’s Office.

Horne is still protecting her, though, even though the bankruptcy case seems to be over (confirming that requires a PACER login, and since those cost money, one is not in the blogging budget).

From the story -

 “Authorized ATP Tutoring Providers.” That means the company is eligible to receive more public funds.

12News asked Horne on Thursday whether he believes O’Brien should be disqualified as an authorized vendor, given her history of alleged Medicaid fraud, nonpayment of contractors, dog-napping, and alleged SBA loan fraud.

“Ms. O’Brien is entitled to her day in court,” Horne said in a written statement.

She, and her companies, has been sued multiple times for failure to pay employees and contractors, and, at least once, by a former business partner (Maricopa County Superior Court system case number CV2011-053078)

Yet Horne is insistent about keeping her on the public pad.

From the Arizona Department Education's list of authorized tutoring providers -

Someone named "Bridget O'Brien" has made lucrative donations to Horne in his quests to be Superintendent of Public Instruction and Attorney General.  From a report filed with the AZSOS -

Even though she reports her occupation as "housewife", the PO Box address matches up with the PO Box on one of her corporate entities, Jazi Kat LLC.

Speaking of corporate entities, the entity on ADE's website, Kiids A Therapy, has had 11 statutory agents during its existence.

Not a crime in and of itself, but a definite red flag.

Filed under "Things that make you go 'hmmmm.' "

Legislative schedule - week starting 7/28/2024

Same as last week, mostly.

Nada, as in there is nothing scheduled at this point.

I expect that the ad hoc and interim committee activity to pick after the primary election on 7/30 as members with general election contests try to get their names out there.  It also wouldn't surprising to see certain most Republican members use the taxpayer dime to deride Vice President Kamala Harris.

Ummm...Where's the bandage?

Cheeto went golfing today and didn't look any worse for wear after his "attempted assassination."

From SBNation, dated today -

Same pic, enlarged 5X -

Hmmm....

Joe Manchin answers a question that no one was asking

But he answered it anyway.

From The Hill -

Manchin says he wouldn’t serve as Harris VP

Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) on Monday said he would not consider serving as Vice President Harris’s running mate, arguing it is time for a “new generation” following President Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 race.

When asked on “CNN This Morning” if he would consider running as VP with Harris — whom Biden endorsed to replace him on the ticket — Manchin said, “No, I’m not.”

A lot of Democrats have rallied around Harris but I believe that the surest way for her to throw away that support would to put forward former Democrat Manchin as her choice for VP.

Actually, I think that Andrew Cuomo has a better chance a being the VP nominee, and he doesn't have a snowball's chance in Phoenix in July.

FWIW - I *do* believe that her eventual VP choice will be an Eastern governor from a swing state...assuming that Harris is comfortable with one being VP.

Breaking: Biden drops out of presidential race

And in (perhaps) related note, Republicans everywhere are rejoicing.

From NBC News (emphasis added by me) -

President Joe Biden drops out of 2024 presidential race

Biden, after a five-decade career, faced a reckoning over his age and his ability to defeat Trump. He endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his party faces a historic effort to replace him. 

President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he will end his presidential re-election campaign, bringing an abrupt and humbling conclusion to his half-century-long political career and scrambling the race for the White House just four months before Election Day.

Biden, 81, could not reverse growing sentiment within his party that he was too frail to serve and destined to lose to Donald Trump in November. He backed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic nominee.

[snip]

Across the aisle, Republicans slammed the move and many called on him to resign his office, days after the completion of a Republican National Convention where speaker after speaker slammed the Biden-Harris ticket.

"If Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson.

In a brief phone interview with NBC News, Trump reacted to Biden's decision, calling the president "the worst president in the history of the United States by far."

When asked whether he was surprised by Biden's decision, Trump said that Biden "should never have been there in the first place."

“He should have stayed in his basement," Trump said.

In a fundraising email, Trump’s campaign said that Biden “quit the race in complete disgrace.”

Anyone want to tell Cheeto that there's some who disagree with his "worst ever" opinion.

From Axios, dated February 19, 2024 -

Read: Historians rank Trump as worst president

Presidential historians in a new survey rank President Biden as the 14th best president in U.S. history — and put former President Trump last.

The big picture: The tally came from 154 presidential specialists who are current and recent members of the American Political Science Association. They were asked to give every president a score, from 0 to 100.

Zoom in: Abraham Lincoln topped the list with an average score of 95, while Biden scored an average of 62.66. That put him two spots above Ronald Reagan.

• Representatives for Trump, who averaged just under 11 points, did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

I expect that the next few days, in fact in all day leading up to the Democratic convention, will be chaotic as various players consider if they have a path to unseat Harris as the presumptive Democratic nominee.

I fully expect that Harris will emerge as the nominee, but the jockeying to be the Democratic VP nominee will be fierce.

Long-time Trump propagandist with a medical degree weighs in on Cheeto's condition

Know who we haven't heard from?

The doctors who actually treated him in the aftermath of the "shooting."

Oh, and the "propagandist with a medical degree" has some serious credibility issues

First, from The Hill -

Rep. Jackson, former White House physician, shares Trump gunshot wound update 

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), a former White House physician, shared an update on former President Trump’s gunshot wound in a Saturday memo.

“As the former appointed Physician to the President for President Donald J. Trump, I was naturally very concerned, as was the entire world, about his wellbeing after the assassination attempt on his life,” Jackson said in the memo. “As such, I met him in Bedminster, New Jersey, late that evening to personally check on him, and offer my assistance in any way possible.”

Jackson has a habit of using his medical training to lend credence to some outlandish claims about Cheeto.

From ABC News, dated January 16,2018 -

Trump's 'overall health is excellent' says doctor, weight loss a goal

President Donald Trump's "overall health is excellent" and his cognitive health is normal, presidential physician Dr. Ronny Jackson said Tuesday as part of a comprehensive, nearly hourlong review of the president's recent physical assessment.

Jackson shared the outcomes of Trump's exam with reporters at the White House press briefing, including his 75-inch height, 239-pound weight, total cholesterol of 223 and resting heart rate of 68 beats per minute.

Dear Ronny:

If Cheeto is only 239 pounds, then I'm a Yankees fan.

Me (a lifelong Red Sox fan)

Of course, the fact that Ronny Jackson claims that Cheeto was shot in an assassination attempt serves only to undermine belief in that claim.

Cynic that I am, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Cheeto or, more likely, one of his campaign staff, uses the book Wag the Dog as bedtime reading.

Legislative schedule - week starting 7/21/2024

Nada, as in there is nothing scheduled at this point.

I expect that the ad hoc and interim committee activity to pick after the primary election on 7/30 as members with general election contests try to get their names out there.

Q: What do you call a lawmaker who's actually a scofflaw? A: Justine Wadsack

Hat tip to AZ PBS' Horizon for the head's up on this.

I don't normally cover stuff in Pima County here, mostly leaving that to the writers at Blog for Arizona.  They know the area and its players far better than I do.

However, this involves a sitting state legislator, which is kind of in my wheelhouse. :)

From the Tucson Sentinel, written by Dylan Smith -

Sen. Justine Wadsack claims 'political persecution' over Tucson 

criminal speeding ticket

Clocked driving twice the legal limit; Southern Az Republican's citation 

delayed by legislative immunity during session

Arizona Sen. Justine Wadsack, a Tucson-area Republican, is claiming "political persecution" over a criminal speeding ticket dating from a March incident 

that police allege saw her driving her Tesla down Speedway at more than 70 mph.

Wadsack was pulled over on Friday, March 15, just after 10 p.m., after being 

observed "traveling at a high rate of speed" heading east on Speedway near North Euclid Avenue by a Tucson police officer on DUI patrol, according to a TPD report.

According to Tucson police, Wadsack was clocked going more than twice 

the legal limit: 71 mph in a 35 mph zone.

[snip]

Wadsack was not cited at the time, as her immediate introduction of 

herself as "Senator Justine Wadsack" resulted in the officer contacting 

his superiors. 

I've got three pieces of advice for Sen. Wadsack:

1. Don't speed.

2. Pay the fine and take the points.  You earned 'em.

3. Quit whining.

Rape, sexual abuse, harassment and more: at least we know what a 2nd term of Cheeto as POTUS will look like

The folks who plan to vote for him, or are even considering doing so, should probably think about his past.

From CBS News -

Shelter provider accused of "pervasive" sexual abuse of migrant children in U.S. custody

The Justice Department this week accused the largest provider of shelters for migrant children in U.S. custody of failing to protect minors from "severe" and "pervasive" sexual abuse in its goverment-funded facilities.

In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday and announced on Thursday, the Justice Department accused employees of Southwest Key, a Texas-based organization, of sexually abusing and harassing unaccompanied migrant children in shelters operated by the nonprofit since at least 2015.

Multiple Southwest Key shelter employees, the lawsuit alleged, have raped, sexually abused, sexually harrased and inappropriately touched children in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for caring for migrant minors who cross the U.S.-Mexico border without their parents. The Justice Department also accused Southwest Key employees of soliciting sex acts and nude photos from young migrants and of engaging in inappropriate relationships with them.

The USDOJ's press release on the matter in here.

This wouldn't seem to tie into Cheeto...except for his history of rape and hating migrants.

And his track record of using public funds to enrich/enable Southwest Keys.

From a Snopes fact check, dated June 22, 2018 -

Is the Trump Administration Paying Southwest Key $458 Million to Run Immigrant Child Detention Centers?

Given his history, it wouldn't be surprising if he used a second term in office to change part of the job from being Commander in Chief to being Pimp in Chief.

Q2 Fundraising Figures - Maricopa County

Notes:

This is NOT a comprehensive list.  As this is primary season, it mostly includes candidates in primaries of interest.

Also, candidates who I don't believe have a snowball's chance in hell aren't included here.

Lastly, money is not votes.  A candidate with less cash on hand may defeat a candidate with more COH.

State numbers are taken from the summary pages of candidate filings. Also, I don't know if Q2 Money raised amounts include Q2 Loan totals as none of the listed candidates reported loans in Q2.

Q2 Fundraising Figures - State

Notes:

This is NOT a comprehensive list.  As this is primary season, it mostly includes candidates in primaries of interest.

Also, candidates who I don't believe have a snowball's chance in hell aren't included here.

Lastly, money is not votes.  A candidate with less cash on hand may defeat a candidate with more COH.

State numbers are taken from the summary pages of candidate filings. Also, Q2 Money raised amounts do  include Q2 Loan totals.

Q2 Fundraising Figures - Federal

Notes:

This is NOT a comprehensive list.  As this is primary season, it mostly includes candidates in primaries of interest, though there is an exception to that (Ruben Gallego, I'm looking at you :) ).

Also, candidates who I don't believe have a snowball's chance in hell aren't included here.

Lastly, money is not votes.  A candidate with less cash on hand may defeat a candidate with more COH.

Federal numbers are taken from lines 11e, 13c, and 27 of candidate filings. Also, Q2 Money raised amounts do not include Q2 Loan totals (state-level numbers are different is this regard).

Have the echoes from the gunshots even faded away yet?

The fact that Cheeto is already sending out fundraising emails with imagery from yesterday's shooting doesn't do anything to dispel my cynicism.  

Not hardly.

Already received this, less than 24 hours after the shooting at one of his events -

At 3:11 p.m. on Saturday, shooting broke out at one of his events; at 2:19 p.m. on Sunday, I received the first of what I expect will be many fundraising emails from Cheeto.

23 hours and a few minutes?  Nice turnaround time on a weekend.

[edit on the same day to add]

At 5:43 p.m. I re-received the same email.

At 5:31 p.m. I received a slightly different email -

Yes, the full court press is on.

It turns out that I'm on some *interesting* email lists, and since I didn't sign up for them, I'm guessing that a list I did actually sign up for was sold.

[/end edit]

So long as the investigation is fair, honest, and open

Then let the chips fall where they may.

Of course, with Cheeto and his acolytes involved, it would be surprising if they allow the investigation to be any of those things.

First, the shooting at one of  Cheeto's events.

From ABC News -

Trump shooting live updates: Suspect's family is cooperating

Federal authorities are investigating after former president Donald Trump was shot in an assassination attempt at an election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.

Secret Service agents swarmed Trump and ducked behind the podium. Blood could be seen on his right ear of Trump as agents surrounded him and led him off the stage to a waiting vehicle to whisk him away.

Trump is "fine," a spokesperson said. The alleged shooter is dead. One spectator was killed and two were hurt, officials said.

I will say that it has been interesting to watch supporters of politically motivated violence to denounce politically motivated violence...that's directed toward the leading supporter of politically motivated violence.

They were OK with the assault on Nancy Pelosi's husband, shooting up a pizza shop based on fake news, the violent and deadly insurrection of January 6, 2021, the multiple threats to public officials over the 2020 election, and more.

On the other hand, shooting at Dear Leader?

They're not so OK with that.

The cynical portion of this post comes in two parts:

1. I don't believe it will be long before Cheeto or one of his campaign surrogates starts demanding that he be awarded a Purple Heart over yesterday's shooting.

2. I don't believe in coincidences.  The timing of this is fortuitous.

To say the least.

What can I say? I was bored.

This stemmed from indictments of people who are charged with defrauding AHCCCS.  I spent time looking for ties to sitting legislators.  I didn't find any (not saying there aren't any; I just didn't find them), but I thought there should be an easier way to do that...so I created a spreadsheet of the corporations and LLCs reported as owned by our 2024 state-level electeds and 2024 primary candidates for those offices, and the non-profits they report as being part of.  "Report" means that something was included on the financial disclosure reports they submitted to the Arizona Secretary of State.

What's not included:

License information

Spousal information

Gift information

Travel information

Bond ownership information

Compensation information

Membership on publicly elected boards, such as public school boards

Appeals Court judges (they have to file with the AZ SOS)

County judges (they have to file with the AZ SOS)

County court commissioners (they have to file with the AZ SOS).

Candidates from non-major parties

What is included:

Name of elected or candidate

Reported name of corp, etc.

Reported title/position at the organization (a blank in that field means nothing was reported)

What the person is currently (name of office held or a candidate for an office)

Date (of the signature on the FinDisc form)

Only the most current FinDisc form was looked at; some officeholders have been in office for many years and filed many forms. Also, current officeholders and members of the Arizona Supreme Court were included.  Federal officeholders/candidates don't have to file with the AZ SOS, so while Kari Lake's 2022 FinDisc is included (she ran for a state level office that year), Blake Masters' is not (he has only run for federal offices).  Abe Hamadeh filed too, but didn't report ownership of any corps or affiliations with any non-profits.

Things I learned from doing this:

Many legislators profit from real estate - some are licensed brokers, have rentals, are appraisers, or are otherwise profit from real estate-adjacent activities.  Also, many are attorneys.

Which goes a long way toward explaining why most legislative proposals benefit the real estate profiteer class and/or contain so many "poison pill" clauses that the measure has to be vetoed.

Also, most of the folks affiliated with legitimate non-profits are Democratic members/candidates (though it's not absolutely exclusive).  On the other hand, most of the folks affiliated with ideological non-profits are Republicans.

Lastly, the forms are very uninformative for those reading them and seem to be very confusing for those completing them.  Many officeholders did not report income from their offices yet many did.

Caveats:

It's possible, even likely, that I made one or more mistakes when compiling this.  Any errors were unintentional and will be corrected when brought to my attention.

Also, this list was utterly dependent on what was reported.  If something wasn't reported, it wasn't included.