Q1 fundraising totals are in

This post only covers significant federal candidates (IMO) who submitted nominating sigs to the Arizona Secretary of State.  Some may be knocked off of a ballot due to legal challenges.

The most interesting thing was not one of the money entries, but one of the signature totals - Kari Lake secured precisely 0 of her signatures on paper.  

I admit, I don't know much about R primaries or candidates, but someone who exhibits an aversion to going door-to-door or who can't inspire volunteers to do so probably isn't going to do well. 

All money totals obtained from page 2 of the candidates' Q1 2024 filings

Cheeto held to the same standard as everyone. His response: stamp his feet and cry "Waaahhhh!"

From CNBC -

Trump gripes he can’t reject ‘unlimited’ jurors in New York 

hush money trial

Donald Trump complained Wednesday that his lawyers were not given “unlimited” chances to reject prospective jurors at his New York criminal hush money trial.

But state law caps the number of would-be jurors his lawyers can strike without cause.

Trump has received that correct number strikes given the type of criminal charges he faces: 10 peremptory strikes for jurors, plus another two for every alternate juror.

Maybe it's time to expand Arizona's "Sore Loser" law

First up, a quick summary of that law.  From ARS 16-312 -

F. Except as provided in section 16-343, subsection E, a candidate may not file pursuant to this section if any of the following applies:

1. For a candidate in the general election, the candidate ran in the immediately preceding primary election and failed to be nominated to the office sought in the current election.

2. For a candidate in the general election, the candidate filed a nomination petition for the immediately preceding primary election for the office sought and failed to provide a sufficient number of valid petition signatures as prescribed by section 16-322.

3. For a candidate in the primary election, the candidate filed a nomination petition for the current primary election for the office sought and failed to provide a sufficient number of valid petition signatures as prescribed by section 16-322, withdrew from the primary election after a challenge was filed or was removed from or otherwise determined by court order to be ineligible for the primary election ballot.

4. For a candidate in the general election, the candidate filed a nomination petition for nomination other than by primary for the office sought and failed to provide a sufficient number of valid petition signatures as prescribed by section 16-341.

From the Arizona Secretary of State's website -

According to Maricopa Superior Court records, David Alger is suing current LD8 State Representative Melody Hernandez, current Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, current Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (note: I live in LD8, hence my interest).

The case is scheduled for a status conference on 4/16 and Alger's challenge is scheduled to be heard on 4/18.

Election challenges are as old as elections themselves, and so are failed candidates.

In 2020, Alger was a write in candidate in the R primary in then LD24 -

He was trounced in the general election that year -

In 2018, he was on the ballot, both for the R primary and the general election.

He was the only candidate in the R primary and was thoroughly defeated in the general.

Maybe it's time to expand Arizona's to not allow failed candidates to legally challenge other candidates.

Of course, the judge is this case may find his legal filings entertaining - if that judge likes filings that can be summed up with the word "Wahhh!"

Edited on 4/15 to add:

Challenges to legislative and statewide candidates are heard  in Maricopa County Superior Court.  Maricopa County is home of the state capital.  Challenges to municipal- and county-specific candidates will be heard locally.

/End edit

Yet another report ranks AZ low

Lost in the (justified) uproar generated by the embrace of anti-choice culture by the Arizona Supreme Court when it ruled to uphold Arizona's territorial era ban on abortion was the release of a report on Private Equity State Risk Index.  Others will comment (and have commented) and will be far more eloquent than me, so I'll just say one thing on this:

Dear members of the AZ Supreme Court - 

When even lousy human beings are racing to distance themselves from your ruling, the ruling is a bad one.

The report is from the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) and ranks states by their risk, associated with having significant areas of their economies controlled by private equity funds.

National map -

Overall rank -

AZ is tied for third-worst (or fourth-worst, depending on how one looks at such things).  Either way, not a good place to be.

Labor score -

AZ is tied for 24th worst (or 25th or 26th).

Healthcare score -

AZ is tied for 32nd-worst (or 33rd) in its best showing.  Not to worry - AZ's housing rank makes up for it.

Housing rank -

2nd worst here (no tie).

Pension rank -

AZ is tied for 16th-worst (or 17th)

AZ summary -

One other AZ tie -

Cerberus Capital Management, one of the top five PE firms in terms of owning housing, has a famous Arizonan as one of its "leaders" (and it's not Kyrsten Sinema.  Not yet, anyway).

Nope, former VP Dan Quayle, who has a residence in Paradise Valley.

I recommend reading the entire report.

Legislative schedule - week starting 4/14/2024

Nada,  As in no committee or floor activity is yet scheduled...though they will reconvene midweek and pass something to overturn the pre-statehood anti-abortion law that was recently upheld by the AZ Supreme Court...passing something with so many poison pills that it will never be supported by any free-thinking person.

Or else they'll do nothing and adjourn.  Again.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority).  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4, generally at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, generally also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one. 

AZ Republicans show their true colors

From The Guardian (UK) -

Arizona Republicans block abortion-ban repeal after denouncing court ruling

Republicans in Arizona halted an effort by Democrats on Wednesday to repeal an 1864 law banning almost all abortions, which the state supreme court this week ruled could go into effect.

The move came after Republican lawmakers in the state had denounced the court’s decision, including some who previously expressed support for the law. Donald Trump and other high-profile Republicans, such as the Senate candidate Kari Lake, had also declared their opposition to the ruling with Lake urging lawmakers to “come up with an immediate commonsense solution that Arizonans can support”.

[snip]

Some Republicans in the state had, surprisingly, come out against the court’s decision. “This decision cannot stand,” Matt Gress, a Republican state representative, said. “I categorically reject rolling back the clock to a time when slavery was still legal and we could lock up women and doctors because of an abortion.”

Gress had tried to bring forth a bill to repeal the ban but then voted with other Republicans to move to recess.

The move to adjourn was MIS005.

It passed by one vote

.

That vote -

I don't think that there was any real doubt that the adjournment motion was going to pass.  Nope, the only real question about this was whether the grifters lobbyists at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) were busy tugging on the leash that runs between them and the Rs in the AZ legislature or if they spent their time rubbing their hands together gleefully.

My guess is that it wasn't the leash, and I have two reasons for believing that:

1. The AZ legislature doesn't need any prompting to come to CAP's heel.

2. CAP does seem rather gleeful.

House R admits what most folks already knew

The GOP is Vlad's vassal.

From The Hill (emphasis added by me) -

Intel Chair Turner: ‘Absolutely true’ that Russian propaganda has infected US Congress

House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) stressed the expansive reach of Russian propaganda and said Sunday it has even presented itself on the floor of the U.S. Congress.

In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper, Turner said he agreed with Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who singled out conservative news outlets and said, “Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base.”

[snip]

“I mean, there are members of Congress today, who still incorrectly say that this conflict between Russia and Ukraine is over NATO, which of course it is not,” Turner said. “[Russian President] Vladimir Putin having made it very clear, both publicly and to his own population, that his view is that this is a conflict of a much broader claim of Russia, to Eastern Europe, and including claiming all of Ukraine territory as Russia’s.”

Cheeto seems to have delusions of greatness

From USA Today (emphasis add be me)-

Donald Trump says he would go to jail for free speech rights but stops short of gag order

Donald Trump said Saturday he would "gladly" go to jail in defense of his free-speech rights – but appeared to stop well short of crossing the red line set by a New York judge.

Trump is under a limited gag order in the so-called New York hush money criminal case that prevents him from speaking out about people involved in the case, including witnesses, jurors and prosecutors, other than the judge.

[snip]

"If this Partisan Hack wants to put me in the “clink” for speaking the open and obvious TRUTH, I will gladly become a Modern Day Nelson Mandela — It will be my GREAT HONOR," Trump wrote in the post.

To the best of my knowledge, Nelson Mandela never bankrupted a casino or cheated at golf, so I'm not sure he would be considered to be great in Cheeto's world.

Maricopa County primary candidates for 2024

Note: this is based only on signatures submitted and could (and probably will) be changed by legal challenges.

From Maricopa County's list of primary candidates -

Note2: The "Signatures Needed" column info is from Maricopa County here.

All countywide seats have challengers (which is a good thing for democracy) and only one race will be decided in the primary as all candidates for that office are from one party (County Treasurer with only two Republican candidates)

The 2026 election cycle has already started; some potential candidates have already filed statements of interest for offices up for election then.  Countywide offices up for election will be this year so the statements of interest for 2026 are only for constable and JP races.  So far.

Note3: Just because a candidate expresses "interest" in a particular race doesn't mean that they will be on a ballot.

Legislative schedule - week starting 4/7/2024

Nada.  As in there are no bills slated to be considered by a committee, though there may be some floor activity when our legislators get back from the vacation, on Wednesday.

Nearly three years ago, I wrote a post about holding an AZ Constitutional Convention to rein in the state legislature.  There were many suggestions that I made then, but recent events have made a couple more seem advisable.

1. The legislature would get one week after the budget is finished in order to finish dealing with any loose ends; after the week, the legislature would be out of session and all payments of public funds, other than their base salary, to legislators would cease unless called into a special session by the governor (and those would be limited to twice a year, and for a week at a time).  Certain legislators find "per diems" (and other payments) to be rather lucrative.

2. All laws crafted by the legislature would have a clause that people who violate them would receive the same punishments regardless of their wealth (or lack of it), well-connected status, or marginalized status.  We can call this the "Charles Ryan" clause.  Any police officer, prosecutor, or judge involved in contravening this clause would receive a year and a day in prison PLUS the harsher of the sentences in question.  And the harsher of the two sentences imposed (that started all of this) would be reduced to the lesser of the two sentences.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority).  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4, generally at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, generally also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one. 

On Wednesday, 4/10 

-

Senate Health and Human Services meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1.  No bills on the agenda; just some executive nominations.

House Rs declare that Dulles Airport is about to go bankrupt

Actually, they said they want to name it after Cheeto.

They've introduced H.R. 7845 to do just that.

And one of the original cosponsors?  One of Arizona's own, the ever-bigoted Paul Gosar.

As expected,  the gambit wasn't received.

From The Hill -

Virginia Democrat slams proposal to name airport after Trump: ‘I’d suggest they find a federal prison’

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) on Tuesday criticized a recently-introduced GOP bill that would rename Washington Dulles International Airport after former President Trump.

“Donald Trump is facing 91 felony charges,” Connolly, whose district includes a portion of Dulles, said in a statement. “If Republicans want to name something after him, I’d suggest they find a federal prison.” 

Personally, I think that an immigrant service center, a place where they help immigrants, should be named after him.

He will *absolutely* hate that.

Legislative schedule - week starting 3/31/2024

This week: Nada is on the schedule. No committees will meet to consider bills, not even the respective chambers' Appropriations committees.  The Rules committees of the respective chambers will meet, but since they only care about whether a bill is Constitutional (though a court may disagree) and don't take testimony on a bill, I don't regard that as "consideration."

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority).  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4, generally at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, generally also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one. 

On Tuesday, 4/2 

-

Senate Health and Human Services meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: no bills, just three executive nominations, if those are assigned to the committee.

Cheeto learns a little Latin

I'm sure he and his attorneys said an Ave Maria* before they proposed this one.

* = for you folks who don't have a Catholic upbringing, "Ave Maria" translates to "Hail Mary."

A Hail Mary is a desperation American football passing play used at the end of a half by the team that is behind and almost never works (at least, when it does work, it's big news in the sports world.)  

It got its nickname because it was said when that the quarterback heaved up the pass, he would say a Hail Mary prayer, hoping that the pass would be caught by one of his teammates

From USA Today -

Donald Trump's lawyer in Georgia: election lies are protected speech

Donald Trump’s lawyer argued Thursday the former president can’t be prosecuted in Georgia for trying to steal the 2020 election because his alleged conduct was political speech that must be protected under the First Amendment − even speech that was lies.

“Falsity alone is not enough,” Trump's lawyer, Steven Sadow, said. “Clearly, being president at the time, dealing with elections and campaigning, calling into question what had occurred – that’s the height of political speech.”

So, they're positing that speech intended to rationalize overthrowing the Constitution is protected by that same Constitution?

Dear Cheeto: People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones

I'm not a fan of the "open letter" format, but as I'm never going to meet Cheeto (at least, I hope not), so I'm going with it here.  Maybe someone in his circle will read it to him.

Dear Cheeto,

First from AP -

Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in New York hush-money criminal case

Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order ahead of his April 15 hush-money criminal trial, making a fallacious claim about his daughter and urging him to step aside from the case.

In a social media post, the former president suggested without evidence that Judge Juan M. Merchan was kowtowing to his daughter’s interests as a Democratic political consultant. He also made a claim — later repudiated by court officials — that she had posted a social media photo showing Trump behind bars.

Ummm...two points here -

1. Don't involve family.  Even if the target of your bile  treats you fairly (and I expect that this one will), it'll tick off a lot of other people. .Even some of folks who support you might lower their opinions of you (OK - probably not.  They're thoroughly besotted.  But some undecided voters...)

2. If you're going to criticize someone else's children, yours better be better.  They're not.  Not even close.

Me

Short attention span musing - democracy isn't for dilettantes edition

- If, in 2019, someone told me that our election center should nicknamed "Fortress Democracy." I would have laughed.

Then 2020 happened.

From AP -

Arizona expects to be back at the center of election attacks. Its top officials are going on offense

The room sits behind a chain-link fence, then black iron gates. Guards block the entrance, which requires a security badge to access. The glass surrounding it is shatterproof.

What merits all these layers of protection is somewhat surprising: tabulating machines that count the votes during elections in Arizona’s Maricopa County. The security measures are a necessary expense, said the county recorder, Stephen Richer, as Arizona and its largest county have become hotbeds of election misinformation and conspiracy theories that have led to near continuous threats and harassment against election workers.

[snip]

The false claims, promoted by prominent Republicans such as presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump and Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake, have driven protesters to rally outside vote-counting centers and to patrol drop boxes. The claims have fueled death threats against election workers and their families and prompted top election officials to quit across Arizona.

The battleground state also has become a target for attacks from election meddlers and other bad actors who repeatedly attempt to hack or disable the state’s electronic systems, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said.

- It seems that throwing ideological bombs is preferable to actually, you know, governing.  At least it is for certain people..

From The Independent (UK) -

Marjorie Taylor Greene insists she doesn’t want ‘chaos’ after second threat to oust House Speaker

Marjorie Taylor Greene has defended her bid to oust Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson - after threatening to do so in January - and insisted that she was not seeking to throw the government into “chaos”.

The Georgia representative and other far right members of the House opposed the $1.2trn federal spending package that passed Congress this past week, and claimed that it was full of wasteful spending.

She denounced Mr Johnson as “willing to do the bidding of [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer”.

[snip]

Ms Greene denied that the House’s paralysis is due to far-right conservatives, or the second effort to oust a speaker in six months.

“Those people stepping down early and leaving, are the ones leaving us at risk of the Democrats controlling the majority, not me,” the congresswoman said.

She's not the only GOPer in the House who is ticked at Johnson over the budget deal.

- It seems redundant to make a deep fake video about a dilettante, but it sure can be entertaining.

From Arizona Agenda, written by Hank Stephenson -

Hey Agenda readers!

We have a very special announcement today. 

To our great surprise, Kari Lake, the former newscaster turned political candidate and frequent subject of our derision, offered to film a testimonial about how much she likes the Arizona Agenda. 

[snip]

At least, did you spot it before she told you?

Or — like most people that we’ve shown this to — did it take a second for your brain to catch up even after our “Deep Fake Kari Lake” told you she was fake?

 

Many commentators/outlets have bemoaned the effect of deep fake videos on politics.

My concern is the effect of AI-generated videos on credibility; nobody will be able to believe what they see.

And while I believe that the destruction of credibility, especially institutional credibility, is an end goal of MAGA types, it will go far beyond politics.

Can you say "reasonable doubt"?