Short Attention Span Musing

...Apparently, the U.S. Senate thinks it's better to look good than to be good.

From NPR -

The Senate's dress code just got more relaxed. Some insist on staying buttoned-up

There's a lot for lawmakers to be stressed about these days, from the looming threat of a government shutdown to debates over additional funding for Ukraine. But one of the most divisive issues on Capitol Hill suddenly seems to be what senators can wear to work.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer directed the Senate's sergeant-at-arms to stop enforcing its unwritten dress code — only for its 100 members — starting this week.

There may be much angst among Senators over their dress code, but some things don't bother them.

From USA Today -

Read the full indictment: Menendez faces second round of corruption charges

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., is facing corruption charges after being indicted Friday in the Southern District of New York.

It marks the second time the New Jersey lawmaker has been indicted in the last 10 years − previously facing corruption charges in 2015.

They can wear tutus and propeller beanies or suit and ties or whatever.  It doesn't matter, as long as they don't take bribes.

Which is what Menendez (allegedly) did.

FWIW, this isn't a partisan thing - the political class in New York and New Jersey seem to believe that society's law or even standards of simple decency do apply to them, regardless of professed partisan affiliation.

We still have to claim Andrew Cuomo and Anthony Weiner as Democrats.

Of course, Republicans still have Chris Christie and, of course, Cheeto.

And Arizona State Senator John Kavanagh is from New Jersey, too.

...And speaking of Cheeto, it wasn't a good week for him.

From Good Morning America, via Yahoo! -

'You were warned': Judge reprimands Trump's lawyers in New York AG's $250M fraud case

A judge in New York expressed frustration at Donald Trump's defense counsel while considering sanctioning the defendants and their lawyers for making frivolous arguments in the state's civil case against the former president and others.

"When I first heard those arguments, I thought that was a joke," said Judge Arthur Engoron, who added that he has repeatedly ruled on and been upheld on some of the arguments rehashed by defense.

"The rule on sanctions is if you've been warned, don't do it. You were warned," Engoron said.

Legislative schedule - week starting 9/17/2023

This week looks to be about rationalizing the fraud perpetrated on the voters by the lege when the lege enacted (and expanded) school vouchers.

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 at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, 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, 9/20

-

House Ad Hoc Study Committee on Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Governance and Oversight meets at 2 p.m.in HHR3.  The fix looks to be in here.

Not only is the committee slated to receive a presentation from Alan Maguire, one of the creators of the expenditure limit screwing over public education, the members of the committee include a person currently with the anti-society (but pro-corporate) group the Goldwater Institute, a person who was once with the same organization, later pulled a paycheck from the AZ Charter School Association, and now works for the Heritage Foundation, and one of Tom Horne's lackeys/accomplices,

Does Mark Brnovich consider "jailhouse lawyer" to be a step up or step down from AZ Attorney General?

I should be clear - no matter how this turns out for him, I don't expect him to go to prison.

Though with the way he misused his position, he should.

Still, if he ends up getting disbarred/losing his license to practice law, he'll join Andrew Thomas in ignominy and irrelevance.

Generally speaking, the state bar association doesn't sanction attorneys, except for two real reasons.

If they do what Thomas did, accuse judges of wrongdoing without providing evidence, and/or bringing discredit to the entire profession.

Which may be tough to do, but using a position of public trust to aid and abet treason will do that.

Did Brnovich do that?  I think so, but it's your (the reader's) call.  From MSNBC (emphasis added by me) -

Mark Brnovich sacrificed his integrity for Trump — and got nothing in return

In the days after the 2020 election, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich did something most Republican leaders across the nation didn’t have the courage to do: He publicly refuted Donald Trump’s election lies.

On Nov. 12, 2020, the former federal prosecutor appeared on Fox Business and stated that his office had investigated complaints in connection with Arizona’s election, which had already been called for Joe Biden. “There is no evidence,” Brnovich declared. “There are no facts that would lead anyone to believe that the election results will change.” At the time, The Washington Post noted Brnovich was “the first high-ranking Republican in Arizona to reject the president’s fraud claims in the state.”

Sadly, Brnovich’s bravery didn’t last. Documents first shared with the Post by Arizona’s new Attorney General, Kris Mayes, show Brnovich trafficked in election misinformation to help himself politically and hid findings that disproved claims of fraud. It was a glaring example of the corrupting influence that comes with wooing Donald Trump and the supporters who believe his lies.

Short Attention Span Musing

- Let me be clear - I don't wish death on *anyone*...but there are certain folks who I think shouldn't be mourned.

Elected officials who use their positions to turn their private hatreds into public policy fall into that group.

The Arizona House and Senate have unanimously passed HCR2027, a death resolution commemorating the life of the infamous Russell Pearce.

While it talks about the many public agencies he was part of, it glosses over the bigotry and corruption that suffused any agency he was part of.

I'm not going to mourn a stone bigot, and if some folks believe that makes me a bad person, so be it.

- Booze and guns?  This isn't going to end well.

Pointed at this by Taegan Goddard's Political Wire.

From Jezebel via Yahoo! News -

Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Is Trying to Open a Gun Range That Serves Alcohol

There’s a pivotal election in April that you may not have heard about: A conservative judge on the Wisconsin Supreme Court is retiring, and four people are running in a race that could tip the body from its 4-3 conservative majority. It’s not hyperbole to say that whoever wins the race will determine whether the state’s abortion ban gets overturned and could rule on the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. (The two candidates in the race who support abortion rights are Judges Janet Protasiewicz and Everett Mitchell.)

According to local news reports, Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow, a conservative candidate, and her husband Brian, are developing an indoor gun range that would not only host weddings and other events, but would also serve alcohol. The couple requested a Class B liquor license to sell beer and wine to members and guests in the “clubhouse.” The range would also sell firearms and accessories on-site. The Dorows said in city documents that they devised an “alcohol safety policy” consisting of hand stamps to prevent members from entering the shooting range after drinking and a breathalyzer to be used on “suspicious individuals.” 

And I thought that AZ had the craziest people...

- AZ GOP legislators vote to protect corruption.  Color me so not shocked.

From NBC via Yahoo! News -

Arizona’s GOP legislators vote to shield themselves from public records laws

Arizona’s Republican-controlled Legislature approved a measure this week exempting itself from the state’s public records law and authorizing the destruction of all emails sent or received by legislators and their staffs after 90 days.

The new rules adopted by both GOP-led chambers effectively shield members and their staff from public records requests, making investigations into any potential wrongdoing far more difficult.

Methinks that it's time to change the AZ Constitution, in ways that both compel publicly elected officials to maintain and transmit all records of their activities and so that the legislature is subject to all of the laws that they craft.

Was the AZGOP acting as a laundry when it took money from an ally of Cheeto?

From Reuters -

Jury weighs whether Trump ally Barrack was a foreign agent and lied about it

A U.S. jury began deliberations on Wednesday in the trial of Tom Barrack, the onetime private equity executive and fundraiser for former President Donald Trump, on charges that he acted as a foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates and lied to federal investigators.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn last year charged Barrack with using his influence with Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and later his administration to push the UAE's policy interests without notifying the U.S. attorney general as required by law that he was acting as an agent for the Middle Eastern country.

[snip]

The OPEC member nation paid Barrack back in 2017 and 2018 by investing $374 million from its sovereign wealth funds with his company, then known as Colony Capital, prosecutors said.

Yet, in 2020, the Arizona Republican Party took money from Cheeto's ally...via Cheeto..

From a report filed by the AZGOP -

From a report filed by Cheeto's Victory joint fundraising committee -

This begs two questions:

1. Was the AZGOP on tumble dry or cool down when it accepted the money from Cheeto's ally?

2. And will they disavow and return that money upon his conviction?

Republicans claim to oppose election fraud. Pre-election fraud? They seem to be OK with that.

From TimesUnion (NY) -

BOE boots Zeldin off Independence Party line for invalid signatures

U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for governor, is unlikely to run on the Independence Party line after the state Board of Elections invalidated nearly 13,000 signatures that were included in his petitions. 

Zeldin's campaign operation had submitted about 52,000 signatures, well above the 45,000 needed to get his name on the third party line, but the disqualified signatures left him well short following the board's ruling. The filing period ended May 31.

 From The Detroit Free Press (MI), dated May 26, 2022 -

5 Michigan GOP candidates for governor disqualified from ballot after board deadlocks

A state elections panel on Thursday deadlocked 2-2 on whether five Republican candidates for governor should be barred from the August primary ballot because they each submitted too many fraudulent signatures, and an official said the effect of the vote is to disqualify the candidates.

The two Republican members — Chairman Norman Shinkle and Tony Daunt — wanted to put the candidates on the ballot. The two Democrats — Vice Chair Mary Ellen Gurewitz and Jeannette Bradshaw — did not.

The effect of the deadlock is that none of the five candidates will be on the ballot, said State Elections Director Jonathan Brater.

Well, at least they're consistent - signatures are their bugaboo.

Which Arizona politicos are afraid of the Uber data leak?

The full repository of stories from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is here.

My guess at an answer to the titular question: a *lot* of them.

The next few days should be very interesting.

It's nice when AZ makes the news...and it's not because of Paul Gosar or Andy Biggs

It's not for a *good* reason, but it isn't because of Gosar or Biggs...or Kari Lake, Wendy Rogers, Mark Finchem, or any of the other usual suspects.

This time.

From AP (emphasis added by me)-

Democrats seek criminal charges against Trump Interior head

Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee asked the Justice Department 

on Wednesday to investigate whether a Trump administration interior secretary 

engaged in possible criminal conduct while helping an Arizona developer get a crucial 

permit for a housing project.

The criminal referral says David Bernhardt pushed for approval of the project by 

developer Michael Ingram, a Republican donor and supporter of former 

President Donald Trump, despite a federal wildlife official’s finding that it would 

threaten habitats for imperiled species.

Bernhardt led Interior from 2019 to 2021. In 2017, he was the No. 2 official at 

the department when the Fish and Wildlife Service, an Interior Department agency, 

reversed its opposition to the Villages at Vigneto, the proposed 28,000-home 

development in southern Arizona, and allowed it to move forward.

Democrat Reps. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, the committee chairman, and 

Katie Porter of California, who leads a subcommittee on oversight and investigations. 

made the referral in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland. They said the 

committee has conducted an extensive investigation into the circumstances 

surrounding the 2017 decision.

Ingram gives a lot of money to R candidates, sometimes playing both sides in a primary (note: his first initial is "K", for Keith).

Cheeto's bad week gets worse: judge orders him to testify...under oath

First, his accounting firm fired him.

From CNN -

Trump Organization's accounting firm says 10 years of financial statements are unreliable

Former President Donald Trump's long-time accounting firm informed the Trump Organization last week that it should no longer rely on nearly 10 years' worth of financial statements and that they would no longer be their accountants, citing a conflict of interest.

"We have come to this conclusion based, in part, upon the filings made by the New York Attorney General on January 18, 2022, our own investigation, and information received from internal and external sources," Mazars wrote in a letter to the Trump Organization chief legal officer, advising them to no longer rely on financial statements ending June 2011 through June 2020.

Then, a judge in NY ordered him, Junior, and Vanky to comply with a subpoena (Fredo is probably torn about not being included).

From AP via Yahoo! News -

Trump must testify in New York investigation, judge rules

Former President Donald Trump must answer questions under oath in New York state’s civil investigation into his business practices, a judge ruled Thursday.

Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and his two eldest children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., to comply with subpoenas issued in December by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Cheeto responded as Cheeto does to anything he doesn't like.  With bile and anger.  And finger-pointing and all CAPS.

From the same piece -

In a statement, Trump said, “THERE IS NO CASE!” and accused James’ office of “doing everything within their corrupt discretion to interfere with my business relationships, and with the political process.”

Trump called the ruling “a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in history — and remember, I can’t get a fair hearing in New York because of the hatred of me by Judges and the judiciary. It is not possible.”

In case you missed it: AZ GOPer fined $125,000 for misusing campaign funds

From The Daily Beast -

GOP Congressman Fined $125,000 For Financial Violations

The other shoe has dropped for Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ).

His campaign committee has agreed to pay a $125,000 federal fine for misusing donor money and associated reporting violations, according to new Federal Election Commission disclosures.

The investigation, which found “reason to believe” that the violations were “knowing and willful,” was the FEC twin of a separate congressional ethics probe that fined the Arizona Republican $50,000 in 2020 for nearly a dozen violations. The inquiries centered around Schweikert’s dealings with his former chief of staff, political consultant Oliver Schwab, specifically payments to Schwab’s personal credit card and firm.

The agreement was signed on Jan. 12, and the FEC released the documents almost a month later on Friday. As part of the agreement, the Schweikert campaign admitted to breaking three federal laws—all related to expenses.

Sounds like a Friday newsdump to me.

Schwab, mentioned in the third paragraph, has a long history of ethical issues.  He also has a history of supporting some R extremists in their primaries -

I have little doubt that Schweikert will face a primary challenge from the right.

So far as I can see from the allegations against him and this fine, he's only conventionally corrupt and not treasonous enough for today's GQP.

Of course, the result of the R primary in his district will be irrelevant; in the general election, support Jevin Hodge for Congress.

In case you missed it: Corruption in Arizona politics

[start sarcasm]

I know, you're as shocked as I am.

[/end sarcasm]

:)

From The Glendale Star -

Ex-school facilities board member indicted

Vernal Lee Crow of Glendale was indicted on four felony counts of conflict of interest in connection with his appointed position as a member of the Arizona School Facilities Board, according to Attorney General Mark Brnovich.

Crow is alleged to have failed to disclose his interest and his son’s interest in Red Tree Consulting LLC, a construction consulting company that benefited from three projects awarded by the SFB while Crow was a participating board member

.

The press release from the office of the Arizona Attorney General is here.

Per their annual reports, Crow was not a member of the Board in 2009 but was in 2010, so I'm assuming that he was appointed by Jan Brewer.

Crow *was* part of Red Tree from its organization in 2015 (docs courtesy the Arizona Corporation Commission)

until mid-2017

But per his bio in ASFB's annual reports, Crow was also part of Dominion Environmental, since at least 1990 (also courtesy the ACC)

until, well, *now* 

Related entities are Dominion Environmental Consultants NV LLC and Dominion Environmental Consultants and he was a director and officer there

at least until late 2019, when it was transferred to another officer

All of which is a long-winded way of saying that this gets better.  He was a member of the ASFB when his entities received money.  I don't know if he disclosed the relationships beforehand.

From the website of the Arizona Auditor General -

From the Arizona State Procurement Office -

[snip]

From a letter to the Glendale Union High School District from 2017 -

[snip]

From the records of the Maricopa County Superior Court -

Based on my reading of this (which is another way of saying that this is unfamiliar), he seems to have entered a plea of not guilty and been released on his own recognizance.

From Arizona Revised Statutes, the section of law that he is alleged to have violated -

If he's convicted on the stated charges, it'll be a class 6 felony conviction.

"Woe is me" - Trump and his trumpkins

Can one play the victim card in Liar's Poker?  

Cheeto does, and apparently so do his followers.

From KKCO (Colorado) [bold in the story added by me] -

FBI raids homes of Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters and Lauren Boebert’s former campaign manager

Early Tuesday morning the Federal Bureau of Investigation executed search warrants at four locations in western Colorado.

According to Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, the state attorney general’s office and local authorities conducted the searches Tuesday in Mesa and Garfield Counties. The court-ordered search was part of an investigation of alleged election security breaches conducted by Mesa County officials.

Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters did confirm her home was searched. A statement was released from her legal defense fund early Wednesday morning stating, “Today large teams of heavily armed federal agents, using a battering ram to break down doors, raided the homes of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters and several of her friends and colleagues, mostly elderly women in their mid 60s.  This is a level of weaponization of the Justice Department we haven’t seen since the McCarthy era. Thank God Tina wasn’t protesting critical race theory at a Virginia school board meeting or they might have brought two battering rams.”

Must be something in SD's water. Now a killer is investigating the actions of the corrupt.

From The Hill -

SD attorney general reviewing Noem meeting with official as daughter sought license

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (R) announced on Tuesday that he will review a meeting Gov. Kristi Noem (R) held with her daughter and two state employees last year as her daughter was seeking a real estate appraiser license from the state. 

Ravnsborg reportedly said that citizens and state lawmakers have voiced concern about the meeting.

The "killer" part?

From NPR -

An Attorney General Won't Serve Any Jail Time For A Crash That Killed A Pedestrian

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg pleaded no contest Thursday to a pair of misdemeanor traffic charges over a crash last year that killed a pedestrian, avoiding jail time despite bitter complaints from the victim's family that he was being too lightly punished for actions they called "inexcusable."

Circuit Judge John Brown had little leeway to order jail time. Instead, he fined the state's top law enforcement official $500 for each count plus court costs of $3,742. Brown also ordered the Republican to "do a significant public service event" in each of the next five years near the date of Joseph Boever's death — granting a request from the Boever family. But he put that on hold pending a final ruling after Ravnsborg's attorney objected that it was not allowed by statute.

From The Hill -

Noem draws scrutiny for meeting with official as daughter sought state license

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) called the head of the state agency that oversees appraiser certifications to her office after the agency allegedly denied her daughter’s application to become a certified residential appraiser last year. 

The meeting, which was reported on Monday by The Associated Press, also included Noem’s daughter Kassidy Peters and South Dakota Labor Secretary Marcia Hultman. 

 

Of course, Ravnborg may be "investigating" her because Noem criticized him when he skated on killing someone.

From a press release from Noem -

Today, following South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg’s plea of “no contest” to charges against him regarding the death of Joseph Boever, Governor Kristi Noem issued the following statement: 

 

“With today’s plea, Jason Ravnsborg’s legal proceedings have concluded.  Like many South Dakotans, I am not only disappointed in how this process was handled by prosecutors, but outraged at the result of today’s plea hearing and sentencing.  Ravnsborg has not accepted responsibility for the death of Joseph Boever and did not even appear in court today to face the charges or the Boever family.

 

Ravnborg may want to be quick about it because he may lose his job soon.

From the Argus (SD) Leader -

South Dakota House leaders call for special session to consider impeachment of Attorney General Ravnsborg

A bipartisan group of leadership members in the South Dakota House of Representatives are calling for a special legislative session to consider whether to pursue impeachment of the state's attorney general.

House Majority Leader Kent Peterson, R-Salem, in a news release Thursday announced he is formally requesting lawmakers return to the capital in November to "evaluate the matter of Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg," convicted of a pair of misdemeanor traffic charges last month stemming from his role in a vehicle crash that killed a pedestrian a year earlier.

GOPers indicted for serving as conduits for foreign money (shocking, I know :) ). Wonder if the Arizona Republican Party will give back the donations.

Turns out that a corruption case in DC has some serious AZ ties.

From Politico -

Longtime GOP operatives charged with funneling Russian national’s money to Trump, RNC

Two veteran Republican campaign operatives — including one who got a pardon from then-President Donald Trump one month before he left office — are charged in a new federal indictment with funneling $25,000 from a Russian national into the Trump campaign in 2016.

Jesse Benton, 43, and Doug Wead, 75, made brief appearances Monday at a video hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, pleading not guilty to six felony charges including facilitating a campaign contribution by a foreign national, acting as a straw donor and causing the filing of false campaign finance reports.

[snip]

For example, the indictment’s reference to a $25,000 donation on Oct. 27, 2016, to a political committee by Benton — allegedly to cover up the foreign source of the money — lines up with a donation of the same size and date to Trump’s political committee attributed to a “Jesse Bentor,” which prosecutors said is a garbling of Benton’s name.

While I didn't find any contributions to current GOP members of the AZ delegation to Congress, the penchant of electeds to seek and accept "bundled" contributions, I expect most of them are hoping that none of the money that they received came from foreign nationals.

From the website of the FEC (the blacked out name is that of someone with a similar name who donated to a GOPer, but is someone who doesn't seem to be part of this scheme) -

Mr. Wead may be someone who tends to back the winners of horse races after they've won one, but he doesn't always pick winners -

The donation by Bentor...errrr..."Benton", referenced in the story.

I didn't find anything else under their names on the FEC's website, and I did search some others, but the website of the AZSOS kept crashing when I attempted to look up individual contributors, plus the campaign finance websites of Maricopa County and the City of Scottsdale do not sort but individual contributions.  If a user knows the candidate receiving a contribution, and approximately when it was made, one can look up the report.  If not, the user is SOL.

Plus, the habit of using aliases makes searching problematical, no matter the campaign finance website in question.