Even Republicans admit that Biden won here. Maybe they should tell Andy Biggs.

Biggs won't admit that the election led to his election was valid.

From Yahoo! - 

Arizona Republicans testified before Congress that Biden won 'free, fair, and accurate elections' in Maricopa County

GOP officials from Arizona's Maricopa County testified before Congress on Oct. 7, telling the House that the elections in the county were "free, fair, and accurate" and prove that President Joe Biden won there.

Three Republicans appeared before the House Oversight Committee to talk about the results of the Cyber Ninjas audit in Maricopa County: Jack Sellers, chairman of the Maricopa County board of supervisors, Bill Gates, the board's vice-chairman, and Ken Bennett, a former Arizona secretary of state who liaised directly with the Cyber Ninjas.

Ignorance. It's obviously a trait that is valued by Republicans.

From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel -

Former Supreme Court Justice Gableman, head of Republican review of Wisconsin election, says he does not understand how elections work

The attorney leading a partisan review of Wisconsin's 2020 election acknowledged this week that he doesn't understand how elections are supposed to be run. 

The admission by former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman comes as he subpoenas mayors and election officials.

From Jeremy Duda of the Arizona Mirror -

‘Audit’ expert Shiva Ayyadurai didn’t understand election procedures. He made a number of false signature claims.

The audience in the Senate gallery oohed and aahed as Shiva Ayyadurai drew its attention to a “verified and approved” stamp that appeared behind a triangle on the image of an early ballot envelope, unsubtly suggesting that it might have been pre-printed that way. 

“It’s almost as though it was imaged on there. I don’t want to say Photoshopped, but put on there. But it’s quite fascinating. I’m sure there’s some explanation for this,” Ayyadurai said. The remark elicited laughter from an audience largely composed of audit supporters who believed, without factual basis, that the 2020 election was rigged against Donald Trump, a position Ayyadurai himself has aggressively promoted.

Lest one believe that election ignorance is restricted to an employee of Cyber Ninjas, Doug Logan, head of Cyber Ninjas, is just as ignorant.  

From Salon - 

Owner of firm hired to conduct Arizona election audit promoted baseless election conspiracy theories

The owner of a Florida-based tech company, who promoted baseless claims about widespread election fraud, has been charged by the Arizona state Senate with heading a recount of the 2.1 million general election votes in Maricopa County.

The company, Cyber Ninjas, will be leading three other firms – Wake Technology Services, Digital Discovery and CyFIR – to carry out a comprehensive audit and full hand recount. According to the firm's website, it "specializes in all areas of application security, ranging from your traditional web application to mobile or thick client applications. Within these disciplines, we offer ethical hacking, training and general consulting."

Maybe it's time for Rs in blue and purple states to stop kissing Cheeto's butt

Not gonna hold my breath waiting for that to happen, though.

But it's nice to see that I'm not the only one who thinks so...

While this headline reads "Nevadans", it could easily be about "Arizonans", or even just "people" in general.

Many of the Rs running for office in AZ in 2022 are solidly pro-Trump and pro-fraudit; their open contempt for democracy that doesn't go their preferred way utterly disqualifies them for any position of public trust.

An editorial from the Las Vegas Sun - 

Nevadans have no reason to trust candidates who humor the Big Lie

MATT YORK, POOL, FILE / AP

In this May 6, 2021, file photo, Maricopa County ballots cast in the 2020 general election are examined and recounted by contractors working for Florida-based company, Cyber Ninjas at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

Late last week, the nation learned the outcome of the circus-like Republican-led election “audit” in Arizona, and boy was it a shocker.

Not.

A draft version of the report, produced by partisans who were unqualified to conduct an actual audit, showed that Joe Biden won the vote in Arizona, as had been verified and certified already. The only surprise in the report — one that undoubtedly sent former President Donald Trump into an orange-faced tantrum — was that Biden won by a few hundred votes more in Maricopa County than had been originally reported.

The conspiracy theory laundry is working at full speed; the only question now is Cheeto getting a cut

 From the AZ Mirror, written by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy - 

A GOP lawmaker’s nonprofit was billed $400K for ‘audit’ security

Newly released documents show that the Arizona “audit” has spent more than $400,000 to hire off-duty police officers to provide security for the ballot review that concluded last month at the state fairgrounds. 

Not much has been previously known about how much money is flowing in and the agreements between the Senate and Peoria-based Law Enforcement Specialists except that the Senate entered into an agreement with the group on April 26. 

According to the website of the Arizona Corporation Commission, one Bonnie Lucas is the statutory agent and a director of Law Enforcement Specialists -

According to the website of the Arizona Secretary of State, one Bonnie Lucas gave a donation to Anthony Kern in 2019 - 

Which is significant because Kern is a party to a lawsuit over his and Finchem's presence on January 6th at the U.S. Capitol.  From Capitol Media Services, written by Howard Fischer, and published by the Arizona Capitol Times -

Fernandez fights Finchem, Kern lawsuit against her

A Yuma Democratic lawmaker is asking a judge to toss a defamation lawsuit filed against her by two Republican legislators and a member of Congress.

Rep. Charlene Fernandez contends she did nothing wrong in signing a letter asking the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate the activities of Rep. Mark Finchem of Oro Valley and now-former Rep. Anthony Kern of Glendale during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Both state lawmakers were there but have denied taking part in any disturbance.

Lawsuit status, from the website of the Arizona Supreme Court -

Interesting aside:

One of the attorneys, Alexander Kolodin, ran for a seat in the AZ Senate in 2020.

He lost in the R primary by more than 8000 votes to eventual winner and current AZSOS candidate, Michelle Ugenti-Rita -

Hell has officially (sort of) frozen over. I (sort of) agree with Paul Gosar

Congressman Steve Cohen doesn't though.

From Congressman Cohen's press release -

Congressman Cohen Disagrees with Colleague’s Description of the United States as a “Banana Republic”

During a Committee on Natural Resources mark up of elements of major infrastructure legislation today, Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) asked his fellow Committee member, Congressman Paul Gosar (AZ-04), to retract his verbal description of the United States as a “banana republic.” Congressman Gosar declined the polite and civil request and insisted “we might be even worse.”

In his remarks, Congressman Cohen said in part:

“If you would call back your referring to our country as a ‘banana republic,’ I’d appreciate it… ‘Banana republic’ is over the top. We’re not a banana republic. That has more to do with how you elect your leaders and not with legislation. There’s an old saying in Tennessee: ‘You don’t talk about rope in a house where a man’s been hung.’ I would just hope that you’d take back your reference to our country as a banana republic.”

He wasn't talking about Gosar's characterization (Gosar hadn't yet gone there), but loyal Trumpkin Mike Pompeo disagrees, too,  From The Hill -

Pompeo says US not a 'banana republic' amid fallout from attack on Capitol

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used his personal Twitter account on Thursday to criticize journalists and politicians for likening the U.S. to a "banana republic" following the violent attacks that occurred on the Capitol building Wednesday.

The push back from Pompeo came amid the fallout from an attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of President Trump's supporters Wednesday, in which five people, including a Capitol Police officer, were killed.

Even Gosar doesn't really believe the U.S. is a banana republic.  From December 7, 2020 -

 While I don't believe that the U.S. is a banana republic, Gosar is sort of correct - as far as Arizona, home of the fraudit, is concerned.

When the losing side of an election claims that loss is evidence of a fraudulent election and holds democracy itself as a hostage until they get their way definitely seems "banana-ish".

An attempt by Cyber Ninjas to blame getting Covid on all the bamboo they were exposed to coming in 3...2...1...

Damn, I'm cynical today. :)

Information on the bamboo reference is here.

Full ‘audit’ report delayed after Cyber Ninjas head, others get COVID-19

The team that has worked since April reviewing the 2020 general election in Maricopa County submitted a partial draft report to the Arizona Senate on Monday, but the full report will be delayed because several members of the team — including Cyber Ninjas head Doug Logan — have tested positive for COVID-19.

Senate President Karen Fann, R-Prescott, announced that Logan and two other members of the five-person audit team have COVID “and are quite sick.” One of the three — not Logan — is hospitalized with pneumonia, Fann told the Arizona Mirror. 

Just a guess: Logan et. al. aren't vaccinated.

1. Wear a damn mask.

2. Get vaccinated.

The Arizona Senate loses, again, in its quest to keep public records away from, you know, the *public*

From AP, via KJZZ -

Appeals Court Orders Arizona Senate Audit Records Released

An appeals court on Thursday rejected an effort by the Arizona Senate to keep secret records of its ongoing review of the 2020 election in Maricopa County that are in the possession of the contractors conducting the recount.

The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that the documents sought by the watchdog group American Oversight detailing how the recount and audit are being conducted are public and must be turned over.

The decision of the Arizona Court of Appeals is here.

Prediction: Fann, Petersen, et. al. ignore this decision, like they've ignored reality in all matters related to this.

They despise the public and public oversight of elected officials.

The fraudit is almost over, but its effects elicit dread

From Politico -

Arizona ‘bracing for impact’ of Trump-driven election report

The controversial Arizona 2020 election review is almost over, but top officials in the state’s largest county and secretary of state's office aren’t waiting for the conclusions, launching a pair of preemptive strikes against a report that could land as soon as next week.

Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, released a prebuttal laying out all of her office’s criticisms of the so-called election “audit.” She detailed the pre- and post-election testing election equipment underwent in Maricopa County and called the state Senate-led effort “secretive and disorganized” that routinely discarded best practices of an actual audit.

I just want to point out one thing - if the AZSOS and Maricopa County Recorder took as long to certify an election with dozens, even hundreds, of races as the AZ Senate's "auditors" have taken to look at one race, people would be up in arms.

Legitimately so.

The Arizona fraudit has issues. Is anyone not in the national MSM surprised?

From AP via Yahoo! News - 

'Botched': Arizona GOP's ballot count ends, troubles persist

 Arizona Republicans’ partisan review of the 2020 election results got off to a rocky start when their contractors broke rules for counting ballots and election experts warned the work was dangerous for democracy.

When the auditors stopped the counting and returned the ballots this week, it hadn't gotten better. In the last week alone, the only audit leader with substantial election experience was locked out of the building, went on the radio to say he was quitting, then reversed course hours later. The review's Twitter accounts were suspended for breaking the rules. A conservative Republican senator withdrew her support, calling the process “botched.” And the lead auditor confirmed what was long suspected: that his work was almost entirely paid for by supporters of Donald Trump who were active in the former president’s movement to spread false narratives of fraud. 

[snip]

On Wednesday night, Logan ended months of silence about who was paying him when he said a whopping $5.7 million had been contributed by political groups run by prominent Trump supporters including Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell, Patrick Byrne and correspondents from One America News Network. The figure dwarfs the $150,000 to be paid by the Senate. 

Apparently, not only was it always an effort to overturn democracy, it was a grift.

Considering Cheeto was involved, not a shock.  On either count.

Cheeto doubles down on the "Big Lie" during his visit to AZ

As long as his marks supporters keep showing up, so will he - he feeds off of their adulation and money - and their sense of entitlement; and he'll feed them a line of BS to keep them coming in,.

From Politico -

Trump clings to false election claims at Arizona rally

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday sought to lend credence to the partisan audit of presidential ballots cast in Arizona, holding his first rally there since the 2020 election.

Speaking in Phoenix at a Turning Point USA gathering, Trump hailed what he called Arizona Senate Republicans' “full forensic audit” of results in Maricopa County, while continuing to promulgate baseless conspiracy theories about the election he lost to Joe Biden.

Of course, Cheeto being Cheeto, it was always about the grift.

From Slate -

Donald Trump Is Keeping the Money

The rub was always in the fine print. Even after Donald Trump, the actual president of the United States, lost the 2020 election, he cranked up the outrage machine claiming election fraud, hinting at grand conspiracies, and sending Rudy Giuliani barnstorming to provide visuals, footage, new cautious news stories, that could be used to help spin the many, many yarns he was spinning on the fly. Meanwhile, Trump and his associated PACs raked in hundreds of millions on the chaos, confusion, and destruction. Their fundraising emails shouted things like “We MUST defend the Election from the Left!” as they soaked up cash from low-dollar donors who believed the president. The small print at the bottom whispered something very different: The first 75 percent of these #StoptheSteal donations to the Trump fundraising apparatus were redirected to Trump’s Save America leadership PAC, which was for Trump to spend more or less as he wished.

Apparently Ken Bennett has had his fill of Kool-Aid

 From Newsweek -

Arizona GOP Audit Director Barred From Recount After Sharing Data Supporting Trump Loss

The Republican overseeing the controversial GOP-backed election audit in Arizona has 

reportedly been banned from entering the building where the recount process is ongoing, 

after he shared some data with experts that showed the results match the officially 

certified numbers in Maricopa County.

The Arizona Republic reported on Friday evening that Ken Bennett, Arizona's former 

Secretary of State who has been described as the audit's "director," was barred from 

entering the building on the state fairgrounds where the audit is moving forward. The 

newspaper reported that Bennett had shared some of the audit data with outside 

experts showing that the ballot recount was tracking "very closely" with Maricopa 

County's certified results.

With the fraudit's barring of Ken Bennett, a former AZSOS and president of the Arizona Senate, this particular threat to Arizona's democracy is now all on Karen Fann, the current president of the Arizona Senate.

GOP tenet -"When the 'Big Lie' no longer works, go with intimidation"

 

From HuffPost:

Cyber Ninjas Now Aims To Pound On Arizona Voters’ Doors To Grill Them Over 2020 Ballots

The long-running audit of Arizona presidential votes could become

more confrontational now that the head of Cyber Ninjas, the

company in charge of the recount, is demanding it be allowed to go

to voters’ homes to grill them about their ballots.

The audit of Maricopa County’s 2.1 million votes, launched by state

Senate Republicans and arranged by Cyber Ninjas, a little-known

company with partisan ties, was supposed to be completed by May 14. 

But there has been no report on the operation, and the company still

appears to be scrambling for information.

From the AZ Mirror -

Senate indicates more election review subpoenas are likely

The Arizona State Senate might issue more subpoenas related to an ongoing review of the Maricopa County 2020 election, which has been going on since late April. 

During a nearly two-hour hearing in the Senate Thursday morning with Senate President Karen Fann and Sen. Warren Petersen, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, contractors for the audit as well as the audit’s liaison, former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, said they wanted more materials that the county hadn’t yet provided. 

Guessing that Fann and Petersen (and the other GOPers in the AZ Senate) aren't planning on writing subpoenas targeted to Cyber Ninjas.

They probably do plan on using the subpoenas to intimidate other, county-level, electeds, into acquiescing to their wishes.