It sure seems like Alabama is trying to out-Arizona Arizona

 I would say that Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is the worst member of Congress and that would make AL the worst state in the Union, but Arizona keeps sending Paul Gosar to D.C.

Tuberville may be epically dumb, but Gosar is epically bigoted.

From the Atmore (AL) Advance -

County BOE board member, Atmore newspaper reporter arrested by ECSO

UPDATE: The following story was updated today to include additional information on the arrests of Escambia County Board of Education District 6 Board Member Sherry Digmon and Atmore News Reporter Don Fletcher. The update also includes clarification on their charges, and comments from District Attorney Stephen Billy.

An Escambia County Board of Education board member and an Atmore newspaper reporter were arrested Oct. 27 for publishing grand jury evidence, according to officials.

District 6 Board Member Sherry Digmon, 72, and Don Fletcher, 69, both of Atmore, were booked into the county detention center in Brewton at 5:33 and 6:04 p.m. Friday, respectively, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office jail report.

[snip]

Billy suggested Alabama State Code Section 12-16-214, which details about grand jury and the desirability of secrecy.  

The code by which both were arrested (12-16-215) states: Grand juror, witness, etc., prohibited from revealing, disclosing, etc., a juror’s questions, considerations, etc.; no person to directly, indirectly, etc., by any means obtain information as to juror’s questions, considerations, etc. No past or present grand juror, past or present grand jury witness or grand jury reporter or stenographer shall willfully at any time directly or indirectly, conditionally or unconditionally, by any means whatever, reveal, disclose or divulge or attempt or endeavor to reveal, disclose or divulge or cause to be revealed, disclosed or divulged, any knowledge or information pertaining to any grand juror’s questions, considerations, debates, deliberations, opinions or votes on any case, evidence, or other matter taken within or occurring before any grand jury of this state. Nor shall any person at any time, directly or indirectly, conditionally or unconditionally by any means whatever, corruptly or with intent to influence a grand juror or other person authorized by law to attend a grand jury, or by threat of harm to person or property, or by force applied to person or property, or by threatening letter or communication, or by offer of reward, remuneration, gift, benefit or thing of value of whatever nature or kind, obtain or endeavor to obtain, any information pertaining to, or any knowledge of any grand juror’s questions, considerations, debates, deliberations, opinions or votes on any case, evidence or other matter taken or transpiring within or before any grand jury of this state.

I'm not an attorney, so take the following with a grain of salt.

The way that I read the statute as cited, it doesn't actually apply to journalists publishing a story.

Of course, the DA there may just be petty enough to not let truth get in the way.

From AL.com -

Lawyer: Alabama DA who charged newspaper publisher, reporter targets ‘people he has a problem with’

The attorney representing a newspaper publisher and reporter arrested and indicted on charges they disclosed grand jury secrets says his clients are the victims of a prosecutor who is “after people he has a problem with.”

Ernie White, a Brewton attorney, told AL.com on Thursday that Atmore News publisher Sherry Digmon and reporter Don Fletcher – both who face felony charges of revealing grand jury evidence – are facing criminal charges over a dispute related to the non-renewal of Escambia County Superintendent Michele McClung’s contract.

Sounds very Arpaio-esque.

Still, as craven as that is, it's not quite as bad as the fact that Alabama now has internal approval to kill people by suffocation.

From AP (emphasis added by me)-

Alabama can execute inmate with nitrogen gas, state’s highest court says

A divided Alabama Supreme Court said the state can execute an inmate with nitrogen gas, a method that has not previously been used carry out a death sentence.

The all-Republican court made its 6-2 decision without comment on Wednesday. The justices granted the state attorney general’s request for an execution warrant for Kenneth Eugene Smith, one of two men convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of Elizabeth Sennett in northwestern Alabama.

[snip]

The decision moves Alabama closer to becoming the first state to attempt an execution by nitrogen gas, although there will likely be additional legal wrangling over the proposed method before it’s used. Oklahoma and Mississippi have also authorized nitrogen hypoxia for executions, in which an inmate would breathe only nitrogen and be deprived of oxygen needed live. While proponents have theorized it would be painless, opponents liken it to human experimentation.

How long before the AZ Legislature tries to go lower than that by reintroducing stoning as a method of execution?

CD8: Toma's in, and in a blast from the past, so is Trent Franks

First up Toma.

From the website of the FEC -

This wasn't a closely-held secret as most observers expected him to get into the race and he filed a statement of interest with the AZSOS.

Now, the only question is when, or even if, Toma resigns as Speaker of the AZ House or his position in the House.

My guess is that nether will happen unless he feels he has a real shot at winning the primary.

Another entrant into the race is something of a surprise - former member of Congress Trent Franks.

From KJZZ, written by Camryn Sanchez, dated 11/1 -

Infamous former lawmaker Trent Franks enters congressional race

Former Congressman Trent Franks resigned from Congress in 2017 amid allegations of sexual harassment. Now, the West Valley Republican is launching a new campaign to win back his old seat.

Franks represented Congressional District 8 from 2003 until 2017, when he abruptly resigned after reports came to light that he offered a female employee $5 million to be a surrogate mother for his children. At the time, Franks acknowledged discussing surrogacy with a second female staffer. 

He resigned in late 2017 amid allegations of inappropriate behavior toward female subordinates.  He was replaced by Lesko 

I'm guessing he wants back in for two main reasons -

1. They've elected a Speaker who may be as socially extreme and radical as he is.

2. He resigned in late 2017, and if he wins next year's election, he'll take office again more than seven years later, in 2025.  In terms of Congressional staffers/interns, that's like four generations.  In other words, there are many female staffers/interns who haven't heard his "surrogacy" patter.

Legislative schedule - week starting 11/5/2023

This week is going to be a relatively busy one at the Capitol for an intersession week.

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 Monday, 11/6 

-

House Ad Hoc Study Committee on San Tan Valley Fire Coverage meets at 10 a.m. in HHR1.  As San Tan Valley is unincorporated, the is no tax-supported firefighting organization there. The only firefighting coverage there is provided by Rural/Metro, a private, for profit, corporation.  The corporation has a representative on the committee who will be presenting to the committee as well.

On Wednesday, 11/8 

-

House Ad Hoc Committee on Abuse and Neglect of Vulnerable Adults meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  This committee is actually chaired by a Democratic member, Rep. Jennifer Longdon,  As such, I expect that any recommendations put forward by this committee to be thoroughly ignored once the full legislature is back in session.

On Thursday, 11/9 

-

Joint Legislative Budget Committee meets at 1 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: A review of inmate healthcare contract rates at the Department of Corrections.  As this committee is chaired by Sen. John Kavanagh, I expect the recommendation here to be "let 'em die...just in way that most profits a corporation."

Kyrsten Sinema: Even the NRSC thinks she's toast

Pointed at this by Taegan Goddard's Political Wire.

From NBCNews, emphasis added by me -

Head of Senate GOP campaign arm shows Republicans internal poll with Democrat leading in Arizona

At a closed-door meeting Tuesday, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Steve Daines showed fellow GOP senators an internal poll of a three-way Arizona Senate race that found Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego leading with 41%, followed by Republican Kari Lake with 37% and independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema with 17%, said a source familiar with the meeting.

Notably, Daines told Republicans that Sinema is currently pulling more votes from Lake than she is from Gallego, despite her longtime affiliation with Democrats before she became an independent last year.

Actually, the highlighted section may be an incorrect statement.

From the Political Wire post -

In a head-to-head matchup, Gallego leads Lake 49% to 44%.

Based on that, with Sinema in the race, Gallego is leading by 4%; with her not running, he's leading by 5%.  Seems like that she's pulling votes from him, so the NRSC may be hoping that she runs for re-election.  She's not going to win, but her presence helps Lake.

Federal Committees update - special edition

By "special", I mean "CD8".

Two updates, with both candidate running for the CD8 currently held by Republican Debbie Lesko, who's not running for re-election in 2024.

Kern is currently an AZ state senator who is looking to return to the U.S. Capitol, where he was on January 6, 2021.

Of course, according to an AZ Mirror article written by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy, he's facing a complaint that alleges that he may have used campaign funds to attend the insurrection. 

Complaint alleges GOP lawmaker illegally used campaign cash to attend J6

An Arizona GOP legislator who was among the rioting crowds at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is facing a campaign finance complaint alleging that he illegally used cash from a failed re-election bid to attend the insurrection.

The complaint against Sen. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale claims that Kern improperly used campaign funds from his failed 2020 re-election to travel to Washington, D.C., to attend the events of Jan. 6, 2021, including airfare and a hotel stay. 

“These travel expenses occurred during the same time that Senator Kern traveled to Washington, D.C. for a rally at the United State Capitol on January 6, 2021 – a rally that ultimately turned violent and led to the death of seven people,” the complaint filed with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office by Peoria resident Josh Gray says. 

His activity only begs the question: Will his CD8 campaign cash be funneled to Cheeto's defense?

According to his contribution record with the AZSOS, Lewis is a project manager.

According to the website of the Arizona Secretary of State (AZSOS), 13 people have filed statements of interest for the race (it's NOT a requirement; people don't have to file one in order to appear on a ballot or even to form a committee - Lewis did file one, but Kern did not.)

Lesko filed one, but she filed it in January, well before she bowed out of the 2024 race.

Blake Masters may be the very definition of carpetbagger

He's running for CD8, which is in northwest Maricopa County, but not only does he live in Tucson, his FEC committee for this run is based in Virginia -

His committee number is C00854786.

So far as I know (I'm not a lawyer), this is all legal. 

But I expect that it will be used against by the other candidates in his primary.

Fasten your seatbelts for the 2024 elections: Poll says more than 1/5 of all Americans and 1/3 of Republicans support political violence

The Public Religion Research Institute (hereafter, PRRI) released a poll this week on the 2024 election.

Their write up is here; a .pdf of the survey presentation can be downloaded there.

Right now, most polls are of the "who will you vote for?" variety; this one is about attitudes and will be mostly ignored by the MSM and the general public.  But it shouldn't be.

First, the big news (some of these pics will be from the survey presentation, some will from the write up):

Yes, 1/3 of Rs are OK with politically violence.

According to the Arizona Secretary of State's website, there are approximately 1.45 million registered Republicans in the state, which means a little fewer than 500,000 of them are OK with politically-motivated violence being perpetrated, presumably on those who dare to disagree with them.

And this being Arizona, I expect that number is higher in the real world.

Other things -

Democratic voters are *really*  pro-choice while R voters *really* hate those who don't look like them.

This one kind of ties in with the first one - Rs *really* object to any that doesn't comport with their worldview.

I'd say that 2024 is going to be popcorn-riffic, but violence isn't entertaining.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville is dumb enough to be an R member of the AZ legislature

Pointed at this by Taegan Goddard's Political Wire.

From The Hill via Yahoo! -

Tuberville claims wars in Ukraine, Gaza were ‘created’ by Democrats

Sen.  (R-Ala.), who has held up more than 360 military promotions and created a stalemate that has consumed the Senate for months, claimed the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East were “created” by Democrats.

“They need to be worried about what’s going on in Ukraine, the Middle East, the wars that their side, the Democrats and , have created but you know, they want to circumvent the rules in the Senate,” Tuberville told Newsmax’s Bianca de la Garza on Friday.

Ummm....Alabama voted for Cheeto twice and voted for Tuberville over Doug Jones, begging the question

Who's dumber?  Tuberville or the people who voted for him?

Legislative schedule - week starting 10/22/2023

This is basically another rerun of my post of 9/22.

Nada.

As in "nothing official scheduled as of this writing."

As in, "regular Arizonans should be verrrry worried."

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.

Blake Masters looks to go to D.C... as a member of the House

He won't be the last GOPer to declare their interest in the race to replace Debbie Lesko.

From Politico -

Blake Masters announces House bid in Arizona, forgoing another run for Senate

Former Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters announced Thursday that he would run for an open congressional seat in the Phoenix suburbs, changing course from a planned second run for Senate in 2024.

“I’m running for Congress, to fight for Arizona’s 8th,” Masters tweeted Thursday, along with a video featuring his family. “Biden has failed. We need Trump back. We need to stop inflation, Build the Wall, avoid WW3, and secure Arizona’s water future. We need to fight for our families.”

Neither Masters, nor anyone else, has yet to form a committee with the FEC for the run.  That'll change.

Kyrsten Sinema: already planning for her exit from the U.S. Senate

I think she still runs.  

The only way she doesn't is if she finds a way to keep her campaign's $10 million+ cash on hand for herself.

From Business Insider via Yahoo! -

Kyrsten Sinema said she doesn't care if she loses reelection because she 'saved the Senate by myself' and can go serve 'on any board I want to,' book says

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema will face an exceedingly difficult re-election race in Arizona next year, if she chooses to run. But the Democrat-turned-independent may not be sweating it all that much.

According to reporter McKay Coppins's new book, "Romney: A Reckoning," Sinema once told Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah that she could "do anything" once she's out of office and feels that what she's done in the Senate is "good enough."

"I don't care. I can go on any board I want to. I can be a college president. I can do anything," she told Romney, according to the book. "I saved the Senate filibuster by myself. I saved the Senate by myself. That's good enough for me."

Hope that any board she joins gets a bigger meeting room because they'll need one for both her and her ego.

Who would have suspected that Tennessee was more advanced than Arizona?

From an opinion piece in the Tennessean -

Franklin voters give Mayor Ken Moore and aldermen a mandate for civic action and sanity

Franklin, Tennessee voters sent a strong message Tuesday that they want good governance based in substance and reality.

A vast majority of citizens re-elected a mayor and selected aldermen who are serious about finding solutions to complex local problems.

They aren’t dabbling in conspiracy theories or associating with neo-Nazis.

They aren’t spreading misinformation about voting machines or voting centers that the City of Franklin had to challenge with a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, with the label “Rumors.”

They are doing the work of trying to bring the community together on issues ranging from traffic mitigation to affordable housing to responsible planning for rapid growth. They are working to create a Franklin that is welcoming to diverse groups of residents, workers and visitors.

[snip]

With eight of eight vote centers reporting, these were the unofficial results from the Williamson County Election Commission:

Mayor

• Gabrielle Hanson: 3,322
• Ken Moore: 12,822
• Write-in: 65

Alderman At-Large

Position A

• Clyde Barnhill (incumbent, unopposed): 11,837
• Write-in: 639

Position B

• Brandy B. Blanton (incumbent): 10,946
• Gary Moore: 4,666
• Write-in: 22

Position C

• Greg Caesar: 10,336
• Patrick George: 4,249
• BK Muvvala: 825
• Write-in: 36

Position D

• Jeff Feldman: 4,243
• Ann Petersen (incumbent): 10,961
• Write-in: 42

Hanson, Moore, George and Feldman are MAGA types.

Guess I'll have to forgo my TN jokes for the time being; at least AL, MS, and TX are still themselves.

So's AZ, for that matter.

GOP nominee for House Speaker withdraws his candidacy; the GOP's need for a clown van continues unabated

Someone else is in the dock now that Tom Emmer is out.

From AP via Yahoo! -

Republicans nominate Mike Johnson for House speaker after Emmer's withdrawal, desperate to end chaos

House Republicans chose Rep. Mike Johnson as their latest nominee for House speaker, hours after an earlier pick, Rep. Tom Emmer, abruptly withdrew in the face of opposition from  and hardline GOP lawmakers.

Johnson of Louisiana is member of House GOP leadership, a lawyer specializing in constitutional issues who had rallied Republicans around Trump’s legal effort to overturn the 2020 election results.

[snip]

Republican Rep. Tom Emmer abruptly abandoned his bid to become House speaker Tuesday, withdrawing within hours of winning the internal party nomination after Donald Trump objected and hardliners refused to support him for the gavel.

Emmer becomes the third House Republican to fall short in what has become an almost absurd cycle of political infighting since Kevin McCarthy's ouster as GOP factions jockey for power. Refusing to unify, far-right members won't accept a more traditional speaker and more moderate members don't want a hardliner.

Johnson looks to be the kind of hardliner that the "moderates" claim not to want

Kevin McCarthy goes on Meet the Press and shows that he's a lousy human being

He may be the Jeff Bezos of the U.S. House of Representatives, just with less money.

Cheeto hates Bezos, not because Bezos, though a vile human being, is still a better one than Cheeto, but because Bezos is wealthier than Cheeto.

Similarly, McCarthy is hated by Matt Gaetz, who's pretty vile himself.

Yet McCarthy, with his appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, while hated by Gaetz, proved that he is still pretty bad himself.

It's as if being despised by someone who's a lousy human being may not be a positive character reference.

Meet the Press' transcript is here.

McCarthy showed four things with his appearance:

1. While he was deposed by extremists in his own caucus (in fact, Gaetz made the motion to get rid of him), he blames Democrats for his ouster and hopes everyone else does too.  Notwithstanding the cluster-copulate that the R caucus in the House has become.

2. He may not be as pro-Putin/anti-Ukraine as Cheeto and Paul Gosar, but it's a matter of degree, not a matter of substantive difference.

3. Like most other Rs, he conflates being anti-immigrant with being anti-Hamas' attack on Israel.

4. He wants to be Speaker again; at least, he didn't rule it out.

From the transcript (emphasis added by me), though I recommend reading it in its entirety -

Actually, he showed a few other things, but those were the high points.

Cheeto throws Sidney Powell under the bus

At least he didn't say she only fetched coffee.

From CNN -

After Sidney Powell pleads guilty in Georgia case, Trump claims she was ‘never’ his attorney, despite their past ties

Former President Donald Trump claimed Sidney Powell was “never” his attorney in a social media post Sunday, three days after she pleaded guilty in the Georgia election subversion case.

Despite Trump’s claims, Powell was briefly an official member of Trump’s legal team in 2020, and Trump stayed in contact with her on election-related matters even after she was ousted from his campaign.

Dear attorneys for Cheeto:

This turn of events proves something - not only should  you wait for the retainer check to clear before doing anything for him, his campaign, or one of his companies, you should probably photocopy that check before depositing it,

Me