MAGAits don't get their way so they threaten violence. Color me shocked!

Next, someone will tell me that water is wet.

From The Guardian (UK) -

Colorado supreme court justices face death threats after Trump ruling

Justices on the Colorado supreme court are receiving a barrage of death threats after it ruled to exclude Donald Trump from the state’s presidential ballot next year because of his attempts to cause insurrection.

A report compiled by Advance Democracy, a non-partisan non-profit organization, said there was “significant violent rhetoric” against the justices and Democrats on social media, according to NBC News.

Cheeto supporters aren't happy about something so they spew violent rhetoric.

Only on days ending in "Y".

Prefiling bills, or the AZ lege's way of getting an early start..

...Hey, it may be getting an early start on cravenness and insanity, but an early start is an early start, right?

State Sen. Wendy Rogers (R-Bigot) has proposed three measures, and two are related to banning the use of photo radar to enforce traffic laws, one proposed bill and one proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution.

This public hatred for photo radar that the legislature has is something that they've had for a while.

Mostly because they keep running into it.

The other bill (for now, I'm sure she has more nuggets of ugly to propose) is SB1004.

This one seeks to bar foreign ownership of agricultural land in AZ, but this appears to be meaningless Republican nativist propaganda.

While we've had our issues with that, specifically Saudi Arabia depleting groundwater in rural AZ, this proposal impacts neither water nor Saudi Arabia.

From Rogers' bill proposal -

There are other issues here that lead me to believe that is just nativist propaganda (e.g. - it's sloppily written) and isn't going to go anywhere, but it's an early sign that the AZ legislature intends to produce lots of garbage, and not much that will help the average Arizonan.

Hope Governor Hobbs has kept her veto pen close at hand.

Hypocrisy is bad, but violence is worse, so *no*, Brigitte Ziegler shouldn't resign her position

She's part of a school board there, and yes, she's a hypocrite, but, IMO, that's not enough.

That may be the idealist part of me speaking.

On the other hand, her husband, Christian Ziegler, (allegedly) committed rape.  He shouldn't resign as head of the Florida GOP, but that's just the partisan hack part of me speaking.

From Business Insider -

How Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, a supporter of 'parental rights' in schools, got caught in a sex scandal that may push her to resign from a school board

Hypocrisy will do it every time.

Bridget Ziegler, a co-founder of the rightwing Moms for Liberty group, knows that better than most.

She and her husband, Christian, are embroiled in a sex scandal that is costing them their positions in local Florida politics, as well as their moral high ground with the religious right, Business Insider previously reported.

Do I think that she's a hypocrite?  Yes.

On the other hand, I firmly believe that what happens between freely consenting adults in their business and only their business, but one shouldn't be privately something that one gets their hate on for publicly.

Got some advice for her -

1. Don't resign.  Unless you were involved in the violence.

2. Divorce the schmuck.  Best case scenario: he cheated.  Worst case scenario:  he's violent.  Either way: easy case for even a moderately competent divorce attorney.

3. Don't be a hypocrite.  This is a big one.

4. Don't ever run for any office again.  Ever.  You will get hammered on this.

Got some advice for him, too -

1. Hire a good defense lawyer.  This doesn't seem to be a best case scenario for the victim, your wife, or you.

Just when you think that certain people can't go any lower

At least we get a new definition of "shameless" out of it.

From The Guardian (UK)

Alex Jones offers $55m to Sandy Hook families to satisfy $1.5bn judgment

The conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has proposed to pay $55m over 10 years to the Sandy Hook families who sued him for spreading lies that the 2012 school massacre in Connecticut, one of the worst in American history, was a hoax.

The offer came after a Texas judge ruled that Jones, the host of Infowars, could not use bankruptcy protection to dodge the nearly $1.5bn he was ordered to pay to the victims’ families, who suffered abuse and threats from believers of Jones’s lies.

According to the 30-page plan submitted on Friday, Jones offered to pay a lump sum of at least $5.5m a year, to be shared among the plaintiffs. The payment would also be accompanied by a percentage of his personal annual revenue, and a slice of Infowars revenue. His debt would be considered satisfied after 10 years.

So...is Jones auditioning to be on Cheeto's ticket as his VP candidate or to be an agency head (Treasury Secretary or head of the IRS) if he wins?

Legislative schedule - week starting 12/17/2023

I was truly expecting that the week before Christmas would be a quiet one at the Capitol, but apparently, there are some things that can't be put off.

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, 12/18 

-

I normally don't cover non-legislative events here, but on Monday, Adrian Fontes, the Arizona Secretary of State, will conduct a drawing to set the order of the names on AZ's Presidential Preference Election (primary) ballots.

If Cheeto isn't listed first, I expect MAGA types will claim the process was fraudulent.

But  that's not what I'm thinking couldn't be put off.  That would be on 

Tuesday, 12/19 

-

House Ethics meets at 9 a.m.in HHR4.  They'll be considering the matter of Democratic Rep. Leezah Sun.

On 12/20 and 12/21 -

Nada.

Virtual Charter Schools: Cui Bono?

What does "cui bono" mean?

From Merriam Webster -

Usually, the phrase is translated as "Who benefits?"

With virtual charter schools, it isn't the parents, not when you see the gaping hole in the state's budget.  And they're taxpayers.

It's not the students, not when you see the following report.

From that report from the Center for Economic Studies at the U.S. Census Bureau, dated May of 2023, by Paul Yoo (UC-Irvine), Thurston Domina (UNC-Chapel Hill), Leah Clark (Census Bureau), Hannah Hertenstein (UC-Irvine), and Andrew Penner (UC-Irvine) (emphasis added by me)-

Abstract

Virtual charter schools are increasingly popular, yet there is no research on the long-term outcomes of virtual charter students. We link statewide education records from Oregon with earnings information from IRS records housed at the U.S. Census Bureau to provide evidence on how virtual charter students fare as young adults. Virtual charter students have substantially worse high school graduation rates, college enrollment rates, bachelor's degree attainment, employment rates, and earnings than students in traditional public schools. Although there is growing demand for virtual charter schools, our results suggest that students who enroll in virtual charters may face negative long-term consequences. 

Hmmm..

If someone uses their office to impede a criminal investigation, does that constitute malfeasance in office?

*I* think so, but I'm not a lawyer.

From an opinion piece in the Arizona Republic by Laurie Roberts, dated 1/6 -

Far-right wants to impeach Kris Mayes for enforcing election law in Cochise County

Impeachment fever has reached Arizona as the Maricopa County Republican Party brain trust on Tuesday called for the ouster of Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes.

The party’s hard-right leaders are furious that a pair of Republican Cochise County supervisors have been indicted on charges that they interfered with the 2022 election.

Apparently, it’s now a “grotesque abuse of office” to require county supervisors to follow state law — the one that says they must certify election results within 20 days of an election.

[snip]

Hoffman puts impeachment on the table

So much so, in fact, that they plan to embark upon a little weaponization of their own.

“You can bet your a-- that the @AZFreedomCaucus will be looking at every possible option to make weaponizing our state’s government and abusing Executive power as painful as humanly possible,” Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek and Freedom Caucus chairman, announced on social media shortly after last week’s indictments.

Hoffman's posts on Elon Musk's vanity project/hatefest X, formerly known as Twitter -

Hoffman was one of the fake electors in AZ being investigated by AG Mayes.

Assuming that Hoffman goes forward with his scheme and isn't just talking out of his posterior spouting talking points, he may find himself with some credibility issues.  He engaged in some antidemocratic behavior and is seeking to use his position to forestall an examination of that behavior.

Of course, he could find another R to be the public face of his impeachment scheme, one with a reputation for being an honorable human being.

Of course2, he may that difficult to pull off, for two reasons - 1. R legislators in AZ tend to fall into one of three character categories bad, very bad, and less bad.  2. There was a time when certain Republican legislators were wrong, politically, but were otherwise decent people.

That time is not now.

Legislative schedule - week starting 12/10/2023

It's shaping up to be a relatively busy week at the Capitol as they look to finish up some of their intersession work before the start of the new legislative session.  And before they take a break for the holidays.

But not so busy they won't have time to engage in some propaganda-spewing.

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, 12/11 

-

Joint Study Committee on Statewide Animal Control Standards meets at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1.  

On Tuesday, 12/12 

-

House Ad Hoc Committee on Antisemitism in Education meets at 9 a.m. in HHR1.  The agenda is sparse (it only has a call to order, public testimony, and an adjournment on it) but this should be colorful.  To put it mildly.

Just a guess:  State Sens. Justine Wadsack and Wendy Rogers probably won't be there.

House Committee on International Trade meets at 10 a.m. on the House Floor.  They're scheduled to receive presentations from a Consul and other luminaries.  But none from Mexico, Arizona's largest trading partner.

That wouldn't comport with the Rs' bigoted ideology.

On Wednesday, 12/13 - Nada.

On Thursday, 12/14 

-

Joint Legislative Budget Committee meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1.  They'll be avoiding the public at this one.  There's both an executive session (no public attendees) and a consent agenda (no testimony from the public) on the meeting agenda.  Nothing else.

Joint Committee on Capital Review meets at 2:15 p.m. or when the first committee adjourns.  Nothing here but a consent agenda.

Knock, knock, knock

From CNN -

Nevada grand jury indicts six pro-Trump fake electors

A Nevada grand jury has indicted six individuals who acted as fake electors in a scheme intended to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election win, according to the state’s attorney general.

The indictments make Nevada the third state – joining Michigan and Georgia – to bring charges against those who served as fake pro-Trump electors after the 2020 election.

The six Nevadans charged are fake electors: Michael McDonald, Jesse Law, Jim DeGraffenreid, Durward James Hindle III, Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice. They 

face felony charges of “offering a false instrument for filing” and “uttering a 

forged instrument.”

The Arizonans involved in this scheme who should be worried about the next knock on their doors (from AZMirror) -

Nancy Cottle

Loraine B. Pellegrino

Tyler Bowyer

Jake Hoffman

Anthony T. Kern

James Lamon

Robert Montgomery

Samuel I. Moorhead

Greg Safsten. 

Dr. Kelli Ward 

Dr. Michael Ward

I did delete the article's descriptions of the backgrounds of each fake elector as thing can change over time, but I will say this -

Hoffman and Kern are members of the current legislature.

Short Attention Span Musing - justice system edition

And, surprisingly enough, Cheeto and his many indictments aren't part of it.

...First up: the big news of the week.

From AZ Family, written by Peter Valencia, dated 11/29 -

2 Cochise County supervisors indicted for 2022 election interference

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has announced that a grand jury has handed down an indictment against two Cochise County supervisors.

The indictment was filed Monday in Maricopa County Superior Court. According to the AG’s office, Peggy Judd and Terry “Tom” Crosby conspired to delay the canvass of votes cast in the county during the November 2022 General Election. Both now face felony offenses of conspiracy and interference with an election officer.

A press release from Attorney General Kris Mayes is here.  The indictment itself (part of the press release) is here.  From Maricopa County Superior Court records: the case number is CR2023-008495.

Arraignment is scheduled for 12/21/2023

Guessing that Kelli Ward and the other 2020 fake electors were hoping that election-denying would get lost in the hubbub.

My guess: Not so much.

Other news:

...The U.S. House expelled Rep. George Santos (R-NY) by an overwhelming margin this week.  However, Arizona's representatives in Congress weren't exactly unanimous in the desire to expel the oft-indicted member.

From the vote:

All Democratic members from AZ voted to expel Santos, but four GOP members from AZ voted to protect criminality -

Crane (AZ2), Biggs (AZ5), Gosar (AZ9), and Lesko (AZ8).

Not surprising: Biggs and Gosar are relentlessly partisan bigots and Crane is their ideological saddle partner.

Surprising:  Lesko.  I figured that if there was a fourth AZGOPer to vote to protect Santos, it would be David Schweikert.  He's got ethical issues of his own, thought he would vote to help one of his own.

I was wrong.

...Arizona Supreme Court Justice Bill Montgomery (R-Dougie) recused himself from a case involving Planned Parenthood, a group that he's demonized in the past.

From AZ Mirror, written by Gloria Rebecca Gomez, dated 11/30 -

Anti-abortion AZ Supreme Court Justice recuses self from abortion case

An Arizona Supreme Court judge who once accused Planned Parenthood of committing genocide has agreed to recuse himself from a case involving the organization that will determine the future legality of abortion in the state. 

In October, Planned Parenthood Arizona called for Justice Bill Montgomery to step away from the case after the resurfacing of a 2017 Facebook post in which he said its national counterpart was responsible for the “greatest generational genocide known to man.” The organization, which runs four of the state’s nine abortion clinics and is the main litigant in the case, argued that Montgomery’s vehement opposition to it threatens to jeopardize its right to a fair and impartial trial. 

There are many amicus briefs filed for this one.

It's scheduled to be heard by the AZ supes on 12/12.

..And in sad news,  Arizona icon Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, has passed away at age 93

From AZ Mirror, written by Ashley Murray, dated 12/1 -

Sandra Day O’Connor, who made history as the first woman on the Supreme Court, dies at 93

The first woman to serve on the nation’s highest court is dead at 93.

Sandra Day O’Connor, a groundbreaking justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, died Friday in Phoenix, of complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, and a respiratory illness, according to an announcement from the court.

President Ronald Reagan nominated O’Connor in 1981, and she was confirmed by the full Senate, 99-0, in September of that year

I didn't always agree with her, but always thought she was a decent human being.

My deepest condolences go out to her family and friends.

Federal Committee update - Oops on my part edition

Well, almost..

First, the update -

Initially, I thought this was a misfile on the candidate's part as I thought he's running for a seat in the AZ Senate.  However, I've seen his introduction video and he's actually running for U.S. Senate.

Normally, I wouldn't cover a quixotic candidate (I believe that he's got a snowball's chance in Phoenix...in July...of winning that primary) except for his (apparent) oopsie.

Ummmm...U.S. Senate seats are statewide seats, not districted.

Paraguayan official fired for acknowledging fake country. You know Cheeto just has two questions

1. Does that fake country want an overpriced hotel or golf course named after a crook?

2. Does it have an extradition treaty with the U.S.?

Not certain which one is more important to Cheeto right now.

From France24 -

Paraguay official sacked after signing agreement with fictitious country

Arnaldo Chamorro told reporters Thursday he was dismissed from his job as chief of staff to the agriculture minister after signing the document with purported officials from the "United States of Kailasa" -- presented to him as a South American island.

"They (the 'officials') came and expressed a wish to help Paraguay. They presented several projects, we listened to them and that was that," he said, admitting to having been fooled.

He was dismissed on Wednesday.

Maybe someone should send Cheeto a proclamation that declares him to king and chief potentate of Elbonia.

Hey, Elbonia was in a comic strip written by a bigoted whackjob; someone who is right up Cheeto's ideological alley.

Legislative schedule - week starting 12/3/2023

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 12/4 and Tuesday 12/5 - 

Nada.

On Wednesday, 12/6 

-

Joint Legislative Audit Committee meets at 9 a.m. in SHR109.

On the agenda and scheduled to present to the committee/be in for a grilling:

The office of the state's Auditor General (a legislative employee, so probably not going to get grilled too hard)

The Governor's Office (considering how much the Republicans in the lege hate Governor Hobbs, this is probably going to be where the Rs on the committee practice their bile-spewing)

Department of Administration

Department of Economic Security

AHCCCS

There are other items on the agenda, too.

On Thursday 12/7 - 

Nada.

Cheeto's credo: If you don't like reality, just lie about it

And, surprisingly enough, this isn't about the reality of him losing the 2020 election.

Not this time.

From The Independent (UK) via Yahoo! -

Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene try to rewrite story of South Carolina 

football game

Former President Donald Trump and his loyal friend, Congresswoman 

Marjorie Taylor Greene, seem to be promoting a different version of events after 

Mr Trump was booed at the South Carolina football game.

While videos captured Mr Trump being met with a cacophony of boos as he 

walked onto the field during halftime, he quickly tried to revise the incident.

On Truth Social, he reposted articles that said the crowds showed support. He 

posted one article alongside a quote, which read: “Trump cheered at football 

stadium, picks up slew of new endorsements in South Carolina.”

Fasten your seatbelts: 2023 was an interesting year but just a prelude to the bumpy ride that will be 2024

I know that it's early and later writers will do summaries that are both longer and less Maricopa County-centric.

Having said that, there are a number of developments in the political world here in AZ in 2023 that will have effects in 2024.

1. It started in 2022 (actually, it may have started before that when it became obvious that she was a lousy US Senator, but it become official in 2022), but Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's  change from the Democratic Party to Unaffiliated has set up a 2024 election race that involves Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego, Republican Kari Lake (I'm not predicting that she will win her primary, but as of now, I'm presuming that she will be the nominee) and, perhaps, Sinema herself (if she mounts a third party run).

From CNBC, dated 12/9/2022 -

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema leaves Democratic Party to become

 

independent

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has switched parties to become an independent, complicating the Democrats’ narrow control of the U.S. Senate.

Sinema said in a tweet Friday that she was declaring her “independence from the broken partisan system in Washington and formally registering as an Arizona Independent.”

It's a statewide race, but since Maricopa County has ~60% of the state's population and registered voters, the race is considered to be Maricopa-centric.

2. The decision by Republican Congresswoman Debbie Lesko to not seek re-election in 2024.  Her decision has set off a massive primary battle for north/northwestern Maricopa County district.  Not every R running for the seat actually lives in the district, but that's not required per the US Constitution and since this is a safe R seat, no R candidate will pass this one by.

I'm actually a little surprised that former Phoenix city council member Sal DiCiccio and perennial candidate Rodney Glassman haven't jumped into the race.

On the other hand, it's early yet. :)

From AP, dated 10/17/2023 -

US Rep. Debbie Lesko won’t seek re-election in Arizona next year

U.S. Rep. Debbie Lesko announced Tuesday that she will not run for office next year.

The Arizona Republican has decided to spend more time with family.

In a statement, Lesko, 64, said traveling every month to Washington, D.C. has been difficult and that “D.C. is broken.”

None of the Rs running to replace will "unbreak" D.C.

3. The announcement by Democrat Paul Penzone that not only will he not seek re-election as Maricopa County Sheriff in 2024, he'll resign from the job in January.

From Arizona's Family, written by their digital news staff and Micaela Marshall, dated 10/2/2023 -

Penzone won’t seek 3rd term as Maricopa County Sheriff, will step down in January

Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone says he will not seek a 3rd term and will be stepping down as Sheriff in January 2024.

“I have decided that I will not pursue a third term,” said Penzone during an emotional news conference Monday afternoon. “Not because I leave this office in any way, shape, or form disappointed; it has all been incredible. It is the greatest privilege and blessing that anyone could’ve asked for, especially in a profession like this.” Penzone said.

As off this writing, only three committees are open for a run at the office - one by Penzone himself, one by Joe Arpaio, the man Penzone defeated in 2016 (but that committee is very old and may not be intended for a run in 2024) and one by Jerry Sheridan, a former Arpaio henchman/deputy.  However, he formed his committee well before Penzone's announcement.  He was going to run regardless of everything else.

4. The first three items listed are "horse race" matters and will receive scads of attention from the MSM, if only because they're easy to report on.

However, while not as easy to report on, the next issue may be more significant.  It's about how races are run. I've listed it here at #4, but it may end up being the most significant issue in 2024.

From AZ Mirror, written by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy, dated 9/26/2023 -

98% of Arizonans will have new elections officials in 2024, report finds

Arizona has lost nearly all of its experienced election officials and 98% of the state will have new officials running elections in 2024 than ran the 2020 elections, a new report found. 

The Grand Canyon State has been center stage for election misinformation since 2020, with efforts such as the Arizona Senate Republicans’ “audit” of the 2020 presidential election and Kari Lake’s continuing efforts to overturn her 2022 loss in the race for governor.

The state has also seen threats of violence towards election officials and those who help administer elections. Five recent cases from the U.S. Department of Justice were all from Arizona that included individuals who called for election officials to be killed and in some areas, such as in Yavapai County, one official ended up needing security from the local sheriff at their home.

This isn't just an Arizona problem, it's a national one.  

From The Union of Concerned Scientists' The Equation, dated 10/18/2023 -

2024 Election Workers Need Better Protection from Harassment

Most election workers are probably like my late mother-in-law. Mary Holmes spent many of her senior years volunteering at the polls in Cambridge, MA. She considered this work a part of her civic duty, just as she had decades earlier when she volunteered as a school traffic guard.  

She never voiced a moment of fear, either from motorists who respected her waving of arms and her reflective vest, or from voters, many of whom hurriedly hustled in and out of the ballot box on their way to work or on the way home from work to dinner. I cannot recall anything specific she ever said about this work. It was just what you did in a community. Her many years of service spoke for themselves about her pride in playing a seemingly small role in democracy.

We’ve learned more in recent years about how large a role she actually played. The mobs of January 6, 2021 and the malevolent harassment of election workers and officials all over the nation by deniers of the 2020 defeat of former President Donald Trump have left this slice of democracy on an unprecedented precipice. According to a report released last month by Issue One, a nonpartisan democracy think tank, roughly 40 percent of chief local elections officials in 11 western states have left their posts since the 2020 election.

The Issue One report referenced in both articles is here.