AZ Supreme Court To Hear Arguments In Business Owner’s Defamation Claim Against Sen. Wendy Rogers

AZ Supreme Court To Hear Arguments In Business Owner’s Defamation Claim Against Sen. Wendy Rogers

By Terri Jo Neff |

The Arizona Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday morning in a first of its kind case about whether a political candidate or campaign committee can be held liable under state law for defaming a third party or a private company while attacking a political opponent.

Pamela Young claims she and her company Models Plus International (doing business as The Young Agency) were defamed and presented in a false light by campaign ads approved by state Sen. Wendy Rogers in 2018. At the time, Rogers was running for U.S. House of Representatives against Steve Smith, a state senator who had worked for Young’s Christian-based modeling company and talent agency for about a decade.

Young alleges Rogers’ campaign utilized radio, telephone, and direct mail ads which gave the impression Young and her company were involved in or condoned sex trafficking of young children. One such ad called Smith “a slimy character whose modeling agency specializes in underage girls and advertises on websites linked to sex trafficking.”

Rogers’ campaign also alleged Smith advertised on the Model Mayhem website, which the campaign described as being “full of pornographic material, which has also been involved in human trafficking.”

Smith lost to Rogers in the 2018 Republican primary by less than seven points, but Rogers lost in the General Election.

Young sued for defamation and invasion of privacy. Rogers has continually argued her 2018 ads never “directly” tied Smith to The Young Agency and never directly linked the company to any illegal conduct.

But the ads did not set well with several prominent Republicans, including Congressman Andy Biggs who called Rogers’ effort “one of the most despicable ads in campaign history.”

In 2019, a Maricopa County judge denied a motion by Rogers and her husband to dismiss Young’s claims. However, the Arizona Court of Appeals reversed the lower court in December 2020, ruling Young had not presented sufficient evidence to move her lawsuit forward against the defendants.

Young filed a petition for review to the Arizona Supreme Court in January seeking for her lawsuit to be reinstated. Rogers’ husband Hal Kunnen and her official campaign committee are also named as defendants.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed an amicus curiae brief in the case in June after which the justices set oral arguments for Sept. 28. A decision against Rogers would reinstate Young’s case, which could have major ramifications in how election advertising is conducted in Arizona and protect the rights of employers whose employees run for public office.

Bill Montgomery, who in 2018 was Maricopa County’s elected county attorney, denounced Rogers’ ads as “the worst kind of politics.” Montgomery was later appointed by Gov. Doug Ducey to the Arizona Supreme Court. He has recused himself from hearing Rogers’ petition. In his place, Judge Philip Espinosa of the Arizona Court of Appeals will sit in on arguments.

The ads also did not set well with Kathleen Winn, who is a member of the Maricopa County Community College District board. She is also an expert on child sex trafficking in Arizona.

“If you happen to believe one of your opponents is exploiting children, trafficking minors, selling them on a website for sex producing a political attack ad is NOT your first course of business,” Winn said. “Contacting law enforcement to report the alleged crime is what you need to do.”

Rogers was elected to the state Senate for LD6 in November 2020.

Undisclosed Number of Haitian Refugees Brought Into Tucson

Undisclosed Number of Haitian Refugees Brought Into Tucson

By Corinne Murdock |

Over the past week, Tucson has begun to receive a number of Haitians transported from the Texas border. It is unclear how many Haitians will be brought in; AZ Free News requested those numbers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Pima County, and the various organizations that assist refugees under the Arizona Refugee Resettlement Program. In various reports, Tucson City Councilmember Steve Kozachik indicated that the numbers were large.

AZ Free News also inquired about the vetting procedures for these refugees, if any, and how the government was determining who qualified for refugee status. The entities we questioned either didn’t respond to any of our inquiries by press time or said they couldn’t offer information to the press.

The Biden Administration is resettling Haitians after determining that their number has become a burden to border patrol in Texas. Over 15,000 were estimated to be under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas as of the past week. Tucson officials claim their intake of Haitians is temporary – one to two days, at most according to Kozachik.

The Haitian refugees are either being bussed or flown into Tucson. Once there, they are processed by immigration services and either taken to hotels or Casa Alitas, a shelter run by Catholic Community Services (CCS). Within several days, officials will contact the alien’s next-of-kin or sponsor.

CCS and Casa Alitas told AZ Free News that they aren’t answering press inquiries at this time. We also attempted to contact Pima County – they own the building where CCS operates Casa Alitas. They didn’t respond by press time.

The refugee arrivals report from the Arizona Refugee Resettlement Program didn’t document any Haitian refugees, per its updated numbers last Thursday.

Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) questioned how these Haitians were reaching American soil. He noted that Haitians weren’t just coming into Texas – they’d been coming into Yuma as far back as May. Haiti to Arizona is a journey of nearly 2,800 miles.

“Many Haitians are crossing into Yuma as well. In [sic] met dozens in May 2021. All well fed. Clean,” wrote Gosar. “They did not “journey” to our border by foot. They were flown.   Who is paying?


https://twitter.com/DrPaulGosar/status/1440802471522144263

Rather than addressing the crisis-level surge of illegal immigrants at the border, leaving Haitians to crowd together as squatters under a bridge with minimal resources, Vice President Kamala Harris focused her concern on the allegations of poor treatment of the Haitians. She said she was “outraged” by claims that border patrol agents on horseback were whipping the Haitians. The vice president called it “horrible” and claimed it resembled slavery. She said there should be “consequences and accountability” for the border patrol agents.

“And as we all know, it also evoked images of some of the worst moments of our history, where that kind of behavior has been used against the indigenous people of our country, has been used against African-Americans during times of slavery,” stated Harris.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71lOzx6mWqE

The National Border Patrol Council, among many others, debunked claims that border patrol were whipping illegal immigrants. They shared a corrective post from the Border Patrol Horse Patrol.

“Those are split reins; not whips, they are 6 feet long. They are split for when we go into the brush. If we go through thick brush and a tree branch gets caught, it will just slip right through. The reins are connected to the bit. The bit is in their mouth and the last thing we want to do is hurt our partners by tearing up their mouths,” read the post. “You have seen the video of the agent spinning the rein when illegals get close to the horse. It’s to create distance between the horse and the person on the ground. Our horses easily weigh 1200 pounds, they can step on someone and break a bone or kill a small child [if] a person gets too close. We also spin them if someone attempts to grab the reins because the last thing you want is someone who doesn’t know a thing about horses, to have control of the horse you are on. (If an illegal attempts to gain control of our reins it is considered deadly.) The horse can freak out, jump up and roll with you on them. Us as riders can be killed if a horse lands on us. Hope this helps those who have never seen a horse or split reins before… we will continue to support our brothers and sisters in Del Río.”

https://www.facebook.com/bpunion/photos/a.114664391886455/4751246794894835/

Even the photographer who captured the viral images of border patrol holding reins near the Haitians clarified that no agents were “whipping” the illegal immigrants.

Regardless of the fact that these claims were false, the Biden Administration immediately ordered border patrol to cease using horses while handling the border crisis. President Joe Biden even threatened that law enforcement “would pay” for doing their job.

Horses are advantageous in patrolling the border due to their stature and ability to traverse rough, uneven terrain, and due to the animals’ natural gifts: their herding instinct for guiding and corralling illegal immigrants, and their heightened sense of sight and hearing for scoping out illegal immigrants.

Harris was designated to handle the border by Biden at the outbreak of his border crisis earlier this year.

Members of the Biden Administration are also displeased with the Haiti mix to the border crisis – but for different reasons, apparently. Biden’s Special Envoy for Haiti, Daniel Foote, resigned on Wednesday. He claimed that the Biden Administration had ignored or dismissed his recommendations for handling the issues in Haiti that led to the border crisis. Foote said that the forced deportation of thousands of Haitians wasn’t proper protocol, and that the Haitians would suffer or die because of it.

Foote indicated that the Biden Administration’s forthcoming decision to install their pick of leadership for the Haitians would only result in failure again.

“[W]hat our Haitian friends really want, and need, is the opportunity to chart their own course, without international puppeteering and favored candidates but with genuine support for that course. I do not believe that Haiti can enjoy stability until her citizens have the dignity of truly choosing their own leaders fairly and acceptably,” wrote Foote. “Last week, the U.S. and other embassies in Port-au-Prince issued another public statement of support for the unelected, de facto Prime Minister Dr. Ariel Henry as interim leader of Haiti, and have continued to tout his ‘political agreement’ over another broader, earlier accord shepherded by civil society. The hubris that makes us believe we should pick the winner – again – is impressive. This cycle of international political interventions in Haiti has consistently produced catastrophic results. More negative impacts to Haiti will have calamitous consequences not only in Haiti, but in the U.S. and our neighbors in the hemisphere.”

By federal law, refugees are those unable or unwilling to return to their native country due to “well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.”

Haiti is currently facing political turmoil. In July their president, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated by gunmen claiming to be U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents. His murder incited more chaos in Haiti, on top of the over 90 gangs that hold much of the power in the country.

Then last month, the country was hit with an earthquake, causing 2,200 deaths, an estimated 12,000 injuries, and damaging or destroying around 12,000 homes.

Nearly 28,000 Haitians have been intercepted at the border this year.

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.

Nikola Founder Awaits Decisions On Federal Fraud Charges And SEC Lawsuit

Nikola Founder Awaits Decisions On Federal Fraud Charges And SEC Lawsuit

By Terri Jo Neff |

Nikola Corp. founder and former chairman Trevor Milton is awaiting a decision in the next few weeks from a federal judge on whether fraud charges filed against Milton in July will be dismissed, or in the alternative, his trial held somewhere other than New York.

The company founded by Milton in 2014 has its corporate offices in Phoenix and its manufacturing plant in the town of Coolidge. Nikola has a combined workforce of nearly 650 focused on the development and production of electric-powered light duty and heavy duty trucks, but the number of jobs is expected to double in the next few years.

Milton, 39, is also expecting a decision in October about whether a parallel federal civil case filed against him by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will be put on hold as requested by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Southern New York. The DOJ has expressed concern that having both cases running at the same time could prejudice the criminal prosecution.

In a statement released when Milton’s indictment was announced this summer, the company was looking forward.

“We remain committed to our previously announced milestones and timelines and are focused on delivering Nikola Tre battery-electric trucks later this year from the company’s manufacturing facilities,” according to the statement.

Milton resigned last year from all involvement with the company. The 49-page federal grand jury indictment was released by federal prosecutors just weeks after Nikola had a public stock offering which reportedly earned Milton hundreds of millions of dollars, if not even one billion, in stock value.

According to prosecutors, Milton is accused of telling myriad lies to investors, prospective investors, and the public from November 2019 and through September 2020 about Nikola’s research and development progress as well as sales contracts in an effort to increase the share price of the company he founded in 2014.

Milton pleaded not guilty to two counts of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud at his arraignment in New York. He is awaiting trial out of custody after posting a $100 million personal recognizance bond secured by real estate property in Morgan, Utah and in Coatsville, Utah.

Court records show Milton had to surrender any passports or travel visas, as well as any firearms as a condition of his pretrial release.

The securities fraud counts carry maximum penalties of 20 and 25 years in prison, respectively. The wire fraud count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Anyone who believes they are a victim of Milton’s statements may contact the U.S. Attorney’s Office via USANYS.NIKOLAVICTIMS@USDOJ.GOV

Fed Agencies Join To Offer Free Manufacturing Export Webinars

Fed Agencies Join To Offer Free Manufacturing Export Webinars

By Terri Jo Neff |

The Export–Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) is partnering with a number of agencies in October to provide a series of free webinars for U.S. manufacturing companies of all sizes looking to bolster their export revenues.

The Washington D.C.-based EXIM is the official export credit agency of the U.S. government which operates as a wholly owned federal government corporation to assist in financing and facilitating U.S. exports of goods and services. The webinar series it is sponsoring will provide information about federal resources and services for manufacturers.

“With more than 95 percent of the world’s consumers living outside the United States, the focus will be on assisting U.S.-based companies tap into the global marketplace to expand their business and confidently export worldwide,” according to EXIM.

The month-long series of free webinars starts Oct. 7 with a focus on early-stage manufactures and the federal assistance available to them to support the idea phase, commercialization, and global growth process.

On Oct. 14, the webinar will feature financing and credit insurance options to help manufacturers who export to address their finance challenges.  That will be followed on Oct. 21 with a webinar on effective supply chain management for export manufacturers, with information on improving operations, reducing costs, and mitigating risk.

The final webinar of the free series will be Oct. 28 featuring Hispanic-owned manufacturers involved in exports. The webinar will be presented in Spanish and will include an overview of federal export promotion resources.

Other partners of the webinars are the U.S. Commercial Service, the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Manufacturing Institute, and the U.S. Census Bureau.

For more information:  https://grow.exim.gov/manufacturing-month-2021

The Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Tax Bill Would Be Devastating for Our Country

The Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Tax Bill Would Be Devastating for Our Country

By the Free Enterprise Club |

What would you do with $3.5 trillion? It’s hard to even wrap your head around how big that number is, isn’t it?

But think of it this way. 1 billion seconds is equal to 30 years, which is around the length of a career. But 1 trillion seconds? That’s equal to 30,000 years, which is longer than human civilization!

It’s a ridiculously big number, and yet, our government regularly throws around trillions of dollars like it’s nothing. But someone is paying for it, and you can probably guess who that is. That’s why the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion tax bill is especially concerning.

But it’s not even just about the money. It’s what the Democrats are trying to ram through in this giant bill.

Every Liberal Cause You Can Think Of

Because this package is a budget reconciliation, it could pass through the Senate with a slim majority, meaning that not a single Republican would need to sign on. And this has Democrats licking their chops. Among the lowlights of this bill are…

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