The District of Columbia attorney general is investigating Arabella Advisors, the dark money giant operating a national funding network for leftist nonprofits, including in Arizona.
The Washington Free Beacon discovered that the DC attorney general issued subpoenas last month to Arabella Advisors, as well as its largest clients, concerning investigative reporting about tax law aversion and illegal profiteering.
Arabella Advisors manages five nonprofits that funnel dark money funds into other leftist nonprofits and initiatives: New Venture Fund, Sixteen Thirty Fund, Hopewell Fund, Windward Fund, and the North Fund. Their influence is expansive, both nationally and in Arizona.
The five nonprofits all funded One Arizona, a coalition of leftist nonprofits, who in turn funded Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), Chispa AZ, Arizona Advocacy Network, ProgressNow AZ, and Mi Familia Vota. Those nonprofits used that funding to advance their causes in Arizona’s elections.
An outgrowth of the New Venture Fund’s front initiative, We Mean Business Coalition, collaborated with the Carbon Disclosure Project and World Resources Institute to create the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Last November, the Biden administration proposed granting decision-making power on defense contracts to SBTi. In February a key initiative of SBTi, the Advanced and Indirect Mitigation (AIM) Platform, launched at GreenBiz 23 in Scottsdale.
Another New Venture Fund initiative, Campus Vote Project, has a presence across 41 states. In Arizona, the initiative coordinates with Arizona State University, Mesa Community College, South Mountain Community College, Northern Arizona University, Eastern Arizona College, Cochise College, Chandler-Gilbert Community College, and Phoenix College to increase voter turnout among college students.
Prior to the 2020 election, only Mesa Community College and South Mountain Community College were recognized by the dark money-originating initiative.
Also concerning higher education, the New Venture Fund created a scholarship program fund that partnered with Northern Arizona University (NAU) last year to pay illegal immigrant students’ tuition.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund was a major funder to the nonprofit Way to Win, which spent $110 million in key states, including in Arizona, to ensure Democratic victories in 2020. Way to Win served as the sponsor to Progress Arizona (formerly ProgressNow Arizona), who was led by Gov. Katie Hobbs’ ousted spokeswoman, Josselyn Berry, until at least 2021.
Those listed as running Progress Arizona, according to their latest available tax return (2021), were:
Emily Kirkland (executive director): Arizona Education Association communications director; former senior political strategist for the Colibri Collective; former director of Organizing for 350 Massachusetts and communications coordinator for Better Future Project
Ariel Reyes (director): Instituto political director; former Arizona Wins political director; former lobbyist for the Torres Consulting and Law Group
Elsa O’Callaghan (director): consultant with Prickly Pear Consulting; executive director of Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee; former staffer for California Rep. Karen Bass (D); and former Planned Parenthood Los Angeles staffer
Belen Sisa (director): unemployed DACA recipient; former Democracy Initiative campaign manager; former communications staffer for Democratic congressional candidates Victor Reyes (New Mexico) and Mike Siegal (Texas), independent presidential candidate Bernie Sanders; and former staffer for Arizona Wins and Mi Familia Vota
Alexa-Rio Osaki (director): director of Arizona Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AZ AANHPI) Advocates; Arizona Coalition for Change communications director
Josselyn Berry (chairman)
The Hopewell Fund and Sixteen Thirty Fund have issued much of the funding for Opportunity Arizona. Until 2021, one of the individuals behind that organization was Dacey Montoya: a principal player in many of the dark money groups, Democratic candidates, and progressive initiatives in Arizona.
Those listed running the organization, according to their latest available tax return, were:
Ben Scheel (executive director): director of Bright Phoenix; former deputy campaign manager for Phoenix city council candidate Karlene Parks
Ed Hermes (board president): attorney; Osborn Elementary School District governing board president; vice chair of the city of Phoenix’s Vision Zero Committee; Maricopa County Superior Court judge pro tempore; and Move Osborne Forward treasurer
Josh Zaragoza (board member): political consultant involved in Phoenix City Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari’s council campaign and ongoing congressional campaign; former chief of staff to Phoenix Councilwoman Laura Pastor; and former Human Rights Campaign organizer
Monica Pimentel (board member): Arizona Latino School Board Association president; Glendale Elementary School District governing board member; Maricopa County Deferred Compensation Committee member; and former Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlan (MEChA) vice president
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego is at the forefront of a globalist effort to ban meat, dairy, and private cars by 2030.
Gallego sits on the steering committee of C40 Cities: the globalist climate coalition of over 100 cities globally planning and coordinating a centralized system controlling consumer consumption. She is the only American on the 13-member steering committee, and was elected as its vice chair in 2021.
C40 Cities first announced their consumption reduction plan in 2019, a year before Gallego had Phoenix join C40 Cities. The coalition declared that consumption in high-income cities needed to be reduced by two-thirds to avert a climate crisis. The prediction was based on a research report connecting consumption and emissions, “The Future of Urban Consumption in a 1.5 C World,” produced by C40 Cities, Arup, and the University of Leeds.
The report established these “ambitious target(s)” for influencing global supply chains to control consumption by 2030, dubbed “consumption interventions”: eliminating all meat and dairy consumption; eliminating all household food waste; slashing supply chain food waste by 75 percent; getting rid of all cars; requiring a 50-year lifetime for vehicles; 50 percent reduction in use of metal and plastic materials in vehicles; limiting people to three new clothing pieces annually; restricting flights to one per person every three years; achieving 100 percent sustainable (or low carbon) aviation fuel; reducing steel and cement use in buildings by 35 percent and 56 percent respectively; reducing new building demands by 20 percent; building 90 percent of residential and 70 percent of commercial buildings with timber; replacing 61 percent of cement with low-carbon alternatives; reducing virgin metal and petrochemical-based materials by 22 percent; and requiring a seven-year optimum lifetime of laptops and other electronic devices.
The report also offered “progressive target(s)” that scaled back the ambitious targets.
It appears Gallego has committed to implementing the consumption control plan proposals, as well as the greater missions of C40 Cities. The same year that the coalition named Gallego to its steering committee, Phoenix approved an updated Climate Action Plan reflecting the C40 Cities’ goal of a 50 percent emissions reduction by 2030 and zero emissions by 2050. Among the city’s Office of Environmental Programs initiatives, Gallego’s administration is rolling out a food waste and composting program, the Reinventing Cities initiative to decarbonize infrastructure, and electrification of its government vehicles.
The C40 Cities report noted that food served as the biggest sources of urban consumption-based emissions (13 percent), with animal-based foods representing 75 percent of that total compared to plant-based foods’ 25 percent. Elsewhere, C40 Cities cited the Planetary Health Diet as a model, which reflects their report’s progressive target of limiting meat intake to 35 pounds annually (just over half of a pound a week, or about 1.5 ounces daily).
The coalition hailed the Planetary Health Diet as part of “The Great Food Transformation,” advocated for by the EAT/Lancet Commission. The EAT Initiative is a project of the Stockholm Resilience Center, Professor Johan Rockstrom, and Wellcome Trust (one of the key funders of C40 Cities) under the Strawberry Foundation (formerly the Stordalen Foundation) to transform the world’s food system to XYZZ. Their partners include Nestle, World Resources Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of College London, Harvard Global Equity Initiative and T.H. Chan School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley Food Institute, and New York Academy of Sciences.
EAT leadership consists of nearly 60 individuals with professional ties to the mainstream media outlets, publications, and technology companies including Forbes, the Lancet, and Google; progressive globalist organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO), World Economic Forum (WEF), United Nations (UN); the highest levels of domestic and foreign governance, including the Obamas and Clintons, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), United Arab Emirates, China, Norway, Italy, and Sweden; major universities including Tufts University and University of Miami, as well as those listed above; and a slew of nonprofits and organizations with leftist billionaire support.
In 2020, the United Nations (UN) tasked EAT with “a wide mandate to build a broad, multistakeholder [sic] coalition” to move people into “sustainable consumption patterns.”
The report also proposed limiting people to an average of 2,500 calories daily, and reducing household food waste by 50 percent through government publicity campaigns and regulations on food retailers.
In March, C40 Cities published a renewed commitment to their consumption control plan. Although the coalition insisted that the report represented an analysis rather than plan, C40 Cities leadership has characterized the report as a blueprint of sorts for achieving a halving of emissions by 2030, as noted by The Expose.
Similar to EAT, C40 Cities leveraged the COVID-19 pandemic to implement 15-minute cities, within four months of the U.S. pandemic emergency declaration. The coalition championed the same slogan used by President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and other progressive globalist leaders: “Build Back Better.”
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, was one of the first to implement 15-minute cities in 2020; she was elected the C40 Cities steering committee vice chair last month. Under Gallego, Phoenix is undergoing changes to reorient itself as a 15-minute city through policy changes as outlined in Vision Zero and ordinances like the parking space reduction for apartments.
Citing C40 Cities, Gallego has also been installing “cool pavement” throughout Phoenix which, contrary to the implications of its name, makes people hotter rather than cooler.
C40 launched in 2005 as “C20” under London, England’s then-Mayor Ken Livingstone. In 2006, C20 merged with former President Bill Clinton’s Climate Initiative to form C40 Cities. The Clinton Foundation remains one of C40 Cities’ key partners.
In 2007, New York’s then-mayor, Michael Bloomberg, joined C40 Cities and hosted the coalition’s second annual conference. Bloomberg remains one of the highest funders for C40 Cities, along with Oak Foundation, ClimateWorks Foundation, Google, the Wellcome Fund, the European Climate Foundation, and George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.
In 2015, then-President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden issued a call to action for cities to join C40’s Compact of Mayors. In April, the Biden administration gave $1 million to C40 Cities to address “climate migration” in Latin American cities; that same week, the president signed an executive order to prioritize environmental justice in federal agencies, with a C40 Cities representative there to witness.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Arizona legislature approved the Maricopa County transportation tax on Monday along bipartisan lines, 43-14 in the House and 19-7 in the Senate.
The bill, SB1102, would allow voters to decide whether to maintain the current transportation excise tax: Proposition 400, set to expire at the end of 2025. It doesn’t maintain the original reformation desired by Republican lawmakers: a choice to separate roads and commuter rail when it comes to funding. Prop 400 binds the two together as a package deal.
The legislature convened to consider SB1102 after Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed the version of the bill splitting the Prop 400 question (SB1246) last month.
The 14 House legislators who opposed the bill were State Reps. Neal Carter (R-LD15), Joseph Chaplik (R-LD03), Justin Heap (R-LD10), Laurin Hendrix (R-LD14), Rachel Jones (R-LD17), Alexander Kolodin (R-LD03), David Marshall (R-LD07), Cory McGarr (R-LD17), Steve Montenegro (R-LD29), Barbara Parker (R-LD10), Jacqueline Parker (R-LD15), Michael Peña (R-LD23), Beverly Pingerelli (R-LD28), and Austin Smith (R-LD29). The seven Senate legislators who opposed the bill were State Sens. Shawnna Bolick (R-LD02), Sally Ann Gonzales (D-LD20), Jake Hoffman (R-LD15), Anthony Kern (R-LD27), J.D. Mesnard (R-LD13), Wendy Rogers (R-LD07), and Justine Wadsack (R-LD17).
The bill’s passage marked a divide among Republican lawmakers as leadership declared it a win. Senate President Warren Petersen (R-LD12) said in a press release that the bill would ensure infrastructure development to counter the rising rates of vehicle congestion and travel times on the road while preventing ineffective environmentalist policies.
Sen. Frank Carroll (R-LD28) noted that the bill restricted any level of Arizonan government from restricting the use or sale of a vehicle based on its energy source, and required mass transit to recoup at least 10 percent of costs from farebox revenues beginning in 2027, and then 20 percent by 2031.
Opponents disagreed that the bill constituted a win. Kolodin argued during the floor vote that the bill denied voters true choice. Kolodin estimated that Prop 400’s continuation would halve road funding in order to pay for other commuter projects used by one percent of the population. He noted that SB1102 further bled roads funding by allowing those funds to be used for other projects, like bicyclist paths and sidewalks.
“This bill denies voters of Maricopa County a real choice. It holds road funding hostage in order that the voters, who would otherwise not vote in favor of spending 40 percent of the money of this new tax on transit projects that less than one percent of them use, that they choose to vote for them anyway to get the roads,” said Kolodin. “A tax extension is a tax increase.”
Rogers said the bill constituted a tax far too expensive and weak for her taste.
I voted against this because it’s still a $20 billion dollar tax. And this bill is still full of holes. pic.twitter.com/IZFCiqEM78
Democrats championed the bill as a necessity for achieving equity.
Today, the House passed a #Prop400 extension onto Maricopa County voters. If passed, this critical investment will fund transportation projects bettering our roads, public transit, and highways.
80 percent of Maricopa County jobs are located within 2 miles of light rail or a freeway. Rep. @QuantaForAZ shares how light rail benefited her when she was in grad school and working. pic.twitter.com/wlQlgwHpAv
— Arizona House Democrats (@AZHouseDems) July 31, 2023
State Rep. Marcelino Quiñonez (D-LD11) said that Prop 400 was the “responsibility” of the legislature to pass.
“This is a continuation of something our predecessors have been able to do since the late 1980s. It is our responsibility to continue on good work.” — Rep. @Marcelino4AZ casts his yes vote to send an extension of the Prop. 400 transportation & transit plan to Maricopa voters. pic.twitter.com/3x6MCQpQ5u
— Arizona House Democrats (@AZHouseDems) July 31, 2023
Heap called the bill “disappointing.”
A disappointing day, we had plenty of time to craft a better Prop 400 bill. Thank you to the many great Representives who fought with us and the many citizens to reached out with support and encouragement. Conservatives are happy warriors so it's on to the next fight. pic.twitter.com/GFQ3PzGo1U
— Az State Rep. Justin Heap (@azjustinheap) July 31, 2023
Heap and Jones predicted that the bill’s passage marked a major win for the Democratic Party and the Hobbs administration, one that would carry into the 2024 election.
A majority of Rs did, in fact, give them the club. Bludgeoning incoming. https://t.co/zvFlPqfyW8
— AZ Representative Rachel Jones (@RJ4arizona) July 31, 2023
State Rep. Matthew Gress (R-LD04), who voted in favor of the bill, said it would ensure the restoration of State Route 51 and other critical pavement rehabilitation. Gress said that the 3.5 percent cap on the existing light rail system, a contingency for Hobbs’ approval, constituted a win since it was far less than other proposed rates.
My statement on Prop 400. I voted yes to refer this measure to Maricopa County voters. pic.twitter.com/JmoS8b0bXv
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) voiced opposition to the plan on Sunday, warning that the bill wouldn’t prevent road diets, Vision Zero projects, and progressive air quality control measures. AFEC offered a side-by-side comparison of SB1102 and the predecessor vetoed by Hobbs last month, SB1246.
AFEC further assessed that SB1102 would enable the Maricopa Association of Governments to enact its 2050 Momentum Plan.
🚨 Urgent: Why We OPPOSE SB1102
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club respectfully opposes SB1102, the #Prop400 bill negotiated between the Governor and House and Senate Leadership. Here's why ⤵️ 🧵 pic.twitter.com/m1sNTzrfhF
— Arizona Free Enterprise Club (@azfec) July 30, 2023
Prop 400 will appear on the November 2024 ballot for final voter approval. The tax was set to expire at the end of 2025.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The 15-minute cities that have received the backing of the mayors of multiple cities eventually result in consequences like zoning permits that limit free movement. These proposals have stirred up controversy.
Such was the case earlier this year in Oxford, England, when the city council announced the division of the city into six districts and the implementation of zoning permits for those traveling by car. Effectively, citizens will be required to obtain permits in order to drive the roads exiting their zone; if they don’t, they will be fined. Those who walk, bike, or take buses or taxis, however, won’t be subjected to fines.
The plan incited global controversy after Oxford residents posted criticisms about the severe limitations that these zoning permits imposed. Fact-checkers and mainstream media outlets debunked the concerns as conspiracy theories.
15 minute cities will go from "isn't that convenient?" to "why do you want to go anywhere else?" to "your permit does not allow you to leave zone 17" really, really quickly.
15-minute cities intend to create communities in which citizens may access everything necessary for living within a 15-minute walking or biking distance. The concept came from controversial University of Paris professor Carlos Moreno. A major premise behind the 15-minute city concept is the belief that it will mitigate and even reverse climate change.
Essentially, 15-minute cities greatly disincentivize or outright ban travel by car, thereby limiting citizens’ movements.
Leadership from several of Arizona’s major cities and towns have backed the 15-minute city concept: Phoenix and Tucson.
The push for 15-minute cities gained momentum following emergency declarations over the COVID-19 outbreak. In July 2020, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) published a plan to implement 15-minute cities via the societal upheaval from the pandemic, using the same slogan as the one used for President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign: “Build Back Better.” Nearly 100 mayors with C40 membership signed onto the idea.
C40 also announced that the pandemic was an opportune time for leaders to reset their political and economic priorities. In that call to action, C40 said it would attempt to recruit over 1,000 cities to sign a Global Green New Deal.
“The pandemic has made it clear that existing economic and political systems often fail to protect our communities and our ecosystems, especially the most vulnerable,” stated C40. “However, when we prioritize people and communities over profit, we can build economies and cities that work for everyone and don’t bring harm to the living world around us.”
C40 consists of mayors from over 100 cities globally committed to combating climate change by cutting emissions by 50 percent in its member cities. Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego has served on the C40’s steering committee since 2021; she is the only American on the 13-member committee.
C40’s emissions reduction plans align with the Paris Accords agreement, which demands carbon neutrality by 2030 or 2050. C40 required member cities to create their own plan in 2016. Plans to reduce emissions must prioritize progressive social justice elements, such as diversity, equity, and inclusion.
C40 launched in 2005 under London, England’s then-Mayor Ken Livingstone, originally called “C20.” In 2006, former President Bill Clinton merged his Climate Initiative with C20 to form what is now known as C40. Clinton’s Clinton Foundation remains one of the organization’s key partners.
In 2007, then-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined C40 as well as hosted its second annual conference. Bloomberg remains one of C40’s highest funders; the organization has earned annual revenues well over $32 million the last few years.
Other major funders to C40 include George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, Oak Foundation, ClimateWorks Foundation, Google, the Wellcome Fund, and the European Climate Foundation.
In 2015, both then-President Barack Obama and Biden, while vice president, urged more cities to join C40’s Compact of Mayors.
In April, the Biden administration gave a first-ever investment of $1 million to a C40-led initiative to address “climate migration” in Latin American cities. That same week, Biden signed an executive order to prioritize environmental justice into federal agencies; a C40 representative was there for the signing.
I was honored to represent @c40cities as @POTUS signed an executive order on environmental justice today. Justice is at core of so much of our cities’ work to tackle the climate crisis, including Houston whose solar energy work was acknowledged by President Biden. pic.twitter.com/2n2vAZN7zq
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo campaigned off the 15-minute city concept and implemented it during the pandemic in 2020. Under Hidalgo, the city has purged cars from most major areas, causing traffic to worsen and, essentially, disincentivizing car travel. Rush hour along the Seine river now crawls after the city closed a major roadway which had previously ensured car travel at a steady pace. The closed roadway, as Bloomberg observed, is now mostly an empty space with sparse pedestrian and cyclist use. Cars also have reduced access on major streets and the beltway.
Concurrent with the 15-minute city push is Vision Zero: an attempt to eliminate all traffic fatalities by restructuring roads to diminish car usage. Vision Zero is a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives, a grantmaking institution whose funding comes from a variety of left-leaning nonprofits such as the Grove Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the NoVo Foundation. Phoenix established a Vision Zero plan last year, which will cost $10 million indefinitely.
Initiatives resembling Vision Zero efforts include “road diets,” which reduce the number of drivable lanes by converting car lanes into 15-minute city-friendly features such as bike lanes or pedestrian refuge islands. Scottsdale recently approved a road diet for one of their major roadways.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Scottsdale will halve the number of lanes on a major roadway, a “road diet” that effectively burdens car travel. The changes will occur to 68th Street between Indian School Road and Thomas Road, and will reduce the two-lane roads on either side into single lanes.
According to the Department of Transportation (DOT), a “road diet” occurs when a four-lane undivided roadway becomes a two-lane undivided roadway, with the former road lanes converted into alternative transportation lanes: bike lanes or pedestrian refuge islands, for example.
DOT noted that road diets are typically implemented on roadways with current and future average daily traffic of 25,000 or less. According to the city data last updated in 2020, the average daily traffic counts for that area were 38,000 at the crossroads of 68th Street and Thomas Road, and 46,100 at 68th Street and Indian School Road. That number is undoubtedly higher now based on the latest population data.
According to census estimates, Scottsdale is growing at a rate of about one percent annually, and has grown by nearly three percent since the 2020 census. According to the U.S. Census annual state population estimates released last December, the state was the fifth-fastest growing state in the nation; Maricopa County leads in those gains.
The city approved the changes during its council meeting last week in a close vote, 4-3. The two lost lanes will be turned into bike lanes using a .2 percent transportation sales tax funding, costing just over $334,600. The city will also receive over $1.48 million in federal funding awarding environmentalist development: “Congestion Mitigation Air Quality” and “Transportation Alternatives” funds.
With federal and local funds combined, current funding sources for the project total $1.8 million. Proposed funding for the project total over $1.9 million.
Councilmember Barry Graham lamented his fellow council members’ decision.
“I tried to find a compromise that preserved the car lanes,” tweeted Graham. “Unfortunately, councilmembers made the issue about what they want—not what you want.”
On Tuesday, Scottsdale City Council voted (4-3) to eliminate 2 lanes from one of your major streets in south Scottsdale.
I tried to find a compromise that preserved the car lanes. Unfortunately, councilmembers made the issue about what they want—not what you want.… pic.twitter.com/KmBwTCz6v8
— Rep. Joseph Chaplik 🇺🇸 (@JosephChaplik) March 22, 2023
Chaplik also testified that he bore witness to similar initiatives taking place in Portland, Oregon, before that city “imploded.”
Good grief. I saw this in the early days of Portland right before they imploded as a city. https://t.co/sQ8nso67fj
— Rep. Joseph Chaplik 🇺🇸 (@JosephChaplik) March 23, 2023
The reduction of car lanes to disincentivize car use echoes similar “Vision Zero” efforts — an attempt to eliminate all traffic fatalities by restructuring roads in ways that, ultimately, diminish the number of cars on the road. Vision Zero is a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives, a grantmaking institution whose funding comes from a variety of left-leaning nonprofits such as the Grove Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the NoVo Foundation.
Scottsdale’s major neighbor, Phoenix, adopted a Vision Zero plan of their own.
Last September, the city of Phoenix decided to spend $10 million every year until they achieve zero traffic-related fatalities, as per their Vision Zero Road Safety Action Plan (RSAP).
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
