Earlier this week, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Republican Party of Arizona (RPAZ) filed two lawsuits against Maricopa County over alleged election transparency violations and unnecessary poll worker burdens. Early voting for the general election begins next Wednesday, and there’s about a month until Election Day.
In a joint statement, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and RPAZ Chairwoman Kelli Ward expressed concern that the county’s actions would shut poll workers out of the election process.
“With midterms just 34 days away, Arizonans deserve basic transparency about how their elections will be conducted,” stated the two women. “This legal offensive is the latest step in Republicans’ ongoing efforts to promote free, fair, and transparent elections in Arizona.”
The lawsuits concern the GOP’s unfulfilled records requests pertaining to poll worker staffing and the county staffing more Democratic than Republican poll workers for the primary election: 857 to 712. The RNC expressed concern that 11 vote centers at the time had no Republican poll workers, and that less than 30 percent of Central Counting Place Boards workers were Republicans while nearly 50 percent were Democrats.
The first lawsuit contended that Maricopa County wasn’t fulfilling records requests . The RNC documented that they submitted their first records request on September 9, then a follow-up records request on September 29 asking for records not fulfilled within their initial request. The lawsuit claimed that the county provided an indirect fulfillment of the initial request: the county forwarded the RNC a copy of an email originally sent from elections day and emergency voting director Scott Jarrett to a third party, which contained “narrative information” and addressed some, but not all, of the issues inquired about by the RNC.
Apart from that email, the lawsuit claimed that the county hadn’t provided all of the public records within both requests.
The second lawsuit contended that Maricopa County violated the state’s Equal Access Statutes and the Election Procedures Manual (EPM) during the primary election, and that the county would likely commit further violations for the upcoming general election. The GOP groups declared that the county established onerous working conditions for this election year: up to 14-hour work days throughout the early voting period, including weekends; a lack of a “bullpen” of election workers to backfill “foreseeable attritions” of the “inhospitable work conditions.”
According to that lawsuit, these working conditions caused over 500 election workers to quit their positions before the primary election. The lawsuit requested that the county reform its working conditions in order to align with election law and the EPM.
“Maricopa County nevertheless failed to meet the requirements of the Equal Access Statutes and the equal representation requirements of the EPM during the 2022 primary election,” stated the lawsuit.
On Wednesday, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates dismissed the RNC-RPAZ lawsuits as a “political stunt.” Richer and Gates insisted that it was “absurd” that they, as registered Republicans, would attempt to keep Republicans out of elections. In contradiction to what the second lawsuit stated, Richer and Gates claimed that the lawsuits don’t allege violation of election laws or procedures.
“We contact everyone on the lists the parties provide us,” stated the pair. “Maricopa County’s temporary election worker hiring practices ensure bipartisan representation throughout the election process and follow requirements established in state law and the Election Procedures Manual.”
Ousted Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) told Arizona State University (ASU) students to fight back and stop Republican leaders from coming to Arizona to campaign for Trump-backed candidates. Cheney suggested punishments for those GOP officials, as part of her remarks during the fifth installment of the ASU McCain Institute’s series “Defending American Democracy.”
Cheney made an example of Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), saying he should “know better” than coming to Arizona to campaign for Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. Cruz attended a fundraising event for Lake on Wednesday.
Yet shortly after giving that advice, Cheney lamented that “too often, conservative views are canceled.” Cheney also advised the students to vote for Democrats even if they’re Republicans.
Shortly after her loss in August, Cheney launched a $15 million initiative through her political action committee (PAC) to defeat Trump-backed candidates.
At the opening of the ASU event, McCain Institute Executive Director Evelyn Farkus explained that Cheney was their latest guest speaker because she’s the “epitome of American political courage,” having sacrificed her political career by standing up for her values.
The McCain Institute’s first-ever Democracy Fellow, Sophia Gross, interviewed Cheney. Gross said Cheney exemplified a courage and set of values that young men and women should look up to in order to better themselves and serve their country.
This is who @ASU@McCainInstitute had interview @Liz_Cheney tonight, a self-described "pretty big civic nerd": "[When] I showed up to vote for the first time, […] it turned out you voted for a lot more than just president. And, it was a very disenfranchising feeling…" 1/ pic.twitter.com/Iy8aa6R0Af
The McCain Institute stated that the goal of the series is to advance citizens “beyond politics” in order to make America a city on a hill. It’s partially funded by the Knight Foundation, a left-leaning organization.
The four prior events in the “Defending American Democracy” series focused on the dangers of the decline and disappearance of local journalism, implications of verbal threats to election officials, protections for election infrastructure against cyberattacks, and plans to counteract hate.
In this event, Cheney fixed her remarks on several general topics: former President Donald Trump, January 6, and the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Cheney said that the main lesson of the January 6 invasion of the Capitol was that institutions can’t defend themselves, it takes individuals. Cheney insinuated that government institutions were the victims — not citizens. Cheney also commended those who testified before her January 6 Committee: Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates, and Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers. Richer and Gates were reportedly present at the ASU event.
“Arizona and our nation owes Rusty a debt of gratitude,” said Cheney.
Concerning the January 6 invasion of the Capitol, Cheney claimed that Trump didn’t take action to stop the trespassers. She quickly backtracked with a self-correction, noting that the former president did take action but complained that it took him “187 minutes.” Cheney stated repeatedly that Trump was attempting to destroy democracy.
“No nation can have a leader who is so derelict in his duty,” declared Cheney.
At one point, Cheney predicted that the nation was heading toward a future as similar and troublesome as the Holocaust. She issued that prediction as she relayed a recent conversation with a young woman from Wyoming whose grandparents escaped the Holocaust. That young woman reportedly expressed worry to Cheney that America would no longer be a place of refuge like it was when her grandparents escaped.
“I think that’s a very real and serious concern,” said Cheney.
Cheney also said that she’s proud of the January 6 Committee, assuring the audience that it was non-partisan. Cheney said she most respects her fellow select committee and other Democrats, especially those women on the armed service committee.
“I never imagined that I would find myself spending so much time with Democrats. I’m sure they’re surprised to be spending so much time with me as well,” said Cheney “Everybody should be represented by the people that they know are going to do the hard work.”
Cheney said that America needs to get involved in Ukraine’s war against Russia. She said that was a hallmark of patriotism. Cheney also indicated that anyone opposed to her beliefs belonged to the “Russian” wing of the Republican Party.
Toward the end of the event, Cheney opined that true patriotism meant an allegiance to a fundamental sense of human freedom, of inalienable rights from God and not the government.
“Being a patriot means first and foremost loving our country more. We can say to each other ‘we’re Democrats, we’re Republicans, but we love our country more,’ and we’ll act in accordance with that. That means you’ll put your country above politics, your political career,” said Cheney.
Watch the full event below:
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The torrent of illegal immigrants defining the border crisis is drawing human smugglers nationwide to Arizona like moths to a flame.
Last Wednesday, Operation Safe Streets with the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Michigan man smuggling four illegal immigrants. Then on Thursday, their officers arrested a Florida man and woman smuggling eight illegal immigrants with drugs in the car.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reports that smuggling brings in up to $15,000 per illegal immigrant or more, depending on if the individual comes from further away. As some smugglers note to reporters, the cost depends on the risk — which includes distance traveled. Based on what those smugglers shared, an individual smuggler’s cut is likely anywhere from one-third to half of what the illegal immigrant pays.
Last Sunday, CBP officers arrested a New Mexico man smuggling five illegal immigrants while driving under the influence.
Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels told “The Conservative Circus” that 926 individuals were arrested in his county for border-related crimes, 50 of whom were foreign-born. Their county jail can only hold 302 people.
Dannels explained that the high number of Americans involved in smuggling is influenced in part by the poor state of the economy.
“As economies fail, crime increases. This is advantageous to the criminal cartels that are using Americans all over the country to come to Cochise and other counties on the border to exploit their criminal behavior,” said Dannels.
Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels discusses the detrimental policies of the Biden Administration when it comes to https://t.co/gkZSEGimOT
Dannels added that the smugglers are reckless and destructive. He shared that, just last week, smugglers damaged two of his officers’ vehicles by driving into them and injured one of his officers.
Dannels said that the Biden administration refuses to mitigate the border crisis. He opined that the only possibility of improvement would come from a change in elected officials.
“The only change that’s ever going to take place, they’ve made it clear, is that people need to get out and vote in November,” said Dannels. “Border security is community security.”
A Brian A. Terry Station agent responded to military police at @Fort_Huachuca and arrested a U.S. citizen smuggling eight migrants last week.
Recognizing a possible drug overdose, the agent immediately requested #EMS after the smuggler admitted to using fentanyl. #GoodWorkpic.twitter.com/A0Db2TZkEU
Dannels stated that Biden needed to make a public statement condemning illegal crossers and declaring that the current border activity constituted a crime.
“It’s almost like we’re America second on this border down here. We have been the forgotten Americans on this border,” said Dannels.
These apprehensions are in addition to the many Arizonans arrested for smuggling illegal immigrants and drugs.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Congressmen Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) joined 128 congressmen in a petition asking the federal government to investigate foreign investment in U.S. farmland.
The request letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) named Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, China, and Saudi Arabia as top foreign investors of interest. Most notably, the letter cited China’s purchase of farmland just 20 minutes from the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota, where the military hosts critical drone technology. Approximately three hours west of that base is Minot Air Force Base, one of the nation’s three intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) defense sites.
As of 2020, foreign owners and investors accounted for 37.6 million acres — nearly 3 percent of farmland. Since 2015, foreign ownership has increased by about 2.2 million acres annually. When the federal government began tracking foreign ownership of farmland in 1979, foreigners owned 5.6 million acres of farmland of the 1.4 billion acres of privately held farmland.
The congressmen asked the GAO to evaluate the trends and details of foreign ownership, provide data collection methods on foreign ownership, disclose procedures ensuring proper disclosures of foreign acquisitions and sales of farmland, evaluate whether foreign ownership filtered through a U.S. charter company or corporation is accurately labeled as foreign ownership, disclose review methods ensuring foreign-owned land doesn’t pose a national security threat, suggest improvements to strengthen reporting of foreign ownership, and disclose interagency and nongovernmental partnerships that ensure accurate disclosures of foreign ownership.
Each year, the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) issues a data report on foreign-owned farmland. The 2021 FSA report hasn’t been published yet.
Last Thursday, the Arizona Auditor issued a report finding that the state’s Medicaid agency, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), failed to fulfill four major aspects of its services, including a year delay on average to investigate over half of fraud or abuse incidents.
AHCCCS provides health care coverage to over 2.4 million Arizonans: about 33 percent of the population.
In all, the audit report determined that AHCCCS also failed to: review health plans every three years as required, make correct eligibility determinations, ensure that health plans oversaw providers in two key areas, and establish oversight processes for its Housing Program and Administrator.
In order to remedy these issues, Auditor General Lindsey Perry issued 22 distinct recommendations. AHCCCS agreed to implement all 22 of Perry’s recommendations without contest.
AHCCCS explained that no federal or state regulations mandated the completion of preliminary investigations within 3 months, like Perry recommended, but agreed it was best practice and would adopt that protocol. Likewise, AHCCCS explained it would adopt a self-auditing process to review eligibility determinations, despite there not being any federal or state regulations for such quality assurance reviews.
AHCCCS also noted that its lack of eligibility reviews was due to understaffing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The audit may also result in a change to state law. AHCCCS noted that it wasn’t able to create a monthly report as required by statute. This report — which was to be sent to the governor, the house speaker, and the senate president — was meant to include Title XIX and non-Title XIX categories that outlined the persons served, the units of service, and the amount of funding provided for client services and the amount provided for regional behavioral health authority administration and case management expenses.
In addition to the negative findings of the audit report, AHCCCS is facing a lawsuit filed by several federally-qualified health centers. The community health centers claim that AHCCCS is wrong to deny reimbursements for dentists, podiatrists, optometrists, and chiropractors. Earlier this month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision dismissing the lawsuit.
Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers sued AHCCCS, joined by Canyonlands Healthcare, Chiricahua Community Health Centers, Desert Senita Community Health Center, Mariposa Community Health Center, Marana Health Center, Mountain Park Health Center, Native Health, North Country Healthcare, Sun Life Family Health Center, Sunset Community Health Center, and United Community Health Center-Maria Auxiliadora.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
