by Corinne Murdock | Oct 8, 2021 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Maricopa County officials admitted that they deleted election files from equipment after purportedly archiving them prior to fulfilling the Arizona Senate’s subpoena for that equipment. Chairman Jack Sellers and Vice Chairman Bill Gates made this admission during the House Oversight Committee hearing on the Cyber Ninjas-led audit on Thursday. The supervisors’ main defense for deleting the records had to do with freeing space for future election files – but Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) pointed out that files from prior elections were on the equipment obtained by the subpoena.
Biggs’ line of questioning prompted the admission from Gates and Sellers. He first asked the Arizona Senate’s liaison to the election audit, Ken Bennett, if it was standard practice to delete files off a server after an election. Bennett said he “hoped not.” Gates initially attempted to characterize the deletion as mere maintenance.
“I would say that it is appropriate to maintain files, and that’s exactly what we did,” said Gates. “The deleted files had been discussed. They were archived.”
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4981036/user-clip-maricopa-county-admits-deleted-files-archived-subpoena
When Biggs asked Gates to clarify if those “maintain[ed]” files were deleted off servers after the election, Sellers nodded and added that the files were “archived.” Biggs then asked whether the Arizona Senate was given the archives as part of the subpoena.
“When you released these servers and this information to the auditors to begin with, they didn’t have access to those archives at first – is that fair to say?” asked Biggs.
“They did not subpoena those, that’s correct,” responded Gates.
Gates’ response prompted laughter from Biggs.
“Okay, so – you didn’t feel obligated to turn [the archives] over then, to them?” asked Biggs.
“We responded to the subpoena,” repeated Gates.
At that point, Bennett stated that it was “laughable” that the county essentially created a loophole in the subpoena by archiving files from the materials explicitly subpoenaed.
“I find it frankly laughable to suggest that a county in response to a subpoena could say ‘We will delete files from the hard drives and materials that we give to the auditors because we have those files archived on data that we did not give to the auditors when the subpoena said give all those records to the election,’” responded Bennett.
Maricopa County’s Twitter account stated that deleting files that have been archived is a standard practice after all elections. Biggs asked Gates to confirm this. Neither Gates or Sellers said they could confirm immediately.
“I just know that because there is limited space on these servers, when you have to run that election, you have to make room for the additional election data,” said Sellers. “I do think it’s important [to note] that our recorder will be answering every question in a timely fashion.”
“That’s the same recorder that campaigned that [previous county recorder] Adrian Fontes was incompetent and called him a criminal, and he’s the guy that was running the 2020 election – and you actually hired someone to oversee Mr. Fontes. Because you guys didn’t trust Mr. Fontes as well – is that the same Stephen Richer?” asked Biggs.
Sellers said he disagreed with Biggs’ characterization.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Oct 8, 2021 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
During the House Oversight Committee’s Thursday hearing on the Arizona Senate’s audit, Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) criticized Democrats’ rhetoric and conduct. Biggs accused Democrats of hypocrisy for both praising and condemning the audit. He further claimed that Democrats cherry-picked data from the audit report to fit a narrative.
“You know the Democrats can’t really have it both ways, can they?” asked Biggs. “You cannot say that the audit showed the integrity of the election, while at the same time claiming that the mere fact of an audit, in and of itself, is a threat existentially. You can’t do that. It’s a fallacious, logical inconsistency.”
https://twitter.com/RepAndyBiggsAZ/status/1446121832994672646
The committee announced the hearing Wednesday to discuss “how this and similar audits undermine public confidence in elections and threaten our democracy.” Two of Maricopa County’s election officials, Supervisor Bill Gates and Chairman Jack Sellers, testified.
As part of his opening statement, Biggs revealed that Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY-12) told him that Democrats were critical of the audit and had an agenda before it even began. Maloney also reportedly shared that her fellow Democrats were opposed to any legislative changes to improve election integrity.
Biggs reminded the committee that one of the major audit focuses, Maricopa County, hasn’t always had a spotless elections reputation.
“In 2018, in Maricopa County, most of you may not know this, there were such problems with the Maricopa County election that the Democrat county recorder – who was the elections official for the county, Adrian Fontes – got to go under scrutiny by this board of supervisors, who took everything back from him that they possibly could legally and statutorily. That’s the history of problems in Maricopa County in our voting.”
Additionally, Biggs reminded the committee that every losing political party since 2001 has cast doubts on the fairness and impartiality of the results.
“You cannot argue that questions regarding election integrity from the right is an attack on our democracy, our constitutional republic – especially after four years of the Democrats claiming that the 2016 presidential election was stolen because of Russian interference,” said Biggs. “I advocated for a full forensic audit because I felt election integrity should be restored.”
According to the congressman, Maricopa County’s own audit efforts were dwarfed in comparison to their efforts to stop the Senate audit.
“[They] spent $18,000 for those two audits, but spent literally hundreds of thousands of dollars [and engaged in] multiple lawsuits to prevent the audit that we’re discussing today,” observed Biggs.
Watch the full audit here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN9iEz6T4nw
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Oct 7, 2021 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Flagstaff will now have behavioral health specialists and medics answering 911 calls related to mental health crises, substance abuse, and public intoxication. The city council approved a $2.6 million contract during Tuesday’s meeting for the “alternative response mobile unit” service offered by Terros Health.
According to the council’s executive summary of the contract, the mobile response units will only operate from 10 am to 8 pm. They will also have “cultural items” on board in addition to the medical basics.
The mobile response unit will be conducting proactive outreach and responding to calls in a van. The van will provide enough space for specialized equipment for basic life safety response, in addition to comfort items such as water and snacks, emergency clothing, toiletries, blankets and cultural items like abalone shells, sage and cedar and the ability to transport individuals as needed.
Flagstaff Mayor Paul Deasy tweeted the news on Wednesday.
“We did it! In a few months, a behavioral health specialist and medic will respond to 9-1-1 calls around mental health and public intoxication, diverting calls that don’t require police presence,” wrote Deasy. “Council approved the contract with Terros Health. A defining moment for Flagstaff!”
https://twitter.com/MayorDeasy/status/1445748957674496002
Flagstaff’s decision to assign certain 911 calls to response teams of behavioral specialists and medics is part of a larger national movement – one that picked up speed after the death of George Floyd.
Terros Health is a nonprofit mental health services provider that receives Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) funds and has federal Public Health Service (PHS) status. They’ve recently partnered with Mesa Public Schools (MPS) to offer their services, paid for by patient insurance or outside financial assistance.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Oct 6, 2021 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
Governor Doug Ducey refused to heed the Biden Administration’s warning that two of his programs rewarding mask-free schooling couldn’t be using federal COVID-19 relief funds. Almost immediately after receiving the Department of Treasury’s (USDT) request to pull back his programs, Ducey issued a public statement that he would continue to defend parents’ choice. He also questioned why President Joe Biden opposes programs designed to help children who fell behind due to COVID-19 measures such as school shutdowns, mask mandates, forced quarantines, and distanced learning.
“Here in Arizona, we trust families to make decisions that are best for their children. It’s clear that President Biden doesn’t feel the same. He’s focused on taking power away from American families by issuing restrictive and dictatorial mandates for his own political gain. After the many challenges of last year, it should be our top priority to get our kids caught up. That’s exactly what this program does — it gives families in need the opportunity to access critical educational resources. Why is the president against that?”
American Federation for Children’s Arizona State Director, Steve Smith, asserted that he stood by Ducey’s response. He pointed out that public schools with mask mandates have access to an overwhelming majority of the federal relief funds; essentially, Ducey’s two programs are a drop in the funds bucket.
“I applaud Governor Ducey for doing all he can to provide more education options for Arizona families through this unprecedented time. It is alarming that anyone, especially elected officials whose responsibility it is to advocate for Arizonans, would not only oppose these options but then actively lobby the federal government to take these resources away from families,” said Smith. “It’s all the more frustrating considering the fact that 97 percent of the $190 billion in federal relief funds have gone to public schools that in many cases, are still sitting on it.”
Ducey’s response addressed a letter issued Tuesday by USDT Deputy Secretary Adewale Adeyemo. He told Ducey it wasn’t permissible to use federal relief funds for either the $10 million school voucher program that covers $7,000 of tuition or other educational costs at schools without mask mandates, or the $163 million grant program in which only schools without mask mandates are applicable for the grant funds.
“The purpose of the [Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds] SLFRF funds is to mitigate the fiscal effects stemming from the COVID-19 public health emergency, including by supporting efforts to stop the spread of the virus. A program or service that imposes conditions on participation or acceptance of the service that would undermine efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 or discourage compliance with evidence-based solutions for stopping the spread of COVID-19 is not a permissible use of SLFRF funds.”
Adeyemo warned Ducey that he had a 30-day deadline to respond with proposals for remediation. Otherwise, USDT said it would recoup the funds.
Prior to his appointment, Adeyemo worked within the high ranks of BlackRock: the world’s largest and arguably most powerful multinational investment management corporation. Adeyemo served as senior advisor and chief of staff to CEO Larry Fink.
USDT began investigating Ducey’s programs at the request of Representative Greg Stanton (D-AZ-09) in mid-August. Stanton wrote to USDT Secretary Janet Yellen to issue an opinion on the programs.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Oct 6, 2021 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters offered a taste of San Francisco, California street life in his latest campaign video, claiming that the rampant homelessness, drug addiction, poverty, and crime there were Senator Mark Kelly’s (D-AZ) goals for Arizona.
“This is San Francisco; it’s disgusting. This is what Mark Kelly wants Arizona to look like: high taxes, crime, drugs through the roof – it’s insane,” said Masters. “[W]e’ve got to make sure that California stops at the Arizona border.”
None of Masters’ campaign videos have cost anything; Masters explained to critics that his friends filmed the videos “for free.”
Masters told AZ Free News that San Francisco governance has essentially legalized crime and drugs in the city. He recalled noticing car after car with shattered windows, the result of criminals who “smash and grab” to loot the vehicles parked in the streets. Masters said that some of these issues were present when he’d lived in the area, but not to that degree.
Masters opined that policy was to blame – not a lack of income or opportunity. He pointed out one of the finer, wealthier neighborhoods in the city, Pacific Heights, and said that more of San Francisco used to uphold that standard of living long ago.
“It’s the failed government [that caused the squalor]. And I think most of the city is quickly becoming what you saw in my video and less like Pacific Heights,” said Masters. “They [the homeless] are victims of the city [….] I don’t think anybody on the political left is doing them any favors.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t respond to our inquiries as to when she last visited San Francisco. The speaker’s last publicized visit there was last February in Chinatown. Pelosi had visited Chinatown to encourage tourism in the earliest stages of the COVID-19 outbreak. After that, Pelosi made various stops for her personal needs – such as her clandestine, maskless trip to a hair salon in September.
Masters said his team also filmed an interview with one one of the locals living on the streets. He’d spoken with an aspiring rapper, “T-Bone,” who gave a firsthand account of living under progressive policies. Masters said that his team may publish that interview.
“He’s trying to get back to doing gigs and my sense is, with the high cost to succeed, it’s really hard to break out of [that environment] once you’re in it. I think it’s really telling when there’s no one there who thinks it’s working well,” explained Masters.
Masters’ campaign video wasn’t his first recent tour to areas afflicted by Democratic policy. Earlier this week, Masters visited the border in Cochise County. His Twitter thread about the tour stirred up controversy with Democrats, who accused Masters of exaggerating when he referenced Border Patrol lingo to call the area a “kill zone.”
A little border patrol dark humor – these corridors are known as “kill zones” because when they stretch for miles, it exposes their vehicles to potential ambush. This is federal land […] in the Huachuca mountains. The federal park rangers, under Biden admin instruction, don’t enforce immigration law. Cartels have more or less free reign to move people and drugs through. Border Patrol is spread too thin. They try but with limited resources and zero political support, it’s hard. Often they’re literally not allowed to do their jobs. Sheriff’s deputies can detain illegals carrying drugs or weapons, but basically have to let everyone else go. In the Tucson Sector alone, there have been 183,000 arrests of illegal aliens in 2021. (85% of them single adults, from more than 100 different countries, and most were released back into the U.S.) Plus 115,000 confirmed getaways. And obviously many more got through undetected.
The Pima County Democratic Party responded to Masters’ account with claims that the border region was actually peaceful, and claimed that no border crisis existed.
“Hey @bgmasters – this is actually what our border region looks like,” stated the organization. “It is not some imaginary, cosplay, video game, that you like to refer to as a “Kill Zone” – it is a diverse, beautiful, and thriving community. #BorderTown #TheBigBorderLie #ThereIsNoBorderCrisis #Qnuts[.]”
AZ Free News spoke with Border Patrol to inquire about the “kill zone” terminology. Border Sergeant Tim Williams expanded further on what Masters stated. Technically, law enforcement refer to areas like where Masters toured as a “kill zone” or “fatal funnel” because they can only move forward and backward. If officers are ambushed, their movements are limited.
“We call it a ‘fatal funnel’ or ‘kill zone,’ when you get stuck in a hallway and you can’t move side to side and can only move forward or backward. That’s what I was explaining to the candidate: when you’re here, you’re driving down the road with a border wall on the south side and access fencing on the north side,” explained Williams. “They’ve created an officer safety issue [there].”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
