A legislator is speaking out and demanding action just days after the release of a concerning report from Arizona’s Auditor General about the Arizona Department of Transportation’s oversight of Motor Vehicle Division’s third-party service providers.
On Monday, Republican Representative David Cook, who is the Chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, transmitted a letter to Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) Director Jennifer Toth, outlining his fears over the issues raised by the Auditor General’s report and demanding action to address the matters.
✅FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE✅ State Representative @RepDavidCook Urges ADOT Take Immediate Action to Address Critical Public Safety Risks, Agency Failures Outlined in Auditor General Report of Third Party MVD Services
In a statement that accompanied the release of his letter, Cook said, “When state agencies outsource their important government functions to third parties, and those third parties fail to meet their legal obligations and are not properly supervised as required by law, Arizonans suffer the consequences. In this instance, those consequences are particularly severe and threaten the public safety.”
Chairman Cook, in his letter to Director Toth, expressed alarm over the report that was published last week by the state’s Auditor General, who found that the “Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) failed to ensure authorized third party companies consistently issued vehicle title, driver licenses, and identification cards only to qualified or authorized individuals and entitles, increasing public safety risks such as unsafe drivers, vehicle and identity theft, fraud, and terrorism.”
The lawmaker noted his appreciation that the Department “agrees with the Auditor General’s findings and plans to implement all the recommendations.” Yet Cook was unwilling to allow ADOT to fall back into its shortcomings over a lack of oversight, stating his belief that “it is imperative that you exercise your statutory authority to take immediate remedial action to prevent an increase in the public safety risks that the Auditor General has already identified.”
Cook highlighted that ADOT’s proposed changes to the Auditor General’s findings were “drafted and are in the pilot phase,” pointing out that “it does not appear that MVD made any significant process during the six months following the Auditor General’s audit.” He asked Director Toth why MVD “hasn’t simply adopted its previous oversight procedures that were consistent with the Auditor General’s 2015 recommendations.”
The Chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee didn’t hold back his feelings, writing that “these astonishing results are unacceptable and require an immediate response.” He requested that ADOT “(1) suspend or cancel the authorization of the three third-parties deemed ‘high-risk’ in the Auditor General’s report; (2) direct your Office of Inspector General and/or another appropriate division in your office to investigate all third party companies for compliance with A.R.S. Title 28, Chapter 13, article 1; (3) rescind the defective quality assurance process adopted by MVD in February 2022; and (4) immediately implement a revised oversight process per the Auditor General’s recommendations.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
On Monday, a federal judge sentenced 64-year-old Mark Rissi to 2.5 years in prison for threats made to a Maricopa County election official and the former attorney general.
Rissi, an Iowa native, issued two separate threats in late 2021 to Maricopa County Board of Supervisors member Clint Hickman and former Attorney General Mark Brnovich. Rissi pleaded guilty to two counts of sending a threatening interstate communication.
Rissi told Hickman in a September 2021 voicemail that he would “lynch” him, and that he was going to die by hanging; months later, Rissi told Brnovich in a December 2021 voicemail that he would hang him as well. Rissi made it clear in both voicemails that he was dissatisfied by how both men were responding to allegations of the theft of the 2020 election from former President Donald Trump.
Rissi testified that he made the threats while under the influence of sleeping and pain medications he’d taken to mitigate his depression over his mother’s death, which he blamed on the COVID-19 vaccine, and the influence of misinformation regarding the elections process in Arizona. Rissi asked for forgiveness.
Arizona District Judge Dominic Lanza, a Trump appointee and longtime Federalist Society member, handed down Rissi’s sentence. Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys Tanya Senanayake and Sean Lokey prosecuted the case, representing Hickman and Brnovich.
Senanayake has been with the DOJ since 2020 and, prior to that, served as a Federal Election Commission attorney for five years. In 2022, Lokey was named Arizona’s district election officer to oversee election day complaints of voting rights concerns, threats, and fraud.
In remarks to the judge, Senanayake said Rissi’s speech represented “threats to democracy.” Senanayake asked for 24 months in prison.
In a statement presented to the court by Senanayake, Brnovich asked for Rissi to be held accountable.
Hickman claimed in an interview with the “Mike Broomhead Show” on KTAR News that he petitioned for a lesser sentence for Rissi. Hickman also claimed that Lanza said he needed to make an example of Rissi.
“I gave the judge the ability to offer mercy and compassion for a guy that should not be spending maybe some of his last years on this earth in a jail cell,” said Hickman. “And I asked for compassion and mercy. The judge heard that and then the judge said, ‘Listen, we have to prove a point. This is the judicial system and punishment needs to be meted out.’”
In a press release, DOJ Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri warned that threats to election officials will be met with significant punishment.
“This sentence makes clear that individuals who illegally threaten election officials and others associated with the electoral process will face meaningful penalties,” said Argentieri. “The Justice Department will diligently investigate and prosecute attempts to illegally threaten, intimidate, and coerce the individuals administering the nation’s free and fair elections.”
Rissi’s case was one of the many under investigation by the DOJ’s Election Threats Task Force. According to a meeting from one year ago, the DOJ was investigating around over 100 cases out of over 1,000 they reviewed.
The DOJ launched the task force in July 2021 under Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.
Monaco served as Homeland Security Advisor, Associate Deputy Attorney General, and Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division under former President Barack Obama.
Monaco has worked in the upper ranks of every Democratic presidential administration since former President Bill Clinton. Monaco has served as a research coordinator for the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired at the time by now-President Joe Biden, working on the Violence Against Women Act; legal intern for the White House Counsel’s Office and then counsel to former Attorney General Janet Reno under former President Bill Clinton.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The father of State Sen. J.D. Mesnard (R-LD13), Daniel Mesnard, remains in critical condition after his twin-engine plane malfunctioned and crashed in Georgia.
The crash paralyzed the elder Mesnard from the waist down. His passenger and longtime friend, Timothy Fiser, died from his injuries despite initial reports reflecting his condition as stable. The crashed plane was a Velocity Twin model certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last November.
On Monday, the senator issued a statement that his father remains critically injured and in need of funding to recover the plane. Without recovering the plane, the FAA won’t be able to complete its investigation to determine the malfunction that caused the plane to crash. The senator petitioned for financial aid through GoFundMe.
“The longer the plane sits there in the marsh the more it disintegrates and the prospect of losing the data contained in the plane and engines becomes very real,” said Mesnard.
All, my family is facing a devastating situation ATM. In short, my dad miraculously survived a plane crash but was critically injured & we need help RE the plane. Pls see my statement about it on this GoFundMe page & help share it. Grateful for any help. https://t.co/CMGLOhWgAM
The elder Mesnard had served as a pilot for decades: 21 years as an Air Force fighter pilot, 35 years as a commercial pilot for Delta Airlines, and owner of a charter plane business for the last three years.
According to Sen. Mesnard, his father prevented the plane from flipping by pulling a “fighter pilot manuever” to regain control, and then directed the plane to crash-land into the bank of a marsh in a tree clearing rather than the surrounding forest to avoid a potential fuel tank explosion.
The senator also relayed that the plane ejected his father and Fisher despite both wearing seatbelts. The younger Mesnard thanked those first responders who braved the marsh to rescue his father and family friend.
“We are so grateful for their herculean efforts to get to my dad and Tim – including wading through waist-deep mud and ignoring the prospect of snakes and alligators,” said Mesnard.
About 15 minutes before crashing, the elder Mesnard had stopped at the Kaolin Field Airport in Sandersville, Georgia to refuel.
A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), obtained by WDRW, revealed that a Kaolin Field Airport mechanic had cleared the plane for flight a day before and the day of the crash. Also according to the report, a local police officer heard the plane “change pitch” mid-flight before “banking right” and “descend[ing] quickly.”
As of that report obtained last week, the FAA and NTSB were going to investigate. According to Sen. Mesnard, the FAA hasn’t been able to get access to the plane due to its remote location and difficult terrain.
The Mesnards require $23,000 to recover the plane and conduct an investigation. As of press time, the GoFundMe has raised over $14,000.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Members of Arizona’s Freedom Caucus are gearing up for the 2024 Presidential Election in the Grand Canyon State.
Earlier this month, members of the Caucus participated in a conference call with former President – and current candidate for the Republican nomination – Donald J. Trump.
The Twitter account for the legislative group posted, “The Arizona Freedom Caucus met with President Trump yesterday to discuss the immediate need for strategic investments from his campaign into Arizona. He must build the GOTV & ballot chase infrastructure necessary for 2024 – and he must build it now.”
The @AZFreedomCaucus met with President Trump yesterday to discuss the immediate need for strategic investments from his campaign into Arizona.
He must build the GOTV & ballot chase infrastructure necessary for 2024—and he must build it now.https://t.co/L7kIbJXoNA
Senator Jake Hoffman, the chairman of the caucus, took part in the national call and had the opportunity to ask a two-part question of Trump. Hoffman asked the former President if he would “commit to declassifying everything to expose the Democrats and UniParty to the American people,” and if there would be an expectation to “see investments from your campaign specifically designated for building out a robust ground game and ballot-chasing operation in our state.”
Hoffman informed Trump on the call that “Democrats are already investing heavily in Arizona to build their electoral infrastructure and ground game for 2024,” and exhorted the former Commander in Chief to match those efforts immediately in the Grand Canyon State before it becomes too late.
A source with knowledge of the call told AZ Free News that Trump committed to the Arizona Freedom Caucus and the more than one hundred conservative legislators on the call that, when elected president again, he would declassify all of the documents showing the Democrats’ “pervasive and methodical plan to erode individual liberty and cripple American exceptionalism.”
The source also highlighted that “as one of the three most important states needed to win the 2024 election, members of the Arizona Freedom Caucus felt it was imperative to make the President aware of the millions being invested in our state by the Democrats, and the $30 million or more that will need to be invested by Republicans, specifically the presidential nominee, to win this state.”
Representative Austin Smith, who was also on the call, told AZ Free News that “we discussed the immediate need for strategic investment from his campaign to Arizona.” Smith added, “(Trump) must build the GOTV, early vote and ballot chasing infrastructure necessary for 2024, and he must do it now. Not after the primary. It will not matter who the nominee is, though I believe it will be Trump. We need the investment here now in Arizona in order to win.”
At the @AZFreedomCaucus we have mentioned to President Trump and it’s the same message for anyone who has a legitimate shot at securing the Republican nomination – invest in Arizona now. Start working the state now. It will be practically too late after the convention next…
Glendale voters will have one less issue to work through on an upcoming ballot after the City Council took action on some details for the development of an up-and-coming resort.
Last week, the Glendale City Council responded to a forthcoming referendum orchestrated by Worker Power Institute, negating the opportunity for the City’s and VAI Resort and Mattel Adventure Park’s Government Property Lease Excise Tax (GPLET) arrangements to be sent to a future ballot. The Council unanimously repealed its action on June 13, 2023, which had directed the City Manager to enter into the amended and restated development agreement. The June 2023 action from the council led to the efforts by Worker Power Institute to gather referendum signatures.
Michael Bailey, the City Attorney, noted that there were no surprises for the public throughout the entirety of this process with the developers of this resort, adding that the agreement in September 2020 had no public opposition. He specifically highlighted that no public groups spoke out against the Council’s actions when much of the work was done on executing this agreement.
Vice Mayor Joyce Clark agreed with Bailey’s comments and was more direct in her assessment of the situation at hand. Clark expressed suspicion with the motives of Worker Power in bringing this referendum to the doorstep of the Council, while repeatedly endorsing the project. She stated that the arrangement between Glendale and VAI Resorts would bring over 1,200 jobs to the community and infuse $10 million in sale tax revenue for the general fund, which would give much-needed financial support to essential municipal services.
Councilmember Jamie Aldama, however, took issue with some of Bailey’s words, arguing that just because there was no opposition in 2020 to this project or because there was a public meeting, constituents still may not have known about the significance or consequences of this issue. He exhorted the Council to do a better job at getting the word out to people about more of these issues and pleaded with citizens to stay engaged and involved in the process.
Worker Power Institute released the following statement after the Council’s vote: “Today, Glendale City Council repealed their June 13th decision to approve a new development agreement for the VAI Resort project. Worker Power Institute canvassers spoke with thousands of Glendale voters who expressed numerous concerns over the 25-year property tax breaks and significant changes in the updated development agreement. One of these changes, the open-air amphitheater with over 100 live events per year, greatly worried Glendale residents due to the traffic and noise such a venue would bring. Our understanding is that today’s vote to repeal the new development agreement would alleviate this particular concern as the open-air amphitheater is no longer covered. While residents still have many concerns surrounding the project, we feel tonight was a good first step.”
The President and CEO of VAI Global Development, Grant Fischer, addressed the Council’s action in a statement to a local media outlet, saying, “We appreciate the city of Glendale’s continued support for VAI Resort, and we are excited for the project to move forward on track with the city’s partnership. Apart from the financial benefits VAI Resort will bring to the city of Glendale, VAI will be among the largest employers in the state, with hundreds of jobs created for the construction of the project and more than 1,800 full time positions for the resort. As an Arizona native, I am personally so proud to create this legacy in my home state that will positively impact the community and residents.”
The Council’s action last week does not affect the original contract with the developers, but it does repeal the amendment from June 2023. A point was raised during discussion of this action that the original arrangement between the City and the developers could not be affected.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
The State of Arizona continues to invest in high-speed internet broadband in many rural communities.
On Thursday, Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne, issued a press release, announcing the “completion of $3.6 million in broadband projects to bring Internet fiber connectivity to Santa Cruz County.” With the Santa Cruz effort in the books, “the Arizona Department of Education has brought a total of approximately $160 million in fiber construction projects to schools and libraries in rural areas through the federal E-Rate Program in the past six years.”
Horne championed the latest development in this endeavor, saying, “With access to high-speed broadband, students can take remote classes and take advantage of digital learning opportunities. Educators will be able to dramatically enhance their professional development capabilities and communities will be transformed by the cultural and economic benefits of having a strong connection to the Internet.”
The Department revealed that “the latest project in Santa Cruz County will benefit all 1,000 students of the Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District.” Additionally, “the local Rio Rico Community will benefit from the new fiber infrastructure brought into the area by Valley Telcom.”
Superintendent Horne’s release went on to explain that “E-rate brings high-speed Internet broadband to areas of the country underserved by existing utilities.” The funding of these projects comes “through an assessment on telecommunications providers as required by federal law with the goal of ensuring that communications services such as broadband are accessible for eligible schools and libraries in rural areas.”
These projects are extremely vital for the future of many people around the state, according to the Department, as “many non-metro regions have limited Internet connectivity, and on tribal lands an estimated 95 percent of households have no connectivity.”
The catalyst of Arizona E-rate’s productivity can be traced back two administrations, when Superintendent Diane Douglas led the state’s Department of Education. This week’s announcement included the history of E-rate in Arizona, adding, “in cooperation with other state agencies, ADE’s Erate Director, Milan Eaton, capitalized on the FCC Second order in 2017 allowing states to contribute to construction projects and increasing the eligible amount to the participating school district. To date there are more than 80 projects either complete or in process across the state.”
Other projects highlighted by the Arizona Department of Education included:
County wide fiber build in Pinal County – $33.9 million
Fiber to the Grand Canyon School District – $5.6 million
County wide fiber build in Gila County – $19.4 million
County wide fiber build in LaPaz County – $3.9 million
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
