by Corinne Murdock | Oct 7, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
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.
by Daniel Stefanski | Oct 6, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A report of suspected ‘gotaways’ from the southern border made for some frightening Arizona news.
This week, NewsNation’s National Correspondent, Ali Bradley, revealed that there may have been a group of men, who were armed, traveling just south of the Phoenix-metro area. She posted, “NEW: Armed men in camo, carrying large backpacks seen with a migrant group just 70 miles from Phoenix over the weekend – Agents responded, even requested BORTAC at one point but they came up empty handed. Agents say migrants often use that area to try to evade law enforcement, but say the fact that they are armed is concerning.”
Bradley shared information from her sources, adding that “more than 630k people successfully evaded law enforcement in FY23 – 1.2M over the last 2 years.”
The map Bradley included in her “X” post showed that the encounter with the armed men may have occurred near the Table Top Wilderness just south of Interstate 8, which is a popular pick-up location for drug smugglers, who use the brush to conceal themselves as they wait for load cars to stop by for the stashes they carry from the Mexican border.
Former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Mark Morgan, commented on the ‘gotaways’ in a May 2023 article published by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), saying, “Who do you think are the ones getting away? It’s not your upstanding citizens. That’s where the criminal element is coming in. That’s where the gang members are getting through.”
FAIR also noted that “The Department of Homeland Security, attempting to downplay the extent of the gotaway problem, is engaging in a statistical shell game to hide these illegal entries.”
In a 2021 interview, Art Del Cueto, the Vice President for the National Border Patrol Council, addressed the growing concerns over ‘gotaways’ (which have exploded in size and scope since that year). Del Cueto said, “One of the main issues that affects Tucson Sector is the got aways. Not enough focus has been done and put on these got aways….Those are the individuals that did that extra to try to avoid apprehension, to try to avoid detection, and those are where I believe your true hardened criminals are. We’re not talking about people who are from South America or Central America. We’re talking about people from all over the world.”
Another former Acting ICE Director, Tom Homan, made the following comments in a 2022 Fox News interview about the dire situation surrounding the number of ‘gotaways’ from the open southern border. He asserted, ““[t]his isn’t just about illegal immigration. … this is about public safety, because the Border Patrol has arrested over 12,000 … convicted criminals. So how many of the … almost 500,000 ‘gotaways’ based on camera traffic, based on sensor traffic, based on drone traffic that the Border Patrol couldn’t respond to … were criminals or gang members? Also, Border Patrol has already arrested 16 people on the FBI screening database. How many of that 500,000 are known or suspected terrorists? We don’t know. I’m afraid someday we’re going to find out. So this isn’t just an illegal immigration problem. It’s a public health crisis because of COVID. It’s a public safety crisis. And there’s a national security crisis of huge proportions.”
It’s not just reporters and government officials sounding the alarm about the border ‘gotaways.’ Jim Chilton, a fifth-generation Arizona rancher has seen the realities of camouflaged men coming across his property for years. In an interview with Range Magazine, Chilton said, “For seven years, (we) have collected motion activated camera film of drug packers, previously deported persons and other illegals crossing through our ranch. Of approximately 100 trails traversing our ranch, only five have hidden motion-activated cameras. Just during the six months ending July 2022, these cameras have recorded 1,467 images of illegal border crossers. On our ranch, border crossers are wearing camouflaged clothes, backpacks and carpet shoes. Almost all are men…The aforementioned video documents an approximately 10-fold increase in the number of international border crossers on our ranch compared to prior years.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Oct 6, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
One of Arizona’s newest legislators continues to deliver results for her district.
On Wednesday, Republican State Representative Julie Willoughby announced that she had “spearheaded the expansion of the Arizona Resource Equity & Access Coordination Hub (AZ REACH), a pioneering program that facilitates the seamless transfer of medical patients, providing critical support to hospitals across the state.”
This expansion will be coined “the Arizona Statewide Transfer Escalation Pathway (AZ STEP).”
Willoughby’s release revealed that the AZ REACH Program “has been instrumental in facilitating the seamless transfer of over 4,000 patients, with an impressive acceptance rate exceeding 90 percent,” adding that “the program streamlines the transfer process by facilitating calls for placement, connecting practitioners, and following through on placement progress, allowing referring facility team members to focus on care.” AZ REACH started in December 2022.
In a statement, Representative Willoughby said, “As a nurse, I know that the AZ REACH program helps save practitioners time and patients’ lives. With the introduction of AZ STEP, we are taking a monumental step towards improving patient care, throughput, and access to specialty services, particularly in our smaller rural hospitals. During peak times, it’s imperative that clinical staff can focus on patients’ needs without being burdened by transfer logistics. AZ STEP will bridge this gap further, ensuring patients receive the care they require.”
The freshman lawmaker’s contribution to AZ REACH was “securing funding in the recently passed state budget for the inclusion of hospitals with 20 beds or less in the program.” According to Willoughby’s announcement, “the AZ REACH program initially included 25 hospitals across the state, encompassing Indian Health Services, PL-638 Tribally Operated, and Critical Access facilities. After the new funding kicks in, five additional hospitals will be added to the 25 hospitals already operating under the program, fulfilling a “critical need to support smaller rural hospitals during high-demand periods.”
Last month, Willoughby announced that she had secured $2.25 million in the state’s budget, which was “intended to support the efforts of the Chandler Police Department in their fight against Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC).” She explained that these funds would “be instrumental in advancing the capabilities of the ICAC department in tackling a range of criminal cases, including human trafficking, cold case sex crimes, homicides, and latent prints.”
Representative Willoughby was appointed to the Arizona House of Representatives by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors earlier this year after a vacancy occurred.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Oct 5, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Rep. Kevin McCarthy became the first in American history to be voted out of the speakership this week, and Republican lawmakers are divided over that development.
Led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL-01), House Democrats joined six other Republicans to vote out House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-20): in addition to Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) and Eli Crane (R-AZ-02), there were Ken Buck (CO), Tim Burchett (TN), Bob Good (VA), Nancy Mace (SC), and Matt Rosendale (MT).
As of Wednesday, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) and Steve Scalise (R-LA-01) announced their candidacy for the speakership. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) is serving as the speaker pro tempore.
State Rep. Austin Smith (R-LD29) said that the “establishment” line of thinking was supporting Democrats to pass the continuing resolution, but not to vote out McCarthy.
Similarly, State Rep. Justin Heap (R-LD10) challenged claims that those against McCarthy were traitorous. Heap said that those Republicans against McCarthy were for more important GOP priorities: an end to foreign war funding, border security, and the rejection of lengthy omnibus bills.
Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-LD-08) said the ouster was a “bad move” for the Republican Party and the country.
“Now we are at a standstill again until we figure out who the new speaker is going to be,” said Lesko. “Republicans need to unite to defeat the Democrats’ radical agenda.”
Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-06) said the removal was “pointless, unproductive, and harmful” to the GOP agenda.
“[A] handful of Republicans partnered with Democrats to stop our efforts to get it done, obstructing the work we have at hand,” said Ciscomani. “Washington is broken.”
In response to a criticism of the ouster by Ciscomani, State Rep. Nancy Gutierrez (D-LD18) blamed the “radical right” faction of eight that ousted McCarthy for upending order in the House.
“This is bad for our economy and democracy,” said Gutierrez.
The day after issuing those criticisms of his party peers, Ciscomani had no problem taking a selfie with Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ-04), who also voted to oust McCarthy.
Biggs said that McCarthy had repeatedly failed to uphold his policy promises. He further rejected the claim from Ciscomani and others that he was a chaos agent siding with Democrats.
Crane concurred, expressing hope for a leadership that upholds promises and displays situational awareness.
“I really want to see leadership that honors their word, understands the situation the country is in, and is willing to make a change,” said Crane.
It was for those reasons that other Republican lawmakers supported the ouster.
State Rep. Cory McGarr (R-LD17) said that McCarthy’s leadership was poor, hence why he was ousted.
Likewise, State Sen. Justine Wadsack (R-LD17) praised the House Freedom Caucus for standing up for Americans.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | Oct 5, 2023 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
An Arizona school choice leader marked the one-year anniversary of the historic policy going into effect in her state.
On Saturday, Christine Accurso highlighted the one-year anniversary of all Arizona parents having the opportunity to unlock state dollars to assist with the education of their children.
In a trip down memory lane, Accurso wrote, “One year ago today Universal ESA became available for all K-12 students in AZ. It took many different people to get this passed and signed into law, but it wouldn’t have come to life in Arizona if it wasn’t for the parent army that we built over the court of 80 days last summer!”
Accurso added, “We fought the teacher’s union and the union-backed groups, day and night. We countered their lies and misinformation with the truth, so that Arizona voters had a real choice in whether or not to send Universal ESAs to the ballot.”
The East Valley mom gave a shout-out to all of the parents and families who tirelessly worked alongside of her to make ESAs a reality for Arizona, saying, “I am still amazed at the grit and tenacity that so many of my friends have and THAT truly made the difference. To the 1,200 families that joined me and my family, THANK YOU! You have truly made the world a better place!”
The ”X” account for Arizona Women of Action echoed Accurso’s words, stating, “It’s a well known fact that Christine Accurso organized the grassroots effort called DECLINE TO SIGN. Through her tremendous undertaking, parents across the state were successful in thwarting the ballot initiative that would have destroyed #ESA4All. Many thanks goes to Christine and the parents who worked with her for saving the AZ universal ESA program.”
Accurso recently served as the ESA program director under the administration of Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, a Republican. Horne and Accurso were tasked with bringing the expanded program under compliance with the law and eliminating the significant backlog of requests left by the previous administration. She resigned her position in July, expressing her grateful heart “to have had the opportunity to get the ESA program back on track and functioning well.” She said, “I achieved much of what I set out to accomplish, but it is time for me to move on and pursue opportunities to engage citizens, especially parents, to fight for school choice and the other issues they believe in, for the future of our state and of our nation.”
Shortly after her successful efforts in leading the charge to keep universal ESAs intact in Arizona last year, Accurso wrote a piece for FoxNews.com, outlining how she and hundreds of committed parents had done what many thought was unthinkable. Accurso shared that she went online to track the group responsible for attempting to refer ESAs to the ballot, deploying herself and other parents to the locations where signature gatherers were posted to offer an opposing viewpoint to Arizona voters who were stopped. She wrote, “I quickly found that voters would look through the legislation, which was attached to the petitions, after hearing my arguments to find out for themselves what was inside this legislation.”
The influential advocate may have more work to do in the state – especially with groups trying to enshrine a right to abortion in the Arizona Constitution. After that ballot initiative was filed with the Arizona Secretary of State in August, Accurso posted, “Pro-Abortion Supporters in AZ have filed with the Sec. of State to put abortion on the 2024 ballot & make it a constitutional amendment. They need 383,923 valid signatures from AZ registered voters by 7/3/24. If you live in Arizona and want to help oppose this DM me.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Oct 4, 2023 | Economy, News
By Corinne Murdock |
The Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) may have misspent $2.4 million to court private CEOs, according to a new report from the Arizona Auditor General (AG). The ACA is a state agency managed as a public-private partnership.
The report found that the ACA spent more than $2.4 million to court private CEOs with accommodations, experiences, and refreshments between 2018 and 2023. These gifts spread across five private CEO Forums were intended to entice private CEOs to bring their business to the state; none did. Only 23 of 118 companies courted proposed “potential non-binding investment and job commitments.”
The ACA courted the CEOs in “marketing campaigns” around the Waste Management Phoenix Open (WMPO) golf tournament and the 2023 Super Bowl. At these events, the ACA paid for hotel rooms; transportation; suites at the WMPO; Super Bowl sponsorship that came with access to Super Bowl LVII and related VIP events; gifts like events tickets, hats, sunglasses, tumblers, and tote bags; VIP nightclubs and concerts at the WMPO; and the Super Bowl Music Festival.
The ACA told the AG that their CEO courting didn’t violate the Arizona Constitution’s Gift Clause because the CEOs’ projected, but non-binding, promise of tens of thousands of jobs and billions in investments would far outweigh the $2.4 million.
Below is the cumulative cost breakdown of all six years of CEO Forums:
- Super Bowl sponsorship package: $1.85 million
- WMPO Suite: $288,600
- Transportation and lodging: $193,200
- Educational events (speakers, panels): $65,000
- Birds Nest VIP and other concert or theater tickets: $42,000
- Small gifts (sunglasses, sunscreen, water, hats, tumblers, red wine, desserts): $7,600
The Super Bowl sponsorship package included 140 game tickets, 140 tickets to the Super Bowl VIP Tailgate Party, 140 tickets to the Super Bowl Experience, a party loft at the Super Bowl (with food and drinks), gift packages for event attendees (four tickets and two premium parking passes for one Arizona Cardinals regular season football game), 70 hotel rooms at the Arizona Biltmore (all event attendees), and Arizona Biltmore Resort events (hospitality lounge, planned dinner events, welcome event with Gov. Katie Hobbs, and panel discussions).
The WMPO Suite was for 17th hole suites, which include daily complimentary alcohol and other beverages, and breakfast and lunch buffets; suite tickets for up to 34 people daily; an additional 20 general admission tickets daily; and 15 parking passes for each day of the WMPO.
The ACA plans to host another two private CEO Forums in February and April 2024, in conjunction with the WMPO and the NCAA Men’s Final Four basketball tournament.
READ THE AUDITOR GENERAL REPORT
The AG also found at least two instances in which the ACA had invited company executives after awarding them a grant or approved tax incentive.
The over-$2.4 million was the smallest amount of expenditures that earned concern from the AG. Over $111 million may have been misspent on business incentives and broadband grants as well.
The report found that the ACA failed to provide documentation proving that $11 million in incentives were given to businesses that met required targets on job creation and/or capital investment. ACA staff also disclosed to the AG that they frequently didn’t conduct wage verifications for tax credits.
In all, the ACA lacked documentation showing it verified job creation requirements prior to approving 21 tax credits totaling $7.5 million. Those 21 tax credits were a sample out of 99. The AG also discovered that the ACA couldn’t provide documentation demonstrating that it investigated discrepancies in business applications for tax credits.
The AG declared that the lack of oversight created an increased risk of fraud and waste of taxpayer funding.
The ACA also failed to provide required documentation, guidance, or policies and procedures for $100 million in Arizona Broadband Development Grant Program for similar targets.
The ACA had an end-of-year fund balance of $202 million last year.
The ACA has 91 full-time employees, with nine vacancies. A board of directors governs the ACA. Voting members consist of the governor, the ACA CEO, and 17 private sector business leaders. The ACA CEO is Sandra Watson, who also oversees the Workforce Arizona Council and the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
