One of President Joe Biden’s signature initiatives is not going smoothly, with one of the government’s largest users of construction materials taking steps to forgo the May 14 deadline to ensure the manufacturing of all construction materials used in federally assisted infrastructure projects occurs in the United States.
In January 2021, Biden issued Executive Order 14005 to announce his Made in America initiative. It directed all federal agencies to maximize the use of goods, products, and materials produced in the U.S. when providing financial assistance awards and in procurements.
There have been longstanding federal rules for when iron and steel is American made, but implementing the Build America, Buy America Act enacted in November as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is not something the U.S. Department of Transportation can have in place by May 14 deadline.
Federal agencies had to wait for the Office of Management and Budget to determine the manufacturing process criteria for other construction materials. Which did not happen until two weeks ago when OMD announced its “preliminary and non-binding guidance.”
And that poses “a significant problem,” according to Polly Trottenberg, DOT’s deputy secretary.
DOT is responsible for funding thousands of road, bridge, rail, and transit infrastructure projects across the country through the Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Under the new law, DOT will now also be responsible for ensuring those federally funded projects comply with Buy America.
But figuring out criteria for compliance based on non-binding guidance released only two weeks ago is not workable. Which is why Trottenberg is moving toward obtaining a 180 day temporary, transitional waiver of the deadline under a public interest declaration.
“The Department recognizes both the importance of ensuring Buy America compliant construction materials and the need to implement the requirement in a way that is not overly burdensome,” Trottenberg recently wrote.
According to Trottenberg, DOT officials have received concerns from stakeholders about the new Buy America manufacturing requirements as it relates to construction materials other than iron and steel. A waiver would avoid delays to much needed projects.
“Until we have more complete information on how construction materials are manufactured, and whether the manufacturing process complies with the OMB guidance, the Department is unable to ensure that transportation infrastructure projects continue to be obligated in compliance with these new requirements,” Trottenberg wrote.
The impact of new Buy America’s construction materials standards “could be significant,” said Trottenberg, who noted the National Bridge Inventory shows more than 62,500 bridges in America made with wood or timber elements, of which nearly 17,000 bridges have a main span consisting of wood or timber elements.
Another 19,562 bridges contain polymer-based products elements while 2,281 bridges contain non-ferrous metal elements, none of which have currently defined manufacturing processes to ensure compliance with Buy America standards.
DOT officials would use the waiver period to seek information state, local, industry, and other partners and stakeholders on challenges and solutions in connection with the Buy America construction materials mandate. It would also allow DOT to gather data on the sourcing of a full range of materials and products used in federally funded transportation projects while giving officials time to strategize for building up domestic capacity of construction materials.
Further, DOT hopes OMB will have issued its final standards by then.
“By the end of the waiver period, DOT expects state, industry, and other partners to establish an effective review process, as already in place for products such as iron and steel, as appropriate for construction materials, consistent with the [Bipartisan Infrastructure Law] and interpreting guidance and standards,” according to Trottenberg.
Comments and feedback on the proposed temporary waiver can be made here. All submissions received, including any personal information therein, will be posted to the agency’s website without change or alteration.
The Democrats’ top lawyer and central actor in Russia collusion hoax, Marc Elias, deleted all tweets published prior to April 4. As AZ Free News reported, Elias is assisting several activist groups in their lawsuits against Arizona for enacting a law requiring proof of citizenship in order to vote. According to court filings, only one case has seen action beyond the initial complaint: the court allowed Attorney General Mark Brnovich to intervene in the case filed by Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA).
Elias hasn’t offered an explanation for the sudden purge; he joined Twitter in March 2009. In recent months, federal investigators have closed in on those behind the Russia collusion hoax, or Russiagate.
At the end of March, the Federal Election Commission fined the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign $113,000 for misrepresenting payments for opposition research used to create Russiagate. Elias was Clinton’s general counsel and his law firm at the time, Perkins Coie, billed for “legal expenses” that were used to hire an opposition research firm, Fusion GPS, to do their work on former President Donald Trump.
Fusion GPS obtained the debunked “Steele dossier” linking Trump to Russia from former British spy Christopher Steel, who created the dossier using false information from a Russian analyst living in Virginia, Igor Danchenko, who in turn received some ideas from former Clinton aide Charles Donlan Jr.
Buzzfeed first published the fake dossier in January 2017, ten days before Trump’s inauguration. The lies cast a shadow on all four years of Trump’s presidency.
Although Elias wasn’t President Joe Biden’s general counsel for his campaign — he served as Vice President Kamala Harris’ general counsel during her short bid for president — the Biden campaign and the DNC enlisted his help to counter 65 lawsuits challenging the 2020 election results.
Last August, Elias left his partnership at Perkins Coie to launch his own law firm: the Elias Law Group. He took 10 partners with him.
A month later, a federal grand jury indicted Perkins Coie partner Michael Sussman for making false statements to the FBI concerning alleged communications between Trump and Russia. In a 48-page motion last month to admit additional evidence, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged that Sussman attempted to manipulate the FBI to advance the interests of his client, the Clinton campaign, by giving then-FBI general counsel James Baker information that Trump was colluding with Russia based on alleged internet server communications between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa-Bank. Sussman’s indictment noted that he billed the Clinton campaign for time spent drafting the document given to Baker.
Then, the DOJ alleged that Sussman turned around and ordered Steele to create reports about the Alfa-Bank communications. After that, the DOJ alleged that Sussman and Fusion GPS employees presented their information to media.
Sussman wasn’t one of the 10 partners that Elias recruited for his law firm.
In January, Elias testified in Sussman’s case. In February, Sussman asked U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper to dismiss the case; Cooper denied the request last month. The trial is scheduled for May 16. At the pretrial hearing, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
While Sussman was dealing with the fallout of Russiagate, his former employer and Elias moved onto other controversial clients.
According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, Black Lives Matter PAC paid the Elias Law Group nearly $8,000 for legal services and Perkins Coie over $8,000 for compliance services from January through March. Black Lives Matter came under scrutiny over the last year for its use of millions in donations to purchase mansions.
As for the DOJ case against Sussman, Elias and other top Clinton officials are fighting to keep the work done by Fusion GPS under wraps, claiming that it qualified for the confidentiality required of legal work.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Arizona Senate President Karen Fann (R-Prescott) accused Maricopa County’s top election officials of gaslighting Attorney General Mark Brnovich as part of an ongoing massive cover-up of their alleged mistakes in the 2020 election. She asserted that Brnovich was doing his job, even at the risk of facing media attacks that could undermine his senate campaign.
Fann noted that Recorder Stephen Richer had no reason to participate in the alleged cover-up because he didn’t assume his role until January 2021.
“It still goes beyond me that they are still denying the mistakes that happened,” said Fann. “[Richer] joined up with the board of supervisors to do this massive coverup. Mind you, they kept saying everything was fine and perfect. No it wasn’t.”
The senate president appeared on “The Conservative Circus” with host James T. Harris. She brought up past admissions by the county as evidence of a massive cover-up.
Fann gave one example of the county’s admission that one 2020 election poll worker double-counted 50 ballots. She said that although that amount didn’t seem like a lot in the context of a presidential election, it would’ve mattered in the 2016 primary election between Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) and opponent Christine Jones. Their race necessitated a recount; Biggs ultimately won by 27 votes.
As an example of the county contradicting its claims on the nonexistence of widespread fraud, Fann cited Richer’s emails. She read aloud from one, in which Richer wrote of the existence of “plenty of instances of actual, prosecuted and convicted election law violations [from] both administrators and normal citizens,” some of which he asserted were recent.
Additionally, Fann revealed that Richer’s emails identified major issues with chain of custody and signature verification.
“But now? Nope. He’s part of the cover-up by saying, ‘Oh no, everything is fine,’” said Fann. “The Arizona Senate was the only body in the entire nation to step up and actually say, ‘Let’s get to the bottom of these rumors. Let’s get to the bottom of these allegations.’ The Senate has been attacked from day one — before the auditors were selected, before anything happened.”
AZ State Senate President Karen Fann discusses AZ AG Mark Brnovich claiming 200 ballots that have no chain of custo https://t.co/xKre6loBvI
Fann’s remarks on Thursday were in response to the actions of the Maricopa County election officials this week.
On Wednesday, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Richer presented a unified front against Brnovich’s interim report on the 2020 election. The officials accused Brnovich of lying and using the election controversy to score “cheap political points.”
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Recorder accused Attorney General Mark Brnovich of executing a dishonest investigation into the 2020 election. In a public letter, the election officials claimed that Brnovich’s interim report on the 2020 election released last month was nothing but misinformation intended to “score cheap political points.” Brnovich is a candidate in the upcoming U.S. Senate race.
“Rather than being truthful about what your office has learned about the election, you have omitted pertinent information, misrepresented facts, and cited distorted data to seed doubt about the conduct of elections in Maricopa County,” read the letter.
The election officials then refuted claims made by Brnovich: that up to 200,000 ballots lacked proper chain of custody, that Maricopa County didn’t cooperate fully with Brnovich’s investigation, that the county relied on artificial intelligence to execute signature verification, and that the number of rejected ballots were too low. They also challenged Brnovich on his decision to publish an unprecedented interim report, characterizing it as improper commentary on an ongoing investigation.
On Wednesday morning, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors held a press conference during their special and formal meeting. Chairman Bill Gates said that Brnovich’s interim report was backing fraud and necessitated a response from the board.
“We’re all Republicans who actually have the statutory responsibility to run these elections, and we’re saying these allegations are false, that there’s no systemic fraud,” said Gates. “Our democracy is on the line here.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer reiterated one of the promises made in their letter: that the county would submit public records requests of all of the public records requests sent to the attorney general’s office for the last two years.
Richer explained that the goal of the massive undertaking was to see how many of those requests Brnovich’s office fulfilled. He accused Brnovich of living in a glass house.
The county is making a public records request of the Attorney General's Office for all public records requests the AG has received in the past two years and if and when those requests were fulfilled.
I'm going to bet somebody lives in a glass house.
— Stephen Richer—Maricopa Cnty Recorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) May 4, 2022
Brnovich called the county’s response “disappointing.” He accused Maricopa County officials of casting stones instead of working alongside his office to resolve election integrity concerns.
“The reality is we issued an interim report that identified several issues that need to be addressed,” said Brnovich.
Brnovich held that up to 200,000 ballots lacked proper chain of custody. Brnovich also challenged the supervisors’ office to offer a clear, consistent answer on signature verification processes, pointing out the range of times they estimated it took to verify a signature.
While many people are frustrated, the important thing to remember is that we should all want the same thing — fair elections that maintain accuracy and promote public confidence.
Here is my response to the special meeting from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. pic.twitter.com/6phLqURWXn
Richer called Brnovich’s statement “nonsense.” He said that Brnovich wasn’t being impartial about the 2020 election, referencing the attorney general’s interview with right-wing talk show host Steve Bannon.
lol. This is such nonsense. Show me where I brought up "ballot counting."
Also, pretty rich of you to say, "let's be civil," after you issue an interim report (which you know is a ridiculous thing) and insinuate the county broke the law.
Voters across Arizona who are registered as Independents or who have not listed a political party preference have a few weeks to request early voting ballots for the Aug. 2 Democratic and Republican primaries.
The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office shows 34.15 percent of all Arizona registered voters were listed as Libertarians or “other” as of Jan. 2. And each of those “other” voters have the option of requesting a Democratic or Republican primary ballot without formally changing their party affiliation.
In preparation of the upcoming primaries, Arizona’s 15 county recorders recently mailed out a “90-day notice” to all voters on the active early voting list (formerly the permanent early voting list). The mailing seeks to ensure current addresses are on file before primary ballots are mailed out in late July.
The notice also provides voters with information on how to be removed from the AEVL if they don’t want ballots mailed to them.
However, the most critical impact of the notice is the reminder to Independent and Party Not Designated (PND) voters on the AEVL that they may vote in either of the two main primaries if they request a ballot within the next few weeks. (Voters may not request a Libertarian primary ballot as that party’s primary is closed to registered Libertarians.)
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer recently took to Twitter to promote the 90-day mailing, but referred only to “Independents” when discussing the right to request either a Democratic or Republican ballot. Cochise County Recorder David Stevens and others have confirmed to Arizona Daily Independent this includes voters whose registration card shows PND for party not designated.
The mailings are also raising questions about why several former voters have received an AEVL notification packet from Richer in 2022 despite not living in the county since before the 2020 election. In some instances, a voter summoned for jury duty may have been excused after providing proof of a move, but the county recorder must ask for such information to be shared.
The same exchange of information is necessary when a death is reported. In addition, a registered voter convicted of a felony has restrictions on their voting rights as of the date of sentencing, but a county recorder must ensure the information makes its way from the clerk of the court’s office.
Stevens says registered voters on the AEVL who need to make changes to their voter file should return the AEVL card as soon as possible. Other voters can call their county recorder. In the meantime, qualified voters who are not yet registered have only until July 5 to become registered for the August primary.
The Arizona SOS shows 34.5 percent of voters registered as Republicans and 31.35 percent as Democrats, so the impact of Independent or Party Not Designated voters will likely have a major effect in August, as winners in Arizona’s primary elections are determined by plurality vote.
This means the candidate who receives the highest number of votes wins, even if the candidate did not receive the majority of all votes cast in that contest. Such an outcome is expected in the race for U.S. Senate with five Republican candidates: Ret. USAF Major General Mick McGuire, ACC member Justin Olson, venture capitalist Blake Masters, Attorney General Mark Brnovich, and businessman Jim Lamon).
It is likely none of the five Republicans can receive more than 50 percent of all votes cast, so the highest vote-getter will be listed on the 2022 General Election ballot against Sen. Mark Kelly and Libertarian candidate Marc Victor.
On Tuesday a groundbreaking occurred for Tucson’s first forthcoming $6.8 million “medical respite center” exclusively for the homeless. Medical respite centers are short-term residences and caregiving locations for the homeless that are ill or injured enough to warrant assistance but not hospitalization.
As of mid-March, the initiative raised just under $3.5 million. Major funders include the Diane & Bruce Halle Foundation, St. Joseph Catholic Healthcare Endowment Fund, Connie Hillman Foundation, Southwest Catholic Health Network, Ginny L. Clements and Tom Rogers, O’Rielly Family Foundation, Del E. Webb Foundation, Jim and Vicki Click, William and Mary Ross Foundation, Margaret E. Mooney Foundation, PetSmart Charities, Union Pacific, Raskob Foundation, and the Sundt Foundation.
In September, AZ Free News reported that an undisclosed number of Haitian illegal immigrants and refugees were bussed or flown into Tucson. CCS ran a shelter in Tucson called Casas Alitas.
Also behind the medical respite center is El Rio Health Center, a dental and medical center that receives federal funds from Health and Human Services (HHS) and is has federal status under the Federal Public Health Service (PHS).
According to the Tucson Housing and Community Development, there were an estimated 1,660 homeless people on any given night in Pima County in 2020. Those experiencing chronic homelessness in the county were estimated to be around 380.
Tucson is plagued with a homelessness crisis currently. Councilman Steve Kozachik said that the current number of homeless people are beyond past trends. Those rising numbers correspond with an increase in homeless deaths, as reported by the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office.
In a statement to KGUN9, Kozachik said that he was attempting to convince the rest of the council to establish controlled encampments to counteract the masses of temporary encampments occurring naturally where the homeless congregate and settle.
“I think the rest of the council simply does not like the optics, and they believe allowing an encampment to exist constitutes a failure,” said Kozachik. “I have a different perspective. Squeezing the balloon and moving people around from camp-to-camp week to week is the failure.”
Controlled encampments have begun to pop up in the major cities experiencing homelessness crises in other states, such as Denver, Colorado and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Denver launched its first controlled encampment last November. In April, the city and county asked federal appeals judges to rescind court-ordered standards on homeless encampment cleanups intended to preserve public health and safety.
Albuquerque hasn’t established controlled encampments yet, but it’s likely they will soon. Their city council is looking to amend its zoning code to allow for encampments managed mostly by churches or nonprofits: tents with facilities like restrooms called “safe outdoor spaces.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
