by Staff Reporter | Sep 18, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The Arizona District Court declined to assume jurisdiction in the prosecution of Mark Meadows for his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
The court remanded the case back to the Maricopa County Superior Court. In the order issued on Monday, Judge John Tuchi said that Meadows’ actions concerning the 2020 election aren’t covered by the “color of office” afforded by his role as chief of staff to former President Donald Trump.
“The Court finds that Mr. Meadows fails to present good cause for his untimely filing of his Notice of Removal, and that in any event, an evaluation on the merits yields that he fails to demonstrate that the conduct charged in the state’s prosecution relates to his former color of office as Chief of Staff to the President,” wrote Tuchi.
An Arizona grand jury dropped felony indictments on Trump’s 2020 electors and their alleged conspirators, among them Meadows, earlier this year. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes accused the 18 indicted of participating in an organized “scheme” intending to “prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency.”
Mayes alleged that Meadows worked with members of the Trump campaign to coordinate and implement Arizona’s false Republican electors following the 2020 election. Meadows argued that his actions pertaining to the aftermath of the 2020 election were covered by his asserted official authority as chief of staff to the president. The district court disagreed, mainly due to Meadows’ lack of justification given for his argument.
“Indeed, rather than make any additional or alternative factual assertions to support his invocation of federal jurisdiction, Mr. Meadows simply quotes the State’s indictment verbatim,” wrote Tuchi. “Not only has Mr. Meadows not disputed any of the foregoing facts, but he has necessarily relied upon them. […] In other words, this is not a case in which opposing parties offer competing facts; rather, it is a case in which the parties offer competing characterizations of identical facts.”
Tuchi wrote that Meadows didn’t justify how his actions pertaining to the 2020 election fell under the proper scope and content of his job responsibilities as chief of staff, as Ninth Circuit precedent requires. Tuchi rejected Meadows’ characterization of his actions as a mere middleman of communication between the president and others.
“Contrary to Mr. Meadows’s assertions, the State has not indicted Mr. Meadows for merely facilitating communication to and from the President or for simply staying abreast of campaign goings-on. Instead, the State has indicted Mr. Meadows for allegedly orchestrating and participating in an illegal electioneering scheme,” wrote Tuchi. “To allow Mr. Meadows to recharacterize the State’s indictment at the level of generality that he seeks to do would be to vitiate both the federal officer removal statute and the Supreme Court precedent interpreting that statute, as every criminal prosecution of a federal officer will in some vague sense involve that officer’s staying ‘apprised of what is happening.’”
The court also rejected Meadows’ reasoning for his untimeliness in filing his notice of removal: his pursuit of an effort to convince the state to drop the charges against him, and his awaiting a Supreme Court decision in the case Trump v. United States that would lend to his immunity defense.
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by Daniel Stefanski | Jul 12, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Another Arizona state official is experiencing a high-profile staff departure just over six months after taking office.
On Monday, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced the resignation of her Chief of Staff, Amy Love, informing Arizonans that Love would soon be leaving her team.
In a statement, Mayes said, “Amy Love is an exceptional public servant, and I thank her for her service to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. I wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”
The news about Love’s exit highlighted that her final day at the Attorney General’s Office would be August 7, 2023.
Mayes did not immediately indicate what her next move would be for filling the soon-to-be vacant position at the top of her team. Under former Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s administration, the Chief of Staff and Chief Deputy positions were jointly housed under one individual’s job responsibilities. Michael Bailey first held the Chief of Staff and Chief Deputy titles, and then Joe Kanefield, for Brnovich.
When Mayes assumed control of the Attorney General’s Office, she decided to create two positions from the Chief Deputy and Chief of Staff responsibilities. Dan Barr became Mayes’ Chief Deputy at the start of her tenure as the state’s top prosecutor. Love filled the Chief of Staff position.
Love previously worked for U.S. Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona, serving as his Outreach Director from February 2021 to January 2023.
Mayes’ loss within her staff nucleus follows a similar episode with Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs, who found herself without a Chief of Staff earlier this year. On May 25, Hobbs announced that Allie Bones would “be stepping down from her role…after four and a half years of public service with Hobbs” (mostly in the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office). At the time, Hobbs stated, “(Bones’) goal was to build a team that could work across the aisle to navigate divided government, and she accomplished that.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Jun 2, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Gov. Katie Hobbs selected her former legislative colleague and longtime lobbyist, Chad Campbell, as her replacement chief of staff. The appointment comes less than a week after the resignation of Hobbs’ longtime right-hand woman, Allie Bones: first as assistant secretary of state and, until recently, chief of staff.
Campbell formerly served as the House Minority Leader for the Democrats for four years of his eight-year tenure as a state representative from 2007 to 2015. For four years, Campbell and Hobbs represented the same district; Hobbs took over as minority leader for Campbell in 2015.
Campbell’s legacy includes passing the 2013 Medicaid expansion under former Gov. Jan Brewer, and lobbying for the 2020 legalization of marijuana through Proposition 207.
Campbell served on both of Hobbs’ transition teams, first as secretary of state and then governor this past year. He will assume his position on June 5.
Last year, Campbell co-founded Lumen Strategies Arizona alongside Stacy Pearson, known for assisting in the 2016 defeat of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the 2020 legalization of marijuana. Prior to that, Campbell served as an executive for two different consultancy firms: Strategies 360 and Resolute Consulting.
Campbell proved his political acumen as recently as the last election, after he predicted the failure of Maricopa County Attorney candidate Julie Gunnigle’s campaign, describing it as resembling the “worst” he’d seen over the last 30 years. Campbell made the remarks in a video call with other Democratic leaders.
“[Gunnigle’s campaign] reminds me of that: not knowing the audience, not knowing the issues that matter to a lot of voters,” stated Campbell. “And I will say this: the vast majority of Democrats that I know all believe that there needs to be reforms in law enforcement, we believe there needs to be more accountability. But almost everybody I talk to, nobody wants to defund the police, everybody knows we need more public safety resources, which will actually make more accountability.”
Hobbs’ recently departed chief of staff, Bones, resigned last week. Bones was the latest in a rapid series of turnovers in Hobbs’ administration.
Bones’ resignation reflected a pattern from Hobbs’ last female predecessor, Jan Brewer, whose first chief of staff also departed within a year. However, both of former Gov. Doug Ducey’s chiefs of staff lasted years.
Bones resignation also followed months of unsuccessful nominations to outfit Hobbs’ cabinet. On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Director Nominations rejected the Registrar of Contractors nominee, former State Sen. Martin Quezada.
In February, Hobbs faced the retraction of two nominees: Dr. Theresa Cullen as director of Arizona Department of Health Services, and Matthew Stewart as director of the Department of Child Services.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
