by Corinne Murdock | Aug 20, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Democrats used a nonprofit to engage in a partisan, multi-state campaign to flip states blue during the 2020 election, including Arizona, and plan to do so again in 2024.
Details of the effort — the Everybody Votes campaign by the Voter Registration Project (VRP) — were revealed in a new report by the Capital Research Center. According to a leaked secret draft plan, the campaign funded voter registration drives in eight swing states — Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, and Nevada — over five years beginning in 2016, seeking to register more non-white and other “underrepresented” (unmarried women, young) voters to bring registration parity to white voters.
John Podesta commissioned Everybody Votes while serving as Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign chairman. Podesta, a key player in Russiagate, formerly served as the Clinton White House Chief of Staff and counselor to President Obama; he co-founded and presided over Center for American Progress.
Everybody Votes succeeded in raising $190 million and registering 5.1 million people by 2022, which turned out around 1-2.7 million votes across the eight swing states for President Joe Biden in 2020. The Capital Research Center report estimated that the campaign generated over 198,600 votes in the 2020 election. Biden won in 2020 by over 10,400 votes.
“[T]he Everybody Votes campaign was blatantly partisan, developed by Democratic consultants and pushed by Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager,” stated the report.
Everybody Votes received its millions from progressive billionaires. Barbara Fried — mother of Sam Bankman-Fried, the corrupt cryptocurrency giant under investigation for fraud — co-wrote a 2020 memo for her super PAC led by fellow Stanford Law professors, Mind the Gap, advising donors to give 90 percent of their political cash to three nonprofits engaged in voter registration campaigns “most effective” for getting “additional Democratic votes,” naming Everybody Votes as one of them. Donors receive tax deductions for their contributions.
As AZ Free News reported last November, Bankman-Fried gave $27 million to a Phoenix-based PAC to turn out for Democratic candidates. The PAC’s treasurer, Dacey Montoya, is a key figure in many Democratic dark money network organizations, and received over $1 million from committees for Gov. Katie Hobbs and Sen. Mark Kelly.
Among the billionaires to donate to VRP were Warren Buffet ($5 million), George Soros ($10.4 million), Chuck Feeney ($2 million), the foundation of the deceased Wallace Coulter ($5 million), Barbara Picower ($4 million), Jeffrey Skoll ($1 million), and Pierre Omidyar ($500,000). Prominent dark money groups Proteus Fund, New Venture Fund, Hopewell Fund, Tides Foundation, ImpactAssets, and Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund accounted for around $453 million in funds to VRP.
Arizona organizations tied into the dark money network benefited over $19.16 million from VRP: $7.46 million to Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, $1.73 million for Mi Familia Vota, $5.43 million to One Arizona, $1.82 million for Central Arizonans for a Sustainable Economy (CASE), $1.73 million for Arizona Center for Empowerment, $941,000 for Arizona Coalition for Change, and $51,900 for Rural Arizona Engagement.
Everybody Votes appears to have originated in early 2015 from a plan emailed to Podesta by the Wyss Foundation, a leftist nonprofit with a history of illegal election interference. That plan originated from Bill Roberts, board member of leftist dark money group League of Conservation Voters, within Corridor Partners, a Democratic consulting firm. In November 2015, Podesta received a copy of a similar, retitled plan originating from Robert Richman, CEO of the Democratic campaign strategy group Grassroots Solutions. VRP and Grassroots Solutions shared a D.C. address from 2016 to 2018 according to tax filings, with VRP continuing to pay consulting fees to Grassroots Solutions.
VRP picked up the Everybody Votes campaign. Formerly known as “Voting For America,” VRP was an outgrowth of Obama’s Project Vote. Project Vote was an affiliate of ACORN: the bankrupted activist network guilty of violating election laws repeatedly.
Despite having an outsized impact on the 2020 election, it wasn’t until last year that VRP publicized the Everybody Votes campaign.
VRP plans to use the Everybody Votes campaign plan again for 2024, with hiring targeted in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin in addition to Arizona.
The IRS prohibits 501(c)(3) nonprofits from engaging in partisan activity, especially that which influences election outcomes. AZ Free News documented in February how leftist nonprofits in Arizona manipulate the tax code to do just that.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Aug 15, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Gov. Katie Hobbs had a major drafting error in last week’s emergency declaration over the summer heat: it expired weeks before its announcement.
It appears that the governor had the emergency declaration drafted for release on or around June 30, but opted to wait until after the state legislative session ended.
The timing of Hobbs’ emergency declaration further evoked curiosity when contrasted with the release of another breaking news story concerning the governor: emails revealing Hobbs’ years-long coordination with social media companies to control online speech.
The evidence of Hobbs’ cozy relationship with social media companies came out on Thursday. Late Friday evening, Hobbs issued her emergency declaration to address the summer heat, which she called “extreme.”
In an interview with KJZZ, Hobbs called the revelation a “sideshow.” The governor didn’t deny allegations of maintaining unscrupulous relationships with major social media companies. Rather, Hobbs laughed off the discovery as a means for her desired ends: water conservation, public housing expansion, and public education growth.
“I’m glad we’ve solved water, the public housing crisis, and public education — and have time for this sideshow,” said Hobbs.
This latest email trove revealing Hobbs’ coordination with social media companies prompted elected GOP leadership to take action. House Speaker Ben Toma announced the Ad Hoc Committee on Oversight, Accountability, and Big Tech.
The committee, led by State Rep. Alexander Kolodin (R-LD03) will review legal standards and issues concerning censorship arising from government working with social media, as well as conduct any relevant investigations into state officials and executive officers falling short of fulfilling their constitutional duties.
State Rep. Neal Carter (R-LD15) and a Democrat, yet to be announced, will also serve on the committee.
The committee will first convene on Sept. 5.
As of this report, the erroneous emergency declaration remains listed on the governor’s website.
In addition to the emergency declaration, Hobbs also issued an executive order directing:
- the Governor’s Office of Resiliency to develop an Extreme Heat Preparedness Plan by March 1, 2024, propose legislation to counter heat, and administer $13.3 million in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act federal funding;
- the Director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting to allocate an unspecified amount of financial resources to counter “extreme” heat;
- the Director of the Arizona Department of Health Services to contribute to the Extreme Heat Preparedness Plan, compile data reports on heat-related issues and infrastructures such as emergency room visits and cooling centers, and create public awareness materials on heat;
- the Director of the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to contribute to the Extreme Heat Preparedness Plan with plans to coordinate resources and emergency response systems, and how to quantify and define heat-related emergencies;
- the Director of the Arizona Department of Administration to contribute to the Extreme Heat Preparedness Plan by identifying state-owned assets and equipment that could be appropriated for heat relief efforts, staff state employees at cooling centers and heat relief efforts while receiving their regular duty pay, and amend the State of Arizona Accounting Manual to allow the purchase of heat relief-related supplies;
- the Director of the Residential Utility Consumer Office to contribute to the Extreme Heat Preparedness Plan with plans to coordinate with utility companies and energy cooperatives on heat relief efforts;
- the Director of the Department of Economic Security to contribute to the Extreme Heat Preparedness Plan with proposed improvements to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program;
- the Director of the Department of Housing to contribute to the Extreme Heat Preparedness Plan with arguments on the importance of housing for all;
- and the Director of the Industrial Commission of Arizona to contribute to the Extreme Heat Preparedness Plan with the results of their newly-created state emphasis program ensuring availability of water, rest, and shade in at-risk workplaces.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | Aug 14, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Republican members of the Arizona Legislature are fighting back against Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs’ emerging environmental agenda.
On Friday, four state senators wrote a letter to Governor Hobbs, highlighting a recent announcement by her Office that the State, under her direction, had joined the United States Climate Alliance.
Senators Frank Carroll, Sine Kerr, David Gowan, and T.J. Shope were signatories to the letter.
On July 11, Hobbs revealed that the State was joining the Alliance. She asserted that “Together, we are creating green jobs and businesses, ensuring clean air and water for Arizonans, lowering energy costs, and preparing more effectively for a changing climate.”
In response, the Alliance welcomed Hobbs as a member – not the State – in a Twitter post.
The legislators, in their letter, stated that the Alliance is “an organization set up by three Democratic governors as a protest to President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the job-destroying Paris Agreement; and that the Alliance is a completely voluntary coalition of governors with aspirational and non-binding goals to combat global warming.”
They warned Hobbs that Arizona laws did not authorize her to join the State with this alliance, writing, “To be clear, the Alliance is a coalition of governors, not States. The Legislature is the branch of government constitutionally charged with setting public policy for the State of Arizona and nothing in the laws of the State authorize you to join this coalition – as ineffectual as it is – on behalf of the State.”
There was a strong encouragement by the lawmakers for the Governor’s Office to work with the Legislature on these matters – a refrain that has oft been used in 2023 under a divided Arizona government. The lawmakers said, “We suggest that, instead of unilaterally creating task forces and joining do-nothing coalitions, you work with and through the Legislature to formulate public policy. Attempting to evade this process through edict misleads the public on the proper role of the executive and diverts attention from the real work that needs to be done.”
The coalition of legislators concluded their letter with a promise to use their authority under the Arizona Constitution to preserve the separation of powers inside of the state, adding, “Most importantly, executive overreach threatens the separation of powers provisions in Article II of the Arizona Constitution. Because separation of powers is ‘essential to the preservation of liberty,’ James Madison, Federalist No. 51, Senate Republicans are committed to serving as a check on any abuse of executive power.”
According to the Alliance, its members “are working to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping temperature increases below 1.5 degrees Celsius through four key collective commitments.” Those commitments are as follows:
- Reducing collective net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at least 26-28% by 2025 and 50-52% by 2030, both below 2005 levels, and collectively achieving overall net-zero GHG emissions as soon as practicable, and no later than 2050.
- Accelerating new and existing policies to reduce climate pollution, build resilience to the impacts of climate change, and promote clean energy deployment at the state and federal levels.
- Centering equity, environmental justice, and a just economic transition in their efforts to achieve their climate goals and create high-quality jobs.
- Tracking and reporting progress to the global community in appropriate settings, including when the world convenes to take stock of the Paris Agreement.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Aug 13, 2023 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
Clean and accurate voter rolls are a cornerstone to safe and secure elections. And they are required by both state and federal law. Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) specifically obligates states to conduct a general program that makes a reasonable effort to remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters due to death or change of residence. The U.S. Supreme Court even backed this up in its 2018 decision in the case Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute.
But Arizona’s current Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and its former Secretary of State (now Governor) Katie Hobbs have failed to perform the necessary voter list maintenance. And right now, 14 Arizona counties are in violation of Section 8 of the NVRA…
>>> CONTINUE READING >>>
by Daniel Stefanski | Aug 11, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona’s Democrat Governor is moving ahead with her plans to talk to the state’s utility companies to address the heatwave. This week, Governor Katie Hobbs announced that she had “scheduled a roundtable meeting with utility company leadership for August 18.”
Hobbs plans to use the event to “highlight her administration’s efforts to protect Arizonans during the historic heat wave and discuss actions utilities can take to address future challenges.”
In a statement, Hobbs said, “Extreme heat can be devastating when not properly addressed. That’s why I’m taking action to provide relief through additional resources and collaborating with utilities, local organizations, cities, and county officials. Together, we will keep Arizonans safe through this historic heat wave and ensure our state is prepared for future emergencies.”The governor also revealed that her Office would “provide $50,000 to Valley Interfaith Network for staffing, water, and expanded cooling center service throughout Arizona.”
Hobbs’ announcement followed a controversial letter sent to Arizona utility companies at the end of last month, in which she asked for “written plans outlining how they will protect Arizonans during this devastating heat wave.”
The governor directed the utility companies to focus their plans on the areas of Disconnects, Grid Security, Emergency Response, Customers in Arrears, and Community Service.
Republicans and Democrats largely broke to partisan corners with their responses to the governor’s efforts on this front. Phoenix Councilwoman Laura Pastor tweeted, “Phoenix has been experiencing a historically hot summer – if a statewide or even citywide power outage were to happen, lives would be lost. We need to know what to do during that situation and how we can help our residents. Governor Hobbs is asking the right questions.”
The Arizona Democratic Party also weighed in, posting, “As Arizona faces a historically hot summer, Democrats are delivering real relief! Thank you Governor Hobbs.”
Republican Representative Matthew Gress took an opposing view to the governor’s announcement, writing, “Governor, you *do* know the utilities already submitted those plans and briefed the Commission…back in April…right? And you do realize the excessive heat warning has been in effect for nearly a month? We’ve hit new records for several weeks now? Every time, our utilities performed flawlessly. But really glad you weighed in weeks after the heat wave started! You’re really on top of things.”
Representative Joseph Chaplik added, “Another example of an unqualified Hobbs Governor/CEO of AZ. As Gov, you should have already known all this from communicating with APS and SRP over the last 9 months with preparation for the summer. We all know we get hot in the desert during July. No need to publicize your late demands. You should be thanking them for being prepared.”
Long-time Arizona journalist Howie Fischer pointed out that the governor’s request to state utility companies was “not within her constitutional duties (but was) the role of the Arizona Corporation Commission.”
Senate President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope agreed with Fischer, tweeting, “Correct, it’s not within Governor Hobbs constitutional duties. Perhaps her interns oughta watch one of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Energy and Water Committee hearings that Senator Sine Kerr chairs so she can learn about energy plans and how the utilities plan for summer.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
