Good news! AZ House votes to set aside Civil War-era abortion ban AND an AZ grand jury has indicted 2020's fake electo

First up, the abortion ban repeal.

From AZ Mirror, written by Gloria Rebecca Gomez -

AZ House has voted to repeal the 1864 abortion ban upheld by the Supreme Court

After two weeks of thwarted attempts, the Arizona House of Representatives voted Wednesday to repeal a near-total abortion ban from 1864, with three Republican lawmakers breaking from their party to join Democrats in striking it down. 

Earlier this month, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the 1864 law, which carries with it a mandatory prison sentence for doctors who provide an abortion for any reason other than saving a woman’s life, over a 15-week gestational ban passed in 2022. 

My guess: the Center for Arizona Policy is tugging on every leash string available to it in an attempt to have the Rs in the Senate kill the repeal.

Next, the indictment.

From AZ Mirror (again), written by Caitlin Sievers -

Grand jury indicts 18 in fake electors scheme, including two AZ state senators 

A grand jury has indicted 18 people, including two Arizona state senators and the former head of the Arizona Republican Party, in a fake elector scheme that aimed to install Donald Trump as the president after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. 

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has not released the names of everyone who was indicted, but all 11 fake electors were charged: 

• Kelli Ward, former AZGOP chairman
• Arizona Sen. Jake Hoffman, leader of the Arizona Freedom Caucus
• Arizona Sen. Anthony Kern, member of the Arizona Freedom Caucus
• Tyler Bowyer, Turning Point USA CEO
• Michael Ward, husband of Kelli Ward  
• Nancy Cottle, a Republican who’s been active in local politics for a decade
• James Lamon, a failed 2022 U.S. Senate candidate
• Robert Montgomery, former chairman of the Cochise County Republican Committee
• Samuel Moorhead, former chairman of Gila County Republican Party 
• Lorraine Pellegrino, former president of the Ahwatukee Republican Women
• Gregory Safsten, former executive director of the AZGOP

There were also seven people indicted whose names were redacted.

CNN has information/guesses on the redacted indictees.

From CNN -

Meadows, Giuliani among indicted in Arizona in latest 2020 election subversion case

A grand jury in Arizona has handed up an indictment against former President Donald Trump’s allies over their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, including the fake electors from that state and several individuals connected to his campaign.

Boris Epshteyn, a former White House aide who remains one of Trump’s closest advisers; former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; and Rudy Giuliani are among those who have been indicted, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

{snip}

While Trump is not among those charged in Arizona, the details in the indictment suggest he is “Unindicted Coconspirator 1.”

{snip}

Other individuals charged in the Arizona indictment but whose names have been redacted, the source familiar with the investigation told CNN, include Trump allies Mike Roman, a 2020 campaign official; Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis; and conservative attorney John Eastman.

{snip}

The Republican Party of Arizona also slammed the indictments in a statement Wednesday.

“Today’s indictments by Attorney General Kris Mayes represent a blatant and unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial power, aimed solely at distracting the public from the critical policy debates our country should be focusing on as we approach the 2024 election,” the statement said.

There are a lot of "nice" days in Arizona (the weather here is fantastic..outside of July and August (and late June), but there are few "good" ones.

Wednesday was a good one.

Dear Democratic primary voters in LD8: Please write in Lauren Kuby for state senate

Failed candidate David Alger fronted a legal challenge to the one Democratic candidate for state senate in LD8, Rep. Melody Hernandez.

It was successful, in that she withdrew from the race, leaving the Democratic ballot in that district with no candidate for the state senate seat on the ballot.

One person has stepped into the gap. - Lauren Kuby, a former member of the Tempe City Council and long-time community activist.

I don't expect everyone to agree with me on everything (they should though, as I'm always right,  Just ask me. :) )

However, I do expect that all of my elected officials to be decent and honorable human beings, and Lauren falls squarely into that category. 

As she's running as a write-in candidate, she'll need at least 405 people to write her name on their primary ballots in order for her to appear on the general election ballot.

And she easily deserves that.

Note: I've linked to her campaign website on the sidebar to the right.  If you can donate to her campaign, please do so.

Republicans in the AZ lege like to express disdain for California and Californians. Apparently, there's at least one Californian who doesn't return that disdain

From The Hill -

Newsom set to propose legislation to help Arizonans get abortions in California

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Sunday that state lawmakers will introduce a bill this week to assist women traveling from Arizona seeking abortion care in response to the rollout of one of the strictest abortion restrictions in the country.

An Arizona Supreme Court decision earlier this month implemented an 1864 abortion law preventing access to the procedure in nearly all circumstances starting May 1. Despite calls from national Republicans to replace the law with a less strict measure, state lawmakers have shot down attempts to overturn it.

Betcha the Rs in the AZ lege try to criminalize traveling to another state before they try to overturn the Civil War-era ban on abortion.

Criminalizing being poor? How's that for an "American value"?

From AP -

Record numbers in the US are homeless. Can cities fine them for sleeping in parks and on sidewalks?

The most significant case in decades on homelessness has reached the Supreme Court as record numbers of people in America are without a permanent place to live.

The justices on Monday will consider a challenge to rulings from a California-based appeals court that found punishing people for sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking amounts to unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.

When the U.S. Supreme Court sides with fining poor people for being poor (and they almost certainly will  do so), how long will it be before someone proposes the use of prisons for people who can't afford to pay the fines imposed for being poor?

Kari Lake goes ballistic over U.S. aid to Ukraine

No word on if Dear Leader was pulling her strings on behalf of Vlad, or if Vlad was doing it directly.

From MSNBC -

Kari Lake Loses it Over House Passing Ukraine Aid, Reps. Waving Ukraine Flags on House Floor: ‘I Don’t Know What Country I’m in Anymore!’

Kari Lake teed off after the House passed a $95 billion aid package which included significant funding for Ukraine.

Appearing on Newsmax Saturday, the Arizona Senate candidate blasted the representatives who waved Ukraine flags on the House floor after voting to pass the aid package by a strong margin. The Ukraine component of the bill — which allocated $60 billion — passed by a vote of 311-112, meaning nearly half of House Republicans were on board.

Dear Ms. Lake:

You're in the United States.

Me just trying to help.

Arizona's Paul Gosar being..."Paul Gosar"

From The Hill -

Third House Republican backs Johnson ouster

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) announced Friday that he will co-sponsor Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) resolution to remove Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from the House’s top job, becoming the third House Republican to back his ouster.

Gosar, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, revealed his support for dismissing Johnson minutes after the House — with help from Democrats — advanced a foreign aid package that omitted border security provisions.

I suppose we should glad...that he's contributing to the chaos in the House GOP caucus and doing his level best to ensure that the Democrats regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives

Legislative schedule - week starting 4/21/2024

This week's post a literal copy-and-paste of last week's...other than pic showing the lege schedule.  This past week, they met and did nothing.

The copied stuff will be italicized.

Nada,  As in no committee or floor activity is yet scheduled...though they will reconvene midweek and pass something to overturn the pre-statehood anti-abortion law that was recently upheld by the AZ Supreme Court...passing something with so many poison pills that it will never be supported by any free-thinking person.

Or else they'll do nothing and adjourn.  Again.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority).  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4, generally at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, generally also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one. 

Q1 fundraising totals are in

This post only covers significant federal candidates (IMO) who submitted nominating sigs to the Arizona Secretary of State.  Some may be knocked off of a ballot due to legal challenges.

The most interesting thing was not one of the money entries, but one of the signature totals - Kari Lake secured precisely 0 of her signatures on paper.  

I admit, I don't know much about R primaries or candidates, but someone who exhibits an aversion to going door-to-door or who can't inspire volunteers to do so probably isn't going to do well. 

All money totals obtained from page 2 of the candidates' Q1 2024 filings

Cheeto held to the same standard as everyone. His response: stamp his feet and cry "Waaahhhh!"

From CNBC -

Trump gripes he can’t reject ‘unlimited’ jurors in New York 

hush money trial

Donald Trump complained Wednesday that his lawyers were not given “unlimited” chances to reject prospective jurors at his New York criminal hush money trial.

But state law caps the number of would-be jurors his lawyers can strike without cause.

Trump has received that correct number strikes given the type of criminal charges he faces: 10 peremptory strikes for jurors, plus another two for every alternate juror.

Maybe it's time to expand Arizona's "Sore Loser" law

First up, a quick summary of that law.  From ARS 16-312 -

F. Except as provided in section 16-343, subsection E, a candidate may not file pursuant to this section if any of the following applies:

1. For a candidate in the general election, the candidate ran in the immediately preceding primary election and failed to be nominated to the office sought in the current election.

2. For a candidate in the general election, the candidate filed a nomination petition for the immediately preceding primary election for the office sought and failed to provide a sufficient number of valid petition signatures as prescribed by section 16-322.

3. For a candidate in the primary election, the candidate filed a nomination petition for the current primary election for the office sought and failed to provide a sufficient number of valid petition signatures as prescribed by section 16-322, withdrew from the primary election after a challenge was filed or was removed from or otherwise determined by court order to be ineligible for the primary election ballot.

4. For a candidate in the general election, the candidate filed a nomination petition for nomination other than by primary for the office sought and failed to provide a sufficient number of valid petition signatures as prescribed by section 16-341.

From the Arizona Secretary of State's website -

According to Maricopa Superior Court records, David Alger is suing current LD8 State Representative Melody Hernandez, current Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, current Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (note: I live in LD8, hence my interest).

The case is scheduled for a status conference on 4/16 and Alger's challenge is scheduled to be heard on 4/18.

Election challenges are as old as elections themselves, and so are failed candidates.

In 2020, Alger was a write in candidate in the R primary in then LD24 -

He was trounced in the general election that year -

In 2018, he was on the ballot, both for the R primary and the general election.

He was the only candidate in the R primary and was thoroughly defeated in the general.

Maybe it's time to expand Arizona's to not allow failed candidates to legally challenge other candidates.

Of course, the judge is this case may find his legal filings entertaining - if that judge likes filings that can be summed up with the word "Wahhh!"

Edited on 4/15 to add:

Challenges to legislative and statewide candidates are heard  in Maricopa County Superior Court.  Maricopa County is home of the state capital.  Challenges to municipal- and county-specific candidates will be heard locally.

/End edit

Yet another report ranks AZ low

Lost in the (justified) uproar generated by the embrace of anti-choice culture by the Arizona Supreme Court when it ruled to uphold Arizona's territorial era ban on abortion was the release of a report on Private Equity State Risk Index.  Others will comment (and have commented) and will be far more eloquent than me, so I'll just say one thing on this:

Dear members of the AZ Supreme Court - 

When even lousy human beings are racing to distance themselves from your ruling, the ruling is a bad one.

The report is from the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) and ranks states by their risk, associated with having significant areas of their economies controlled by private equity funds.

National map -

Overall rank -

AZ is tied for third-worst (or fourth-worst, depending on how one looks at such things).  Either way, not a good place to be.

Labor score -

AZ is tied for 24th worst (or 25th or 26th).

Healthcare score -

AZ is tied for 32nd-worst (or 33rd) in its best showing.  Not to worry - AZ's housing rank makes up for it.

Housing rank -

2nd worst here (no tie).

Pension rank -

AZ is tied for 16th-worst (or 17th)

AZ summary -

One other AZ tie -

Cerberus Capital Management, one of the top five PE firms in terms of owning housing, has a famous Arizonan as one of its "leaders" (and it's not Kyrsten Sinema.  Not yet, anyway).

Nope, former VP Dan Quayle, who has a residence in Paradise Valley.

I recommend reading the entire report.

Legislative schedule - week starting 4/14/2024

Nada,  As in no committee or floor activity is yet scheduled...though they will reconvene midweek and pass something to overturn the pre-statehood anti-abortion law that was recently upheld by the AZ Supreme Court...passing something with so many poison pills that it will never be supported by any free-thinking person.

Or else they'll do nothing and adjourn.  Again.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority).  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4, generally at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, generally also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one. 

AZ Republicans show their true colors

From The Guardian (UK) -

Arizona Republicans block abortion-ban repeal after denouncing court ruling

Republicans in Arizona halted an effort by Democrats on Wednesday to repeal an 1864 law banning almost all abortions, which the state supreme court this week ruled could go into effect.

The move came after Republican lawmakers in the state had denounced the court’s decision, including some who previously expressed support for the law. Donald Trump and other high-profile Republicans, such as the Senate candidate Kari Lake, had also declared their opposition to the ruling with Lake urging lawmakers to “come up with an immediate commonsense solution that Arizonans can support”.

[snip]

Some Republicans in the state had, surprisingly, come out against the court’s decision. “This decision cannot stand,” Matt Gress, a Republican state representative, said. “I categorically reject rolling back the clock to a time when slavery was still legal and we could lock up women and doctors because of an abortion.”

Gress had tried to bring forth a bill to repeal the ban but then voted with other Republicans to move to recess.

The move to adjourn was MIS005.

It passed by one vote

.

That vote -

I don't think that there was any real doubt that the adjournment motion was going to pass.  Nope, the only real question about this was whether the grifters lobbyists at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) were busy tugging on the leash that runs between them and the Rs in the AZ legislature or if they spent their time rubbing their hands together gleefully.

My guess is that it wasn't the leash, and I have two reasons for believing that:

1. The AZ legislature doesn't need any prompting to come to CAP's heel.

2. CAP does seem rather gleeful.

House R admits what most folks already knew

The GOP is Vlad's vassal.

From The Hill (emphasis added by me) -

Intel Chair Turner: ‘Absolutely true’ that Russian propaganda has infected US Congress

House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) stressed the expansive reach of Russian propaganda and said Sunday it has even presented itself on the floor of the U.S. Congress.

In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper, Turner said he agreed with Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who singled out conservative news outlets and said, “Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base.”

[snip]

“I mean, there are members of Congress today, who still incorrectly say that this conflict between Russia and Ukraine is over NATO, which of course it is not,” Turner said. “[Russian President] Vladimir Putin having made it very clear, both publicly and to his own population, that his view is that this is a conflict of a much broader claim of Russia, to Eastern Europe, and including claiming all of Ukraine territory as Russia’s.”

Cheeto seems to have delusions of greatness

From USA Today (emphasis add be me)-

Donald Trump says he would go to jail for free speech rights but stops short of gag order

Donald Trump said Saturday he would "gladly" go to jail in defense of his free-speech rights – but appeared to stop well short of crossing the red line set by a New York judge.

Trump is under a limited gag order in the so-called New York hush money criminal case that prevents him from speaking out about people involved in the case, including witnesses, jurors and prosecutors, other than the judge.

[snip]

"If this Partisan Hack wants to put me in the “clink” for speaking the open and obvious TRUTH, I will gladly become a Modern Day Nelson Mandela — It will be my GREAT HONOR," Trump wrote in the post.

To the best of my knowledge, Nelson Mandela never bankrupted a casino or cheated at golf, so I'm not sure he would be considered to be great in Cheeto's world.