Michael Bryan

Michael founded BlogForArizona.net as the Howard Dean presidential campaign blog for Arizona in 2003, and has been blogging ever since. The Blog is now coming up on 20 years of continuous publication, a major achievement for any political blog, which usually have the life-spans of mayflies. Michael is an attorney living in Tucson with his wife Lauren. In 2008, Michael remade BlogForArizona into a collaborative project. Michael is now but one of the contributors to the blog and provides editorial and publishing direction in consultation with the Board of Directors and the other authors. If you want to keep up with the latest Arizona and National political news in an entertaining quick hit of news and opinion, check out the BlogForArizona twitter feed, which Mike largely curates and writes. Michael is also an AAPC member who occassionally consults on political campaigns, strategy and communications.

UPDATE: Gosar Committee Amends, Says Congressional Staff Did NOT Simply Receive Campaign Bonuses

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Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar responded immediately to the FEC’s letter seeking more information about his holiday bonuses for his Congressional staff. However, that response may raise further concerns about House Ethics rules violations and/or campaign finance reporting.

The campaign committee filed an amended report yesterday. It now says that most of his Congressional staff were actually paid out of the campaign committee’s checkbook for doing “administrative services.” (amended report published below)

This may raise further questions from authorities. The amended report now contradicts the committee’s second amended post-general report, as to the purpose of the holiday disbursements. Both reports now do indicate that the monies were first owed to the Congressional staff during the post-general election period – which actually includes a few weeks before election day (October 18- November 26); could the Congressional staff members actually have performed $44,000 worth of “administrative services” during that period in a not-very-intense general election campaign. (Gosar won with more than 68% of the CD4 vote.)

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The Trump Campaign Owes AZ Cities $146K for Rally Security

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The Trump Campaign loves it some MAGA rallies. Unfortunately, it will not pay for the extra police work that cities do in hosting such events. Presidential campaigns regularly pay for additional security for rallies. Not Trump. Trump’s campaign owes municipalities across the country millions for additional security, for which it has been billed and notified … Read more

Humanitarian Aid Giver Gets Hung Jury

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Scott Warren was acquitted by hung jury (8-4 in favor of NOT GUILTY) today. Bravely, Mr. Warren stepped out of the courtroom and delivered the above taped remarks, making it more likely, if the U.S. Attorney for AZ has any political motivation for bringing these charges to trial, that they will try again with Mr. … Read more

UPDATE: The Ghost of Holiday Bonuses Past: FEC Follows-Up On Rep Gosar ‘s Questionable Staff Bonuses

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Two weeks ago, we reported that $44,000 of holiday bonuses that Rep. Paul Gosar paid to his Congressional staff could ruin his year. Today, the Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) sent a letter to the Congressman’s committee, asking for more information on those – and, other – “incorrectly reported disbursements.”

The article noted that paying the bonuses to his Congressional staff from his campaign committee COULD be within the rules of both the House Ethics Committee and the FEC, but that there would need to be careful documentation of the campaign work done in order to justify the bonuses. Arizona’s Politics spoke with ethics experts who pointed out the possible legal and ethical issues for the Congressman.

(Read: Rep. Gosar Pays $44k To Congressional Staff For “Campaign Bonuses”; May Have Violated Ethics Rules and/or Campaign Finance Laws)

Although we would not yet know if the House Ethics Committee read the article, received a complaint, or is looking into any possible violations, we now know that the FEC has taken notice. A senior campaign finance analyst sent two letters on June 7 to the Gosar campaign seeking additional information.

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