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.

OOPS, I Did It Again: FEC Tells McSally Campaign Its “Best Compliance Team” Still Not Cutting It

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After putting together what her spokeswoman said was “the best compliance team in the country”, the Federal Election Commission is telling Rep. Martha McSally that she is STILL not complying with reporting laws. The most recent campaign reports demonstrate that more than 20% of the contributions received this year for the Senate campaign do not properly indicate the employers or occupations of the donor.*

Martha McSally’s House campaign committee had significant problems with complying with these basic Federal Election Commission requirements, and were the subject of a long-running complaint that led to a thorough audit of the campaign’s 2014 election cycle finances. It was concluded earlier this year with findings that more than $600,000 of contributions were not properly identified. (Other findings were that the Committee had overstated its receipts by $94,000, that more than $300,000 was collected above and beyond contribution limits, that timely 48-hour reports were not filed for $100,000 of contributions, and that $32,000 of political committee contributions were not properly itemized.

The FEC adopted the audit findings and indicated that future enforcement actions may be taken. McSally for Senate spokesperson Torunn Sinclair told the Arizona Republic that “we built the best compliance team in the county, compiled of former FEC auditors, accountants and smart legal minds to address any issues and help us stay in compliance.”

That was this past May. However, at that very moment, the campaign was taking

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Brnovich On the Bench! ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO: Judge Brnovich Confirmed As A New U.S. District Court Judge For Arizona; Husband “Still Stunned”

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Susan Brnovich will be the newest judge on Arizona’s federal bench. With little fanfare following last week’s major confrontation, the U.S. Senate confirmed a number of judges – some on voice votes, and others with merely 50 vote. Brnovich was approved with no opposition.

If that name sounds familiar, it is not only because Judge Brnovich has been on the Maricopa County Superior Court bench. Mr. Susan Brnovich is also Arizona’s Attorney General and is in a contentious battle for re-election.

The Brnoviches were surprised by the timing of the vote. Mark Brnovich took to Twitter to make the announcement at exactly 5pm, and to say he was “still

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The NEW “Attack Microsites”: Negative Websites Hitting McSally, Kirkpatrick Keep Popping Up, But They’re Cleaner Than Past Efforts

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Republicans called them “attack microsites” during the last midterms. The shoes (or, boots) are now on the other feet, and the new and improved models this month are generally staying further away from crossing the line. However, it is still a Googler-beware election world out there.

Four years ago, Arizona’s Politics was the first to report on three sites put up by the National NRCC changed the donate pages to make it apparent that the money would go to the NRCC instead of the spoofed Democrats.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) attacking Arizona Reps. Kyrsten Sinema, Ann Kirkpatrick and Ron Barber. The NRCC came up with official-sounding campaign committee website addresses, made the sites appear like official sites, advertised them on Google (etc), called the Democrats “frauds” and attempted to get unsuspecting persons to donate to the NRCC. After a wave of negative publicity, the

Now, the Democrats are steering clear from any “donate” pages altogether, in their “MarthaForSenate.com” website. The Arizona Democratic Party does mimic McSally’s font and style – sans the faux Air Force eagle logo – but states clearly on the landing page that its central purpose is “Martha on the issues:What McSally doesn’t want you to know”. There is no button or link to click to donate or interact, and there is no apparent advertising for the site on Google.

Arizona Democratic Party spokesman Drew Anderson tells Arizona’s Politics that “from slashing health care access and retirement security to selling

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BREAKING, WATCH: Sinema One Of 3 Democrats Voting For Largely-Symbolic GOP Tax Bill; Schweikert Expresses “Joy” Over Bill

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On the final day of the House session before the mid-term elections, Arizona Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-CD9) was one of 3 Democrats to vote with Republicans* on a largely-symbolic bill to make last year’s tax cuts permanent.

The measure passed 220-191, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already determined that any bill to make cuts permanent would need 60 votes to pass, and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) said the House measure would not be taken up this session.

Sinema – who is running a statewide race to replace Jeff Flake in the Senate – issued a brief statement implying that she worked with Republicans to craft

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NEW: AZ Sen. Jon Kyl DID Work For Dark Money Giant JCN In Preparing For This Supreme Court Vacancy

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In an apparent contradiction to earlier comments, Arizona Senator Jon Kyl did provide material assistance in 2017 to the Judicial Crisis Network for the current Supreme Court vacancy. Kyl has not yet responded to repeated requests to clarify the extent of his work for the dark money group that is spending millions of dollars supporting the Brett Kavanaugh nomination.

Arizona’s Politics reported in July on Kyl being named the “sherpa” (or, guide) for Kavanaugh through the confirmation process. Kyl’s role in that trek was interrupted earlier this month when Arizona Governor Doug Ducey tapped Kyl to return to the Senate – this time, to serve out the remainder of Sen. John McCain’s term.

At that time, Arizona’s Politics asked if he was supporting the Kavanaugh nomination on behalf of the Trump Administration, JCN, or both; Kyl answered that he was “working gratis for the White House in my personal (not law firm) capacity.”

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