Arizona Corporation Commission

GOP Culture of Corruption: things just got real for Commissioner Susan Bitter-Smith

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The GOP culture of corruption at the Arizona Corporation Commission has been a soap opera for over a year now.  Tom Forese and Doug Little were elected to office last year with “dark money” from the state’s largest utility, APS, and its parent company Pinnacle West Capital Corp. The regulated purchased the regulators.

Screenshot from 2014-04-02 14:06:21In a related matter, Commissioner Bob Stump’s phone was seized for a forensic examination to recover emails and texts that may disclose illegal campaign coordination between Tom Forese and Doug Little and the GOP “dark money” organizations. The complaint is being pursued by the Checks and Balances Project.  Judge orders review of Stump’s text messages.

There has been the ongoing “dark money” disclosure dispute between some members of the Commission who want APS and Pinnacle West to come clean, and  Tom Forese and Doug Little who simply chant the Goldwater Institute’s magical mantra of “First Amendment free speech!” to justify political corruption and the Commission becoming a captive agency, bought by the utilities that it regulates. Regulator wants APS to disclose ‘dark money’ — well, not really — Montini: APS disclosure request is kind of a sham and Roberts: Burns’ request for APS disclosure is a joke.

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Grand Old Misogyny

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You’ve got to pity Rand Paul after Thursday night’s Fox “Fair and Balanced And Totally Not An Arm Of The GOP!” News Republican Presidential Primary debate. This is not just because of the embarrassing scuffle with Chris Christie. No, it’s more to do with Rand failing to be the natural successor to his dad Ron Paul as the “Ron Paul of 2016”. Paul père was never expected to win the nomination in either 2008 or 2012 but he did capture the enthusiasm of a sizable enough number of libertarian (mostly) dudebros to make a showing in both those primaries and dot the landscape with silly hand-painted looking signs. This was a sure path to Ron Paul’s lucrative retirement hawking financial scams.

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He’s baaaack! ‘Atomic Al’ Melvin is running for Corporation Commission

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Hey, Saddlebrooke! Your crazy neighbor Cap’n Al Melvin is baaaack! And he still wants to put a nuclear-waste processing plant in your backyard.

AtomicAlDavid Safier, when he was blogging here at Blog for Arizona, did a series of posts about “Atomic Al” Melvin and his connections to the nuclear power industry, and his desire to build a nuclear-waste processing plant in Arizona. Here is a sampling of his posts. A mind is a terrible thing to (nuclear) waste; Melvin’s Nukes for Schools bill passes in Energy Committee; Don’t worry, Atomic Al, you’ll always have Paris; Coverage of Atomic Al Melvin’s proposed nuclear waste dump; Atomic Al Melvin is baaack.

Jim Nintzel at the Tucson Weekly picked up Safier’s “Atomic Al” moniker in this post, How About We Put That Nuclear Plant in Your District, Sen. Melvin?

Just when you thought that we were finally done with this Teabagger, he’s back and running for the Arizona Corporation Commission, where he could have a real opportunity to pursue his nuclear dreams. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reported, Former state senator to run for Corporation Commission:

Former Republican state Sen. Al Melvin is running for the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Melvin, who served six years in the Senate before briefly running for governor in 2014, announced on Thursday that he would be seeking a spot on the commission, which has three seats up for grabs in the 2016 election.

The commission is in charge of regulating and setting rates for public utility companies, among other duties.

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APS and the Carbon Monopoly try to buy an Attorney General

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Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic has a reasonable explanation for why APS and its parent company Pinnacle West, together with the “Kochtopus” Carbon Monopoly dark money network operated by Sean Noble, are investing heavily in the Attorney General race: because the Attorney General decides whether the policies adopted by the Corporation Commission meet legal muster. APS betting big on Mark Brnovich (and here’s why):

dark_moneyEverybody’s favorite electric utility is at it again.

Arizona Public Service, not content with trying to select [capture] who will regulate it, also is hoping to have a say in who will oversee the regulators.

APS’s parent company, Pinnacle West, has chipped in $175,000 to the Republican Attorneys General Association for a new ad attacking Felecia Rotellini, the Democratic nominee for attorney general.

APS is supporting her opponent, Republican Mark Brnovich.

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During the primary, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club and Save Our Future Now – a pair of dark-money independent campaigns widely believed to be funded in part by APS – spent an astonishing $1.7 million aimed at getting Republicans Tom Forese and Doug Little elected to the commission that regulates APS and other utilities.

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Kochtopia: The GOP culture of corruption in Arizona

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Drac-bats

h/t “Dracula Untold”

The Dark Lord of “dark money” in Arizona, Republican consultant Sean Noble of DC-London, the money laundering bag man at the center of the “Kochtopus” dark money network, has released his minions in the final 10 days of the campaign against Democratic candidates.

The Arizona Republic reports today that “Kochtopus” front group 60 Plus Association, which receives its funding from from organizations with links to the Koch brothers, is dropping another $900,000 into attack ads against Democrat Fred Duval on behalf of the candidate from Koch, Doug Ducey. Newly aggressive DuVal attacks Ducey.

60 Plus has also dropped another $304,000 on attack ads against Clean Elections candidate for Secretary of State, Democrat Terry Goddard, who has promised to clean up dark money in Arizona if elected. $304,000 ‘dark money’ ad attacks Goddard.

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