Arizona’s Politics

TOMORROW: Senate Judiciary Committee To Question Mike Liburdi For Judgeship; Trump Nomination Bypassed Arizona Senators

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Mike Liburdi will have his hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow morning. Liburdi was nominated last month by Presdient Donald Trump to fill one of the two judicial vacancies on Arizona’s U.S. District Court bench.

Liburdi was Governor Doug Ducey’s General Counsel between 2015-2018. He applied for the lifetime appointment in August of last year by going directly to the Department of Justice. In 2016-17, he had not been considered by a judicial selection committee that had been set up by Arizona’s two Senators.

Typically, the Senators recommend individuals to the Administration for such nominations in their home states – particularly when the Senators and the President are of the same party. For example, the other pending judicial nomination from Arizona was vetted and recommended by McCain and Flake in early 2017.

Hon. Bridget Bade’s nomination for a position on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee last week on a remarkably bipartisan vote of 17-5. Her nomination is now ready to be voted on by the entire Senate.

The differing pathways for the Bade and Liburdi nominations was set forth in their written submissions to the Committee, and lays bare some of the tension that existed between Trump, McCain and Flake.

Bade is an uncontroversial pick both because of her judicial experience as a U.S. Magistrate

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Listen, Download, Support: “Border Cowboys” Investigative Report On Buffett’s Adventures/Spending On Arizona/Mexico Border

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Sun Sounds of Arizona is a nonprofit reading service for people who have difficulty holding and/or reading print material because of a disability. It broadcasts statewide and has volunteer readers in Tucson, Flagstaff and Phoenix. BFA contributor Paul Weich (Arizona’s Politics) regularly records the Phoenix New Times.

Most of the articles would not be appropriate to post here, but some of the award-winning reporting is a perfect fit for BFA.

The two-part series published last month is among the latter, and inaugurates this new feature. “Border Cowboys” delves into what is going on down on the Cochise County portion of the U.S./Mexico border, and how the heck billionaire Howard G. Buffett (the Warren Buffett’s son) fits into the vigilante history there. Throw in the Sheriff’s Offices in Cochise County and a couple of Illinois operations and conservation districts, and you have an article that must be heard (or, read) to be believed.

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The Fund for Investigative Journalism, Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, and the Center for Media and Democracy contributed financial support to this reporting. And, those

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UPDATE: Sinema, McSally Both Vote “Aye” To Help Pass Mideast Bill Package

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Arizona’s Senators both voted to help pass the Senate’s Mideast Bill Package this afternoon.  S.1 passed by a 77-23 vote as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) first legislative priority for this session – began while avoiding a vote on the then-shutdown; its future in the Democratic-controlled House is uncertain. While all of the Republican Senators but one … Read more

UPDATE: APS Makes Year End $50,000 Contribution To Republican AGs

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Pinnacle West is no longer limiting its political contributions to obvious campaigns. A new filing reveals a December 31 $50,000 contribution to the association to elect Republican Attorneys General (aka RAGA). During the last campaign cycle, APS’s parent company donated $150,000 to RAGA, which turned around and spent heavily to help re-elect Arizona AG Mark Brnovich. … Read more

Martha McSally

OOPS, I DID IT AGAIN, PART ___: McSally Campaign Accepts Excessive Contributions and Repeats Other Issues

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Arizona Senator Martha McSally may have “built the best compliance team in the country”, but that team continues to struggle properly dealing with the volume of contributions that she received during (and after) her unsuccessful campaign to defeat Kyrsten Sinema for the retired Senator Jeff Flake’s seat.

The day that FEC employees got back from the lengthy government shutdown, they sent out two notices (“RFAIs”) to the campaign. One suggested that the committee was still having problems getting the required occupation and employer information from contributors. Arizona’s Politics reported on that issue in October. The other, more eye-popping notice detailed more than $270,000 in contributions that exceeded the limits that individuals are permitted to donate.

Last week – before the notices were sent out – the McSally committee had filed an amended report correcting – re-attributing, re-designating or refunding – some of the monies. The Year-End report filed last night includes more corrections.

However, that still leaves LOTS of contributions to clear up. Fortunately, she has

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