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Kochtopia: The GOP culture of corruption in Arizona

October 25, 2014 by AZ BlueMeanie

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.

Pinnacle West (APS) ‘dark money’ in Corporation Commission and Attorney General races

October 22, 2014October 21, 2014 by AZ BlueMeanie

For much of this year the Carbon Monopoly, led by APS and its parent company Pinnacle West, have been the source of enormous amounts of “dark money” in support of Tea-Publicans Doug Little and Tom Forese in the Arizona Corporation Commission race, in an effort to “capture” the commission so it can write its own policies.

Now APS and its parent company Pinnacle West are big players in the Attorney General race as well. Arizona’s Politics Blog reports, BREAKING: APS Semi-Openly Places $425k Bet On Arizona Attorney General Race:

The parent company of APS – Pinnacle West Capital – is spending (at least) $425,000 telling Arizonans about the “dangerous views” of Democratic AG nominee Felecia Rotellini.

While APS is widely-believed to be secretly spending large amounts of money on the Corporation Commission election, its $425,000 contribution to the Republican Attorneys General Association is the first (material*) political expenditure to be brought to light, after RAGA filed its quarterly report with the Internal Revenue Service last week.

Interestingly, the third quarter (July – Sept) report (below the jump) only lists one Pinnacle West $175,000 contribution, on September 15 – the day before Arizona’s Politics reported on the $1.6M ad buy by RAGA. However, it indicates that the aggregate year to date contribution is $425,000.

Sierra Vista Herald endorses Felecia Rotellini and David Garcia

October 16, 2014 by AZ BlueMeanie

Arizona’s small town newspapers are getting around to their candidate endorsements. Here in Southern Arizona, the Sierra Vista Herald has recently published a pair of endorsements.

The Herald endorses Felecia Rotellini for Attorney General. OUR VIEW: Rotellini for Attorney General:

After almost four years of scandals and politics, it’s time Arizona restored integrity to the Attorney General’s office.

Politics aside, the troubles brought by officeholder Tom Horne were the main reason he failed to capture the support of voters in his own party and lost in the Aug. 26 primary election.

Felecia Rotellini is the best choice to bring the focus of the Attorney General’s office back to its intended purpose. Her 13 years of experience as a criminal and civil prosecutor serving under three different Attorneys General — both Republican and Democrat — and her current focus on what needs to be done, distinguish her credibility.

Rotellini has focused her campaign on making necessary changes to prosecute white-collar crime, protect the elderly from abuse and aggressively pursue criminals who are perpetrating sex-trafficking and racketeering. Her plan calls for recruiting better attorneys, employing forensic accountants and hiring special agents who will put “more boots on the ground” to carry out the responsibilities of the office.

GOP pollster shows Dems leading in all statewide races

October 12, 2014 by AZ BlueMeanie

In the past week I have seen ads from some “dark money” group attacking Sandra Kennedy in the Arizona Corporation Commission race on the air here in Tucson, which is odd, given that all the Corp. Comm. candidates are running clean elections, we have been assured by all the politicos at the Arizona Capitol Times and the Arizona Republic that the Corp. Comm. race is in the bag for the GOP, and if one was going to make an ad buy it would be in Maricopa County, not Pima. Wassup?

Now I know why this “dark money” group suddenly started spending money in a down ballot race that does not garner enough attention from the voters: a GOP pollster that has done work for Governor Jan Brewer and the Republican Governors Association — a biased poll for sure — nevertheless shows Democrats leading in all the statewide races. You can choose to believe this GOP pollster or not, but clearly the RGA believes it and it is coordinating last minute ad buys with its “dark money” network accordingly. Believe it!

The Arizona Capitol Times reports, First poll shows DuVal ahead, while Ducey leads most others:

For the first time, a publicly released poll of the Arizona governor’s race showed Democrat Fred DuVal in the lead.

The live-caller poll, conducted on Oct. 7-8 by Oregon-based Moore Information, a respected GOP pollster, showed DuVal leading Republican nominee Doug Ducey 39-36. Libertarian candidate Barry Hess had 3 percent of the vote, Americans Elect candidate John Lewis Mealer had 1 percent and 21 percent were undecided.

No margin of error was made available in the poll. As a live-caller poll of 400 respondents, the margin of error should be around 4.9 percent. The Moore Information poll was not commissioned by either gubernatorial campaign, according to the source who provided it to the Arizona Capitol Times.

Arizona Daily Star endorses Felecia Rotellini for Attorney General

October 10, 2014 by AZ BlueMeanie

The editors of the Arizona Daily Star today endorsed Democrat Felecia Rotellini for Attorney General, to succeed the poster boy for political corruption in Arizona, Tom “banned for life by the SEC” Horne. Rotellini is going to have her work cut out for her to restore the Attorney General’s office to what it was before Tom Horne darkened its hallways.Endorsement: Rotellini for attorney general:

The attorney general serves as Arizona’s chief legal officer and oversees the largest “law office” in the state with more than 300 attorneys among 1,080 employees.

Our current attorney general has made headlines, and not the kind that inspire confidence. The Citizens Clean Elections Commission found Tom Horne used state employee time and office rent valued at more than $300,000 in his unsuccessful bid to get re-elected. He’s been the subject of an FBI investigation and brought in the Christian-based Alliance Defending Freedom to defend the state’s ban on gay marriage.

The office is in dire need of a credibility makeover.

The Star believes Democrat Felecia Rotellini is the candidate to bring integrity back to the Attorney General’s Office and ensure it is representing state agencies, going after money laundering and drug cartels and protecting residents from consumer fraud.