The #ArizonaEleven Fake Trump Electors Are Going to Need Fresh Pants

Now that Ken Chesebro has turned his coat on his former felonious friends, resulting in indictments or pleas in three states, every fake elector across the land, including those among the top of the MAGA GOP power structure here in AZ, has felt their bowels loosening. The investigation of these traitors by the offices of Attorney General Kris Mayes is now far advanced and more than a year along, so a cooperating co-conspirator is going to be the final turn of the key on the jail cells the Fake Electors are headed toward. The only way they will save themselves now is to be among the first to also turncoat on their fellow fraudsters.

I have written about these soon-to-be-felons before, from the federal angle, at AG Mayes’ announcement of her investigation, and a closer look at who these miscreants are, but it is well worth reiterating the names of the Arizona Eleven [those highlighted are either still holding office and still publicly plotting to undermine our democracy]:

The #ArizonaEleven

Nancy Cottle*: Cottle is the first vice president of programs for the Arizona Federation of Republican Women. She has been active in Arizona politics for the past decade and holds various other positions on the Maricopa County Republican Committee and the AZGOP executive committee.

Loraine B. Pellegrino*: Pellegrino has served as president of Ahwatukee Republican Women.

Tyler Bowyer: Bowyer is the chief operating officer of Turning Point USA, a Phoenix-based nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative values in schools, and National Committeeman for the Arizona Republican Party. He has previously worked for the Republican National Committee and the Maricopa County Republican Party.

Jake Hoffman: Hoffman is an Arizona state representative for the 12th District. Hoffman also runs a conservative digital marketing company, Rally Forge, that was banned from Facebook and suspended from Twitter for engaging in “coordinated inauthentic behavior” on behalf of Turning Point Action, an affiliate of Turning Point USA. The company was enlisting and paying teens to share comments with right-wing opinions, including that mail-in ballots would lead to fraud and that coronavirus numbers were intentionally inflated. Experts told the Washington Post in 2020 that the effort was “among the most ambitious domestic influence campaigns uncovered this election cycle.”

Anthony T. Kern: From January 2015 until January 2021, Kern was an Arizona state representative for the 20th District. He is currently running for election to the Arizona state Senate to represent the 20th District. Kern participated in the January 6 riots in D.C. and has lied about breaching the U.S. Capitol building.

James Lamon: Lamon ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Arizona. He now serves as state chair for the presidential campaign of “meatball” Ron DeSantis. He is a veteran and was previously CEO of DEPCOM Power, a solar energy contractor, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Robert Montgomery: In 2020, Montgomery served as the chairman of the Cochise County Republican Committee.

Samuel I. Moorhead: Moorhead serves as the second vice chair of the Gila County Arizona Republican Party.

Greg Safsten: Safsten is the executive director of the Republican Party of Arizona. He previously worked for Rep. Andy Biggs and Rep. Matt Salmon, both of Arizona, in their U.S. House offices, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was hired into Blake Masters‘ Senate campaign last cycle.

Dr. Kelli Ward: Ward is an osteopathic physician who has served as the chair of the Arizona Republican Party since 2019. Following the 2020 election, Ward aided Trump’s efforts to invalidate the election results and filed a number of lawsuits to nullify Arizona’s results. In 2016, she challenged the late U.S. Sen. John McCain in the Republican primary but lost with 39 percent of the vote. She previously served in the Arizona state Senate. She now runs a yacht leasing company and thus is probably well prepared to flee the county when the indictment drops.

Dr. Michael Ward: Ward met his wife, Kelli Ward, while he was serving in the Arizona Air National Guard. In 2019, he was accused of spitting in the eye of a former volunteer of his wife’s when she was a candidate for Senate because the volunteer went on to support her former political foe, Martha McSally. Michael Ward denied touching, pushing, threatening or spitting on the volunteer in an email to police, according to AZ Central. From personal experience I can tell you he’s a genuine and committed asshole.