Here is the long awaited second video from my colleague, Phoenix videographer Dennis Gilman, culled from the shenanigans that took place at a recent GOP Legislative District 19 meeting in Mesa. For an intro to the players and what’s going on, read my initial blog on this meeting, here, and…
State Senator Scott Bundgaard, facing an ethics complaint and possible expulsion from the Senate for his roadside fracas with his now former girlfriend and his invocation of legislative immunity, has filed an ethics complaint against three members of the state Senate Ethics Committee, which is currently set to hold hearings…
Since my recent column about well-known Phoenix mitigation specialist “Jameson Johnson,” aka, Jimmy Carroll Johnson, and his criminal record for armed robbery, a lot of folks have rushed to Johnson’s defense, arguing that his wrongdoing was all in the past, and since he had been doing good deeds locally, we…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office confirmed to New Times yesterday that he’s assigned an “elite posse” to look into President Barack Obama’s “fake birth certificate” before allowing his name on the presidential ballot in Arizona next year.No…seriously…you’re not reading The Onion — Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has assembled…
Below is a letter e-mailed today from Democratic precinct committeeman Robert McDonald to Arizona Elections Director Amy Bjelland requesting an investigation into the ongoing scandal surrounding apparent shill candidate Olivia Cortes, who is “running,” if you can call it that, in Legislative District 18 recall of state Senate President Russell…
In a bizarre new stab at courting conspiracy nuts who believe President Barack Obama is a Kenyan, Sheriff Joe Arpaio has empowered a “birther posse” to look into claims by wackadoodles such as World Net Daily’s Jerome Corsi that Obama’s birth certificate from Hawaii is a forgery.Yes, I know, it’s…
Last week, we asked our readers to offer suggestions for a caption for the above photo of Minnesota congresswoman/presidential candidate Michele Bachmann kissing Joe Arpaio’s ass as she begs like a dog for Arpaio to endorse her candidacy for this week’s New Times’ You Write the Caption contest.Once again, you…
This is part one of a video report on the shenanigans taking place at a recent Legislative District 19 GOP meeting in Mesa, which I blogged about yesterday. My colleague, videographer Dennis Gilman, will follow up with a part two, containing even juicier clips.Can anyone now doubt that Olivia Cortes…
On Thursday, while state Senate President Russell Pearce was in one part of Mesa, denying that he knows or has ever met Olivia Cortes, the candidate meant to “dilute” the vote in the upcoming Legislative District 18 recall election, I was in another area of Mesa, at a Republican meeting…
If you’re wondering why you haven’t seen media hog Mark Spencer flapping his lips on TV in a while, it’s because Spencer is no longer president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, the union that represents rank and file Phoenix cops.His second term expired September 1. That’s when longtime PLEA hack…
I missed ex-Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard’s recent appearance on Horizon, wherein he criticized current AG Tom Horne’s investigation of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, particularly Horne’s grandstanding statements to the media about the probe. Oddly, I caught it as I was checking out the far right Sonoran Alliance Web site,…
In honor of Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s recent trip to the Valley — to plant her lips on the ass of America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff” — we decided to go with a photo Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s ghost “tweeters” posted on his Twitter page for this week’s You Write…
When Republican candidates for president meet the pope, they only have to kiss his ring. As has apparently been decided by GOP political strategists, when they meet Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, they have to kiss his ass.According to Arpaio, four GOP presidential candidates have reached out to the sheriff…
For all of about three minutes, presidential candidate/Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann met with reporters and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio this afternoon, during which she gave the sheriff a metaphorical smooch right on his rear as she attempts to win his political tip of the cap.”Sheriff Joe’s the nation’s sheriff,”…
Retired judges are fighting a new law that reduces their pension payout in a class action lawsuit filed this week in federal court.If they win, it’ll cost the state “hundreds of millions” of dollars over the next few years and threaten the overall viability of the retirement system for state…
What I love about so-called “conservatives” who regularly rail about entitlement programs is that these same limited-government types are often the first ones to turn around and take a handout at taxpayer expense when the need arises.Case in point: disgraced ex-Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and his former henchwomen, ex-deputy…
This afternoon, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will have his butt kissed by meet with Minnesota Congresswoman/presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann in her attempt to woo him into endorsing her campaign.Meanwhile, presidential candidate Mitt Romney will be in Arizona, and according to America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff,” he’s also courting Arpaio for…
I’m on deadline for my column this week, but I wanted to share this news, fresh from the Arizona Supreme Court.The Supremes just issued the following order, affirming Superior Court Judge Hugh Hegyi’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the petitions that have forced a recall of state Senate President…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is quite vocal about his disdain for local news outlets — New Times in particular — and now we know why; the sheriff prefers to get his news from publications like the National Enquirer and Globe. Dan Nowicki, the Arizona Republic’s national political reporter, recently…
Franklin Bruce Ross, the man who is listed as the plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging the recall petitions submitted by Citizens for a Better Arizona, a man his attorney Lisa Hauser has described as a longtime pal of state Senate President Russell Pearce, solicited signatures to put the name of…
My compatriot Dennis Gilman put together the video above of our forays in search of the elusive Olivia Cortes, wannabe contender in the upcoming November 8 recall of state Senate President Russell Pearce in Legislative District 18.Cortes’s nomination signatures were submitted to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on Friday…
Friday evening, I received the letter below signed by Janet Murguria of the National Council of La Raza, essentially declaring that the boycott of Arizona over Senate Bill 1070 is finito.Granted, the letter does point out that the boycott that developed in response to state Senate President Russell Pearce’s nativist…
