BREAKING: RETIREMENT MONIES? Kyrsten Sinema Continues Accepting Corporate PAC Money After Announcing Retirement; APS Among Those Kicking In

Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema continued to accept corporate PAC monies last month following her announcement that she would not seek reelection. The PAC for APS was among those contributing to a fund that could help fund her post-Senate life.

Sinema announced her retirement on March 5. In the few weeks following, her leadership PAC ("Getting Stuff Done") took in $25,000 from a total of five contributors.

GSD PAC ended March with more than $360,000 in the bank. And because Congress has not passed bills trying to restrict how that money can be spent, the options upon retirement are very open. 

Currently, Sinema's GSD PAC has spent much of its money on security and travel. In this new report, for instance, Sinema spent more than $5,000 in Paris (France) in February, staying at the Le Roch Hotel & Spa. 

Leadership PACs are not forced to terminate when a member of Congress leaves office. For example, Sinema's predecessor was Jon Kyl. He transferred more than $200,000 from his campaign committee to his leadership PAC, and disbursed it to other candidates and groups.  Arizona Governor Jan Brewer set up a federal Super PAC, and was able to use that to pay one of her children for several years after she left office. ("Gov. Brewer's Super PACs: Retirement Fund, 2016 Run Against McCain, Or Just "Stay Active" Money?")

Other than the Pinnacle West PAC (APS's parent company), PACs for General Dynamics, BAE Systems, Southern Company and Southwest Airlines Pilots each handed over $5,000 after March 5.

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UPDATE: AZGOP Admits Failing To Report and Pay Rent On Office Building For Several Months

The Arizona Republican Party confessed today to the Federal Elections Commission that they failed to report and pay rent "for multiple months" in 2023 due to their "shortage of cash-flow and donations."

The unsigned filing from the AZGOP is in response to the FEC's inquiry about why "limited administrative expenses" were disclosed in the last three months of 2023.

The party says the lack of paid expenses was accurate. "Please note that the Committee had a shortage of cash-flow and donations up until the end of 2023. Rent for multiple months of 2023 was actually paid on January 11th, 2024 and was properly documented and filed in the 2024 February Monthly Report."

Indeed, on Jan. 11, the AZGOP cut a $75,000 check to its wholly-owned subsidiary, "Arizona Freedom Center, LLC" for rent. You will recall that it was just last week that Axios's Jeremy Duda reported that the AZGOP had decided to sell its office space in central Phoenix.

However, paying "multiple months" of rent in January opens up the question as to why those multiple months were not reported as debts owing in the many monthly reports filed since the office condo was purchased in June 2023. Such information is required to be reported to the FEC (and thus, to AZGOP members and the public).

Another point the FEC may follow up on is what other revenues the AZGOP's Arizona Freedom Center LLC is bringing in and what expenses it is paying. The seller, CJR Investments, does hold a $1.3M promissory note secured by a deed of trust on the office. (Duda reports the purchase price was $1.9M, which would lead one to believe the AZGOP put $600,000 down, but is required to make monthly payments.)

Jeff DeWit was the AZGOP Chair until January, and Gina Swoboda is the new Chair. The most recent report shows that AZGOP now has $426,000 in the bank (as of end of February) and reported debts of $62,736. Arizona's Politics tried to reach Treasurer Elijah Norton, and will update as necessary.

This article was reported by Tempe elections attorney - and Arizona's Politics co-founder - Paul Weich.

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NEW, UPDATE: Kari Lake AMENDS Financial Disclosure Statement To Add Trust; No Indication It's To Protect Assets From Richer

There was plenty of coverage* of the new financial disclosure statement filed with the U.S. Senate by Kari Lake. And that reporting may have prompted Lake to file her (first) AMENDED statement this past weekend.

Instead of owning ZenVideo, LLC as wife and husband, Lake and Jeffrey Halperin (her husband) actually own it - estimated to be worth between $100,000 to $250,000 - as part of their living trust.

The video production company has not earned Lake any income during the past year-plus (per the disclosure statement), and it does not appear that Lake either recently placed it in the trust nor placed it there with the intent to protect the assets from creditors. Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer recently filed a defamation lawsuit against Lake regarding her statements about the elections.

The trust appears to be the type of living trust which would not be protected from judgment enforcement. Lake and her husband placed two pieces of real property into the trust in late 2021, and those documents indicate that the trust is revocable and that they are the beneficiaries. People often use such trusts as part of their estate planning.

Those properties appear to be their home and a condominium, both in the Biltmore area. While a personal home is not required to be listed in the Senate's disclosure statements, Lake does list a rental condo that she is receiving rent of between $1,250-4,165 per month. (The disclosure statement does not list it as a trust asset, and that might require a second amendment.)

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BREAKING, STOP THIS STEAL: George Santos Treasurer(?) Hiding Out After Allegedly Embezzling $50,000 From Arizona Congressional Candidate

A one-time Treasurer(?) for fraudster/expelled Congressman George Santos is apparently hiding from law enforcement after being accused of embezzling at least $50,000 from an Arizona Congressional candidate.

Walt Blackman (R-Snowflake), who is currently running to regain a seat in the Arizona Legislature, leveled the charges in a letter filed with the Federal Election Commission ("FEC") on Sunday afternoon.

I hereby formally report a series of unauthorized and illicit financial transactions within the 'Committee to Elect Walt Blackman for Congress,' masterminded by Mr. Thomas Datwyler. In a clear breach of financial protocols and without requisite approvals from our committee, Mr. Datwyler diverted campaign funds into unauthorized external accounts. He established at least one additional account and illicitly reallocated a sum of not less than $50,000 from our General Election fund to an undisclosed location.  

In addition, Mr. Datwyler knowingly issued multiple checks as refunds to general donors from accounts deficient in funds, resulting in the checks being dishonored upon presentation. This malfeasance led to non-payment to our vendors and a cascade of unsettled campaign liabilities. Given my lack of access to these implicated accounts, it is our contention that Mr. Datwyler has embezzled an estimated amount of $50,000.  

Law enforcement agencies have been notified of these infractions. The inability to locate Mr. Datwyler has temporarily hindered our ability to file a complete legal report. Upon determination of his whereabouts, it is our intention to formally lodge a complaint and initiate legal proceedings against Mr. Datwyler for the crime of theft, advocating for maximal prosecutorial action. Concurrently, civil litigation for recovery of damages will be pursued against him. 

Datwyler became Blackman's campaign treasurer shortly after he announced his intent to move from the Arizona State House of Representatives to the U.S. House in early 2021, and remained in the post through his loss in the Republican primary (to Eli Crane).

In addition to a short, disputed stint as the expelled Rep. George Santos' (R-NY) treasurer last year, Datwyler was the financial person for several other Republican candidates in 2022. At least three of them have had to pay fines to the FEC for Datwyler's actions (inactions).

Datwyler has also been active running a Super PAC in Iowa supporting Ron DeSantis's presidential campaign, and this New York Times article outlines a concerning set of connections between several political operatives.

Blackman is asking the FEC to show mercy - to him, not to Datwyler - and to waive any penalties. After raising and spending more than $1.1M, Blackman has approximately $12,000 left in his campaign account. (We cannot know for sure, because none of the required 2023 reports have yet been filed.)

Blackman, who tried to help "Stop the Steal" in 2020, is running in the wide-ranging Legislative District 7, which is currently represented by two Republican Davids, Cook and Marshall.

(Arizona's Politics has attempted to reach Blackman for comment, and will update this article as needed.)

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FACT CHECK: NRSC Gets Early Start, Launches 1st FALSE Ad of 2024 #AZSenate Campaign In Double-Negative Fashion (WATCH Ad)

With the battle for the narrative of who benefits from a three-way race for Arizona's U.S. Senate seat in 2024 raging, the Republicans are launching a double-negative attack ad bank shot against presumptive Democratic nominee Ruben Gallego and incumbent-possible-independent-candidate Kyrsten Sinema. While the attacks against Sinema are predictable ("liberal Democrat"), the NRSC lobbed FALSE invective against Gallego.

Polling is consistently showing Gallego winning the likely three-way race against former Democrat Sinema and Republican frontrunner Kari Lake. What is less clear is whether Sinema draws more from the Republican or the Democrat in such a race.

The National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) announced a digital advertisement - meaning we do not know how much money, if any, is really being spent on it - today. By knocking Sinema as a "liberal Democrat" who votes with Biden, they are trying to prevent Republicans from sliding to Sinema AND they are trying to make it more palatable for Democrat to vote for her.

The attacks on Gallego are also supposed to slide more Democrats to Sinema. However, their pickings in that category were slim.

The first attack was that he "ripped off immigrants". This laughable conclusion cites an Arizona Republic article from this past March, which details Gallego's small involvement in helping a man who was going to create a bank focusing on the needs of undocumented immigrants in the Latino community. The bank never got off the ground, and the man is repaying the six investors. Gallego did not recruit investors, according to the cited Corporation Commission Order.

The second attack was calling Gallego a "deadbeat dad". That term has a very specific definition in the public sphere as someone who has not paid their required child support. There have been no allegations by Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego that her ex has ever had such an issue, and in fact, both have indicated that their parenting of their young son has been amicable.

Fact Check Conclusion: The NRSC has lobbed two FALSE accusations at Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego.

The ad was first reported on and linked by Politico.

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NEW, BAILED OUT: AZGOP Covers Bills With Late September Bailout From Waste Management Founders, Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins, Freedom Fund

The Arizona Republican Party received a late-September bailout from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and some of his allies. Facing a checking account balance not sufficient to cover their monthly expenses, the AZGOP received ore than $34,000 from the National Republican Senate Committee.

That was made up of $20,000 from the founders of Waste Management Inc, (Dean and Rosemarie Buntrock) and additional $5,000 checks from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (through his Bluegrass Committee), Maine Senator Susan Collins (through Dirigo PAC) and Idaho Senator Mike Crapo's Freedom Fund.

The state party's kitty was below $15,000 on September 1 - an unusually low amount for any state party committee. (Expenses in September were $55,000, although much of that was covered by transferring monies from another account.)

The AZGOP's net worth on September 30, was just $20,790 - the cash balance of $54,959 less the debts owing of $34,169.

By contrast, the Arizona Democratic Party reported a September 30 net worth of more than $770,000 (with just a couple of thousand dollars of outstanding bills).

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WATCH: Full Debate Of Rep. Crane's "Don't Say DEI In the Military" Amendment; It was more than just "colored people" (READ Text of Amendment)

Arizona Rep. Eli Crane (R-CD2) drew national attention when he blurted out that his amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act "has nothing to do with whether or not colored people or Black people or anybody can serve, okay."

Rep. Joyce Beatty, who was handling the debate for the Democratic opposition, immediately called for the offensive term to be stricken from the record. Crane asked to amend it to "people of color", but Beatty refused and the words were removed from the record by unanimous consent.

The heated exchange came at the end of the 10-minute debate, and Crane was forceful - and occasionally, sarcastic - in arguing for his bill. He claimed that "what's divisive is that the military is becoming a political - a social - experiment, before saying he doesn't know how many Democrats served in the military.

Here is the actual text of the amendment, which the House approved later in the evening on a party-line vote. Given his remarks about "social experiment", the core purpose appears to be to prevent any training involving "diversity, equity, or inclusion". 

More of Crane's comments: "The military was never intended to be inclusive. Its strength is not its diversity. Its strength is its standards."

--"Diversity can be a great thing, but it cannot be our focus. And I'm going to tell you guys this right now: you can keep playing around these games with diversity, equity and inclusion, but there are some real threats out there. And if we keep messing around and we keep lowering our standards, it's not going to be good." 

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BREAKING: Gallego Raises $3.8M In 1st Quarter Of Senate Race, Easily Out-Raising Independent Sinema

Rep. Ruben Gallego raised $3.8M in the same period, after announcing that he would seek the Sinema-vacated Democratic nomination for next year's election. He now has $2.7M in the bank.

Gallego quickly stepped into the void and cranked up the national fundraising machine. His expenses were more than $2M, so he only added $1.4M to the cash on hand. However, the report does send a statement to both the incumbent and Republicans looking to enter the race.

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