Fogbow

Former AG Election Unit Head Starts Legal Process For Defamation Claim About News Story Of Alleged Firing

The former head of the Arizona Attorney General’s election integrity unit has retained a lawyer and taken the first step required by state law to initiate a defamation lawsuit after the Arizona Republic published an article earlier this week asserting she “was removed from her position” by new Attorney General Kris Mayes.

According to the Jan. 5 article, Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright was told to resign “or be fired” as one of Mayes’ first official acts after being sworn in Jan. 2. The article by reporter Robert Anglen notes the information about Wright’s employment came from Mayes’ office.

That same day, Republic editor Elvia Diaz shared Anglen’s article on Twitter along with a comment that Mayes “fires assistant attorney general who launched dubious Arizona election probe.”

The only problem, Wright says, is she can prove she had already resigned from the AG’s office a few days earlier. Which means she was not a state employee at the time Mayes took office nor when someone in that office told Anglen that Wright was ousted by the new AG.

On Saturday, Arizona Daily Independent confirmed Wright has issued a Notice and Demand for correction pursuant to Arizona Revised Statute 12-653.2. She noted that “every second the tweets and erroneous article is available incurs further damage.”

Such a demand is necessary to allow Wright to pursue certain damages as part of a defamation action.

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2023 7:21 pm "Experts to find out why the printers that read ballots well in the primaries"

I am quite sure that the printers did not read ballots, either in the Primaries or the General election cycle.

Appeals court: Arizona early voting system is constitutional

The Arizona Court of Appeals has ruled that the state’s early voting system is constitutional.

In an 11-page ruling Tuesday, the three-judge panel rejected the Arizona Republican Party’s argument that mail-in voting violates the secrecy clause in the state Constitution.

The clause requires that voters must have a way to conceal their choices on the ballot.

More than 80% of Arizona voters use the early voting system that was created by lawmakers in 1991.

It allowed any voter to vote by mail and removed the requirement that voters fill out and seal their ballots in the presence of an officer authorized to administer oaths, the appeals court noted.

How the Arizona Attorney General Created a Secretive, Illegal Surveillance Program to Sweep up Millions of Our Financial Records
New records obtained by the ACLU shed light on the scope of a mass surveillance program keeping tabs on Americans’ financial data.

Fikayo Walter-Johnson, Former Paralegal, ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project
Nathan Freed Wessler, Deputy Director, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project
January 18, 2023

Last year, Sen. Ron Wyden raised alarms about one of the largest government surveillance programs in recent memory. Sen. Wyden revealed that the Arizona attorney general’s office, in collaboration with the Phoenix Field Office of the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations, had engaged in the indiscriminate collection of money transfer records for transactions exceeding $500 sent to or from Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas, as well as to or from Mexico. Any time anyone in the U.S. used companies like Western Union or MoneyGram to send or receive money to or from one of these states or Mexico — whether to send a remittance home, or help a relative with an emergency expense, or pay a bill — a record of their transaction was deposited into a database controlled by the Arizona attorney general and shared with other law enforcement agencies.

Sen. Wyden’s revelation left significant questions about the scope and legality of this program unanswered, so the ACLU and the ACLU of Arizona submitted a public records request to the Arizona attorney general’s office to learn more. Today, we are sharing more than 200 documents that shed light on this mass surveillance of Americans’ sensitive financial data.

The records show the state of Arizona sending at least 140 illegal subpoenas to money transfer companies to compel them to turn over customers’ private financial data, amassing it in a huge database and giving virtually unfettered access to thousands of officers from hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the country. The database, run by an organization called the Transaction Record Analysis Center (TRAC), contained 145 million records of people’s financial transactions as of 2021, and we have reason to believe it’s still growing.

Western Union, MoneyGram, and other financial services companies often serve people who otherwise may not have access to bank accounts or traditional financial services, such as immigrant workers sending money back home to their families and people without credit scores. Because members of marginalized communities rely heavily on these services rather than traditional banks, the burden of this government surveillance falls disproportionately on those already most vulnerable to law enforcement overreach.





https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-techn ... ce-program

This means the Arizona attorney general’s office knowingly issued 140 illegal subpoenas to build an invasive data repository.

Adrian Fontes @Adrian_Fontes wrote: Where’s the best breakfast in Tempe?

Kari Lake War Room @KariLakeWarRoom wrote: Have you considered just driving until you see the ocean??

We're sure you'll find something good.

raison de arizona wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 12:09 am [img] https: //pbs.twimg.com/media/Fmuh5UBaUAEmeM7?format=jpg&name=large[/img]

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 1:30 am https://youtu.be/rimhb3IwhfY

raison de arizona wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 9:35 am

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 1:30 am https://youtu.be/rimhb3IwhfY

especially like the tongue bath the judge gave him.

What a disgrace.

Maricopa County GOP Censures Republican Maricopa County Supervisors, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer over Election Integrity at Annual Meeting

The Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) voted last week at their annual meeting to censure Maricopa County Stephen Richer and the four Republican members of the Maricopa County Supervisors; Bill Gates, Thomas Galvin, Clint Hickman and Jack Sellers. The vote for the censure resolution was 1,460 for, 138 against, and 36 abstaining.

Maricopa County Member-at-Large Brian Ference told The Arizona Sun Times, “The PCs in Maricopa have spoken, overwhelmingly censuring Richer and the MCBOS, the key line being ‘Ceases immediately any and all recognition and support of the above individuals being censured and encourages all registered Republicans to expel them permanently from office.’”

Gregg wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 6:21 pm The lot of them ought to dump the Republican Party and continue on as Independents.

pipistrelle wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 6:40 pm

Gregg wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 6:21 pm The lot of them ought to dump the Republican Party and continue on as Independents.

Yeah, this is what I don't get. Anyone who is still a Republican is now associated with with their radical former outliers, who are now in power, if not in numbers. I feel like this about people I know who keep saying they're "moderate Republicans." That ship sailed.