Conservative performance artist Mark Brnovich should stop acting as attorney general of Arizona.
For more than a year, Brnovich has been using the power of the position he holds to establish himself as a super-Trump Republican.
Since June, when he announced heβs running for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, his behavior has only gotten worse, descending into self-parody.
But itβs not funny, since he is supposed to represent all Arizonans, not just a subset of Republicans whose political support he cherishes. Worse, he is under pressure from those same people to charge someone with election fraud related to the 2020 election.
This is a decision that must be made cleanly, without Brnovichβs usual dramatic posturing.
But heβs shown no inclination to stop the act. The latest examples occurred Monday, as Brnovich staked himself out as a pro-border-war candidate and inserted himself into the latest populist cause β the Canadian trucker convoy.
Evidence lacking
In response to a request from extremist legislator Rep. Jake Hoffman, Brnovich issued a legal opinion Monday that Arizona is suffering an βinvasionβ at the Mexican border by cartel and gang members. As a result, under the Constitution, it may βengage in warβ to repel the invasion.
Governors from Janet Napolitano to Doug Ducey have been using the National Guard at the border, but Brnovichβs opinion could potentially justify more direct engagement by soldiers, rather than keeping them in support roles.
Brnovichβs opinion is worth a little analysis, since it is so clearly is a political ploy as much as a legal opinion. He avoids declaring the migrants at the border βinvadersβ because that concept has already been thrown out in federal court. Instead, he asserts βThe on-the-ground violence and lawlessness caused by cartels and gangs is extensive, well-documented, and persistent.β
While he refers to violence at the border as βescalating,β he gives no evidence that it actually is increasing. In fact, the opinion cites three separate acts of violence that occurred in Mexico as evidence of escalation in Arizona.
After citing one, a highway robbery deep in Sonora, he acknowledges, βAlthough this did not occur in Arizona, it shows the threats of violence that the cartels pose.β
Sheriffs divided
This is the sort of rhetorical device that has long dogged Arizonaβs borderlands. Occurrences in Mexico are used to paint a picture of violence on both sides of the border, although in reality, the two sides are very different when it comes to the rule of law.
I surveyed the four Arizona border sheriffs to find if they agreed with the attorney generalβs description of the situation at the border as an βinvasion.β Only one did, Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County. In fact, he used Brnovichβs description as an explanation for why the county should accept a series of border-security grants at Tuesdayβs meeting of the county supervisors.
In an email, Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot did not embrace or reject the βinvasionβ description. He simply said it appeared Brnovich was laying the groundwork for state and local law enforcement to become involved in stopping βmass migrationβ at the border.
Those are the two Republican border sheriffs. The two Democratic border sheriffs rejected Brnovichβs βinvasionβ description as applying to their counties, Pima and Santa Cruz.
βNothing would indicate that itβs an invasion or that we should take a war stance or war posture,β said Sheriff David Hathaway of Santa Cruz County, home to the stateβs largest land port of entry at Nogales.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said he doesnβt see significant gang and cartel activity along his countyβs stretch of border and βdoes not let political rhetoric dictate whatβs going on along that border.β
But of course, accurately describing reality is not the point when it comes to Brnovich. The point, for a long time, has been to use his office to cultivate support in the five-way primary for U.S. Senate.
Hence, a lesser-known stand Brnovich took on Monday: His office sent a letter to GoFundMe, the company that allows people to run online fundraising campaigns. Brnovichβs concern: GoFundMe shut down a fundraiser for the Canadian trucker convoy that has been a cause cΓ©lΓ¨bre on the populist right, starting as an anti-vaccine-mandate protest.
His office was a little late in putting the letter out to have any practical effect. GoFundMe already had announced it would refund all $9 million in donations left in the fundraiserβs account. But thatβs never the objective with Brnovich these days β the goal is to perform for the primary voters.
Under pressure to prosecute
Brnovich makes his legal decisions with those voters, that small subset of Arizonans, in mind. Take, for example, his position on investigating the slates of alternate electors supporting Donald Trump who presented themselves as the stateβs legitimate electors after the 2020 elections.
Brnovich, who has spent Bidenβs entire term in office confronting the federal government, suddenly became submissive when asked to investigate those electors for potential violations of state law, including forgery and criminal impersonation.
He said on KTARβs βThe Mike Broomhead Showβ: βAs to specific procedures regarding the authenticity of electors, the U.S. Department of Justice is exercising its original jurisdiction in that case. So, anybody who has questions or concerns about that should contact the Department of Justice.β
If it doesnβt benefit him politically, Brnovich wonβt do it.
Thatβs why itβs so dangerous that he continues to hold the powers of the Attorney Generalβs Office.
In the weeks following the 2020 general election, Brnovich dismissed the idea that fraud altered the election results in Arizona, and he certified the election.
Now the results of last yearβs review of the election β the so-called Maricopa County βauditβ β have been handed to Brnovichβs office. He is under intense pressure from former President Trump, from GOP primary voters and from his opponents to prosecute someone, anyone for purported βelection fraudβ in the operation of the 2020 general election.
βMark Brnovich says President Trump is wrong on voter fraud,β a narrator intones in an ad by Saving Arizona PAC, released in September. βBrnovich failed to convene a grand jury, certified Biden as president. Now heβs nowhere to be found, making excuses instead of standing with our president.β
That PAC supports Blake Masters, one of the five candidates for the U.S. Senate nomination. The conservative disinformation outlet Gateway Pundit has also been going after Brnovich.
Its owner, Jim Hoft, wrote in January, βArizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich was given a platter of fraudulent and criminal activities related to the results of the 2020 Election in Arizona. The fact that he has done nothing with this to date is reprehensible.β
Brnovich has said his office is investigating allegations of criminal wrongdoing in the conduct of the election. If he doesnβt bring an indictment, some Republican voters and interests will punish him. If he does, any charges will appear to be political performance.
Itβs a no-win situation that neither he, nor we as Arizonans, should be in.
The solution is for Brnovich to resign.