You won’t catch Attorney General Mark Brnovich on the wrong side of President Trump or his fervent supporters.
Brnovich is a leading potential candidate for the GOP nomination for governor in 2022.
That could help explain why he extended a streak of voluntarily inserting himself into national political issues on Trump’s side this week.
On Wednesday night, he filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the controversial suit by Texas’ attorney general attempting to throw out votes in four other states, thereby handing the presidential election to Trump.
Brnovich didn’t attempt to join the long-shot suit as a plaintiff, but he requested the right to file a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court to stress the importance of election integrity and to request that the court move speedily.
Coincidentally (or not) Brnovich filed the request on the eve of a lunch in Washington, D.C., with Trump and other Republican attorneys general, including Ken Paxton of Texas, who filed the original request with the U.S. Supreme Court.
It’s just the latest example in a pattern of Brnovich inserting himself — and therefore the people of Arizona — on Trump’s good side:
In 2018, he voluntarily made Arizona a plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to end the Affordable Care Act. The case will be decided next year and would harm Arizona’s Medicaid program, which was expanded under the act.
In 2019, Brnovich filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit seeking to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program. He didn’t add Arizona as a plaintiff in that case, but he did insert his view supporting Trump’s posture as that of the state.
On Jan. 22, with the Senate about to take up Trump’s impeachment, Brnovich sent a letter to then-Sens. Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema, asking them to vote against convicting Trump. He dressed his opinion up in the idea that to convict would be to “desecrate the Constitution’s separation of governmental powers.”
On Nov. 4, he embraced “Sharpiegate” by publicly announcing he’d sent a letter to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office inquiring about the use of Sharpie markers at Maricopa County polling locations. The next day he updated “we are now confident that the use of Sharpie markers did not result in disenfranchisement for Arizona voters.”
Through Wednesday’s filing, Brnovich found a way to insert himself into Paxton’s lawsuit, which would effectively disenfranchise millions of voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia, in a way that could be appreciated by Trump without committing Arizona too deeply. Sixteen Republican attorneys general joined Paxton’s suit, but neither Brnovich nor the attorney general of the other battleground state Trump lost, Georgia, joined the suit.
Council selects alternative redistricting plan
After receiving several complaints from west-side residents, the Tucson City Council voted Tuesday to reverse a decision that would redistrict a historic Hispanic neighborhood.
At a meeting three weeks ago, the council approved a redistricting plan that would move Precinct 37, El Rio Acres, from Ward 1 to Ward 3, saying it would create more equity, representation and balance in the ward populations.
Since then, however, several residents of the neighborhood voiced their discontent with the plan, expressing concerns that it would separate neighborhoods with historical ties to one another.
A petition was created and garnered nearly 400 signatures ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, which said the city’s initial redistricting plan “would effectively render these historic neighborhoods voiceless and diminish their ability to advocate for their residents.”
Completed in the city every four years, the redistricting process analyzes the current boundaries of each ward and attempts to equalize the population.
After hearing the concerns of residents, several council members, including Ward 1’s Lane Santa Cruz, defended the initial decision and said it was made with historic areas in mind.
Ultimately, however, the council decided to move forward with an alternative redistricting plan, acknowledging the need for more community input in the future.
The second option will move 4,960 residents in Precinct 98, which is currently split between Wards 5 and 6. The proposal would move the precinct into a single ward to avoid voter and administrative confusion.
AZ Dem senators vote for UAE arms deal
Arizona’s two Democratic senators joined Republicans on Wednesday to endorse the Trump administration’s controversial plan to sell advanced weaponry to the United Arab Emirates.
By breaking ranks with their party, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly thwarted a Democrat-led effort to block the $13 billion arms deal over concerns about the UAE’s trustworthiness and its likely involvement in war crimes in Yemen and Libya.
The Trump administration is rushing to supply the UAE with F-35 fighter jets and Reaper attack drones after the Emiratis signed a U.S.-brokered peace deal with Israel.
Sinema voted against blocking both deals, while Kelly voted against blocking the drone deal and voted to block the F-35 sale.
One of the leaders of the effort to stop the sale, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said the arms deal “just makes defense companies richer and international security poorer.”
Defense contractor Raytheon, Southern Arizona’s largest private employer, is one of the biggest arms suppliers to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The company, which in February announced Tucson as the headquarters of its new Missiles & Defense business, won a $59 million contract last year to provide sensor packages for Reaper drones.
Wednesday’s vote was among the first for Kelly, who was sworn into office on Dec. 2 after defeating Republican Sen. Martha McSally.
During the campaign, McSally criticized Kelly for a paid lecture he gave in the UAE in 2018. After announcing his candidacy last year, Kelly returned the $55,000 he earned for the speech.
New Pima recorder hires old Maricopa recorder
Incoming Pima County Recorder Gabriela Cázares-Kelly announced Thursday she has hired the outgoing Maricopa County recorder, Adrian Fontes, as her interim deputy.
Fontes, who narrowly lost reelection in November, will replace longtime deputy recorder Chris Roads, who announced his retirement last week, Cázares-Kelly said in a news release.
Fontes committed to spending at least three months as the chief deputy for the new recorder, who is new to the recorder’s office.
Among Fontes’ top duties will be to help Cázares-Kelly hire a permanent deputy.
Photos: 2020 General Election in Pima County and Arizona
Ballot processing in Pima County
Updated
Ballot processing in Pima County
Updated
Ballot processing in Pima County
Updated
Ballot processing in Pima County
Updated
Ballot processing in PIma County
Updated
Ballot processing in PIma County
Updated
Ballot processing in PIma County
Updated
Ballot processing in PIma County
Updated
Ballot processing, Pima County
Updated
Ballot processing, Pima County
Updated
Ballot processing, Pima County
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election 2020 Senate Kelly
Updated
Election 2020 Senate Kelly
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election 2020 Arizona Voting
Updated
Election 2020 Arizona Voting
Updated
Election 2020 Arizona Voting
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election 2020 Arizona Voting
Updated
Election 2020 Arizona Voting
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election 2020 Arizona Voting
Updated
Election 2020 Arizona Voting
Updated
Election 2020 Arizona Voting
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election 2020 Arizona Voting
Updated
Election 2020 Arizona Voting
Updated
Election 2020 Arizona Voting
Updated
Election 2020 Arizona Voting
Updated
Election 2020 Arizona Voting
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Election Day, Pima County and Arizona, 2020
Updated
Judge throws out lawsuit, finds no fraud or misconduct in Arizona election
Updated
PHOENIX — A judge tossed out a bid by the head of the Arizona Republican Party to void the election results that awarded the state’s 11 electoral votes to Democrat Joe Biden.
The two days of testimony produced in the case brought by GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward produced no evidence of fraud or misconduct in how the vote was conducted in Maricopa County, said Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Randall Warner in his Friday ruling.
Warner acknowledged that there were some human errors made when ballots that could not be read by machines due to marks or other problems were duplicated by hand.
But he said that a random sample of those duplicated ballots showed an accuracy rate of 99.45%.
Warner said there was no evidence that the error rate, even if extrapolated to all the 27,869 duplicated ballots, would change the fact that Biden beat President Trump.
The judge also threw out charges that there were illegal votes based on claims that the signatures on the envelopes containing early ballots were not properly compared with those already on file.
He pointed out that a forensic document examiner hired by Ward’s attorney reviewed 100 of those envelopes.
And at best, Warner said, that examiner found six signatures to be “inconclusive,” meaning she could not testify that they were a match to the signature on file.
But the judge said this witness found no signs of forgery.
Finally, Warner said, there was no evidence that the vote count was erroneous. So he issued an order confirming the Arizona election, which Biden won with a 10,457-vote edge over Trump.
Federal court case remains to be heard
Friday’s ruling, however, is not the last word.
Ward, in anticipation of the case going against her, already had announced she plans to seek review by the Arizona Supreme Court.
And a separate lawsuit is playing out in federal court, which includes some of the same claims made here along with allegations of fraud and conspiracy.
That case, set for a hearing Tuesday, also seeks to void the results of the presidential contest.
It includes allegations that the Dominion Software voting equipment used by Maricopa County is unreliable and was programmed to register more votes for Biden than he actually got.
Legislative leaders call for audit but not to change election results
Along the same lines, Senate President Karen Fann and House Speaker Rusty Bowers on Friday called for an independent audit of the software and equipment used by Maricopa County in the just-completed election.
“There have been questions,” Fann said.
But she told Capitol Media Services it is not their intent to use whatever is found to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election.
In fact, she said nothing in the Republican legislative leaders’ request for the inquiry alleges there are any “irregularities” in the way the election was conducted.
“At the very least, the confidence in our electoral system has been shaken because of a lot of claims and allegations,” Fann said. “So our No. 1 goal is to restore the confidence of our voters.”
Bowers specifically rejected calls by the Trump legal team that the Legislature come into session to void the election results, which were formally certified on Monday.
“The rule of law forbids us to do that,” he said.
In fact, Bowers pointed out, it was the Republican-controlled Legislature that enacted a law three years ago specifically requiring the state’s electors “to cast their votes for the candidates who received the most votes in the official statewide canvass.”
He said that was done because Hillary Clinton had won the popular vote nationwide in 2016 and some lawmakers feared that electors would refuse to cast the state’s 11 electoral votes for Trump, who won Arizona’s race that year.
“As a conservative Republican, I don’t like the results of the presidential election,” Bowers said in a prepared statement. “But I cannot and will not entertain a suggestion that we violate current law to change the outcome of a certified election.”