As he runs for re-election, U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva is at the heart of a dispute among Democrats that could make it hard for them to fund the federal government at the end of the month.
Grijalva is leading the more progressive Democratic members of Congress against a proposal that would make it easier for companies to get permits to explore for oil and other fossil fuels.
He wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer last week, and updated it this week, gathering 76 other members’ signatures.
They are opposed to a plan to include the proposal for “permitting reform,” as the industry calls it, in the next continuing resolution that must pass for the federal government to stay open. Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has floated this idea, in fulfillment of a deal he made with Sen. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia.
Manchin, who has deep ties to the coal industry, agreed to support the Inflation Reduction Act, and in exchange, Schumer promised to bring limits on the National Environmental Protection Act to a vote.
The proposal would, among other things, put a two-year cap on environmental reviews of major energy projects and place time limits on when opponents could file legal challenges.
“We remain deeply concerned that these serious and detrimental permitting provisions will significantly and disproportionately impact low-income communities, Indigenous communities, and communities of color,” Grijalva said in the letter.
Grijalva and his co-signers oppose not just the contents of the proposal, but specifically the effort to include it in a continuing resolution to fund the government that must be passed by Sept. 30. They want the permitting proposal to be voted on separately.
Asked about the issue, the campaign of Grijalva’s Republican opponent, Luis Pozzolo, said this via email:
“Luis Pozzolo believes that governments need processes but kicking the can on this issue places a bureaucratic burden that delays industry and business in Southern AZ and across the country, ultimately hurting jobs across the country as well. Our people need jobs, not endless processes.”
They added that Pozzolo supports the permitting reforms if they will bring jobs.
Finchem: ‘I love the Jewish people’
It’s been an amusing week for those who follow Mark Finchem on Twitter.
On Monday, his Democratic opponent for Secretary of State, Adrian Fontes, announced the new “Republicans and Independents for Fontes Coalition.” It included Mesa Mayor John Giles, a Republican, former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, a Republican, and former Tempe Mayor Neil Giuliano, an independent, among others.
On Tuesday, Finchem gave his response: “’Republicans’ who endorse Adrian Fontes are not Republicans, they are Marxists pretending to be Republicans, deceiving voters.”
Rep. Mark Finchem, the GOP candidate for secretary of state, responded with this tweet to the announcement of a group of Republicans and independents who support his opponent, Democrat Adrian Fontes.
As the tweeting public puzzled over Finchem’s understanding of Marxism, he doubled down. On Wednesday, he tweeted this about his opponent: “Nobody believes him. We all know he is a hard core Marxist."
Rep. Mark Finchem, the GOP candidate for secretary of state, called his Democratic opponent, Adrian Fontes, a "hard core Marxist" via Twitter on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022.
Then on Thursday, he tweeted that he needed to raise $15,000 that day to defeat Fontes, who he claimed is “bankrolled by Soros and Bloomberg.”
In a tweet on Thursday, Sept. 15, GOP candidate for Secretary of State Mark Finchem claimed his opponent, Democrat Adrian Fontes, is bankrolled by billionaires George Soros and Michael Bloomberg.
When some people accused him of dealing in anti-Semitism by naming the two Jewish billionaires, you can guess what Finchem accused the two of.
“Calling out Soros and Bloomberg and their political objectives is not anti-Semitic,” he wrote. “This is a political discussion, not a religious one. I love the Jewish people. I do not love Marxists who hate America. The gaslighting of patriots must end NOW.”
Accused by critics of using anti-Semitic dog whistles, Finchem said he was just talking about "Marxist" billionaires and that he loves the Jewish People.
Soros did give, though
Soros may be used as a boogieman in right-wing rhetoric, from America to Hungary, but there is at least a sliver of truth in Finchem’s claims.
Campaign finance records show that Soros gave $5,000 to Fontes’ campaign on Dec. 29 last year.
There is no record of Bloomberg giving to Fontes’ campaign.
And neither billionaire capitalist is likely to appear on the membership roster of the Communist Party USA. But their names did appear most recently in an August 2020 essay on the party’s website. The article, headlined “Dialectics: The science of struggle,” referred to Bloomberg and Soros not as comrades but as members of the “the liberal-democratic wing of the ruling class.”
So it goes.
Voter fraud hotline live — sort of
You may recall the word from a few weeks ago that Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb was teaming up with True the Vote, the group that has long claimed nationwide voter fraud by Democrats, to set up a hotline.
Well, the hotline, intended to receive tips about election fraud, has gone live — sort of. When you call the number, 877-323-9111, you get this message:
“We have received hundreds of tips from patriots just like you and are working through them as quickly as possible. For the most efficient process, please fill out the online form with detailed information at truethevote.org.”
So, you can call, but you may as well just use your computer.
