Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Submit information on Arizona judges here


We are compiling information on Arizona's judges so patriots will be informed when they vote. The current system does not provide information about judges' political leanings, political backgrounds, and political decisions. We can no longer just vote no on all of them, because with Katie Hobbs as the alleged governor, she will appoint far left judges to replace any we vote out. (Justices of the Peace are not appointed by the governor, but the other judges are) The left targeted several judges in 2022 in retention elections and successfully got two booted out, which is unprecedented. They're coming for more in the next election so we need to protect the good ones. While we will receive the most information on Maricopa County judges, we are going to collect information on all judges in the state. As soon as we have received a few submissions we will start posting the information. Anonymous submissions are fine, but all submissions will be subjected to editing in order to weed out purely baseless rumors. All submitters' names will be kept confidential.


Click here to submit info about Arizona judges

Friday, October 2, 2020

Russell Pearce's recommendations of candidates and propositions for the 2020 election

 American Post-Gazette

Distributed by C O M M O N S E N S E in Arizona
October 2, 2020

RUSSELL PEARCE ELECTION RECOMMENDATIONS

Excellent video, see link below. PLEASE WATCH!!!!!! 
Dear Friends - 
Wherever you may be in the Nation - Hello from Arizona! I have been involved in the making of a national video directed to the LDS community about the upcoming presidential election. This video promotes the values of protecting life, self-reliance, 1st and 2nd amendment rights, smaller government and equal protection under the law. Some of you may not affiliate with the LDS church, but regardless of our personal religious beliefs, I believe we all still share the same love for our country and American exceptionalism. This is such an important election. This election is not about a personality, but about policies and results. 
With so much hate and unrest in this country, I humbly submit my position to you for thought and contemplation about the future of our country and the generations that will be affected by our choices. The video is about 10 minutes in length and I hope that you will take the time to watch it and share it with your friends. 

https://youtu.be/vS-HeohN4C0 Respectfully, Nancy Salmon 602-618-5555
 
2020 GENERAL ELECTION RECOMMENDATIONS FROM RUSSELL PEARCE:
I LOVE THIS REPUBLIC AND THE PRINCIPLES IN OUR DIVINELY INSPIRED CONSTITUTION. 
My recommendations on this very critical 2020 election: This election is absolutely critical if one cares about the future of our Nation and our State:  FRREDOM VS. SOCIALISM
VOTE … VOTE … VOTE:  VOTE FOR THE CONSTITUTION, FOR FREEDOM, LOWER TAXES, REDUCED REGULATION, PROTECTING THE UNBORN AS CORRUPT AND EVIL BIDEN WANTS ABORTION UP UNTIL BIRTH (MURDER), RULE OF LAW, SUPPORT OUR LAW ENFORCEMENT AND MILITARY, PUT MOM AND DAD IN CHARGE OF THEIR CHILDRENS' EDUCATION--REAL SCHOOL CHOICE AND A SECURE BORDER. SOME OF MY RECOMMENDATIONS ARE ONLY TO KEEP ARIZONA RED AS GOING BLUE WILL FURTHER DESTROY OUR REPUBLICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 

PRESIDENT: DONALD J. TRUMP
U.S. SENATE … Martha McSally … only choice if you love America and want to keep the Senate Red
CONGRESS:
District one: Tiffany Shedd
District two: Brandon Martin
District three: Daniel Wood
District four: Paul Gosar
District five: Andy Biggs
District six: David Schweikert
District seven: Joshua Barnett
District eight: Debbie Lesko
District nine: Dave Giles

CORPORATION COMMISSION:
James “Jim” O’Connor
Lea Marquez Petersen
Eric Sloan
 
JUDICIARY:
VOTE "NO" ON ALL OF THEM: Reason is, it is not an election. It is a retention process and you do not have a say in your Superior, Appellate or Supreme Court Judges. They virtually serve with impunity. Vote against the process. Take back your right to decide who sits on the bench and in many cases ignores the law and decides cases or issues based on precedence or opinion and you have not control on their abuse of power. We have some good judges, they, like the bad ones will continue to serve. WE must take back our courts. 
 
ARIZONA STATE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
Dist. 1 
Senate: Karen Fann
House: Judy Burges and Quang Nguyen
Dist. 2
Senate: Mark Workman
House: Deborah Mcewen (vote only one)
Dist. 3
Senate: No good choice
House: No Republican running
Dist. 4
Senate: Travis Angry
House: Joel John (vote only one)
Dist. 5 
Senate: Sonny Borrelli
House: Leo Biasiucci and Regina Cobb
Dist. 6
Senate: Wendy Rogers (we must keep the Senate Red)
House: Walt Blackman and Brenda Barton
Dist. 7
Senate: No good choice
House: James “Jim” Parks and David Peelman
Dist. 8
Senate: Thomas “T.J.” Shope
House: Frank Pratt and David Cook
Dist. 9
Senate: No good choice
House: Brendan Lyons (vote only one)
Dist. 10
Senate: Justine Wadsack
House: Mabelle Gummere and Michael Hicks
Dist. 11
Senate: Venden “Vince” Leach (must keep the Senate Red)
House: Mark Finchem and Brett Roberts
Dist. 12: 
Senate: Warren Petersen
House: Jake Hoffman and Travis Grantham
Dist. 13
Senate: Sine Kerr
House: Timothy Dunn and Joanne Osborne
Dist. 14
Senate: David Gowan
House: Gail Griffin and Becky Nutt
Dist. 15
Senate: Nancy Barto
House: Steve Kaiser and Justin Wilmeth
Dist. 16
Senate: Kelly Townsend
House: John Fillmore and Jacqueline Parker
Dist. 17
Senate: J.D. Mesnard
House: Liz Harris and Jeff Wenninger
Dist. 18
Senate: Suzanne Sharer (a chance for a pro American Senator)
House: Don Hawker and Bob Robson
Dist. 19
Senator: No good choice
House: No Republican running; only wacky Left
Dist. 20
Senate: Paul Boyer (only to keep the Senate Red)
House: Shawnna Bolick and Anthony Kern
Dist. 21
Senate: Rick Gray
House: Kevin Payne and Beverly Pingerelli
Dist. 22
Senate: David Livingston
House: Frank Carroll and Ben Toma
Dist. 23
Senate: Michelle Ugenti-Rita
House: Joseph Chaplik and John Kavanagh
Dist. 24
Senator: Ray Michaels
House: David Alger SR. and Robyn Cushman
Dist. 25
Senator Tyler Pace
House: Rusty Bowers (Michelle Udall is the most liberal Republican in the House)
Dist. 26
Senate: Jae Chin
House: Bill Loughrige and Seth “Marcus” Sifuentes
Dist. 27
Senate: Garland Shreves
House: Tatiana Pena (only vote one)
Dist. 28
Senate: Kate Brophy McGee (only to keep the Senate Red as she is more Democrat than Republican)
House: Kenneth R. “Ken” Bowers Jr and Jana Jackson
Dist. 29
Senate: John Wilson
House: Billy Bragg and Helen Fokszanskyj-Conti
Dist. 30
Senate: Again, no Republican Running!!!
House: NO, NO, NO

PROPOSITION 207. NO, NO, NO
Legalization of Marijuana. All we need is more drugs in our communities, unless you want lower productivity and help the fast food industry. Even you believe it is your choice, not governments, this is a bad idea as it makes enforcement and courts impotent. 

PROPOSTION 208: NO, NO, N0
This is a huge tax increase on small businesses, and hardworking Americans, already struggling; and the schools have gotten hundreds of millions of dollars the last couple of years and most of the teachers don’t want to go back to teaching in the classroom. The far, far left Red4Ed folks will continue to use sad stories to socialize our school system. Teachers work about 178 days a year and make on average over $50,000 a year. I want good schools and properly paid teachers, but I want parents to control the agenda and have real school choice; then you will see improved education. Stop the liberal unions from taking even more control of your children.

MARICOPA COUNTY OFFICES:
Sheriff: Jerry Sheridan
County Attorney: Allister Adel
Assessor: Hard call. The Republican incumbent did not stand up for taxpayers as the Board of Supervisors raised property taxes as high as the law allows. Compare your last year's tax bill to this year's. 
Treasurer: Another hard call. The Republican candidate fought against helping low-income seniors avoid foreclosure. He also opposes investing in schools, which is a statutory mandate. 
Recorder/Elections: Steve Richer
School Superintendent: Steve Watson
Board of Supervisors:
Dist. 1 Jack Sellers
Dist. 2 Steve Chucri
Dist. 3 Bill Gates
Dist. 4 Clint Hickman
Dist. 5 NO, NO, NO
Maricopa County Community College Board;
At Large: Shelli Boggs
District 1: Laurin Hendrix
 
FOOT NOTE: There are 27 cities in Maricopa County and I don't have a good handle of many of the candidates:
For sure get rid of the anti-police city councils and mayors, those tax and spend candidates and those who want to shut down your business, restrict your religious freedoms (church attendance), your God-given and Constitutionally protected rights. he government's constitutional job is to protect Life, Liberty and Property.

With the greatest respect,
Russell K. Pearce

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Maricopa County Assessor Resigns, Under Prosecution for Human Trafficking. But the Facts May Say Otherwise.

You’ve successfully conducted adoptions since 2005. But suddenly, in 2019, prosecutors come after you, claiming you are engaging in human trafficking. What drastically changed over 14 years? This is the nightmare that has happened to Paul Petersen, who until January 7 was the Maricopa County Assessor in Arizona.

Petersen was pressured into resigning his position after prosecutors got him indicted for bringing women from the Marshall Islands to the U.S. to give birth, then give their babies up for adoption. The prosecution says it’s illegal human trafficking. Prosecutors in Arizona, Utah and Arkansas are seeking federal and state charges against him.

But what is really going on? The media is only reporting the prosecution’s side, leaving out the full picture. The media says it’s against the law to bring babies for adoption from the Marshall Islands to the U.S. unless it goes through the Central Adoption Authority, which is an entity of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. But they don’t bother reporting that this law only applies to babies that are already born; a fetus in the womb doesn’t constitute a person under the statute.

The media also reports that Petersen told the women to lie to U.S. Customs about the real reason they were entering the country. According to Petersen’s wife Raquel this is not true. The women generally weren’t asked their purpose, and not about pregnancy.

The federal government is charging Petersen with aiding and abetting the entry of an illegal alien. But the women are allowed to be here without a visa; they’re not illegal immigrants. When Petersen brought them through customs, they were approved. The state of Utah is charging him with sale of a child — but what do you think adoption is?

Petersen would fly the women to Phoenix or other locations where they would stay in a home while pregnant. He paid them $1,000 per month and provided them with food, travel and cell phone payments. The women were promised up to $10,000 to allow Petersen to adopt out their babies.
The young Marshallese women were eager to come to the U.S. to find a better living for themselves and their babies. Many of them already had family in the U.S. How can you traffic a person if they want to move to the U.S.? The media also falsely claims that the women returned to the Marshall Islands after giving birth. This is not true. Most of them remained in the U.S., and many came back to Petersen with later pregnancies, asking for more assistance with adoption. The mothers looked up to Petersen like a big brother, who they could trust to find a good adoptive family.

The mothers would speak up and defend Petersen, but the prosecution has instilled fear in them so they don’t dare say anything. Instead, out of hundreds of adoptions Petersen completed, the prosecution found a handful of mothers to speak negatively about him. This is a normal number considering the number of adoptions he conducted.

Marshallese women keep texting him asking him to handle new adoptions, but the prosecution has prohibited him from responding. Meanwhile, judges are approving his existing adoptions — if they’re illegal, then why are they getting approved?

Of course, some of the independent contractors working for him may have filled out the wrong forms, having gotten bad advice from the hospitals on how to fill out forms. The hospitals are interested in turning a profit.

The media said text messages were found on Petersen’s county-issued laptop trying to talk some of the women out of reconsidering their adoptions. This is inaccurate. Petersen used FB Messenger on his personal cell phone, not on the county laptop. But since he was logged onto Facebook on his county laptop, prosecutors interpreted this to mean the messages were exchanged there. Facebook Messenger is how the Marshallese women conduct 80% of their communications. Regardless, the county policies restricting personal use on county equipment doesn’t apply to elected officials — yet another fact the media left out.

The Maricopa County Supervisors placed him on administrative leave after he was indicted, citing his inability to do his job. But the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, which is prosecuting him, issued a report which said he was doing his job at a high level; the assessor’s work was being done. He had no complaints from higher management. Although he was placed in jail for three weeks, three of the supervisors had been gone longer on vacations than he’d been imprisoned.

The media claims he threatened the women with eviction. They never bothered to report that this did not come from Petersen. What happened was one of the women was still living in one of his residences after she said she didn’t want to give the baby up for adoption, so his assistant told her she needed to move out.

The government treated Petersen like a sleazy criminal when law enforcement arrested him. On October 8, authorities arrested Petersen after raiding his home. In November, they seized $1.5 million of his assets and froze his bank accounts. This is bizarre considering the government claims the alleged Medicaid fraud cost the agency about half that, $800,000. Without access to his bank accounts, Petersen can’t pay to defend himself. He can’t do anything with his official residence. He has nothing. Petersen has to get approval from the Arizona Attorney General to sell anything. He is restricted from practicing law. He has four young kids he needs to support.

The reality is, most of the population doesn’t agree with civil forfeiture. There is currently a bill being considered in the Arizona State Legislature that would restrict civil forfeiture to post-conviction.

Petersen’s co-defendant, Lynwood Jennet, has agreed to testify against him in exchange for a plea agreement. She will go to prison for two to four years and pay nearly $1 million in restitution due to Medicaid fraud. Jennet is Marshallese and acted as an intermediary between Petersen and the birth mothers. Raquel Peterson said she has nothing bad to say about Jennet; she was a close family friend. She’s sadly collateral damage.

In addition to human trafficking, charges against Petersen include seven counts of wire fraud, five counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Those types of crimes are generally piled on to create the appearance that a defendant is a really bad actor. In reality, they are merely process crimes, normal things the defendant was doing in the process of the main crime he’s charged with, such as using the telephone. This can be evidence that the prosecution is targeting someone and throwing the book at them in order to conduct a sensational trial and teach others a lesson.

One man who adopted three Marshallese babies through the help of Petersen told ABC 15 that he did not believe it was human trafficking. “There are no women who have been forced to do anything that they didn’t want to do. This isn’t anything close to trafficking, in any way shape or form.” He declined to be identified. He had nothing but praise for Petersen, “It may look bad from the outside, but he’s doing them a service or favor by helping them get out of a predicament that they would otherwise not want to be in.”

It appears that prosecutors criminalized a legitimate business Petersen ran. Let’s hope Petersen’s attorneys are able to get the facts out adequately to the jury so he gets a fair trial. The mainstream media should be ashamed of itself for not reporting the full story. Adoption is a wonderful thing, it should not be criminalized and treated the same as human trafficking.

Reprinted from Townhall

Two Arizona School Districts Promoting Racial Divisions and Social Justice

Two school districts in the Phoenix, Arizona area have implemented educational programs promoting racial divisions and social justice. The two programs attack students on the basis of their skin color and other characteristics. Chandler Unified School District passed the equity and inclusion initiative in February 2018. Kyrene School District also implemented it. Word has gotten out on how awful these programs are. On November 8, Fox News host Tucker Carlson aired a piece on one of the two programs, called Deep Equity. Carlson described the teaching this way, “America is based on a hierarchy of various oppressions: men oppress women, Christianity oppresses Islam, English oppresses Spanish, white people oppress everyone.”

There is also the Youth Equity Stewardship, or YES! program. Topics include social justice, “lenses of diversity” and “equality to equity to borderless.” That last one references Nican Tlaca, a term used by proponents of a borderless society in which indigenous peoples rule. One of the lessons is on the “white man’s dollar.” There is a hip hop song entitled Music Voice Message Movement which slams capitalism, “...an economic system that’s flawed from the start. It has no heart.”

Corwin, the vendor behind the programs, states on its website, “This series engages students in a process of understanding their personal journey and social accountability through a critical social justice lens and creating a living example of commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.” One parent in the Chandler school district observed, “Essentially, students and teachers are being taught anti-white, anti-Christian hate. Students are taught to lecture adults about their biases. They are being taught to be social justice activists.”

The programs also teach “intersectionality.” Michael Rectenwald, a former professor at New York University who now speaks out about the left’s agenda, says intersectionality is merely a replacement for Marxism, and is very similar to it. The Epoch Times explains, “Through the lens of intersectional theory, human history is largely reduced to white Christian men being the ‘oppressors,’ and everybody else being ‘intersected’ by one or more layers of this ‘oppression.’”

Many parents took notice and started urging the school boards to reconsider using Corwin due to its leftist activism. Before winter break, CUSD superintendent Dr. Camille Casteel sent out an email stating that the district was going to cease using Corwin by the end of the semester. However, the school district intends to continue promoting some of the agenda, such as “trans inclusion.”

In that school district, employees are going after parents who complain, and reporting their social media posts in order to get them removed. Purple for Parents is a group that formed in response to the Red for Ed movement. The latter seeks to increase public school funding but also involves students in the effort. Purple for Parents is concerned about fiscal costs and the indoctrination of students. Their members have been actively objecting to the Deep Equity and YES! programs.

One of the Chandler district’s governing board members, Lindsay Love, tweeted a couple of weeks ago, “@splcenter [The Southern Poverty Law Center] should be looking into Purple for Parents as a hate group.” Another post by activists called Purple for Parents a “white supremacist hate group.” Love also tweeted, “I’m glad it happened. Now people can see Purple for Parents real aim. Racism.” This was apparently in response to a parody Twitter account that was created mocking her radicalism.
But Purple for Parents is not a white supremacist group. One of its most active members, Michelle Dillard, is Asian. She has been quite vocal criticizing the programs.

Love tweeted out the name of the employer of critic Scott Weinberg, doxxing him. “This guy Scott is an AHCCCS investigator btws.” The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System is Arizona’s Medicaid agency. She went on, “There are anger management classes too. Maybe he should consult AHCCCS about that too.” She added, “Just figured I’d share that because he might be stalking and harassing my family and others on AHCCCS time and with AHCCCS resources.” She admitted that she provided people with an organizational chart so they could contact his management. Love continued slamming Weinberg in many more tweets, and tried to get him banned from Twitter.
These radical proponents are also harassing critics at the school board meetings. They want to shut down their opposition so they can ram the programs through.

Chandler has 24 schools, and 17 have scored in the 70s or lower on the AzMerit test. In Kyrene, 22 of its 25 schools have scores that low. AzMerit tests math and English. The founder of the Arizona People’s Lobbyist, Jose Borrajero, asked why we spend so many dollars “implementing culturally responsive teaching practices? What ever happened to the concept that schools should teach material that will enable students to learn what they need to become productive members of society, instead of engaging in social engineering?”

For more information, check out the contentious videos on the Purple for Parents’ YouTube channel.

Reprinted from Townhall

Sunday, December 15, 2019

On Death Row for a Murder He Did Not Commit


We often hear about inmates on death row who are exonerated after years behind bars, usually because the prosecution made procedural errors, or there wasn’t any DNA evidence to convincingly prove the person committed the crime. But what if it was made clear at the trial that someone else committed the murder, not the guy sentenced to death row? 

Patrick Bearup has been sitting behind bars for almost 17 years, sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit. He fell in with some bad people in his 20s. They told him to accompany them to the house of Mark Mathes, who his roommate Jessica Nelson said had stolen $200 from her. Nelson set up the visit. They told the owners of the house, the brother and sister-in-law of Mathes, that they were going to confront him. The brother asked them to get his ring back, which Mathes was wearing. Jeremy Johnson carried a baseball bat over there. Sean Gaines carried a shotgun. Bearup, the son of a police officer, was terrified, he thought they were going to kill him; he only had his folding knife on him, which he regularly carried. Instead, Johnson beat Mathes to death with his baseball bat.

After Mathes was murdered, Nelson tried to cut the ring off his finger. She was having difficulty, so Bearup helped her and used wire cutters to cut the ring to get it off. They never reported the murder, and Mathes’s body was not discovered until a year later.  

After they were caught, the prosecution offered plea bargains to Johnson, Nelson and Gaines. Johnson, the killer, accepted a deal of 14 years in prison. He is now out. Nelson accepted the same deal and is also now out. Gaines took a plea deal of 25 years; it was longer since he had a criminal history. He is still serving that term.

The prosecution did not offer Bearup a plea bargain. They claimed that Bearup had cut Mathes’s finger off, not the ring — but the body had decomposed after a year so they produced no evidence of this. However, both Johnson and Nelson testified that Bearup did not kill Mathes. They also said he wasn’t one of them; they didn’t like him because he was a cop’s kid. Bearup was convicted of felony-murder by a jury and given the death penalty.  

Why wasn’t Bearup given a plea bargain like the others? The Bearups think it is because his father, Tom Bearup, ran against the county sheriff for office. They think the sheriff and county attorney retaliated against them. 

Judge Warren Granville, a former prosecutor, was so horrified he wrote in his opinion that justice was not served in this case. He said Bearup’s behavior did not rise to the level of a capital punishment crime. He said even if Bearup had cut Mathes’s finger off, he still didn’t kill Mathes.   Mathes’s brother tellingly had the ring repaired. 

Bearup had two-week old twins when he was arrested. They have grown up without him. Meanwhile, he has been an exemplary prisoner. He has not gotten into trouble. He has obtained advanced degrees in prison, and is currently working on his PhD (which he paid for himself, not the taxpayers). When he was told by a woman on the staff to stop holding Bible studies, he sued and won the right to have them. He makes stuffed animals from prison T-shirts and sells them to raise funds. Some of them are decked out as Trump supporters. The staff tells his family that he is a wonderful guy, not the type you’d find on death row. 

Bearup is still going through the appeals process. It takes on average of 20 years for inmates on death row to go through the process and get exonerated. He is also trying to get a pardon. Since it’s a state crime, President Trump probably can’t pardon him. But the governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey, can commute his sentence. Bearup has also asked for clemency from the state clemency board. Nancy Barto, a respected Republican state legislator, provided a letter to the board on Bearup’s behalf. Unfortunately, they did not grant it.

His father asks,“Why do they want to kill someone who didn’t kill someone? While they let the real murderer out on the street? I’m as pro-death penalty as they come. If he had murdered someone I would not be defending him.” Bearup is now 42. His father says all he wants is for his son to come home before he dies. 

I am very skeptical of inmates on death row who are “exonerated,” because usually it’s not because they were actually innocent. This isn’t one of those cases. It’s black and white that Bearup did not commit the murder. Hopefully he will receive justice through the appeal or Governor Ducey will commute his sentence. 

Sunday, October 13, 2019

More Corruption With the State Bar of Arizona, This Time Protecting a Sexual Predator


There is an effort underway around the country in many states to dismantle state bars. Over half of them are mandatory, operating as unions with a monopoly over the practice of law. This has led to massive corruption. The left controls the state bars, and uses them to target conservative attorneys. They also protect their own.
Michelle Flick was the victim of a sexual predator, but because he worked for the State Bar of Arizona, he was protected. Flick met Hal Nevitt through a recommendation. She had a friend who worked for an alcoholic attorney. The friend was very concerned about her boss, who had several DUIs and was frequently driving drunk during the day while working.
Flick asked around and was told she should contact Nevitt about it, who was the director of the bar’s Member Assistance Program (MAP). Nevitt is a licensed clinical social worker and substance abuse counselor. The MAP program deals with attorneys who have substance abuse or mental problems. It requires them to undergo mental health treatment in order to keep their licenses to practice law. Arizona Attorneys Against Corrupt Regulation has reported on the abuses of this program. It seems like a stretch to get the bar involved with health issues.
Nevitt previously served time in prison for drug trafficking. While there, he was given three compassionate leaves from prison. Prosecutors say he must have known someone to be given all that special treatment.
Nevitt took a liking to Flick, and asked her if she wanted to work for him on an as-needed basis. Since Flick received government assistance, he told her he would pay her under the table.
Before she started work, he asked her a bunch of questions that he said were necessary, such as whether she had ever been sexually abused. He approached her and tried to kiss her. She was appalled because he’s married.
At one point, he came over to her house. He took her into her bedroom. He pulled her hair and made her perform a sex act on him.
Nevitt started stalking her; driving down her street, sending her emails and calling her (she wouldn’t answer). She notified the Arizona Bar (AzBBHE) about the sexual assault. John Furlong, the bar’s General Counsel/Deputy Executive Director at the time, told her the bar doesn’t need her help and hung up on her.
Flick reported the sexual assault to the police. Nothing happened. She filed a complaint with the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. They covered for him, saying they wouldn’t do anything since the police didn’t. She contacted the governor’s office. A staffer for then-Governor Jan Brewer told her Brewer couldn’t get involved because it would be political suicide.
Another attorney came forward and filed a complaint with AzBBHE against Nevitt for sexual assault. She was disbarred after that. Coincidence? She doesn’t think so. Another woman contacted Flick and told her he’d sexually assaulted her. AZAACPR reports that Nevitt “has been the subject of repeated agency complaints and other reports to civil and criminal authorities for sexual misconduct.”
For awhile, the bar’s disciplinary judge, William O’Neil, was using Nevitt for assistance. He essentially delegated judicial authority to him. The bar wrote in its monthly magazine, "The MAP director will have discretion to reduce Respondent's probation to one year." Another order gave Nevitt the discretion to require an attorney to wear an ankle bracelet. O’Neil has his own extensive history of corruption. AZAACPR has documented much of it.
Then Flick got a request from the big law firm Snell & Wilmer. The bar hired them to investigate her claims. Finally, the bar fired Nevitt as MAP director, However, Flick believes they continue to use him as a contractor. AZAACPR says if you call MAP saying you are an attorney who was referred there, you will be given the contact information for Nevitt’s private company.
Flick believes that Nevitt had dirt on so many people such as O’Neil they had to protect him. For example, Flick was told by a knowledgeable party that Nevitt knew O’Neil was addicted to pain pills. Many believe that O’Neil, a Democrat, was put in his position as disciplinary judge since he would throw the book at conservative attorneys, while protecting favored friends of the bar — who are almost all Democrats. O’Neil is in part untouchable since his attorney is Stanley Feldman, a former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice who was very liberal.
Flick finally filed a lawsuit against Nevitt. He was ordered by the judge to get a medical examination. He refused to go, probably because Flick could describe his genitalia. They eventually settled the lawsuit out of court.
Flick worries that Nevitt’s predatory behavior will continue. He currently works in rehab centers. The kind of women he is treating aren’t likely to go to the police to report him.
Unfortunately, the Arizona Bar is powerful and attorneys are terrified to take it on, for fear of losing their bar licenses. One former member of the bar’s board of governors wrote an article for Forbes documenting some of the abuses. Within two hours, the bar contacted Forbes and threatened them into taking it down. That attorney’s bar license is now suspended.
The bar needs to be dismantled and converted into a voluntary bar. Its disciplinary function should be removed and put under the Arizona Supreme Court. The bar has demonstrated too many times that it is a good old boys’ club of progressives, who target conservatives and protect their own.
Flick testified at the Arizona Legislature in front of an ad hoc committee that had been set up to analyze dismantling the bar. But unfortunately, even though legislation has been introduced every year for several years now, the bar has been able to stop it from going through due to extensive lobbying. No attorney in the legislature dares vote for it. Until this important legislation passes, the bar shows no signs of discontinuing its abuses of power.  

Reprinted from Townhall

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Arizona AG Suing Over Outrageous University Tuition Increases

There is a student debt crisis, but the solution is not providing free tuition courtesy of the taxpayers. As I’ve covered previously, it hasn’t worked in Sweden, where students merely take out loans for room and board instead. What few people are looking at is the massive increases in tuition by universities. This forces students to take out higher loans.
University tuition is skyrocketing everywhere. But tuition at Arizona public universities is about the worst. The Arizona State Constitution says that tuition at state colleges “shall be as nearly free as possible.” But since 2003, the Arizona Board of Regents increasedtuition and mandatory fees at the state’s three public universities by 315 to 370%. Tuition is now $10,792 to $12,228 per year. If you live on campus, the full price is $26,923 to $28,900 per year.
In contrast, the consumer price index increased only 36% over the same period. Median family income in Arizona increased only 27%. Tuition at other public 4-year universities around the country increased by around 100% — still far less than at Arizona’s public universities. Arizona public university tuition went from around the 25th percentile nationally to over the 75th percentile.
The regents arrogantly think they know best what is “affordable.” But they abandoned their responsibility to act as a check on the flagrant spending by university presidents. Since Michael Crow became president of Arizona State University in 2002, tuition has gone up dramatically.
The regents require students to pay for other, noneducational things in order to get an education. These include athletic, recreation, technology and health fees. Part time and online students are hit harder than full time students, with higher charges per credit hour.
Community colleges are about three times less expensive. This is evidence that the increase in tuition at the universities is not going to instruction, but rather other university pursuits. What are they spending the money on? Politically correct research and programs?
The universities waste money like it’s going out of style. University of Arizona President Robert Robbins gavean $850,00-a-year job to longtime friend Michael Dake last year. A man who was fired by Dake recently filed a notice of claim against the university, which stated that Robbins had been warned that Dake was not qualified for the position. The job oversaw the university’s medical schools. He said the search committee co-chair told Robbins the hire would be a grave mistake that “could very likely cost you your presidency.”
listwas compiled a couple of years ago of the highest paid state employees. The top 260 were all employees at state universities. The jobs were mostly related to sports or were in the medical industry. David Garcia, who ran as a Democrat for governor in 2018, made $82,063 annually for teaching only three classes that year at ASU. Two were online and the class he taught in person lasted only six weeks. He had time to campaign across Arizona, travel to Hollywood for a fundraiser and spend many days in Washington, D.C.
Arizona State University fired head football coach Todd Graham a couple of years ago, costingthe university $12 million to buy him out. The University of Arizona fired head football coach Rich Rodriguez about the same time, costing $6.28 million in a buyout.
At the same time, while Arizona residents are being ripped off, the universities are providing subsidized tuition for illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants who enroll in DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, are only required to pay 150% of the in-state tuition rate. But Arizona enacted Prop. 300 in 2006, which prohibits education subsidies to illegal immigrants. In addition, the Arizona Supreme Court ruledlast year that state universities and community colleges can’t offer in-state tuition to DACA recipients. But somehow, arrogantly, the regents have ignored that ruling. ASU even has a special pagededicated to DACA and other illegal immigrants.
Fortunately, Arizona has an attorney general who isn’t afraid to take on this racket. Arizona AG Mark Brnovich fileda lawsuit against the regents over the tuition increases and subsidies to illegal immigrants, which has been winding its way through the courts over the last couple of years. He is taking on some powerful interests, but he doesn’t care. He is a principled conservative who wants to actually solve the problem of the student debt crisis, not just put a band-aid on it like some Democratic candidates for president would do with their free tuition plan.
This isn’t the only lawsuit Brnovich has going against the universities. He also suedthem earlier this year for real estate projects by ASU that he says are illegal. ASU rents out its tax-exempt property to favored private businesses, Brnovich alleges. One of the biggestland deals was a development at Tempe Town Lake that State Farm occupies. Why are taxpayers subsidizing these private businesses?
The problem lies with the irresponsible regents who approve of the wasteful spending and tuition hikes. They are acting like typical Democrats who get into office and recklessly spend the public’s money. Brnovich says, “The costs for paying for college are going up faster than almost anything. Instead of demanding debt forgiveness, maybe it’s time to start asking what the hell are the people doing who oversee public universities. They’re out of touch. Nothing demonstrates that more than what is happening in Arizona.” The governor needs to appoint more accountable people as regents.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Local News Anchor Demonized Merely for Joining Parler


Phoenix Fox 10 anchor Kari Lake is under fire for a critical response to her superiors wanting her to delete her Parler social media account. Her remarks were accidentally caught on video. The Emmy-award winning anchor was about to do a Facebook Live with her co-anchor John Hook but didn’t realize the cameras had already started rolling. 

Hook told her that management at the station wanted her to hide her Parler account. “I think they just think it’s been branded as a far-right kind of place,” Hook said. “So they don’t want you tied in with anything like that, where you’re going to get blowback from the New Timesor whoever it is,” continued Hook. 

He was referring to The Phoenix New Times, an alternative weekly known for an obsession with marijuana, sex, obscenity and a hatred of conservatives. The publication is fond of posting articles about pedophiles right next to articles critical of conservatives, as if they’re equally to be shunned.

Lake responded, “F**k them. They’re 20-year-old dopes. That’s a rag for selling marijuana ads.” “I know,” Hook said. “But then you’re in a position where they’ve gotta explain it or you’ve gotta explain it.” “I’m reaching people,” Lake said.

On Monday evening after the Facebook Live was broadcast, Lake did not appear in her usual 5 p.m. slot. The station may have fired her.

But Parler is not “far right.” It is billed as the free speech alternative to Twitter. It merely doesn’t censor people over politics like Twitter does. Plenty of people are on the site who decided to leave Twitter due to the bias against conservatives, which is probably why some associate it with the right.

This isn’t the only time Lake has hinted at having conservative views. Last year, she tweeted that the #RedForEd movement, which pushed for more school funding, was really a push to legalize marijuana. She later apologized for the tweet. 

It is shocking that Lake would be punished over this mere incident. Just one or two brief remarks alluding to the fact she might be a conservative? It’s no secret that the New Timesis a despised publication around town. Two former New Timesowners, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, are currently under prosecution for allowing the prostitution of minors on their site Backpage.com. TheNew Times has long had a reputation for being slimy. New TimesEditor Stuart Warner mockedLake’s use of foul language, admitting, "Her language shows that she could work for New Times."

The reality is, it is very likely that news anchors don’t join Parler without getting permission from the station first. New Timesprobably pressured Fox 10 about Lake being on Parler.

This sets a bad precedent. It’s dictating that only those on the left can join left-wing sites, and only those on the right can join right-wing sites. And everyone in the media is supposed to be on the left so they can only join left-wing sites. 

It’s essentially making it a crime punishable by the forfeiture of your career to talk to people who are right of center. Fox 10 is being intimidated by the left. Lake is merely trying to communicate with people on the right. And this has nothing to do with her use of the f word. News anchors are caught on camera all the time slipping and saying a naughty word, and nothing happens to them. It’s not what she said, it’s where she is saying it, on Parler. If you try to talk to people right of center, then we’re coming for you. 

Why won’t Fox 10 stand up for its own people? Are the liberal bosses looking for an excuse to fire her? If she was a liberal who went on some left-wing social media site they wouldn’t care. 

It doesn’t make any sense in Arizona. If you’re trying to gain market share in a red state, why don’t you appeal to the middle? Especially since local Fox outlets have some affiliation with conservative Fox News. 

Lake’s Parler accountis still live. However, she did remove the link to Parler from her Twitter bio. She’s still off the air. Will the station back down and let her back on the air? She was a very popular news anchor. Pandering to the New Timesand ignoring the wishes of her viewers will only hurt the station’s popularity. Do they really want to put themselves in the same league as that rag?

Disabled Vet’s Home Saved: Predatory Home Buyer Cannot Seize Over Mistaken $405 Due in Taxes

It’s one of those stories you can’t believe is happening. The home of Jim Boerner, a disabled military veteran, was sold to a buyer over supposedly $405 past due in property taxes. He paid the $405 on June 13, well before the deadline he was given of June 30, but the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office sold his mobile home anyway on June 20 for $4,400. They even put the wrong parcel number on the public notice of sale, which alone should have invalidated the sale.
The nightmare began earlier this year when Boerner received a notice that his taxes were delinquent on his home for 2017 and 2018. He called the Maricopa County Call Center about it on June 13 to make sure he didn’t lose his home. He was told he owed $405 for his 2017 taxes and $236 for 2018 taxes.
Unfortunately, he was not in the veterans’ exemption system, which would have reduced or eliminated the amounts. The call center employees told him he should pay the 2017 taxes immediately, but regardless had until June 30 to pay all of the taxes. So he paid the 2017 amount and put off paying the 2018 taxes until June 30.
However, just seven days later, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office sold his mobile home to Lester Payne. A man showed up at Boerner’s door saying he was Alex Patron and that he had just bought the mobile home. He asked Boerner when he was going to move out. It turned out his real name was Lester Payne; he had given Boerner a false name.

The Heartless Predatory Buyer

When Payne learned about the unfairness of the situation, he cruelly offered to sell the home back for $15,000 — a nice profit of $10,600 for doing almost nothing. Boerner offered to pay Payne $5,000, giving him a profit of 16%, but Payne refused.
Maricopa County Treasurer Royce Flora was so disgusted, he offered to pay the $15,000 himself.
Maricopa County Treasurer Royce Flora was so disgusted, he offered to pay the $15,000 himself. But Payne raised the price to $26,000 — and then only if Boerner didn’t go public. When Boerner didn’t pay within 24 hours, he raised the price to $40,000 and threatened him with eviction.
Just a few days ago, he raised the price to $52,000 and served Boerner with homemade eviction papers, telling him he had five days to move out. Now, Payne says he will no longer sell the home back for any amount. He toldAZ Central, “I’m keeping the home. My grandma needs a house. She likes the (mobile home) park.”
However, the mother, Laura Payne, said that she had put $25,000 into the house and wanted that much for the mobile home.
Boerner told The Stream, “Whenever something unsavory happened to him, the price went up. He was trying to use the price of the home to put leverage on me, because it was his cash cow. When people started criticizing him on Facebook, he would raise the price. ”
Frustrated, Boerner told Payne he would go public with Payne’s criminal history if he didn’t work with him. According to AZ Central, Payne has felonies for aggravated assault, misconduct involving weapons, and endangerment, along with misdemeanors for driving under the influence and shoplifting. Boerner found 50 pages of criminal history on him.

The Predatory Buyer’s Stories Conflict

Payne told Boerner that he really needed the proceeds from this home — but then he got into a brand-new BMW. Some of the time Payne told Boerner that he was giving the mobile home to his mom. Other times he said it was for his grandma.
At another instance, Payne told Boerner he was going to move the mobile home out of the park since “nobody likes that park.” Turns out he never really intended for his mom or grandma to live in the park.
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Boerner says the mobile home park ownership told him that Payne was not allowed there, because he’s tried the same thing on other properties in the park.
Boerner suffered spinal and brain injuries during a training exercise in 1991 at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi. Because of them he is unable to work. He was hoping to live the rest of his life out in his mobile home. He’d thought he had enrolled in a program that lowers property taxes for people with disabilities and limited income. But the county assessor’s office could find no evidence of it.
Boerner told AZ Central, “It’s difficult. It’s just difficult. I love my home. I love my neighbors. … This was my nest egg, you know? That’s why I paid cash for it. This is where I was going to retire. And now I don’t have that assurance anymore.”

Help for the Vet

Boerner contacted several news organizations but said no one would respond except ABC-15 in Phoenix. Once they jumped on the story, it went viral. Cathy Mastrangelo, a consumer advocate with ABC-15 who worked on the case, wanted to know just one thing. She told The Stream,
Out of the thousands of overdue tax lien cases, just exactly how did Sheriff Paul Penzone or his proclaimed judicial experts select this one case out of thousands, to be sold at the tax lien sale tendays prior to the exact due date on the Notice of Tax Lien? It’s not like the majority of all the County elected officials and their deputies had not put this sheriff on notice as to this grievous error. It also appears to me that the sheriff has no concerns whatsoever as to fraudulent Certified Purchasers, who have no legitimate right to seize properties offered at even a legitimate lien sale.
State Rep. Bob Thorpe (R) held a hearing last Thursday to look into changes in state law regarding the amount of time mobile home owners are allowed to pay back taxes. They don’t get the five year period that single family homes do.

The Sheriff Could Help But Won’t

The treasurer’s office looked for a way to invalidate the sale but found they did not have the authority; it would be up to the sheriff. The sheriff could reverse the sale. Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone had become sheriff after left-wing billionaire George Soros poured millions of dollars into the election to defeat Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Penzone held a press conference on Wednesday to address the situation. He said that a call center operated by the county had given Boerner bad information when he was told he had until June 30 to pay the delinquent taxes.
Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone became sheriff after left-wing billionaire George Soros poured millions of dollars into the election to defeat Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Penzone also blamed a new credit card processing system for the $405 payment not showing up before the sale took place. But does it really take seven days for a credit card to be processed? But that doesn’t matter. It immediately says “pending” when the payment is sent. He admitted that if his office had known about the $405 payment, it would not have allowed the sale to proceed.
The sheriff only has authority to sell homes due to delinquent taxes when directed by the treasurer’s office. He did not execute the warrant as written from the treasurer’s office, which had a date of June 30. 

Finally, a Solution

Sources say that Payne may now be willing to sell the mobile home back for $25,000. Flora offered to put up $15,000, and challenged Penzone to put up $10,000. A GoFundMe was started for Boerner.
But finally, the county attorney worked 0ut a way to save his home. The county attorney will work with Boerner to stop the eviction. And will go to court to get the sale reversed due to procedural errors. Fortunately, the right outcome prevailed. 
 

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