Is your name carrying a taint? Time to rebrand

Sean Noble, Nathan Sproul master the art of quick change

Remember when the political consulting firm of Sproul and Associates became toxic?  Nathan Sproul, an ardent McCain ally, initially was regarded as a player to be reckoned as he promoted a squeaky clean image and made $ millions. His name had panache…. until it didn’t.

Then, quick as a wink, with the loss of luster, Sproul and Associates morphed into Lincoln Strategy Group, as it reconfigured under a revered presidential surname. He also strategically cloaked himself as Strategic Allied Consulting.

So it is with Axiom Public Affairs, which has recently and without fanfare altered its name to Compass Rose Public Relations following the indictment of its principal lobbyist and government affairs specialist Jim Norton along with others not associated with the firm, (see indictment) on eight separate federal charges of bribery and fraud. The name change came as high-powered clients were fleeing.

The renamed firm’s home page has an amusing bit of irony, with the words, “Need Direction?” emblazoned across a still of the Phoenix cityscape and directly over the state capitol dome topped by a stark white Winged Victory look-alike.

Establishment operative Sean Noble, was listed as a partner at its 2015 inception along with Melissa DeLaney and Jim Norton. Noble juggles numerous  political consulting irons, DC London and American Encore, among them.

Compass Rose  claims to offer “unparalleled expertise and leadership in lobbying, communications, public affairs, media relations, campaign management and consulting, public relations, crisis management, political advising, and much more.”

In the wake of the fall of Norton, the “much more,” is a tagline that could well be eliminated. “Crisis management” is what they’re  currently engaging in, with the firm being the client.

A look at the bios of the principals of the firm reveals there’s usually a McCain connection. The aged Republicrat’s tentacles have a lengthy and reliably  unsavory span.

Jeff Flake, Republican charlatan: desperate or greedy?

President Trump’s popularity among Arizona Republicans poses a significant hurdle for relentless Trump-bashing Jeff Flake

Arizona Republicans have been finding desperate money pleas from Sen. Jeff Flake in their in- boxes. The junior senator from Arizona is worried that the Democrats have him in their sights as they gear up for the 2018 election cycle. He needs money and he needs it quick to fight back against the liberal onslaught. This plea elevates begging to a fever pitch. Flake claims the Democrats are outspending Republicans 16 to 1 and he’s formed a Rapid Response Fund to close the gap.  He’s slickly pre-checked the “make this a monthly donation” box, and is asking for as little as $10.

“We’ll be sure to circle back and let you know who’s contributed and who’s still outstanding,” Flake threatens.. “I need at least 1,000 Rapid Response Fund members, so we’ll be sharing this far and wide:” The pitch continues, “We’re expecting some more major buys from the Dems, so this is very time-sensitive.”

Who are the Democrat opponents nipping at Flake’s tender heels? Why is the incumbent’s campaign so destitute?

In an effort to seek answers we first visited the Federal Election Commission’s campaign finance data page for Jeff Flake for US Senate Inc. It was impressive to see that he’s “incorporated.” This filing period covers 01/01/2017 to 03/31/2017. It turns out Jeff Flake is quite a kidder. Flake is sitting on a stack of cash, closing in on nearly $2 million dollars —  $1,790,817.00  — well over a year before the Aug. 28, 2018 primary election.

As you receive his mailers and watch his televised ads, don’t lose sight of who Jeff Flake is. He’s the one who made the rounds of senate offices with Democrat Merrick Garland in tow, attempting to gin up support for Barack Obama’s lame duck appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. Fortunately, newly elected Republican President Donald Trump was not constrained by either Obama or his errand boy Flake. Trump appointed Judge Neil Gorsuch, a conservative, to fill the vacancy left by the unexpected death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

As if hoisting Obama’s Democrat SCOTUS nominee wasn’t enough, in an outrageous display of arrogance Jeff Flake also made the rounds of network news venues, telling one and all that he would not vote for Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee. Here he is on NewsMax, declaring, “Trump can’t win and shouldn’t win.”

Flake was so persuasive, Hillary Clinton included him in this campaign commercial featuring a gang of traitorous Republicrat hooligans.

Flake is a relentless amnesty supporter, partnering with John McCain on the infamous Gang of 8 scheme with two other RINOs and four Democrats including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. He’s not above lying about his position on granting citizenship to millions of America’s invaders as we exposed in this 2011 post Oops — Jeff Flake’s crown slips as he sinks to mere McPolitician,

Jeff Flake has been at the public trough for the majority of his adult life, except for a stint as a lobbyist and  registered foreign agent in the African nation of Namibia, where he worked for Rossing Uranium — one of the world’s largest suppliers of nuclear fuel. Flake earned a substantial salary opening doors in D.C. and promoting the firm which had deep financial ties to Iran.

Is this a man deserving of your financial support? What most locals donate would be considered chump change to a man who has been collecting donations in multiples in what appears to be the insider’s magic donation number of $2,700 and often the donors are husbands and wives doubling up on the high dollar amount. Flake’s donor list is rife with lobbyists, utility honchos obviously wanting a quid pro quo. San Francisco Obama donor Gregory Wendt who was involved in McCain‘s purge of conservative precinct committeemen in Arizona is a Flake donor, along with McCain operatives and the reliable open border crowd, including those listed as immigration lawyers. Do you think their practices focus on legal, skilled immigrants from Europe and Asia or aiding uneducated illegals from Mexico and Central America?

This is Hillary Clinton’s campaign ad in which Jeff Flake is prominently featured:

Arizona Republicans deserve better. Dr. Kelli Ward, an osteopathic physician, is challenging this pathetic McCain doppelganger now completing a first six-year senate term. After exceeding his self imposed 3-term limits pledge, he spent 5 terms in the U.S. House before barely squeaking into the senate by 3 points. His word is obviously “fluid.” It’s time for a change. Kelli Ward isn’t sitting on nearly $2 million a year before the primary. She actually needs our help to be competitive. Acquaint yourself with her principled positions and use the donate button on her site. This is crucially important.

AZ GOP outreach could soar minus McCain purge, Flake defection

AZ GOP chairman Jonathan Lines routinely sends out an email titled the AZGOP Daily Update!  Sniping at the more widely read  Republican Briefs he declares it the Only Official Newsletter of the Arizona Republican Party! (Exclamation points and italicized type are his.)

This recent message was an attention grabber. Noting that the party is gearing up for the 2018 election, he says, “ I know you are all excited to get to work for the conservative cause!” He then describes a GOP Data Center intended to ensure that all precinct committeemen have the resources they need to help elect Republicans.  He goes on to describe an ambitious training project to mobilize many thousands of precinct committeemen.

Precinct committeemen are the nuts and bolts, grassroots workers of the party apparatus. They are elected on the primary ballot by their neighbors in each precinct in districts across the state. Many PCs have been volunteering their time to the party for decades, going door-to-door collecting the nominating petition signatures candidates need to qualify for the ballot.  They distribute campaign literature and recruit other committeemen. They hammer signs in the parched earth under the sweltering Arizona sun and work tirelessly getting out mailings and make phone calls on behalf of candidates.

So imagine the shock when establishment types, notably Arizona’s U.S. Senators work to remove these loyalists from their ranks. Former Sen. Jon Kyl got down in the precinct weeds, sending out postcards advising who the conservative choices were. In fact the choices he advocated for were not conservatives at all, while actual conservatives were kicked to the curb on his advice. His actions were intended to remove the Maricopa County chairman, who was unable to serve after losing the PC election. Conservatives had the last laugh as he new county chairman appointed his predecessor as executive director.

This establishment deceit is an ongoing activity. Most recently McCain operatives worked within precincts, recruiting ringers to overfill allotted PC slots, in another concerted effort to oust conservatives. After McCain was the subject of an unprecedented and embarrassing censure by elected state committeemen at the annual statutory meeting the effort began in earnest. Many longtime PCs were replaced by recruited members from the Vietnamese community who esteem McCain.  These recruits never attended monthly district meetings or engaged in the duties of committeemen. They were placeholders intended to do but one task: Show up to vote for squishy intra-party officers.

Breitbart, FrontPage Mag, and POLITICO  all reported on the McPurge.

Now we have U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake who refused to vote for the Republican party nominee Donald Trump —  running for reelection for another 6-year senate term. The state party never uttered a word of reprimand to either Flake or McCain, who both assisted Hillary Clinton. Watch Flake in this Hillary campaign ad. McCain, at age 80, was in the midst of a reelection campaign of his own and couldn’t afford to alienate any voters, but his pals Lindsey Gahamnesty and Mitt Romney had no such qualms.

Romney recently made two Arizona campaign appearances to bolster Flake. Chairman Lines wrote glowingly of the assist. The word “traitor” was never used to describe either man.

And McCain? He recently told the British press that “Barack Obama provided better American leadership than President Trump.” Then he bumped his anti-GOP hostility up a notch, declaring,“ I’m very worried we’re going to lose the House of Representatives.”

Keep demoralizing the base Johnny, and you might well be prophetic.

Meanwhile neither AZ GOP Chairman Jonathan Lines nor his predecessor Robert Graham have ever addressed Arizona’s two Democrat-supporting U.S. Senators —  posing as Republicans when elections roll around — who unashamedly gave Hillary their tacit approval.

Arizona Republicans deserve better.  Commit to principled conservative Dr. Kelli Ward.

AZ Regents chair gets testy at challenge, hurls personal insults & UPDATE

Mark Finchem, a Republican representing Dist. 11 in Tucson doesn’t meet the high standard of dress established by former state legislator Greg Patterson — who has since gone to law school and is now the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) chairman. Patterson oversees the three state universities he previously sucker punched for their imperial excesses.

It no doubt galls Patterson, who is also a CPA, that the less educated Rep. Finchem is a member of the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee and Vice Chair of two other significant committees.

In a private meeting that Patterson secretly recorded,* he laid into Finchem — who along with East Valley Rep. Jill Norgaard (R-Dist. 18) — had the temerity to co-sponsor a bill to rein in the authority of the board that Patterson chairs.

Apparently, she dresses well enough and is suitably degreed to suit Patterson, but her perch as Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Education, gives her a level of prominence that rankles the ‘Top Regent’ who takes his title very seriously. Bully Patterson referred to Rep. Finchem’s western attire as a  “costume that doesn’t work.” He advised Finchem to trim his mustache and buy a suit before abruptly leaving the meeting.

Though Patterson has been a registered lobbyist since 1997, he fails miserably in the area of persuasive techniques.

This news article provides background on the unsavory meeting, and includes disapproving comments of Patterson’s actions from Vice Chair Bill Ridenour, who takes over as chairman July 1. Board of Regents President Eileen Klein, also condemned Patterson’s behavior, saying it was not reflective of how the regents do business. 

The Arizona Board of Regents voted on Jan. 20 to oppose SB 1061, a bill proposing to cap tuition and fee increases at two percent per year at the state’s public universities. The bill was co-sponsored by nine Republican state senators and one Republican state representative and would have significantly restricted the power of the regents and the universities to impose ever escalating tuition and fees on students. Readers have to plow through ten paragraphs of self-congratulatory hogwash to get to ABOR’s opposition to restrictions to rein in student costs. 

Universities do not have market forces and shareholders to enforce spending discipline, so foisting the trickery of “a $1 billion/30-year plan to fund new capital and rebuild aging infrastructure without raising taxes,” sounds reasonable to the elites who won’t be around in 2047 to answer for its ruinous impact.

One burning question remains: Were they dressed appropriately enough to meet Greg Patterson’s exacting standards as they implemented the epic con job?

ABOR Chair Greg Patterson has resigned after hurling an insult-laden spew at state legislator Mark Finchem.

As of his resignation Monday June 19, the pretentious Board of Regents chairman is now officially a goner, though he still had three years on his term. According to this report in the Arizona Republic, he laid off his obtuse insults — which he secretly recorded and then disseminated to shocked regent staffers — on being “overzealous.” He also declared he was in a “caffeine-induced rage.”  If those foolish excuses weren’t enough, he had one more up what we assume was his perfectly starched and ironed sleeve.  He didn’t want to be a “distraction.”

Patterson won’t distract anyone. But as he toils at his lobbyist day job, will he be able to attract clients who don’t want to risk having their grooming insulted?

AZ Republic buffs candidate Jeff Flake to hero status in ballpark shooting

Like most Americans you probably credit the Capitol Police security detail assigned to provide protection to GOP Whip Steve Scalise for the rapid response in the wake of the assassination attempt on the lives of Republican congressmen. They were staked out by a radical left-wing hater as they practiced for an annual bipartisan charity baseball game. The shooter inquired to determine the player’s party affiliation prior to opening fire early Wednesday. He was a Bernie Sanders’ Socialist.

But if you read the newspaper account of the horrific event, you’d think Sen. Jeff Flake, up for reelection in 2018, was the hero of the day. 

U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise remains in critical condition following multiple surgeries. Five others were wounded. The shooter, who traveled from Illinois to surveil the congressmen had been living in his van since March. He was shot by police and later died of his injuries.

“Prior to entering surgery, the Whip was in good spirits and spoke to his wife by phone,” Scalise’s office said in this statement. “He is grateful for the brave actions of U.S. Capitol Police, first responders, and colleagues.”

Jeff Flake took Scalise’s phone and called the wife of the seriously wounded congressman, so she wouldn’t hear the news from media sources.

Rep. Mo Brooks who was at the practice, told CNN (transcript) that the gunman was holding what he described as a semi-automatic rifle in the area behind third base and that Scalise had been near second base. Brooks said he tried to help Scalise, saying, “We used my belt to help put a tourniquet around his leg.”

Brooks said, “Brad Wenstrup of Ohio was someplace; I don’t know where but I know he was there because after the shooter was down and we ran out to see Steve Scalise at second base, Brad Wenstrup is a physician and we deferred to his judgment on what to do. As I said, I held a cloth over the wound to stop the bleeding as Brad was getting some kind of scissors device to cut through the pants to try to have better access to Steve Scalise’s wound in his hip.”

Senator Rand Paul, another physician, was also on the scene.

 Jeff Flake received a call  from former Pres. Barack Obama, with whom he has forged a deep friendship, asking about the attempted massacre of Republicans. With a revealing lack of basic manners, Obama asked Flake to relay his good wishes to Scalise‘s wife. He must have been running late for tee time.

Although the FBI has confirmed that Arizona Republican Congressman Trent Franks (CD 8) was on the shooter’s hit list, this was the Arizona Republic’s “all about Flake” front page the day following the shooting: 

 

 

One tough job: Making excuses for John McCain

“Lapses in acuity” is putting it mildly.  McCain embarrassed himself and each of the hoodwinked Arizonans who voted this octogenarian another 6-year term

It was a rare sight, to be sure. But there is was. The Sunday editorial in the Arizona Republic was actually dripping nervous sweat. The editorial board is clearly terrified.

And the cause of this angst? None other than the left leaning newspaper’s favorite anti-Republican Republican and recalcitrant self-styled “maverick,” John McCain.

Those who watched McCain’s mortifying interview with former FBI director James Comey, wondered what the disconnect was. Twitter erupted with chatter diagnosing a mini stroke. The newspaper, though striving to be generous, still used these brutal words:

“…one of the world’s leading statesmen, speaking in words completely unmoored from reality,” adding, “the gibberish of U.S. Sen. John McCain blew up social media and raised fresh doubts about his fitness to hold office.”

Is the editorial board admitting it had doubts about his fitness to hold office when it gifted him with an endorsement over exceptionally well qualified Dr. Kelli Ward just last fall? If so, why did the newspaper work so diligently to marginalize her? Even the newspaper knows that calling McCain “one of the world’s leading statesmen,” is a laughable stretch. 

It’s a given they use any occasion to hammer President Trump and this editorial was no exception. But for a brief moment, they actually dole out some truth:

“As for McCain, his mental lapse in the biggest Senate hearing of the year cannot be taken lightly. McCain made no sense as he confused the former FBI director with a question about inconsistent approaches to investigations of Trump and Hillary Clinton.

McCain will be under intense scrutiny from here out, as the national media puts him under the microscope. His office needs to take this seriously and make sure steps are taken to understand exactly what happen.

If this was caused by momentary fatigue and not something more serious, the McCain office needs to make this clear to the public with evidence.”

Then comes this foolishness:

“In the meantime, McCain deserves our patience and respect. He is a genuine war hero, who has been for years a tireless public servant. Age can produce lapses in acuity that are temporary and out of character. We can only hope this is the case with John McCain and that he continues to serve this state well for years to come.”

“Hero” McCain is a construct as this video featuring senators, military brass and those who served with him in Vietnam clearly shows. It would be interesting to know exactly how many more “years to come”  they hope to get out of a man who will celebrate his 81^st birthday in August?

Turmoil in Yuma County resonates throughout AZ GOP

With the inclusion of a letter from candidate Connie Uribe, MD, Arizona Freedom Alliance exposes suspected chicanery in the election process as Yuma County Republicans elected their new chairman. Regardless of which of Arizona’s fifteen counties you reside in, this post is definitely worth your time since it provides background on not only the election of the Yuma Country chairman, but on State GOP chairman Jonathan Lines. He previously served as Yuma County chair and was handpicked by former state chair Robert Graham to succeed him. The duo’s sole goal is the 2018 reelection of McCain clone, derider of President Trump and amnesty supporter Jeff Flake.

Read more in the June 11, 2017 MCRC Republican Briefs which ably holds its finger to the pulse of the Maricopa County and State GOP.