Ann Kirkpatrick: political opportunist carpetbags to CD 2

She’s ba-a-ack, newly reincarnated

Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick has had a bumpy ride in Congressional District 1 —  opting in and out, winning, losing and getting chased down and booed (brief video) by angry constituents. Now, at age 67, she wants to reprise her political adventure after losing a senate effort to unseat John McCain in 2016.

The on-again, off again Kirkpatrick has recently carpet-bagged into Tucson and registered in Congressional District 2. Throwing caution and good sense to the winds, she’s banking on mounting a successful challenge to 3-term Republican incumbent Martha McSally. There are seven other already declared local Democrats in the race.

The burning question is, will Kirkpatrick stay in Tucson after her 2018 loss or move back to Flagstaff? That nearly 300 mile drive gets tedious. Her husband, Roger Curley, has a legal practice in Flagstaff, making it unlikely he’d join her in setting up a sham residency.

Dr. Kelli Ward criticized for prayers, expressing concerns

Valid concerns should be addressed

In the news section of her website, Dr. Kelli Ward for U.S. Senate,  senate candidate Kelli Ward is taking heat from commenters for her post, My Prayers to John McCain, Such is the political world today.

 Kelli Ward is a physician and is addressing John McCain’s serious medical condition. His own doctors at Mayo Clinic have described his malignant brain tumor as aggressive and resistant to treatment. Sen. McCain evidenced his inabilities during his recent questioning of former FBI Director James Comey, in what was described in the media as “bizarre and incoherent.” We now know the reason.

Dr. Ward is no longer running against the nearly 81-year-old John McCain, who was reelected to another six-year-term in 2016 but is challenging virulent Trump opponent Jeff Flake. She gains no foothold by suggesting McCain not attempt to subject himself to the rigors of the U.S. Senate and concentrate on his treatment and enjoy time with his family. He will be undergoing a tough treatment regime, and should be with his loved ones. There is nothing untoward about suggesting he step aside, saying, “When the time comes that Senator McCain can no longer perform his duties in the Senate at full capacity, he owes it to the people of Arizona to step aside.”

That is reality for both Sen. McCain, the people of Arizona and the nation as evidenced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell putting the critical vote on health care reform on ice due to McCain’s absence, where every vote was needed to pass and McCain was recovering from brain surgery.

AZ Sen. Jeff Flake, dedicated Trump antagonist, vulnerable in 2018

A Politico article referencing Jeff Flake’s reelection vulnerability is making the rounds. Conservatives who have ample reason to distrust Flake are taking heart in the fact that potential challengers are eyeing the political landscape and assessing their chances in the 2018 U.S. Senate race.

But the article, “White House squeezes Jeff Flake” describing the animus between President Trump and  Flake, is a mixed bag of speculation with some less than stellar options mentioned. As an example, among those said to have had conversations with President Trump regarding the senate seat currently held by his antagonist Flake are former state GOP chairman; Robert Graham, a dedicated McCain booster who has steadfastly supported Jeff Flake, putting him at odds with grassroots activists.  Also mentioned are State Treasurer Jeff DeWit, Trump’s 2016 AZ campaign chair and Dr. Kelli Ward, a physician and conservative former state senator. Ward is the only announced challenger and has been traveling the state, meeting with an ever-increasing group of supporters.

Politico even tosses in former Gov. Jan Brewer, whose top advisers had longstanding ties to McCain and U.S. Rep Martha McSally (CD-2) who generates no enthusiasm among conservatives.

The conjecture of possible challengers might be music to Flake’s ears, since having numerous candidates splitting the vote is how McCain has stayed in office.  He was often accused of recruiting some “opponents” for that very reason. But Flake has charted a risky course far and apart from a potentially crowded field.

As a staunch Obama ally, he played on his White House basketball team and traveled with him to Kenya and Cuba — where Flake has long been eager to open doors with  the Communist dictatorship. Flake colluded with liberals on gun control, and  nuclear negations with terror-sponsoring Iran. His peripheral ties with Iran go back to the early 1990’s when Jeff Flake worked as a lobbyist for Rossing Uranium — one of the world’s largest suppliers of the nuclear fuel. He was registered as a foreign agent representing the company which operates a mine in the African country of Namibia.  Flake earned approximately $7,000 per month opening doors in D.C. and promoting the firm with financial ties to Iran.

And then there’s Flake’s ongoing push for amnesty for the illegal hordes flooding the U.S through Arizona’s porous southern border. He and McCain spearheaded the Gang of 8 to achieve that end, recruiting two other Republicrats and four liberals, including Trump obstructionist, Chuck Schumer.

Flake’s own strident opposition to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was so appealing  to the left that Hillary Clinton featured Flake in this campaign ad.

Quoting Flake’s spokesman, Politico got some facts wrong — most notably Flake’s “successful push to confirm Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.” In fact, Flake shepherded Obama’s lame-duck nominee Democrat Merrick Garland through the senate halls, introducing him as a viable replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia, who died unexpectedly last year. Fortunately, Donald Trump was elected and appointed Neil Gorsuch to the high court.

US Senate terms are six years long. Flake won in 2012 by a mere 3 percentage points. He’s flippable. We can do it.  Acquaint yourself with Kelli Ward’s conservative principles.

Jeff Flake and John McCain are bottom draggers in this recent poll referencing all 100 U.S. Senators regardless of party affiliation. The Morning Consult survey showed the most vocal critics of President Trump are the least popular.

The polling site concludes with this excellent summation from Eddie Zipperer, a professor of political science at Georgia Military College, “Flake ran as conservative, governed as a moderate, tried to push amnesty on Americans, and campaigned against the Republican presidential nominee. That’s not exactly a recipe for re-election.” He correctly described the Gang of 8 amnesty bill as “nothing short of a total Republican surrender on the issue.”

 

AZ GOP engages in suspicious info harvesting

An urgent email has been sent out by the state Republican Party. It says, “In reviewing our records, we were made aware your voter profile status has been marked — incomplete.”

If those bold red letters don’t speak of urgency, nothing does. But what’s the emergency?  Since the recipients received the email, the party obviously has the necessary information to make contact — or “reach out” as trendy talking, touchy feely Chairman Jonathan Lines likes to say. They also have access to the voter files that list all of the data they say they need.

Then comes the kicker:

—Complete your voter profile now—

Make sure to fill out this short survey in the next 24 hours to remain active in our system.

That 24-hour deadline is an eyebrow raiser. Being suspicious types, we smell a rat. It has bleach streaked hair, sports an often inappropriate grin, has a propensity for joining up with an octogenarian rodent and a gaggle of RINOs and liberals on amnesty for illegals, besides being a shirtless show boater extraordinaire. Though making news for loudly refusing to vote for Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, it is also running for reelection in 2018.

Yep. The party is readying itself for a Flake blowout and is harvesting for Jeff Flake — who won his first 6-year senate term by a slim 3-points. Flake should be remembered for promoting Democrat Merrick Garland, Obama’s lame duck nominee for U.S. Supreme Court, saying, “It was time.”  Fortunately, Trump was elected president without Jeff Flake’s vote and appointed conservative Judge Neil Gorsuch to the high court. 

The information gathering goes further with a drop down box asking “What Issue Is Most Important To You?” Recipients are given the option of a single choice. They can chose from  Economic Growth,  Job Creation, Federal Overreach, Gun Rights, Taxes, Government Spending, National Security, Foreign Policy, Social Issues and Pro-Life.  Oddly missing is the issue that was central to the election of President Trump  — illegal immigration.

If you choose to fork over your personal information, there’s a box to check asking the powerful AZ/OZ  behind the curtain to “Subscribe me to the Arizona Republican Party Chairman’s Daily Update.” It’s doubtful they’ll get many takers for the daily dose of self congratulatory bravado, when the widely read MCRC Briefs is actually filled with insider party news and key information for conservative activists.

Phx PD ties officers’ hands in arrests of illegal aliens

Judicial Watch’s Corruption Chronicles exposes the quietly implemented new Phoenix Police Department policy banning officers from contacting federal agents after arresting an illegal alien and forbidding them from asking about immigration status, in violation of key provisions of a state law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Judicial Watch obtained a copy of the Phoenix Police Department’s new sanctuary Immigration Procedures, which also replace the term “illegal alien” with “a person unlawfully present.” It appears to be part of a broader scheme to dodge federal immigration laws in Arizona’s most populous county.

Earlier this year Judicial Watch reported that Paul Penzone, the newly elected Maricopa County sheriff, was releasing an average of 400 criminal illegals every 10 days. Many of them were violent offenders, but Penzone released them from Maricopa County Jail facilities, to protect them from deportation. The illegal aliens had state criminal charges ranging from misdemeanors to felonies, driving under the influence and drug offenses. “There’s no telling how many criminals he’s (Sheriff Penzone) putting on the streets,” stated a high-ranking federal law enforcement official stationed in Arizona.

Under a longtime partnership between the county and the feds, the Phoenix field office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was notified when “aliens unlawfully present with additional Arizona charges” were released from the Maricopa County Jail, which is one of the nation’s largest with a population of about 8,000. That ended when Penzone, who refers to illegal immigrants as “guests,” took office this year.

The Phoenix Police Department has about 3,000 officers that were permitted to use “sound judgment” at any time under the agency’s former immigration enforcement policy. That allowed front-line officers to directly contact federal immigration officials involving criminal illegal immigrants. The revised policy, issued just weeks ago, mandates all contact with federal immigration partners to be funneled through a single Violent Crimes Bureau (VCB) desk sergeant who will document all immigration related data and give authority to call ICE.

Read the entire Judicial Watch exposé by clicking this link.

Although Arizona is a red state, with Republican majorities in both chambers of the state legislature, a Republican Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer and Education Superintendent with five of the nine congressional district seats and the majority of Maricopa County offices held by Republicans, the city of Phoenix is another matter. The Phoenix City Council is now a Democrat majority and Democrat mayors have held the reins of the city far too long, aided by unions and the scheme of moving the already traditionally low turnout city elections to the summer when many concerned voters are vacationing.

Additionally, there was a new dynamic during the 2016 election cycle. Socialist billionaire George Soros, a funder of Hillary Clinton and John McCain, also set his sights on nation-wide law enforcement and prosecutorial races, which is how Penzone reached campaign spending heights. A 2016 Primary Election day snafu that forced voters to stand in lines for hours resulted in the longtime Republican County Recorder losing the post, and the election of leftwing Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes, who now oversees elections. Fontes intends to replace polling places with all mail-in ballots and claims voter ID requirements constitute minority voter suppression.

Seeing Red AZ has previously written about liberal Democrat Sheriff Paul Penzone.

Oct. 24, 2016: Why is open borders fan Soros backing Paul Penzone & Diego Rodriguez?

Feb.18, 2017:  Sheriff Penzone puts ICE detainer for illegals on ice

Oct. 1, 2016:  Paul Penzone: Facts get in his way as he challenges Sheriff Arpaio

Bizarre McGoings-on within AZ GOP hierarchy

McCain’s fingerprints are undeniable

The Fri. July 7, 2017 issue of the widely read MCRC Briefs provides background involving the convoluted high jinks within the leadership of the state Republican party. It is no longer a “bottom up” party with a focus on the grassroots activists who do the heavy lifting on behalf of Republican candidates and conservative issues preceding elections. The admission by AZ GOP Executive Director Matthew Kenney that the “donors” make important determinations — including his hiring — presumably bypassing the state chairman’s authority was an McQuirk too far.

Letters addressing Matt Kenney’s strange response to AZ GOP Secretary Gabby Mercer’s concerns are coming in at breakneck speed. They are posted on the July 8 edition of Briefs this morning.

These links provide important information, including substantiating linked correspondence. Today is Saturday. It’s also blast furnace hot outside. Pour yourself an extra cup of coffee and get caught up on the unseemly intrigue emanating from within the Arizona Republican Party. With the 2018 elections on the horizon, we have every right to expect more than what we’re getting.

If you’ve ever had any doubts that Conservatives have been marginalized by the GOP elites, wonder no more. Here is but one stunning reminder.

Pres. Trump: An unconventional man of the people

The actual outliers are Flake and McCain

Arizona’s U.S. Senate duo appear to be genetically predisposed to hurling abuse at President Donald Trump. In their latest gig, John McCain and Jeff Flake are expressing feigned “disappointment” and even “embarrassment” over Trump’s retaliatory tweets to TV co-hosts who relentlessly disparage him.

There‘s nothing wrong with defending one‘s self. It’s basic to survival. Parents teach that to their kids.

Trump’s Arizona antagonists are remarkable paragons of temperament and discipline. Lacking basic propriety, they both took the low road in publicly declaring they would not vote for Donald Trump after he won the Republican nomination. He wasn’t couth enough for them. In response to this grand scale defection, the limp-wristed AZ GOP went mute. 

Americans knew they were electing a New York style, aggressive entrepreneur not used to being constrained by the slick superficiality specialized in by career politicians. The fact that he’d never held political office offered its own brand of appeal. 

After eight years of Barack Obama’s unparalleled lies and visible contempt for the taxpaying citizens, unconventional Donald Trump offered a refreshing alternative. When he promised to “Make America Great Again” and “bring back American jobs” the words resonated with Americans weary of the indefensible status quo.

Donald Trump is his own man, not a malleable politician with his finger to the wind. By every measure, he is passionate leader who has shown that his campaign promises were not just words, but plans to be put into action. Since he assumed office Jan. 20, 2017, he has done just that. The large crowds Trump generates are a testament to his continued appeal.

Flake, a committed amnesty proponent, is running for reelection in 2018. Though he continually sends out email pleas for money to “fight the Democrats,” he is sitting atop a pile of dough. By citing “the Democrats” as his challenger, Flake ignores the fact that he has a primary challenger. It’s true Dr. Kelli Ward doesn’t have the lobbyists’ millions that have flowed easily to Flake in the symbiotic quid pro quo world of DC politics. Kelli Ward needs our help.  Flake responds to the lobbyists.  She will respond to us.

In a recent article by McCain’s assigned reporter Dan Nowicki — now doing double duty for Jeff Flake —  it’s all too clear he has a burden  trying to reconfigure arrogant libertarian-leaning, former lobbyist Flake into a Republican with broad-based appeal. Nowicki latches onto the “Democrats are coming!” routine, writing 15 paragraphs before acknowledging that Flake has a Primary challenger. Kelli Ward is not just a challenger, but a highly intelligent, conservative Republican. Wouldn’t that be a rare treat?

Polls show lagging support for Flake. Republican activists who supported GOP nominee Trump feel betrayed by those they worked to put into office aiding the campaign of Hillary Clinton. Hillary took full advantage of Flake’s words, putting him and other Republicrats in this campaign ad. McCain was MIA since in 2016, he was campaigning for a new 6-year-term at age 80.

AZ Republic shovels it for Flake. McCain is a good memory jogger. We also recommend So you think you know Jeff Flake? Think again. Read about his unsavory past ties as a registered foreign agent lobbying on behalf of a Iranian linked uranium mining operation.

AZ US Senate candidate Dr. Kelli Ward supports Pres. Trump

This is Dr. Kelli Ward. These are her principled positions. This is how to donate to her campaign,