Sunday, July 27, 2014

About that Dark Money operative selectively promoting weaker Democrats...

As you know, Mario E Diaz incorporated a 501 C (4) corporation for the purpose (possibly among other reasons) of promoting certain candidates for the Arizona Legislature without having to disclose his funding sources.

Besides spending for faux Democrat Richard Bauer, Diaz has dropped a few dimes in support of Rep. Catherine Miranda (D-Arizona Public Service). Miranda is in a primary election race against Aaron Marquez, a US Army Reserve officer and veteran of a tour in Afghanistan.

Apparently knowing that Marquez' military service trumps Miranda, Diaz' Friends of Arizona mailed out a nice positive, but apparently VERY wrong fluff piece touting Miranda's advocacy for Arizona veterans.



You see, Miranda may have tried to champion that legislation, HB2475, but it did not become law as it never was even assigned to a committee in the Senate to be deliberated. It was only assigned to the Senate Rules committee which only considers whether the bill is constitutional and in the proper form. If Senate President Andy Biggshot had wanted it heard, he would have assigned it to another committee, like appropriations.

So, you say (rightfully) that the fact the bill died wasn't Miranda's fault, she still "championed" it, right? Well, doesn't a champion generally WIN?  Anyway, the bill was NOT Miranda's bill, it was introduced by it's first sponsor, Mark Cardenas, who happens to also be a veteran of the US Army.

Should we give Miranda the benefit of the doubt in this case? We might consider doing so but the fact of the matter is the mailer is obviously intended to mislead people into believing Miranda actually got the job done. She did NOT accomplish anything of the sort.

Cardenas' bill made it out of the House (by a vote of 50-8) largely because of the bipartisan House Veterans Caucus. The 8 Nay votes were cast by hard right wing Republicans. No surprise there.

In large print, the mailer says "Let's thank Representative Catherine Miranda for expanding veterans' job opportunities."

Fact: Catherine Miranda did NOT expand veterans job opportunities.

Because it is possible for provisions in one piece of legislation that dies to end up in another bill that may become law, I checked to see if that was the case.  HB2475 provided both that tax credits be extended to businesses hiring veterans AND that state procurement officers set up goals for contracting with veteran owned/operated businesses. Checks of lists of bills that did pass and of Arizona Revised Statutes for procurement and for tax credits failed to reveal any such provision having been enacted into law this year or last.

By all means, if anyone has any information to contradict this post, please let me know ASAP and I will correct it. But as it stands, it's apparent that Mario Diaz has been spending an as yet undisclosed amount of Dark Money for the purpose of pulling the wool over the eyes of LD27 voters with the goal of getting APS-owned Senate candidate (and state Rep.) Catherine Miranda elected over ACTUAL veteran and Army Reserve officer Aaron Marquez.

Oh, and about Diaz' connection to Republicans, as noted in my last post, he boasts support of Republican Bob Blendu. Well, now we have Arizona's Dark Money kingpin and possible UNfair Trust fulcrum, Sean Noble bowing in honor of Diaz, touting support for Diaz' candidacy for a seat on the Maricopa County Community College District Governing Board.


Talk about your unholy alliances. Why would ANY Arizona Democrat want to get mixed up with Sean Noble or those who associate with him?

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