Checks and Balances Project has been fighting for more than a year to inspect public records Corporation Commissioner Bob Stump knowingly has withheld in defiance of Arizona's statutes. That law intends to prevent corruption by having elected officials conduct the people's business in the light of day. It's easy to recognize that, at minimum, Stump has succumbed to ingratiation*, which is bad enough. Wouldn't you like to know the extent to which elected officials favor their friends over your interests?
Last Friday, C&BP attorney Dan Barr filed a Second Motion for Further Inspection of Stump's phone. In part, the motion states,
C&BP also blogged today about the situation,
Strange Business
Of the 3,547 text messages we have asked to be examined, Attorney General Brnovich’s office has recovered only 36 or roughly 1%.
- The 36 text messages were blank.
- None had HASH values – the equivalent of a text message’s DNA.
- The HASH value of a text message would show whether its content has been deleted or altered.
- Stump claims he deleted text messages. But HASH values should still exist in unallocated space of the phone’s hard drive.
- The AG admits a complete image of the phone, including all unallocated space, was not made.
The digital forensic expert that we have retained, with 36 years of experience, who is located in Phoenix, believes that “the protocols and the programs that I use… would be more effective in recovering information from the ‘unallocated space’ on the iPhone and thus in retrieving any deleted text messages.” (To read our expert’s affidavit, CLICK HERE.)
Arizona citizens have a right to know about possible public business and electioneering that Arizona Corporation Commissioner Bob Stump may have conducted via text messages on his taxpayer-provided iPhone.
The Bottom Line
This is a circus and an embarrassment to Arizona.
If there is truly nothing in Stump’s texts, don’t you think they would want these accusations put to rest and allow a second look by our expert? Why has Commissioner Bob Stump, the Arizona Corporation Commission, and Attorney General Brnovich worked so hard to keep them hidden?
Perhaps soon the citizens of Arizona will find out.
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Stump should #ReleaseTheTranscripts! Oops, I meant that Hillary should disclose the text messages... or something like that.
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* From the link above on ingratiation,
... ingratiation is probably the most common type of impression management. People attempt to be perceived as likable by doing various kinds of favors, by expressing opinions similar to those held by others, and by complimenting their interactants (Rosenfeld et al., 1995). Complimenting the targets of impression management shows the speakers’ fondness for them (Vonk, 2002) and raises the targets’ self-esteem (Leary, Haupt, Strausser, & Chokel, 1998). Because people tend to like those who like them (Backman & Secord, 1959; Singh, Yeo, Lin, & Tan, 2007) and those who reward them (Byrne, 1997), the targets of ingratiation are assumed to like the ingratiators. Previous research has indeed documented the effectiveness of the ingratiation tactics in making others like us and treat us nicely (e.g., Seiter, 2007). According to this research, it is much easier to succeed in ingratiation than in self-promotion (Godfrey et al., 1986). Even if an outside observer sees through the manipulative attempt, the target of the ingratiation usually likes the flatterer (Vonk, 2002).THIS is the name of the game when elected officials and others who wield the power of government authority make hugely compensated speeches to, or mingle, dine and/or recreate with lobbyists.
Anyone who claims otherwise is either a fool or intentionally trying to deceive you.
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