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Lake Won't Concede, But Ducey Welcomes Hobbs As His Successor In Arizona

Lake Won't Concede, But Ducey Welcomes Hobbs As His Successor In Arizona

The lame-duck Republican governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey, congratulated Democratic Governor-elect Katie Hobbs on her victory more than a week after major networks called the race for her.

Ducey met Hobbs in his office and — in his first public statement on the outcome of Arizona’s highly-charged gubernatorial race — promised her the full support of his administration in ensuring an orderly transition to her.

“Today I congratulated Governor-elect Katie Hobbs on her victory in a hard-fought race and offered my full cooperation as she prepares to assume the leadership of the State of Arizona,” Ducey tweeted on Wednesday.

Unintimidated by the election-denying ravings of the Trump-backed Republican candidate, Kari Lake, who has yet to concede in what she called a “botched election,” Ducey said in a statement that the result of the gubernatorial race reflected the will of Arizonans, peacefully communicated via a “democratic process.”

“All of us have waited patiently for the democratic process to play out,” he said. “The people of Arizona have spoken, their votes have been counted and we respect their decision.”

“My administration will work to make this transition as smooth and seamless as possible,” Ducey added. “Our duty is to ensure that Arizona’s 24th Governor and her team can hit the ground running and continue our state’s incredible momentum.”

Despite trailing Hobbs by about 17,000 votes, a margin above the automatic recount threshold, Lake has rebuffed the notion of concession and, in the past week, repeated baseless allegations of election fraud without any evidence.

On Election Day, Lake, a rising star in the GOP's MAGA sphere, cited reports of basic printer malfunctions in Maricopa County, the most populous jurisdiction in Arizona, as evidence of electoral daylight robbery perpetrated by Democrats in an election run by Republicans.

"They did it in broad daylight. It was blatant. There was no subtlety to what they did when they discriminated against people who chose to vote on Election Day,” Lake told indicted Trump ally Steve Bannon.

"This is just beyond 2020. I mean what they did in 2020, looks like they did it again, and then some. And for the Governor (@DougDucey), if he says he's going to certify this, and @KatieHobbs to certify this, I think they really better think long and hard," she added.

In July Ducey, the chairman of the Republican Governor’s Association, blasted Lake — who in the run-up to the midterms declined to say whether she would concede if she lost — for predicting without evidence that the 2022 elections would be stolen.

“Kari Lake is misleading voters with no evidence. She’s been tagged by her opponents with a nickname, Fake Lake, which seems to be sticking and actually doing some damage,” Ducey snapped on CNN’s State of the Union.

Ducey’s aversion to false voter fraud allegations made headlines when he sank Trump’s 2020 subversion efforts in fury-ridden depths by silencing a phone call from the election denier-in-chief while signing documents certifying Joe Biden’s narrow victory in the state.

“Fake Lake,” who built her brand on Trump's Big Lie, filed a lawsuit via her political action committee, Kari Lake for Arizona, "to compel the prompt production of public records pursuant to the Arizona Public Records Act,” according to her court filing.

Lake’s attorney Timothy La Sota alleged in the legal brief that the issue with some printers in Maricopa County, which officials identified and fixed a few hours later, angered some Republican voters into leaving without casting their votes.

Like Trump’s failed 2020 “Kraken” lawsuits, Lake’s action relies on statements from voters for the laundry list of demands the Republican is asking of Maricopa County Superior Court, including the contact information of voters alleging they witnessed printer malfunction, the number of overseas ballots cast by military members, and how they were verified.

“In the absence of an immediate and comprehensive production of the requested public records, [Kari Lake] cannot ascertain the full extent of the problems identified and their impacts on electors,” La Sota wrote.

Lake’s filing followed another lawsuit filed by the Republican candidate for attorney general of Arizona, Abe Hamadeh, and the Republican National Committee against Maricopa County’s Republican election officials, alleging “certain errors and inaccuracies” in the management of some polling places and tabulation of some ballots.

Trailing his Democratic opponent, Kris Mayes, by 510 votes in a race set to go to a recount, Hamadeh said his lawsuit was the only means by which to restore voter confidence in Arizona’s “broken election system.”

Meanwhile Lake has continued to attack the election, tweeting on Wednesday night an image that said, “The cover-up is always worse than the crime.”


True History: Arizona's Strict Abortion Ban Is A Relic Of The Confederacy

True History: Arizona's Strict Abortion Ban Is A Relic Of The Confederacy

The 1864 Arizona law that was reinstated by a judge’s ruling on Friday bans all abortions except to save the life of the mother. Described in most reports as a law passed during the time Arizona was a territory, before it achieved statehood in 1912, one important fact has been omitted both from the judge’s decision and from the press reports on the draconian abortion ban: Arizona was a territory in 1864 all right, but it wasn’t a territory of the United States. The territorial legislature that passed the abortion ban did so on behalf of the Confederate States of America, into which Arizona was accepted when Jefferson Davis signed “An Act to Organize the Territory of Arizona” on January 18, 1862.

Arizona remained a territory of the Confederate states until the end of the Civil War in 1865, which means that the legislature that passed the exceedingly strict abortion law in 1864 was a legislature recognized by the Confederacy and loyal to it. The Arizona Territory sent horses, men, and supplies to the Confederate army during the Civil War and organized Company A of the Arizona Rangers, which was reconstituted into the Arizona Scout Company after several battles with the Union Army of California.

The Arizona Scout Company joined a Texas Cavalry Division in the Confederate Army under Major General Tom Green. The Arizona Scouts fought against the Union Army’s Red River Campaign and in the battle of the Sabine Crossroads and the battle of Pleasant Hill, when the Union attempted to occupy the capital of Louisiana, then located in Shreveport. The Arizona Scouts went on to serve under Confederate General John Wharton in Arkansas, fighting several skirmishes and small battles until General Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered all Confederate forces west of the Mississippi on May 26, 1865.

That’s how loyal the citizens of the Arizona Territory were to the Confederacy. They fought alongside Texans and gave their lives for the right to own slaves right up to the bitter end.

If you read Justice Samuel Alito’s decision overturning Roe v Wade, he runs down a list of states that had banned abortion as he tried to make the case that the United States had no “history and tradition” of legal abortion before the 14th Amendment was passed in 1868. The 14th Amendment, providing citizens with equal protection under the law, was one of the amendments to the Constitution on which the Roe decision relied. Among those states were Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana, all states that had been in the Confederacy. Among them in banning abortion was Arizona, then a Confederate territory.

What’s the point of all this history? Well, I think it’s important to understand that many of the states that decided way back then to deny women the right to control their own reproductive lives also denied to their Black populations the right to control any part of their lives, as slaves.

Arizona recently passed a law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy which was due to go into effect on September 24. On September 23, however, a judge in Arizona decided that it is necessary to go all the way back to 1864 and reinstate a law passed by a Confederate territorial legislature.

Women who at least would have had the right to terminate their pregnancies in the first 15 weeks after conception are now banned from having an abortion at any time at all, including to remedy a pregnancy that is due to rape or incest. In cases involving a fetal condition which may endanger a woman’s life, the pregnancy must be endured until the point endangerment is actually reached. This means if a woman becomes pregnant with a baby suffering from anencephaly – a defect whereby the skull, brain and scalp do not completely form – or other conditions that can cause an early end to a pregnancy that endangers the life of a woman, Arizona demands that an abortion cannot be performed until an emergency is declared and an abortion becomes mandatory to save her life.

Under the terms of the 1864 law, anyone who performs an abortion or helps a woman obtain an abortion can be punished with up to five years in prison.

The decision by Arizona Judge Kellie Johnson threw the state into disarray, with arguments about which law should prevail – the 15-week ban which took effect last Saturday, or the draconian 1864 law. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, who signed the 15-week ban, said the new abortion law would supersede the old law, but the state’s attorney general, Mark Brnovich, said he would enforce the Confederate-era total ban on abortions.

Democrats are set to seize the issue in the upcoming midterm elections. Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who is running for governor against Republican Kari Lake, came out against the abortion ban almost immediately. “We cannot let her [Lake] hold public office and have the power to enact extreme anti-choice policies that she’s spent her entire campaign touting,” Hobbs said at a press conference on Saturday alongside Democrat Kris Mayes, who is running for attorney general.

But Republican candidates for every major office in the state of Arizona were silent on the abortion issue Saturday. From Kari Lake, nothing. From Blake Masters, running for Senate against Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly, nothing. From Abe Hamadeh, the Republican running for attorney general, nothing. Previously, Lake has called abortion “the ultimate sin” and has called for a ban on abortion pills. Masters has termed abortion “demonic” and called for a federal fetal personhood law that would ban abortions in every state.

Lately, Masters has dropped references to the fetal personhood law from his campaign website and deleted a section in which he said he is “100 percent pro-life.” Lake has refused to comment on the reinstatement of the 1864 ban on all abortions.

Which side will prevail in the struggle over women’s rights in Arizona is up to the voters in November. Election of Hobbs as governor and Mayes as attorney general will certainly help. Mayes has said she will not enforce the Arizona ban on abortion and will direct county prosecutors to do the same. Hobbs says she will veto any further laws against abortion and push the Arizona legislature to overturn the 1864 total ban, but with Republicans in charge of that body, she doesn’t stand much of a chance. Alternatively, both candidates say they will support a ballot measure giving voters the opportunity to decide where Arizona stands on abortion in 2024.

For now, the Confederate-era ban on abortions in Arizona stands.

Lucian K. Truscott IV, a graduate of West Point, has had a 50-year career as a journalist, novelist, and screenwriter. He has covered Watergate, the Stonewall riots, and wars in Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He is also the author of five bestselling novels. You can subscribe to his daily columns at luciantruscott.substack.com and follow him on Twitter @LucianKTruscott and on Facebook at Lucian K. Truscott IV.

Reprinted with permission from Lucian Truscott Newsletter

Arizona GOP Governor Defends Backing White Nationalist Candidate

Arizona GOP Governor Defends Backing White Nationalist Candidate

While Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey attempted to distance himself from the violence that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 by condemning the day and immediately issuing a statement describing the occurrence as "a sickening day" that "no American will ever forget,” his actions don’t match his words. Ducey called for perpetrators to be prosecuted. However, at the same time he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in an effort to elect candidates and lawmakers who boosted the same conspiracy theories that led to the violence that occurred; attended the "Stop the Steal" rally in Washington, D.C.; or openly supported the January 6 insurrection.

Among those he heavily supported is state Sen. Wendy Rogers. Rogers is a far-right Republican who not only advocates on behalf of Donald Trump and his claims that the election was “stolen,” but had a reputation for spreading false conspiracy theories, including one claiming that antifascist activists were responsible for the violence on January 6.

When asked about his support for Rogers on Thursday, Ducey defended his independent expenditures, which spent half a million dollars to support her. Despite her white nationalist ideology, he said he was “proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish” in the 2020 election, adding that “she’s still better than her opponent, Felicia French.”

According to the Anti-Defamation League, a national organization that advocates for acceptance and equality, Rogers is at the top of the list of extremist politicians.

“We’ve just released an analysis of extremist rhetoric in the elections this year, and Wendy Rogers is at the top of that list,” Tammy Gillies, Anti-Defamation League regional director for San Diego and Phoenix, said in January.

The analysis came after Rogers shared a message on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Twitter that said: “Celebrate Lee-Jackson Day.” The tweet included photos of confederate leaders Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee, who fought against the Union to preserve slavery, NBC News 12 reported.

In other tweets, Rogers has referred to herself as being “pure blood” and claimed that such individuals are being “replaced and invaded” by “illegal immigrants.” The theory is called the Great Replacement Myth.

“Words matter,” Gillies said. “And words motivate people. Anti-Semitic tropes and hateful language can lead to actual physical violence, and we’ve seen that over and over again.”

Not only has Rogers publicly supported the Stop the Steal movement, but she has also proudly said she is a member of the Oath Keepers militia, according to NBC News. The list of right-wing conspiracies she supports is endless.

She even supported an event that looked to “cancel Hannukah” and only celebrate Christmas in the country. Clearly, she is someone you do not want to support.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

Arizona's GOP Governor Touts Broadband Expansion His Party Obstructed

Arizona's GOP Governor Touts Broadband Expansion His Party Obstructed

Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey announced on Monday a $100 million investment to expand high-speed broadband internet service in his state — a move that was made possible by the Democrats in the state's congressional delegation.

Ducey said the $100 million investment was made possible by the American Rescue Plan Act, the COVID-19 relief bill President Joe Biden signed into law back in March.

Every single one of Arizona's four GOP House members voted against the legislation. And every Democratic member of the state's Congressional delegation — including Arizona's two Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema — voted for it.

"In today's digitally connected world, ensuring access to high-speed internet is key to growing opportunity," Ducey said in a news release. "Today's historic investment will build on the progress of recent years to get even more schools, businesses, tribal communities and homes connected, opening up more opportunities for services like telemedicine and digital learning."

Not a single Republican in either the House or Senate voted for the American Rescue Plan. Included in that funding package — aside from another round of stimulus checks and expanded unemployment benefits — was $350 billion in state and local aid that could go toward upgrades for broadband internet.

The COVID-19 pandemic helped expose the problems Americans face when they don't have access to high-speed internet.

"Stories from the past year made it impossible to ignore how essential broadband is in our daily lives: young students unable to login to their digital classroom; workers without in-home connectivity forced to travel to their job sites; retirees who couldn't video chat with their families; and sick people who couldn't access telehealth services," according to an analysis piece from two Brookings Institute experts.

Congressional Republicans, such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, railed against the state and local funding, deeming it a "blue state bailout."

Ducey was not one of the Republicans who railed against providing direct aid to states and had instead asked Congress for relief funds.

However, he has come under fire for how he's allocated the funds, including in August, when he announced that he was giving $163 million in grants from the American Rescue Plan to schools that did not have mask mandates, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to rage. The Treasury Department warned Ducey in October that the way he was selectively giving out funding to schools that defy mask mandates could cause the state to lose recovery funds.

Ducey's bragging over the expansion in broadband internet is yet another instance in which Republicans are taking credit for something they didn't support.

Numerous GOP lawmakers have celebrated or taken credit for things funded by the American Rescue Plan that they didn't vote for.

For example, multiple GOP lawmakers praised a provision in the plan that granted relief to restaurants hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Others, such as New York Republican Reps. Garbarino and Lee Zeldin, took credit for canceled service cuts on the Long Island Rail Road, which was made possible by funds they did not vote for.

It's also possible that Republicans who voted against the infrastructure bill Biden is signing Monday afternoon will take credit for projects it funds. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) wouldn't rule that possibility out in an interview with CNN earlier in November.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.