Policing the candidates
Crossing the (thin blue) line … A whodunit poll … And chocolate condolences.
The City of Tempe ordered congressional candidate Amish Shah to stop using a mailer depicting a Tempe cop in full uniform and service weapon.
But Shah isn’t too worried about it.
Shah, the Democratic nominee in Arizona’s super-competitive First Congressional District, has positioned himself as a moderate candidate to match the moderate, Republican-leaning district that spans from the Tempe border through Scottsdale, Fountain Hills, Cave Creek and central Phoenix.
To that end, several of his mailers contain photos of him speaking to a white-haired police officer — alongside messages declaring Shah “stood up to his own party to crack down on fentanyl trafficking” or. that he “voted to increase funding for border security.”
The mailers caught the attention of his opponent Republican U.S. Rep. David Schweikert.
While it’s not uncommon for politicians to pose with police, it is uncommon for the police to be dressed in full cop garb, complete with a gun.
That’s because state law says government entities, including police departments, cannot use city resources to influence the outcome of a campaign.1 Same goes for firefighters or city departments — for obvious reasons, they don’t want to be seen as involved in politics.
When the Schweikert campaign got wind of the first mailer, they sent it to the Tempe city attorney, who confirmed there’s also a city policy against using the city’s name or logo to endorse a campaign.
The white-haired officer in the photos retired nearly a decade ago, City Attorney Eric Anderson wrote, so no staff resources were used in the photo.2
Still, the city takes the use of its logo seriously, he noted. That’s city property and using it without permission is also against the law.
“Accordingly, my office has directed correspondence to both the former officer as well as Dr. Shah’s campaign demanding that any such use be discontinued,” he wrote back, adding that if the Schweikert campaign sees him use it again, they should tell the city “so further action can be considered.”
But since the city contacted Shah, voters have received two more mailers using that same officer in the photo, Schweikert consultant Chris Baker said.
One landed just a few days after the city sent the letter, per Baker. The Schweikert campaign was willing to cut Shah some slack, thinking maybe it was already at the printer when he was told to knock it off, he said.
But then another mailer appeared a few days later. Baker said he notified the City of Tempe about the latest round of mailers on Tuesday.
Shah said he forwarded the city attorney’s letter to his lawyer, and if his campaign screwed up, he’ll change the ad. He farmed the ad out to a big national firm, he said, and both the advertising agency and the retired officer told him the photo would be “kosher.”
“We're checking with our team and our lawyers to see if what they allege to be a violation, was indeed a violation,” Shah told us. “And if we are found to be out of compliance, then we will take corrective action, meaning, blur it out.”
It’s not a huge deal. But seemingly every election cycle, there’s a story about a candidate getting in trouble for using police in their ads.3
In 2016, for example, the City of Phoenix sent Donald Trump a cease and desist letter after Trump ran an ad with a one-second clip of him with Phoenix Police Department officers.
“In this context, the ad unmistakably and wrongfully suggests that Phoenix and the officers support or endorse Mr. Trump’s campaign,” City Attorney Brad Holm wrote.
The Trump campaign eventually took the ad offline.
After we noted yesterday that Secretary of State Adrian Fontes was the only politician whose office did not immediately deny making the secret recording of his colleagues talking about the voter registration “glitch,” Fontes’ office denied making the recording.
The office responded to our records request yesterday saying it also didn’t have the recording we seek.
Which means either the Secretary of State’s Office, Attorney General Kris Mayes or Gov. Katie Hobbs is lying. Or there was someone else recording the call.
That’s fine. We can do this the hard way!
We filed a new records request with all three offices seeking a list of everyone on the call, any calendar invites or notes about the tape and the call and any communications about the call. We also asked for a list of sources they searched for the tape in response to our first request.
We’ll let you know when we hear back.
In the meantime, we want to hear from you!
Chips and dip(ping out of reviews): Joe Biden is set to sign a bill that would let semiconductor manufacturers that received CHIPS and Science Act subsidies skirt environmental reviews and speed up construction processes, per The New York Times’ Madeleine Ngo. Arizona U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva called the legislation “unconscionable,” while co-author of the bill Sen. Mark Kelly said it will help avoid “unnecessary delays.” Arizona has seen some of the largest semiconductor investments from the CHIPS Act. Speaking of Grijalva, he announced this is his last election in an interview with KOLD-TV 13’s Bud Foster.
Preexisting consequences: A new analysis from Kamala Harris’ campaign suggests Donald Trump’s healthcare plan has "dangerous consequences for Arizona,” and that providers could discriminate based on preexisting conditions, the Republic’s Stephanie Innes writes. Trump’s campaign hit back on Harris’ healthcare plan as a means to "bankrupt the country" by giving free healthcare to undocumented immigrants. Meanwhile, some education proposals Trump has espoused are not logistically possible, the Arizona Mirror’s Caitlin Sievers reports.
Why now?: The Biden administration revealed a new, stricter policy that prevents migrants from seeking asylum at the southern border when officials say the border is overwhelmed, indicating another shift toward stricter border policy for Democrats, per the Associated Press. Since June, officials have been able to lift asylum access restrictions when the average number of crossings averaged below 1,500 for a week. Now, those averages have to be below 1,500 for a month. But the asylum restrictions implemented in June were never lifted, so it’s unclear why the administration made the change now.
Election season means it’s time to make big political moves, but it’s also a great time to support our work covering the chaos.
Double department trouble: Independent court monitors say Arizona’s prison system still has a lot of work to do to meet court-ordered quality-of-care demands, Cronkite News’ Hayden Larkin reports. Their reports found medical facilities without enough capacity to house inmates or physicians to care for them, and a lack of emergency response equipment. Meanwhile, a second child with Type 1 diabetes has died while in the care of the state Department of Child Safety, and the group home he was housed in previously expressed concern with being able to manage the child’s care, per 12News’ Jennifer Kovaleski.
Don’t pass go: Cochise County Supervisor Tom Crosby won’t be able to take his appeal of two felony convictions straight to the state Supreme Court and skip the appeals court process, Terri Jo Neff reports for the Herald/Review. Crosby and fellow Supervisor Peggy Judd face felony counts for delaying Cochise County’s canvass in 2022, but Justice Clint Bolick ruled Crosby has to go through the appeals process the normal way, despite his claims the case is subject to “critical legal issues.” Also, Cochise County taxpayers are on the hook for a $125,000 settlement (not to mention at least $70,000 in legal bills) after county supervisors refused to turn over elections-related public records requests to American Oversight, the organization that sued the state for records on the 2020 election audit by Cyber Ninjas and the state Senate.
Sign slashers: Casa Grande Police are investigating campaign sign damage like slashed and spray-painted signs for Casa Grande Union School District candidates, Pinal Central’s Jodie Newell reports. Democratic Rep. Keith Seaman said campaign signs for him and his daughter, state Senate candidate Stacey Seaman, have been damaged and gone missing. It’s a Class 2 misdemeanor to vandalize campaign signs.
A semi-truck caught fire and closed part of State Route 303 Tuesday morning, and thankfully, no injuries were reported.
But the fire did take out a trailer full of Twix bars the truck was transporting.
And while we mourn the chocolate meltdown, we’re dying to know if the victims were left or right Twixes.
When you see politicians bragging that they’re endorsed by police and/or firefighters, they mean the police or fire union, which can give endorsements. Individual city employees, of course, can also endorse candidates.
Also, the police have to buy their own uniforms, which is pretty wild, so that wasn’t city property either, he noted.
The military is especially strict on this, which is why even retired military officers use disclaimers in their ads, like "Use of military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement by the Department of Defense or any branch of the military.”
Maybe Mayes sees Fontes as a future competitor? SuperHank is bringing sunshine to TapeGate😎.
How can you tell that it is a Tempe police uniform?