The Daily Agenda: Unlike police records, this email won't auto-delete
The Daily Agenda: Unlike police records, this email won't auto-delete
"Just the Top" ... Lamborghinis in west Phoenix ... And just say it fast.
Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams and her assistant chiefs used Signal, the encrypted, message-deleting app, to talk about high-profile cases in an apparent attempt to destroy public records before the press, the Department of Justice, litigants or anyone else could get ahold of them.
ABC15’s Dave Biscobing — who has been doggedly pursuing the department’s scandal over falsely charging a group of protesters as members of the “All Cops Are Bastards” gang1 and the department’s ensuing blunders, lies and coverups — has the screenshots showing Williams and her top deputies used Signal to talk about that case and more.
That’s likely going to be a massive problem, considering the DOJ is investigating the Phoenix Police for the protester issue and more.
It’s one thing to break public records law to hide stuff from the public and reporters. It’s a whole other thing to try to hide evidence ahead of court cases and a Department of Justice probe.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the department then lied about its institutional use of the app, saying Williams specifically asked her department leaders to not use Signal for work business, and that she deleted it in 2020.
You’d think that by now, cops would know better than to lie to Biscobing, who already did a follow-up story after receiving screenshots showing that Williams was still using it to secretly discuss one of the biggest scandals in the department’s history with her top cops in August 2021. He got the screenshots from a letter sent to the city by the lawyer of cops Williams allegedly tried to throw under the bus by claiming they didn’t tell her about the gang protest charges.
“Forewarning everyone the report will go tomorrow or Friday. It will not bode well for many of us on our floor. Don’t know the extent,” Williams wrote, apparently referencing Biscobing’s previous reporting, in a group chat with her top officials titled “Just the Top.”
And yeah, the “disappearing message” feature was turned on.
The Phoenix Police Department is far from the only government body using Signal as a way to get around creating permanent public records. Politicians and high-level government employees regularly use the app because it’s encrypted and has a disappearing message feature, which guarantees privacy and ephemerality.
But Arizona law states that when politicians and other government employees communicate about work, that’s presumed to be a public record. Destroying public records is a felony.
It doesn’t matter if officials are communicating from their official email, their personal cell phones or via carrier pigeon. If they’re communicating about government business, it’s presumed to be a public record. The inverse is also true: If a politician emails their children about homework, that’s not a public record, even if they’re using their official email.
That’s why the rise of Signal and other private communication apps among politicians is so concerning. For a long time, politicians refused to believe that their personal cell phones could contain public records. Now that the courts have repeatedly ruled they are, politicians are just moving to Signal and similar apps.
We’ve been ranting about this problem since 2015, just after Signal launched, when it first became apparent that skirting public records via messaging apps was becoming a trend in state government. And it’s only gotten worse since then.
While legislators, cops and bureaucrats have every right to use Signal in their personal lives, they do not have the right to disappear our public records. Hopefully, there will be consequences for Phoenix Police Department officials who did, and that will serve as a stark reminder to public officials that their work-related messages are ours to scour, not theirs to hide and destroy.
This guy loves Greg Abbott: Gov. Doug Ducey directed the state to start filling in gaps in the border fence with shipping containers, work that started immediately on Friday, in another ripoff of a Texas policy. The containers first started filling spots near Gadsden on federal land in a “seek forgiveness, not permission” method, considering the state does not have the feds’ approval to do this work on their land. U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly previously secured federal help to fill four gaps in the fence near Yuma. The state and feds won’t be able to build a wall on the Cocopah Reservation, where the tribe won’t allow it. The money for the shipping containers came from border security dollars in the state budget, at a cost of about $6 million, the Republic reports. The state budget also contains $15 million to fund Ducey’s busing of migrants to the East Coast, the Republic’s Stacey Barchenger notes.
A court case to watch: Businesses and residents who work or live near “The Zone” of homeless encampments near the state Capitol filed a lawsuit against the City of Phoenix, saying the city has failed to respond to a growing crisis, Fox10 reports. The plaintiffs want the courts to declare the encampments a public nuisance and offer other options, like moving encampments elsewhere and building more shelters.
In related news: Phoenix is seeing a big increase in evictions, reaching a 13-year high after pandemic eviction bans were lifted, the Republic’s Catherine Reagor reports. Phoenix now is hitting levels not seen since 2008, in the aftermath of the housing market crash. Nationwide, evictions are on the rise again, the Associated Press reports.
Who will speak for the rich people?: U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s need to protect a tax loophole and an exemption to corporate taxes for private equity before approving the major climate and health bill that just passed Congress was a “gift to private equity,” NBC News reports. And it came after private equity, hedge funds and venture capitalists gave the senior senator almost $1 million over the past year in campaign contributions, an escalation in their donations, the Associated Press points out. Sinema’s maneuvering on the bill “practically assured” that she’ll see a progresive challenger in 2024, the Daily Beast’s Sam Brodey contends.
Private equity firms, hedge funds and venture capitalists don’t pay our bills. If they did, you wouldn’t want to read this rag and we wouldn’t need your money. Subscribe now.
Post-Uvalde school lockdowns: Reports of a suspicious, possibly armed person and a suspicious package at Thompson Ranch Elementary School in El Mirage prompted a lockdown, a sadly common occurrence at schools these days, but what came next made national news. Three parents, waiting to hear whether their kids were safe, tried to force their way into the school, and one of them was armed, the police say, ABC15 reports. Two were tased. All three will be charged. The lockdown was cleared with no threat to the school. 12News has video of police confronting parents and talked to one of the moms involved, who says they weren’t trying to enter the school illegally. The move to enter the school comes after the police response in the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting, where police didn’t enter the classrooms for more than an hour as children inside were being murdered.
It’s not just Arizona: Former cyber ninja and head of the Arizona audit Doug Logan was involved in efforts to “prove” voter fraud in Michigan, too, and those efforts are now part of a Michigan attorney general investigation. The Republic’s Robert Anglen delves into the Michigan probe, and the people with Arizona ties it ensnares.
Lamborghinis always raise eyebrows: Two men in Phoenix ran a scheme to claim royalties from a bunch of Latino artists on YouTube, netting them $23 million before they got hit with federal charges and investigations by the IRS and the District of Arizona U.S. Attorney’s office, Billboard reports in a long read that’s both complicated and wild. Jose “Chenel” Medina Teran and Webster “Yenddi” Batista Fernandez were suddenly living large in west Phoenix, with Teran driving around in a “lime-green Lamborghini Aventador.” Stay for the cameo from the dad of the serial street shooter and a mention of how many associated with the company also were part of a Phoenix-based horror production that some internet reviewer called “the worst movie I’ve ever seen.”
Cities directly affect you: Groups appointed by the Phoenix City Council are now analyzing which city-funded projects should be part of a 2023 bond effort, which could include funds for things like replacing pools, improving arts and culture outposts, environmental needs, housing and more, the Republic’s Taylor Seely reports. Meanwhile, in Tucson, the city bought an old motel to renovate into a shelter and then affordable housing, Arizona Luminaria’s Becky Pallack writes.
Make Republicans lose again: Linda Rawles, a lifelong Republican, writes in a Republic op-ed that she doesn’t recognize the Arizona Republican Party anymore, saying it “has elevated a slew of unhinged and anti-democratic candidates” and is “beyond repair.” The only way to rebuke the state party and rebuild the GOP brand in the state is by making candidates like Kari Lake, Mark Finchem and Blake Masters lose in November, Rawles argues.
You know what would’ve taken far longer? Hand counting: Maricopa County counted ballots at the same rate it has in the past, Axios’ Jeremy Duda reports. It took eight days, falling into the normal range of seven to 10 days.
The confusion is the point: The legal confusion around abortion in Arizona after the Dobbs ruling led some providers to fully halt abortions pending a Pima County court case and others to resume because abortion is still currently legal here, the Boston Globe reports. Those that are still operating now have a higher demand for their services. Patients face a rapidly changing environment when trying to schedule appointments, already limiting access to care.
Your vote matters: The race for justice of the peace between Democrats Teresa Lopez and Rep. Robert Meza is separated by just three votes, which triggers an automatic recount, the Republic’s Maritza Dominguez reports. Lopez, the incumbent, is up by three in the down-ballot race, and the barrier for an automatic recount is five votes. The reason you see lawmakers and former lawmakers running for JP jobs is perhaps because they pay far more than lawmaking, with a salary of about $100,000, and to pad their pensions, as former Republic reporter Paulina Pineda wrote in 2018.
Look to the past: Former Gov. Bruce Babbitt and former state land commissioner Robert Lane write that the Saudi alfalfa company that pays a minimal amount to pump unlimited water needs to make back payments for the water it has used and an area previously set up as a groundwater reserve should be restored for that use.
Conspiracy facts: Sure, probable Q of QAnon Ron Watkins didn’t win his primary and decamped to Australia, but QAnon believers and people with QAnon-adjacent views are still on the ballot, running for seats in the Legislature and statewide offices, the Arizona Mirror’s Jerod MacDonald-Evoy reports.
Focus on substance, not swear words: Republic columnist Phil Boas is still mad about Democrats swearing, again writing about U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego’s penchant for curse words, the second column in about three months dedicated to the topic. As readers of the Agenda, you surely already know our views on swearing: We don’t give a shit if you do.
In the heart of the East Valley sits Legislative District 13, the fourth of five competitive legislative districts, located around Chandler and a little bit of west Gilbert. Republicans have an advantage here, as they did in the old LD17, the district LD13 closely resembles, though the margin of Republicans is slightly tighter.
The area is a major magnet for out-of-staters, who move to work in the district’s booming tech industry, and Republicans frequently note the irony that their policies are bringing the jobs that bring liberal Californians to settle in the East Valley.
Republican Sen. J.D. Mesnard is running for reelection and is likely to be targeted with millions of outside spending, as he has in the past several election cycles. The one-time House Speaker will take on Democrat Cynthia “Cindy” Hans, a former educator and a volunteer deputy registrar with the Maricopa County Elections Department.
In the House, Rep. Jennifer Pawlik is seeking re-election as the only Democrat in the race after finishing as the top vote-getter in both 2018 and 2020. The former elementary school teacher will face two Republicans: Liz Harris and Julie Willoughby. Readers may recognize Harris’ name since she was prominent in the “audit” crowd, conducting a botched canvass of the 2020 election despite the feds warning against illegal canvassing. Harris is an attorney who lost her race for LD17 House in 2020 to Pawlik and Rep. Jeff Weninger. Willoughby is an ER trauma nurse and HOA board president who previously ran for the House in 2018, but lost in the primary.
This sign stunt was basically designed to end up in our laugh section, so we have no choice but to oblige.
A guy in Gilbert put up signs and created a campaign ad of sorts that’s circulating on TikTok for a fictional candidate named “Dixon Butts.” (Say it a few times, you’ll get it.) He has the costume down perfectly, topping off his ensemble with the quintessential Arizona candidate cowboy hat. He also has a website, where he includes his qualifications as:
“- 0 Experience In Politics
- 180lb
- BP 160/110
- Can probably run a mile but would rather walk”
All Cops Are Bastards is a slogan used by anti-racists and others. It is not a gang.