Wendy Rogers to chair the Arizona Senate's election committee? This is a joke, right?
Aaaand the crazy just keeps on a’coming in Arizona.
Sen. Wendy Rogers on Friday announced she’s been appointed to chair the committee that will deal with election law. (That is, assuming the Republicans maintain control of the chamber.)
“Arizona WILL NOW get it’s house in order with @KariLake to ratify Election Integrity bills via Special Session come January 2023. #LockandLoad #State48” she tweeted.
Wendy Rogers will promote anything unfounded
Rogers is perhaps the looniest legislator that Arizona has elected … ever.
She built a national following on the far right by ranting about election conspiracies and railing about George Soros and the cabal of Jews, elites and other nefarious characters who plot to create a New World Order.
She lauds white nationalists as “patriots” and warns about immigrant invasions and the conspiracy to take over our country.
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During a speech to a white nationalist convention earlier this year, she waxed on about the need for public hangings of her political enemies – including, presumably, the ones “forcibly vaccinating people with a bioweapon” (read: urging COVID-19 vaccinations).
“We need to build more gallows. If we try some of these high-level criminals, convict them, and use a newly built set of gallows, it’ll make an example for these traitors who have betrayed our country. They have yet to be justly punished for the crimes they have committed.”
Most recently, she promoted the sick (and totally unfounded) rumor that last month’s recent attack on Paul Pelosi was really a tiff between the 82-year-old man and his gay lover.
She's the Senate go-to on election reform?
In September, she was caught on tape urging voters to falsely claim identify theft at the polls, hoping to gum up the works during this week’s election.
“You’re going to get a vote in the mail like I will. About 83% vote by mail,” she told a Payson tea party group. “Keep it sealed. Put it in your pocket. Wait until Election Day. Then go in and say, ‘Hi, I’m Nancy Cox.’ They’ll say, ‘Oh, you’ve voted already.’ You say, ‘I haven’t voted. I’ll take a provisional ballot.’ And Nancy Cox votes.
“Then you call the sheriff’s office. Call and say, ‘I have an identity theft problem. Please come up and document it.’ Why do this? This just shuts down one of the avenues of deceit. Are they going to steal this election? Oh yeah – they’re going to try to steal it.”
So, yeah. Sure. It makes total sense that Rogers would be the Senate’s point person on election “reform.”
What's next? Anthony Kern as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman? (Maybe he can finally get his name off the Brady list of dishonest law enforcement officers.)
Assuming Republicans hang on – right now, that 16th seat is still a nail biter – the Senate will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Turning Point USA next year.
Turning Point's guy won by 1 vote
Turning Point on Thursday managed to get its man, Sen. Warren Petersen, elected as Senate president – thanks to some voting help from a trio of America First candidates who are actually trailing in their races.
Arizona Agenda reports that Nancy Barto, Robert Scantlebury and Gary Garcia Snyder all got to vote for the next Senate president, even though they are losing their races by 4 to 8 percentage points.
Petersen, the newsletter said, won by one vote.
Petersen is one of the Senate’s biggest election deniers. While retiring Senate President Karen Fann was the face of the Senate's 2020 election audit, it was Petersen who, behind the scenes, pushed her to launch that debacle.
The loons are gearing up to run the asylum
As did Sen. Sonny Borrelli, who on Thursday was selected as Senate majority leader (again assuming Republicans maintain control).
Borrelli will at least add a certain amount of cloak-and-dagger drama to the place.
It was Borrelli who last year warned a dumpster diver who claimed to have found shredded ballots to turn them over to him because if she kept them, she could be killed.
“This is so high level, people, that they want this to go away ... They can try to silence you, you’re a private citizen. They can’t do anything to me. They can bully me all they want but they know they can’t take me out ... (unless) they whack me or I have a suicide.”
Fortunately, Borrelli is still with us.
Unfortunately, he and the rest of the loons are gearing up to rule the asylum.
God help us, because clearly, we can’t help ourselves.
Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Wendy Rogers to chair Arizona Senate's election panel? Is this a joke?
