Jeffrey Brown

Jeffrey Brown, Democratic candidate in the 1st Congressional District, will be on the primary ballot in September, after thwarting an attempt to remove him due to a lack of valid petition signatures.

 A Maricopa County Superior Court judge found that although Brown's nominating petition did not contain a sufficient number of valid signatures to qualify him for the primary ballot, the challenge was made too late to have an effect.

Bethany Hicks, the presiding judge, wrote:

First District Congressional candidate Howard Shanker has been very verbal over the last few months about the “anointment” of Ann Kirkpatrick as the nominee.  Ann Kirkpatrick has received from support many Democratic leaders including the DCCC.  Shanker has talked a lot about an open process and not letting the insiders determine the candidate.  But one of Shanker’s supporters is behind the effort to remove fellow CD1 candidate Jeffrey Brown from the ballot.

Stanford Lerch of of Lerch & De Prima PLC Attorney’s (office in Phoenix, Arizona) is challenging the signatures of Brown and trying to prevent him from being added to the ballot.  Lerch is not exactly a neutral observer in the process.  Lerch donated $500 to Shanker’s campaign.

An email to Shanker’s campaign for comment was not answered.   

The Arizona AFL-CIO has unveiled its endorsements in this year's U.S. House primaries, though only one of the candidates is actually engaged in a primary, and one primary was bypassed altogether.

All candidates who received endorsements were Democrats, and included the four Democratic members of the Arizona House delegation, though none faces a primary. Other recipients were Bob Lord, who is taking on U.S. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Phoenix) in the 3rd Congressional District; John Thrasher, a Democrat who is running for the second time against U.S. Rep. Trent Franks (R-Glendale) in the 2nd Congressional District; and Ann Kirkpatrick, the front-runner in the 1st Congressional District Democratic pack.

"These candidates share our vision of what is important to Arizona’s working families," said Rebekah Friend, the Arizona AFL-CIO's executive director. "It is crucial for the future of Arizona that we elect those who are going to step up to the plate and fight for the issues that will move Arizona forward. We’re convinced that these candidates will do just that."

CAMP VERDE -- The Congressional Candidate Forum on the Future of Arizona's Natural Resources brought out most of the AZ-1 field, where the candidates who showed up navigated their way through a proving ground of environmental questions. The whole panel was in agreement on the need for renewable energy investment, even if not all saw a consensus on the fact of global climate change. The biggest question of the afternoon wasn't asked by the moderator, however - it was "where is Sydney Hay?"

The seven participants included Democrats Jeffrey Brown, Ann Kirkpatrick, Howard Shanker and Mary Kim Titla, Republicans Tom Hansen and Preston Korn, and independent Brent Maupin. Two other Republicans who filed, Sandra Livingstone and Barry Hall, declined to participate.

However, Sydney Hay, who has been embraced by the Republican establishment, including the state party and numerous Republican state legislators and members of Congress, did not show up. Audience members and press instead received a letter from Hay that apologized for her absence but gave no explanation.