THE SKINNY
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TUCSONWEEKLY.COM
JAN. 28, 2021
HONEY NUT
But even if the recall fails to get off the ground or Finchem survives an election, his antics have also put him on the wrong side of Gov. Doug Ducey, who is known to hold grudges. Hope Finchem isn’t counting on any of his bills—should they make it through both chambers—getting signed this year. ONE CRAZY PARTY
Oddball Oro Valley lawmaker abandons Twitter account, embraces honey badger as his spirit totem on something called Gab
The AZ GOP is galloping Finchem’s direction HERE’S THE SAD THING: THE REST
Jim Nintzel jnintzel@tucsonweekly.com STATE REP. AND OLD-WEST COSPLAY
aficionado Mark Finchem has always been one of the nuttier lawmakers at the Capitol, what with his bills to make gold legal tender, his links to farright organizations such as the Oath Keepers and the Coalition of Western States, and his peculiar fashion choices. But Donald Trump’s loss in the presidential race last November has led the Oro Valley Republican to buy a first-class ticket on the crazy train. He led the day-long meeting at a hotel near the Capitol in December that featured Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani laying out numerous crazy theories that were unsuitable for actual courtrooms, including the notion that Biden’s win was illegitimate because Arizona is home to 5 million undocumented immigrants (which would mean 5 out of 7 Arizonans are undocumented, but OK, sure.) Finchem, who was on hand for the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally in D.C., cheered on the storming of the U.S. Capitol by his fellow travelers in conspiracy theories. He tweeted a photo of the rampage with the comment: “What happens when the People feel they have been ignored, and Congress refuses to acknowledge rampant fraud.” Of course, Finchem later started blaming Antifa for the disgraceful display of Trump supporters during the D.C. rampage. Finchem’s D.C. adventures have led to an ethics complaint at the House (which won’t go anywhere) as well as a call for him to be investigated for any role he might have had in planning the insurrection at the Capitol.
But you won’t read any more tweets from Finchem. This week, in solidarity with the now-banned Trump, Finchem deleted his Twitter account after getting some media attention for a tweet promising to boycott Lowe’s after the Loew’s hotel chain canceled a fundraising event for Sen. Josh Hawley. “This is what Hitler and Stalin did, what next camps? Ovens?” Yes, it’s a slippery slope from canceling an event reservation to the Holocaust. Giving up his 55K or so followers, Finchem has moved over the rightwing Twitter knock-off Gab, where his new handle is AZHoneyBadger, presumably because he considers the fierce African carnivorous mammal to be his spirit totem or something. (In case you’re not familiar, a hysterical YouTube clip of a narrator goofing on honey badger footage with lines about how “honey badger doesn’t give a shit” went viral about a decade ago.) On Gab, Finchem doesn’t have to give a shit about moderators slapping warnings on his tweets about how his deranged claims are disputed. Finchem fans don’t have to worry. The state lawmaker continues to deliver tall glasses of crazy on Gab about Trump’s comeback, including a prediction that Trump will run for the House of Representatives, depose Speaker Nancy Pelosi, impeach Biden and Harris and then reclaim the White House. Finchem is also facing a nascent recall effort, led by Ralph Atchue, a Democrat who lost to Finchem in 2018. (See FinchemRecall.com for details.) LD11 isn’t exactly friendly territory to Democrats, but we’ve seen some unexpected turns in Arizona politics in recent years. If Atchue can get the signatures, we could have a barn-burner of a special election.
of the Arizona Republican Party is marching in Finchem’s untethered direction. Last weekend, the party reelected Kelli Ward as the chair of the state party. Ward has gleefully PHOTO BY GAGE SKIDMORE / FLICKR declared the AZ GOP is now the Party Rep. Mark Finchem (R-Bizzaro World) of Trump, who delivered a full-throated endorsement of her via a voicemail Ward played during the organizational in the courts. She regularly delivers a stream of bullshit designed to confabconvention. ulate an alternate reality wherein GOP In recent months, Ward has spearleaders including Gov. Doug Ducey headed numerous frivolous lawsuits and Georgia Secretary of State Brad designed to overturn the election in Raffensperger conspired with Arizona, all of which went nowhere
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