On February 23rd, of this year, Jaqueline Breger, the principal investigator for Harris/Thaler Law Corporation, at the invitation of State Representative Liz Harris (R), made a presentation to a joint committee for the state of Arizona on Municipal Oversight and Elections, which was shocking in scope and magnitude of both the various levels of statewide corruption and election fraud.

The report presented was assembled under the direction of John Harris Thaler, Senior Attorney in charge of investigations, who has specialized in racketeering and corruption for over 30 years. His five-man team, which has participated in some of the largest investigations of racketeering and public corruption both in the U.S. and Mexico, also draws in various experts, or advisors in multiple disciplines, as may be required, for specific aspects of investigations.

After watching Ms. Breger’s report, instincts told me that this warranted a much closer scrutiny, as the extent of the allegations made: bribery, real estate fraud, election fraud, Money laundering, tax evasion, and more, seemed very difficult to believe. The scope of the allegations, as well as the dozens of names in the report included people at the highest levels of power in Arizona, as well as people in many other states. Frankly, I came away skeptical, but wanted to learn more. Initial conversations with various people, including Jaqueline Breger, John Harris Thaler, and Arizona state senator Ken Bennet, left me with many questions and some serious doubts. Further conversations served to clarify and resolve the questions I had.

One difficulty in making the presentation was to clearly condense years of a myriad of investigations involving various types of fraud and money laundering, as well as various levels of government and criminal activity into a 45-minute video along with a 96-page report. This then resulted in a tidal wave of information, well beyond what one can easily consume and process when hit cold with the extensive information.

The immediate reaction to the report from politicians, as well as the local media, was swift: Breger was attacked, Thaler’s reputation was impugned. Additionally, issues in other areas, including conflict of interest, were brought to light.

In May, Liz Harris was expelled from the Arizona Legislature. The coverage was heavily slanted, as expected.

Obviously, a nerve had been struck, but which nerve? Was it the ‘Q-Anon tinfoil’ hat conspiracy’ nerve? Or was it the ‘hitting too close to home’ nerve? That is likely closer to the truth.

After some time had passed, allowing for the report to sink in, as well as additional reviews of numerous documents, the scope of the many frauds and the depth of the corruption began to make sense. Further discussions with Thaler served to clarify my thoughts, troubling though they were.

In the presentation and supporting documentation, Breger named names of those who benefited from the corruption, which was laid out in some considerable detail. More specifically, forty people are listed on page 85 of the 96-page document, as being the beneficiary of fraudulent second trust deeds. Such deeds are issued by shell companies with no expectations of the deeds being paid back. Many of those names are those of people holding elected office, on the committee or well known to those on that committee. If the information contained was false, then the presenter and Thaler have opened themselves up to litigation. Yet no such litigation has been filed or threatened.

The natural tendency of the guilty is to vociferously proclaim their innocence, while simultaneously circling the wagons to protect themselves and their grubstakes. As mentioned earlier, the expulsion, by the Republican-controlled legislature, of Liz Harris, being an example. Harris is a strong conservative who has rubbed some people the wrong way, she was rocking the boat and needed to go. Those same people used this presentation as an excuse, not a reason, to expel her.

In reviewing some of the hit pieces written regarding the presentation, there was at least one common thread: “no evidence” was presented was often repeated. This was clearly not true to anyone who reviewed the 96 pages of the report that was given to the committee.

One example of the evidence contained was the deposition on page 28 of one Richard Salazar, who under penalty of perjury stated that he saw multiple boxes of ballots and cash delivered from a private residence in Tempe, to Runbeck Election Services, the company hired by Maricopa County to assist in the counting of absentee ballots.

The corruption revealed in the presentation needs to be taken seriously and indeed it is, according to Thaler, at least by some people in positions of authority to investigate issues well beyond the election fraud and other aspects stated above.

Thaler has a book, Report to the Governor, which will be released in the coming weeks. One excerpt from the book worth noting:

Illegal narcotics are big business, maybe the biggest of businesses.  Where drugs exist, tyranny follows, and rights disappear.

Arizona is saturated with drugs and drug trafficking.  It is awash in cash laundered to protect its narco origins.  As a result, it is the most corrupt state in the country.  Don’t just take my word for it.  That conclusion comes from a 2022 study conducted by Harvard University.  The authors concluded that Arizona has the highest instances of “private gains in the form of cash or gifts by a government official, in exchange for providing specific benefits to private individuals or groups.”  The study further found significant corruption in the legislative, executive and judicial branches, mostly from bribes.

To be clear it is apparent that the corruption discussed by Thaler and Breger is not exclusive to one party, as both Republicans and Democrats are named. The common thread of those involved is plain and simple: Maintain the power they hold so that the money can continue to flow.

John Harris Thaler did advise that he has had numerous meetings with investigators of both local and state agencies, as well as the FBI. These allegations are being investigated, but those investigations are moving both slowly and quietly. Too quietly, it would seem.

Image: Gage Skidmore