coalition of western states cows
some go back to cliven bundy bunkerville
an 12 22
michele Fiore, a Republican politician, has been appointed to a Nevada judgeship even though she has no prior legal or judicial experience. She has also previously been accused of obstructing an investigation into her own business and once said it’s okay to point a gun at federal officers.
Fiore will fill a seat on the Pahrump Justice Court in Nye County, located about 65 miles west of Las Vegas, the Associated Press reported. County commissioners unanimously appointed her to the judgeship. She will serve on the court through 2024.
She told commissioners that she would oversee the judicial appointment with “integrity and honesty” because she has “been at the end of the political barrel.”
However, it seems she ended up at the end of that barrel largely due to her own fault.
In 2015, Nevada state regulators revoked the license of her home-health business after she refused to show financial records during an investigation of alleged Medicaid fraud, Wonkette noted. That same year, she made statements against transgender people using changing facilities matching their gender identities.
In 2016, she said it was okay to point a gun at law enforcement officers if they point a gun at you first.
“I would never, ever point my firearm at anyone, including an officer of the law. Unless they pointed their firearm at me,” she said in an interview with Las Vegas TV station KLAS. “Now, once you point your firearm at me, I’m sorry, then it becomes self-defense. So whether you’re a stranger, a bad guy, or an officer, and you point your gun at me and you’re gonna shoot me and I have to decide whether it’s my life or your life, I choose my life.”
The Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers called her statement “utterly irresponsible,” “an embarrassment,” and a demonstration of why she’s unfit to hold national office.
Though Fiore was a member of the Nevada Assembly from 2012 to 2016 and a member of the Las Vegas City Council from 2017 until her appointment into the judgeship, she launched a failed 2022 election bid to become the Nevada State Treasurer and a failed 2016 bid to become a state representative in the U.S. House.
Democrats on Monday introduced a resolution to expel a Republican state lawmaker for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, his ties to extremist groupsand for spreading misinformation about the election.
Those things make Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley, unfit to serve in the Arizona Legislature, saidRep. Athena Salman, D-Tempe.
Her :{House Resolution 2006:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: ties Finchem to the riots in Washington, D.C., as well as comments made by the event’s main organizer, :{Ali Alexander:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:.
Finchem was at the Capitol when Trump supporters engaged in a violent coup attempt, in the hopes of stopping Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory, that left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer. On his Twitter page, Finchem posted a photo he took of the Capitol after rioters and protesters had breached the inner areas of the Capitol grounds.
“What happens when the People feel they have been ignored, and Congress refuses to acknowledge rampant fraud,” he wrote, praising the rioters.
Finchem has since deleted his Twitter account. He did not respond to a request for comment.
State Rep. César Chávez, D-Phoenix, :{filed an ethics complaint:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: about the tweet, arguing that it showed Finchem participated in the insurrection. The House Ethics Committee has not acted on the complaint.
Salman said that legislative Republicans, who control the House of Representatives by a single vote, have shown they won’t hold Finchem accountable.
“The majority party has failed to take the most minimal action,” Salman said at a press conference Monday. “Due to their inaction, Representative Fincehm has tried to hide his actions.”
Salman brought up recent news that Finchem was :{paid $6,000 by the Trump campaign:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: for “recount: legal consulting” after the election and :{has battled the release of records requested:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: by the Arizona Republicin relation to the Jan. 6 riots. Finchem, a licensed real estate agent, is not an attorney.
An Arizona Mirror analysis of tweets from Finchem’s now-deleted Twitter account found that thelawmaker used the hashtag “#StopTheSteal” a total of 62 times from Nov. 19 to Jan. 6.
“I demand his immediate expulsion,” Ret. Lt. Col. Dana Allmond said at the presser. Allmond, a West Point graduate who resides in Finchem’s legislative district, said the Republican lawmaker poses a “clear and present danger” to the country and Arizona’s legislature.
The resolution is unlikely to succeed because it can’t advance without GOP backing. Republicans would have to first consider it in committee, and then allow it to come to the floor for a vote. Were that to happen, Finchem would only be expelled if two-thirds of the House voted for the resolution.
“There is a line between First Amendment speech and inciting the overthrow of a free and fair election,” Salman said.
Salman’s resolution also notes Finchem’s ties to the anti-government extremist group the Oath Keepers. Three members of the group :{have been indicted:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: for conspiracy related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, and the group has :{been preparing for a civil war:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: since before the November election.
Finchem has :{acknowledged being a member of the group:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, whose leader in the past has called for the :{execution of the late Sen. John McCain:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:.
The group has :{had multiple ties to the Jan. 6 coup attempt:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, and long-time Trump ally Roger Stone was also :{seen alongside the group on Jan. 6:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:.
Finchem also has ties to Washington lawmaker Matt Shea who was :{accused of domestic terrorism:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: by his state’s legislature for his role in armed standoffs in Oregon, Nevada and Idaho. Finchem was a part of an organization called theCoalition of Western States that Shea used to work behind the scenes to feed information to the armed men, the Washington report claimed.
ref
a Washington state lawmaker accused of participating in acts of domestic terrorism by an independent report commissioned by his own legislature has connections to two former elected officials in Arizona.
Matt Shea had been a key figure in multiple armed standoffs that took place between federal authorities in Oregon, Nevada and Idaho from 2014 to 2016.
Shea, a Republican lawyer first elected in 2008, was :{suspended from Washington’s House Republican Caucus:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: and stripped of his position as the ranking member of the House Environment and Energy Committee after the report was released.
The :{report:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: claims that Shea gave information on the movements and tactics of law enforcement to groups who were being monitored during incidents such as the high-profile standoff between the FBI and Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.
The report details the ways Shea and his group, :{the Coalition of Western States:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, often referred to as COWS, worked behind the scenes to provide information, intelligence and logistical support.
COWS also included members who are residents of Arizona, two of whom were elected officials at the time.
Arizona elected officials
Robert Corbell was elected to the Greenlee County Board of Supervisors from 2013-16. He’s also a member of COWS.
:{Corbell has been vocal in the past:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: about his role in the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. However, the report sheds additional light on his and COWS’ roles in the occupation.
On Jan. 2, 2016, armed men seized the wildlife refuge and occupied it until Feb. 11. Ammon Bundy led :{the occupation:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: to protest what he believed were the wrongful convictions of fellow ranchers.
Ammon Bundy is the son of rancher Cliven Bundy, has been a key figure in the militia movement and was a central figure in the 2014 standoff in Nevada between his father and federal authorities.
Corbell in March told Oregon public radio station OPB that he had met Shea at the Bundy ranch years earlier to discuss “sovereignty” and how to get laws changed.
“So, we went to the casino at the state line, and in the motel room there … we created COWS,” Corbell said about the meeting in April 2014. Corbell also told OPB that he knew that the occupation was likely going to happen, something that investigators noted in the report on Shea.
Another video shows Corbell with Shea, speaking from the Bundy ranch during the 2014 standoff in Nevada.
"The Constitution is being trampled on and people are finally standing up, thank God and God bless,” Corbell says in the video.
Corbell often shares anti-government and conspiracy theory posts on his personal Facebook page, some involving the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, a frequent target of COWS, Shea and the Bundys.
[twt hammond land to russia for uranium?!] vid]
corbell is not the only former elected official from Arizona linked to COWS and Shea.
Barry Weller, who was elected to on the Apache County Board of Supervisors from 2013-16, was also in the 2014 video.
“I’m here to support the Bundys and I’m here to support the process,” Weller says in the video. “I’m here to call all those thousands of other supervisors to stand up for their citizens.”
Weller is also mentioned in the report as a member of COWS.
In 2016, Weller made news after :{speaking in favor of a bill:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: in the Arizona legislature that would split Apache County at Interstate 40. Lawmakers have been debating similar proposals for decades, andGov. Bruce Babbitt in 1982 vetoed a bill that would have created a predominantly Navajo county, calling it racial legislation.
One of Weller’s fellow supervisors said he believed Weller’s advocacy for the measure was racially motivated. Weller said his support of the measure, which would have divided the predominantly white part Apache County he represented away from the Navajo parts of the county, was economic in nature and not motivated by race.
Corbell and Weller did not respond to requests for comment.
Other notable Arizonans
The report names other Arizona figures who participated in both the Malheur and the Bundy Ranch standoffs.
Former Graham County Sheriff :{Richard Mack:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, founder of the :{Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, is a member of COWS and, according to confidential sources, helped Shea plan the Malheur takeover, the report said.
Mack denied helping to organize the takeover or having any advance knowledge of it.
“That’s a lie,” Mack told Arizona Mirror. He said he was unaware of the armed takeover and later told Ammon Bundy he was opposed to the idea: “I had no idea it was heading towards that sort of escalation.”
Investigators in Washington interviewed Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward in Oregon, whom Mack and others approached prior to the takeover of the Malheur refuge.
In November 2015, Ammon Bundy and others told the sheriff that if he did not intercede on behalf of father-and-son ranchers in Oregon who were charged with arson amid a land dispute with BLM that they would “bring thousands of people here to do your job for you” and that they would create “civil unrest.”
Dwight and Steven Hammond had :{been convicted of arson:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: on federal land that they say they started to stop an invasive plant from growing further into their cattle grazing fields. President Donald Trump later :{pardoned them:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: on the arson charges.
Within an hour of Bundy leaving, Mack called Ward and spoke very highly of the Bundy family.Mack later participated in a protest march involving the Hammonds. Some men broke off from that protest to take over the refuge, though Mack was not a part of the actual takeover.
According to the report, Mack told Ward that the sheriff could “get out from under the situation” by taking the Hammonds into his custody and simply charging them with crimes they didn’t commit so “the Feds” couldn’t have them and they would be adjudicated.
Ward said this suggestion was similar to one in a letter he’d received from Cliven Bundy.
Shea was also a featured speaker at one of Mack’s events in 2013.
Mack told the Mirror he hasn’t been active in COWS for at least four years, and said if he ever received one of the intel emails that Shea was sending out during the Malheur standoff, he likely didn’t notice because “it was so innocuous that it had no lasting effect on me,” adding that he “never saw anything that promoted violence or domestic terrorism.”
The former sheriff said he did call Ward and said they’re “on pretty good terms.” Mack said none of the investigators reached out to him and he questioned their motivations.
The report mentions Peoria resident Jon Ritzheimer, who organized an infamous :{Phoenix mosque protest:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: and used to sell products featuring the slogan “Fuck Islam.” Ritzheimer was a participant in the Malheur takeover. He was arrested and later eventually :{struck a plea deal to federal conspiracy charges:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: for his role in the standoff. He was not a member of Shea’s group.
Ritzheimer did not respond to a request for comment.
Arizona resident Lyle Rapacki, the vice chairman of COWS and an online columnist who pens articles about :{alleged satan worship at naval bases:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: and the :{QAnon conspiracy theory:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: that liberal elites run a global cabal of pedophiles, received email updates from Shea about the Malheur takeover that included military style protocols and information, according to the Washington legislature’s report.
It is unclear if Rapacki had any role in Shea’s intelligence reports that he had been allegedly giving to those involved in the armed standoffs in Nevada and Oregon. Rapacki did not respond to a request for comment.
The report also mentions Arizona resident Cope Reynolds as a member of COWS and a recipient of the intelligence emails that Shea was sending out during the standoffs. Reynolds is the owner of a gun shop in Pinetop that:{**disallows anyone who voted for President Barack Obama**:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:from entering the store. Reynolds did not respond to a request for comment.
The full report can be read below: [doc] 2019
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/rep-mark-finchem-was-arizona-coordinator-for-pro-militia-group-11498687
0ct 2020
state Representative Mark Finchem served as "Arizona Coordinator" for the Coalition of Western States, a group that supported the infamous armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016.
He's also recently communicated with individuals who were involved with the group, new emails show.
The Coalition of Western States (COWS) describes itself as a group of elected legislators and "grass roots leaders" in the Western United States "dedicated to stopping federal overreach" and the "bureaucratic terrorism" of the Bureau of Land Management, according to a December 2015 news release from the organization. The group publicly backed the Hammond family of Oregon ranchers, whosedispute with the federal government over public land management inspired the armed militia occupation of the Oregon wildlife refuge. Some members of COWS met with the militia members and fed them information.
The 2015 news release mentions Finchem, a Republican from Oro Valley, as an "Arizona Coordinator" alongside other controversial far-right politicians from Western states, like Idaho State Representative Heather Scott and Washington State Representative Matt Shea. In 2019, investigators hired by the Washington House of Representatives concluded that Shea had engaged in "domestic terrorism" during his involvement in the Oregon militia stand-off and "promoted" three "armed conflicts of political violence against the United States
102 pp report
https://www.accountable.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/GroundZero-3.pdf
...
Wendy Rogers Has Falsely Blamed “Radical Antifa Mobs” For The Violence On January 6 th . Wendy Rogers Falsely Claimed The Insurrectionists Were “Radical Antifa Mobs.” “I condemn the radical Antifa mobs for attacking the Capitol and I condemn the Democrats for wanting to defund the very police who protected them.” [Twitter, @WendyRogersAZ, 01/07/21] Wendy Rogers Spoke At A QAnon Conference About The Partisan Election “Audit” With Mark Finchem,An Anti-Government Extremists Aligned With The Bundys And HammondsWendy Rogers Spoke Alongside Mark Finchem At A QAnon Conference About The Partisan “Audit” In Arizona Of The 2020 Election.
“Biasiucci andRogers spoke alongside Rep. Mark Finchem, who is running for secretary of state, and Sen. Sonny Borrelli on a panel discussing the Arizona Senate’s partisan “audit” of the 2020 election. That self-styled audit was marred by controversy and conducted by conspiracy theorists who had no background in elections or knowledge of Arizona election law. It found no evidence of the fraud that the four GOP legislators and tens of millions of Republican voters nationwide say stole the election from Donald Trump. Instead, the “audit” concluded that Joe Biden won Arizona.” [AZ Mirror, 10/28/21] ●
Arizona State Rep. Mark Finchem Is Aligned With Anti-Public Lands Extremists Including Hammonds And The Bundy Militia, Calling The Bureau Of Land Management “Bureaucratic Terrorism.” “State Representative Mark Finchem served as "Arizona Coordinator" for the Coalition of Western States, a group that supported the infamous armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016.
The Coalition of Western States (COWS) describes itself as a group of elected legislators and "grass roots leaders" in the Western United States "dedicated to stopping federal overreach" and the "bureaucratic terrorism" of the Bureau of Land Management, according to a December 2015 news release from the organization. The group publicly backed the Hammond family of Oregon ranchers, whose dispute with the federal government over public land management inspired the armed militia occupation of the Oregon wildlife refuge. Some members of COWS met with the militia members and fed them information.” [Phoenix New Times, 10/01/20] ●
Mark Finchem Attended Pro-Trump Protests In Washington, DC On January 6 th . “"We have substantial evidence that this election was a fraud in six states," Representative-Elect Mark Finchem, (R-LD 11) told to ABC15 Arizona, while walking the streets of Washington DC the morning of the riot. "If there’s violence, it will be at the hands of Antifa."” [ABC 15, 01/07/21] The Panel Wendy Rogers’ Participated In Featured Conspiracy Theories And Antisemitism. “The panel discussion opened up with a video by a company that makes QAnon memes and videos, many of which center on debunked conspiracies in them or antisemetic messaging. None of the legislators refuted any of the conspiratorial or antisemitic themes in the video...
Matt Shea Was The Chairman Of The Coalition Of Western States, A Group Dedicated
To Fighting The “Terrorism” Of The Bureau Of Land Management And Praising
Anti-Government Militias And Arsonists.
Matt Shea Was The Chairman Of The Coalition Of Western States (COWS). “Shea was operating aschairman of the
Coalition of Western States, or COWS, a group that included lawmakers from several other states, including Idaho
state Rep. Heather Scott.” [Spokesman Review, 12/20/19]
COWS Is A Group Opposed To The “Bureaucratic Terrorism” Of The Bureau Of Land Management That Has
Publicly Aligned Itself With Anti-Government Militias And Terrorists. “The Coalition of Western States (COWS)
describes itself as a group of elected legislators and "grass roots leaders" in the Western United States "dedicated to
stopping federal overreach" and the "bureaucratic terrorism" of the Bureau of Land Management, according to a
December 2015 news release from the organization. The group publicly backed the Hammond family of Oregon
ranchers, whose dispute with the federal government over public land management inspired the armed militia
occupation of the Oregon wildlife refuge. Some members of COWS met with the militia members and fed them
information.” [Phoenix New Times, 10/01/20]
● Dwight And Steven Hammond Were Charges With Domestic Terrorism After Committing
Arson On Federal Land. “Dwight and Steven Hammond are ranchers from Harney County,
Oregon. The father and son were serving sentences in federal prison for setting two separate fires
common to the function of ranching. The fires leaked to nearby federal lands, burning 137 acres
in the first fire and one acre in the second. In 2010, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) filed
federal charges against Dwight and Steven Hammond as domestic terrorists under the Antiterrorism Act of 1996.” [Michigan Farm News, 07/25/18]
Matt Shea Is An Active Member Of The “Far-Right Patriot Movement” And
Planned Violence Against His Political Enemies.
Matt Shea Is An Active Member Of The “Far-Right Patriot Movement,” Is Preoccupied With “Military-Style Prepping,”
And Believes In An “Imminent Civil War And Government Collapse.” “The report largely corroborates previous
news stories about Shea’s involvement in the far-right “patriot...
https://leg.wa.gov/House/InvestigationReport/Documents/Exhibit%20doc%202W%20Redacted%20KDL.pdf
matt, letter c o w s
--- Forwarded message ---
From: s Bennett
Date: Tue, Mar 29, 2016 at 3:44 PM
Subject: FW: COWS Letter re: Anthony Bosworth
t-wd: t-W: cows Letter re: Anthony Bosworth -
To:TVOI News@gmruJ.m>, "WilJlgll.D.@gmruJ.m"
Mike,
Feel free to distribute to trusted sources with good intentions and good hearts.
Scott
From: cows PublicRelations@diplomats com
To: l!UDY.RliY.2R@out1ook com
Subject: COWS Letter re: Anthony Bosworth
Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2016 08:02:27 +0100
To whom It may concern,
Apr 1, 2016, 1:40 PM
We're contacting you regarding a very regrettable episode of your podcast. We learned of a guest you recently interviewed and were shocked and appalled by the slanderous, false
statements about a delegate we recently commissioned to liaison with us. That delegate is Anthony Bosworth.
The Coalition of Western States (COWS) has worked tirelessly to seek Intervention on behalf of the Hammonds to avoid them returning to prison. Furthermore, since the Malheur
Wildlife Refuge takeover on January 2nd, we have worked diligently with legislators, citizens, and community leaders, and corresponded with the FBI to seek a peaceful resolution
so that we could preserve life, bring an end to that chapter, and prepare for the battlefield of the courts, the legislatures, and the court of public opinion.
Anthony Bosworth was Instrumental in facilitating the safe passage of all who wished to leave the Refuge after Lavoy Finlcum was killed. At our request, he facilitated discussions
between FBI negotiators, legislators within COWS, and patriots at the Refuge.
The notion that he was part of an elaborate operation to undermine and divide the patriots by the federal government, or anyone else, is appalling.
We consider Anthony Bosworth to be an asset to the Coalition of Western States who is a patriot of the highest caliber, and to be candid,we're very suspicious of the motives of the
individual you had on as your guest who insinuated and accused Mr. Bosworth of the most heinous betrayal of his fellow countrymen.
Mr. Bosworth continues to hold our trust and we hold him in the highest esteem. Our hope Is that you will make the proper corrections to your investigative story in which he was
so maliciously maligned. He is highly regarded patriot by us, and one who has repeatedly earned and reaffirmed our confidence.
I hope that we can correct this unfortunate episode and put it behind us so that we all together can move forward in the case of freedom and liberty.
Very Sincerely,
Rep. Matt Shea {WA)
Chairman
And the following COWS Board of Directors:
Lyle Rapacki, Ph.D. (AZ)
Vice Chairman
Kris Anne Hall
Legal Advisor
Rep. Mark Finchem (AZ)
Arizona Coordinator
Rep. Heather Scott (ID)
Idaho Coordinator
Rep. Michele Fiore (NV)
Nevada Coordinator
Sup. Robert Corbell (AZ)
County Elected Coordinator
Richard Mack (CSPOA)
Peace Officer Coordinator
Steve McLaughlin (LWWA) [sez he quit?]
===
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