BY STEPHEN LEMONS
Maricopa
Strong, a recently formed independent expenditure committee with a Phoenix
address, has been sending anti-Sheriff Joe Arpaio mailers to Republicans in
Maricopa County over the last couple of weeks.
According to
sources with knowledge of the committee, Maricopa Strong is the creation of Berlin Rosen, a liberal political consulting firm with offices
in New York City, Washington, D.C., and California, which boasts strong ties to
New York's Democratic Mayor Bill DeBlasio, as well as progressive billionaire
and right-wing bete noire George Soros.
Contacted by phone, Berlin Rosen co-founder Valerie Berlin would
only say that she is not authorized to speak on behalf of the committee.
A call to the Richmond, Virginia, phone number listed on
Maricopa Strong's statement of organization with Maricopa County Elections was
not immediately returned. But both that number and the committee's chairwoman,
Whitney Tymas, have been associated with independent expenditure committees in
other states that have been financed by Soros and have paid Berlin Rosen for
services rendered.
For example, according to campaign finance records filed with the state of Florida,
Tymas is listed as both the chair and treasurer of the Florida Justice and
Safety Committee, which was financed to the tune of $1.3 million by Soros and
paid Berlin Rosen almost the same amount of money for TV ad buys and mailers to
attack Jeff Ashton, Florida State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit,
in his recent Democratic primary battle against newcomer Aramis Ayala.
With the help of the Soros-financed IE, Ayala, an African
American woman, bested Ashton by nearly 14 points in the August 30 Florida primary,
de facto becoming the local prosecutor for that district, as the Republicans
did not field a candidate. Soros' influence was a major topic of discussion
during the race.
A recent Politico article painted Florida Justice and
Safety as part of a nationwide campaign by Soros to affect radical change to
America's criminal justice system in favor of elected prosecutors that support
sentencing reform. To this end, according to Politico, Soros has spent more
than $3 million this year on seven local district attorney races across the
country. More at Phoenix
New Times
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