Sedona AZ (September 28, 2015) – The following is a letter to the SedonaEye.com editor:
BUSTED!
New Evidence in the Case of Robert Burns, The ACC Usurper, Information & Perspective
by Warren Woodward
Sedona, Arizona ~ September 28, 2015
Sedona, Arizona ~ September 28, 2015
ACC Commissioner Bob Burns
Last week I filed a complaint against Robert Burns with the Arizona Attorney General for usurping his elected position of Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) commissioner. New evidence has surfaced in this case. Below is the letter I wrote to the Attorney General revealing this evidence. It can be summed up in one word: BUSTED!
The following is my letter to the Attorney General:
Warren Woodward
55 Ross Circle
Sedona, Arizona 86336
September 28, 2015
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich
1275 West Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85007-2926
Phoenix, AZ 85007-2926
Re: September 24, 2015 Complaint and Demand Quo Warranto pursuant to A.R.S. 12-2041, NEW EVIDENCE
Mark Brnovich;
New evidence has surfaced in the matter of Robert Burns, The Usurper, that, with this letter, I am now adding to my original Complaint and Demand Quo Warranto of September 24, 2015. This new evidence comes from Burns’ own mouth.
On September 23, 2015, Burns appeared on Arizona State University’s PBS 8 TV, the Arizona Horizons show with Ted Simons. I have enclosed a transcript of the relevant segment (and the show can be viewed here: http://www.azpbs.org/arizonahorizon/detailvid.php?id=15740 ).
At 11:09 into the program Burns was asked by Simons about being a registered lobbyist.
Burns stated, “So, I ended up being registered without my knowledge because that’s how the system works.” If Burns knows “how the system works” — that is, how allegedly easy it can be to be registered as a lobbyist — then he should have known to check the list of registered lobbyists at the Arizona Secretary of State’s website before filing to run for the position of Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) commissioner.
Instead, and by his own admission, Burns waited until after he was elected to concern himself with his conflict of interest. Burns said, “I didn’t even know I was on the list. So, when I got to the commission I asked Legal, I said, this council I’m on, do I need to get away from there? And they said, yes, you need to resign.”
Burns was too late, and what he really needed to resign from was his position as ACC commissioner. As I mentioned and cited originally, the Arizona Supreme Court has stated: “They must be free of conflict … at the point of election….” – not after the election. Additionally, according to A.R.S. 40-101, “A person … holding an official relation to a corporation or person subject to regulation by the commission … shall not be elected, appointed to, or hold the office of commissioner ….” (Emphasis mine) So Burns was ineligible even as a candidate, and as such, his subsequent election was void ab initio.
Also, if Burns truly did not know he was a lobbyist or conflicted, then why did he ask ACC Legal about “this council I’m on?” Burns obviously suspected he was conflicted or else he would not have consulted with ACC Legal to begin with. Burns should have vetted himself to make sure he met the qualifications for office before running for office. Instead, Burns waited until after he was in office to review his conflict. In short, Burns made himself a usurper of office. He has only himself to blame.
In the Arizona Republic newspaper article entitled, “Second Arizona Corporation Commission regulator found to be lobbyist” (which was enclosed in my original Complaint), we learn that: “On Friday [September 11, 2015], Michael Keeling, an attorney and lobbyist representing ATIC, sent a letter to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office asking that Burns be removed as a lobbyist for the group. It said Burns requested such a removal before he took office with the Corporation Commission but that Keeling misunderstood and thought Burns was referring to the former GITA.”
[GITA = Arizona Government Information Technology Agency, ATIC = Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council. Keeling’s letter is enclosed.]
But wait, if Burns did not know he was a lobbyist (as he stated on TV), then how he could he have asked Keeling to be removed as one “before he took office with the Corporation Commission?” Someone is not telling the truth.
In the newspaper story and according to Keeling’s letter “Burns requested such a removal before he took office with the Corporation Commission.” But later, on TV, Burns said, “So, when I got to the commission I asked Legal. I said, this council I’m on, do I need to get away from there? And they said, yes, you need to resign. So I resigned. Had no knowledge of the lobbyist issue, and so I thought I was out of it until just recently.”
The two stories are inconsistent. Keeling said Burns asked him to be removed as a lobbyist before Burns took office. Yet Burns said he inquired of ACC Legal after taking office and that he did not know he was a lobbyist!
Throwing yet another inconsistent story into the misleading mix – this time from the ACC – the Arizona Republic newspaper reported in that same article:
“Commission spokesman Barrett Marson said Burns resigned from ATIC when he took office as a commissioner. He said ATIC should have terminated Burns’ registration as a lobbyist.”
So, Burns did not know he was a lobbyist but Marson knew that Burns had resigned as a lobbyist.
Magical! It seems like everyone but Burns knew Burns was a lobbyist.
The ACC is tasked with the responsibility to protect AZ ratepayers by weighing the costs and benefits of all state utility requests.
But there’s more. In a wacky twist, Marson evidently “proved” his statement to the Arizona Republic newspaper by providing a letter (enclosed) that Burns supposedly wrote a month after taking office. In the letter, Burns resigned from the Digital Arizona Council (DAC), a completely different outfit! So, it looks like Marson has provided evidence that, in addition to being conflicted by ATIC, Burns was also conflicted by DAC both during and after his election.
Didn’t these guys learn in high school that the first thing you do when you’re in trouble is get your stories straight?
So, for the reasons set forth herein as well as in my prior Complaint, you, Mark Brnovich, as Arizona Attorney General, must enforce the law and proceed in Quo Warranto against Robert Burns without delay.
Sincerely,
Warren Woodward
Cc: Phoenix FBI
Read www.SedonaEye.com for daily news and interactive views!
saw azrepublic story make an indirect reference to your work
here’s an attaboy
Wow, where would this town be without you mr. woodward??? Nice job now that you CCed the FBI they’ll be the ones to come and get you with the straight jacket.
How are you related to the subjects of the story?
When the government is corrupt you must proceed one step higher each time corrupt or not.
Some end up at the FBI.
You would not know that being an uniformed anonymous being.
Blessings to the sleeping.
Warren, you and others, Nancy Baer, etal, have performed an outstanding service to the community. Unfortunately there are those who would probably be critical if they won the lottery.
Let us hope the FBI will crack the case and put those responsible for this shameful corruption in the proper light and justice will prevail. Maybe in the future we might be so fortunate for another FBI investigation to be opened in Sedona.
Thank you for your hours of diligence, tenacity, and perseverance – especially with the likes of those who will not reveal names.
Sincerely,
Eddie Maddock
A lot of Sedonians forget about the Bradshaw Ranch debacle – how the Bradshaws were chased off their ranch after Tom Dongo wrote 8 books about the paranormal activity there. The “Land Preservation Task Force,” a private group out of Santa Fe recommended that the government purchase the ranch to “protect” the “archaeological site.” We were always told that once the Feds purchased this property, it’d be open to visitors as a campground. Lies. It is still to this day, fenced and locked with NO TRESPASSING signs all over the place. I understand that UA Flagstaff will be taking over the ranch and creating a garden (for that non-existent underground base out there? what other reason to have a 90+ acre garden?) But that wasn’t the only property the Feds purchased – there were three others, the 110 acre Cleeves’ Ranch was acquired in March, 1999 for 2.3 million, the 160 acre Woo Ranch was acquired in August of 2000 for 6.9 million and came with water rights, and another 25 acre parcel was next to Cleeves was acquired for nearly a million dollars in 2002. Spearheading this “Treasured Landscapes” land grab was AZ Senator Jon Kyl and AZ State Representative Bob Stump. Kyl is now a legal advisor for corporations in DC, while Mr Stump has taken the helm at the Arizona Corporations commission, the entity that sets state utility prices and policies.