Arizona GOP candidate leaves income off his required finance report

Arizona GOP candidate leaves income off his required finance report

On Tuesday, the Phoenix New Times reported that Abe Hamadeh, the Republican nominee for attorney general in Arizona, improperly omitted several sources of income on his financial disclosure.

"In the financial disclosure statement, filed with the Arizona Secretary of State on March 17, Hamadeh claimed his total income was less than $1,000 from April 2021 to March 2022. But Hamadeh worked in the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office until October 1, 2021, one month before he announced his campaign. He was compensated to the tune of $63,086, according to county records," reported Elias Weiss. "Hamadeh also was an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, which is a paid position. Government documents show that commissioned officers in Hamadeh’s position receive $112.86 per drill. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Army Reserve officers are obligated to drill for at least 48 periods per year, plus two weeks of training. That would mean Hamadeh could have earned $5,417.28 as an Army Reserve officer."

According to the report, Hamadeh also left business interests and holdings off of his disclosure.

"When asked to disclose 'the name and address of each business, organization, trust or nonprofit organization in which you … held any office, position, or fiduciary relationship,' Hamadeh answered, 'N/A.' According to Hamadeh’s website, however, he is 'a board member of the Dean’s Council of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University,' a membership that predates the financial disclosure statement," said the report. "Hamadeh also inaccurately asserted in the disclosure statement that he does not control any businesses. Hamadeh is listed as the sole member for two active limited liability companies — WRA Properties in Scottsdale and Ham Advisors in Tuscon, according to the Arizona Corporation Commission."

Hamadeh recently generated controversy over internet posts he made on Ron Paul Forums when he was a teenager — including a boast that he fraudulently cast his mother's absentee ballot to vote for Barack Obama, and a series of sexist and anti-Semitic rants.

Ironically, Hamadeh is now vowing that as attorney general he will prosecute the supposed voter fraud exposed by "2,000 Mules," a right-wing pseudo-documentary by Dinesh D'Souza that used cell phone location data to claim people were illegally delivering other voters' mail-in ballots in multiple states.

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