U.S. Rep. Eli Crane [R-District 2] made several visits in the Verde Valley and Northern Arizona on Tuesday, Feb. 20. The first stop of the day was the Republicans of the Red Rocks breakfast, which was followed by a meeting with Sedona Mayor Scott Jablow and a tour with DeAnna Bindley, a resident of Forest Road 152C who has been trying to get off-highway vehicles restricted on U.S. Forest Service lands west of Sedona city limits.
“I’ll try to give you a little update about where we’re at,” Crane said in his opening remarks. “If you have tissues and Kleenex, you could pass them out because it’s not going to be too encouraging.”
Throughout his speech, Crane painted himself as a Washington, D.C., outsider and mentioned his political tussles with the Biden administration and Republican leadership.
“I’m proud to say that after my first year, not even my first term, but I’m one of the top three individuals that [former U.S. Rep.] Kevin McCarthy [RCalif.] is trying to take out as part of a Politico article that came out a couple of weeks ago … You can tell a lot about a person based on who their friends are. I think you can tell a lot about a person based on who their enemies are.”
The Feb. 1 Politico story to which Crane referred named him as one of the members of the “Gaetz Eight,” a group of Republicans named after U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz [R-Fla.] who voted with 208 Democrats to remove McCarthy from the role of Speaker of the House on Oct. 3. McCarthy resigned from Congress on Dec. 31. The story outlined an effort to rally McCarthy’s donors to support primary challengers against the dissenting Republicans in the October vote, and also noted that “Crane still lacks a compelling prospective candidate to take him on.”
“I think Speaker [Mike] Johnson [R-La.] is a little bit better,” Crane said in response to an audience question. “One of the big differences between Mike Johnson and Kevin McCarthy [is] McCarthy was like the epitome of a D.C. career politician who worked his way up from the top. He was so bought and paid for that there was no way he could possibly represent the American people in what we needed, because he’d sold his soul to lobbyists and special interest groups. Now that made him really good at raising money, which, unfortunately, is a big deal in politics.”
U.S.-Mexico Border
Later on, Crane complimented Johnson, saying, “I liked the fact that he killed the Senate Border Bill,” and for his securing passage of House Resolution 6126, which would rescind $14.3 billion appropriated for the Internal Revenue Service under the Inflation Reduction Act and divert the funds to Israel. Crane elaborated on his Israel position later in the day at the Mingus Mountain Republican Club, also talking about “why I incorporate [my faith] into my politics,” covered by Sedona Red Rock News’ sister newspaper, the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
“I do believe that Israel is one of, if not the best, ally that we have,” Crane said. “I also believe that God has a covenant with Israel, because of my faith. In the book of Genesis, God says, ‘I will bless those who bless Israel, I will curse those who curse Israel.’ Now, I realize we don’t all share the same faith, I realize that. But as a man of faith, if I read that, and I believe it, because it is my faith. And I see that I want to be blessed. And I want the people that I represent to be blessed because we bless Israel.”
Crane admitted that the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is not likely to succeed.
“It’s got to go to the Senate now,” Crane said. “I don’t think the Senate will remove him. But at least in the House, he was finally impeached. So, you know, I’m glad that that was finally done and taken care of.”
“I don’t know about the rest of you guys, but I don’t know any other way to classify what’s going on, other than invasion,” Crane said of the U.S.-Mexico border. “Some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, they’re bringing constitutional attorneys and lawyers and be like, ‘Well, that’s not what our founders meant.’ They didn’t mean civilians coming across the border. As if our adversaries and enemies around the world are so stupid that they wouldn’t think of sending military-aged individuals in plain clothes pretending that they’re just seeking asylum and just to even back up that further … under the last administration, I think there were 14 individuals in the time that President [Donald] Trump was president. [That] were encountered in our southern border that were on the terror watch list … You guys know how many have been encountered under this administration? About 350.”
Political Strategy
Crane explained that his strategy to achieve his political goals would consist of impeachments, seeking leadership change and holding hearings.
“The other thing that we can do is we can use the power of the purse,” Crane said. “That’s actually our biggest authority and our biggest power. Unfortunately, we have way too many weak Republicans who are unwilling to wield that sword.”
“There’s been many times even in this Congress in the last year where we tried to use the power of the purse, or our voting cards to hold the Justice Department accountable,” Crane said to the Cottonwood audience. “For instance, one of the things that myself, and I’d have to go look up the vote. But I think it was a resolution led by my friend, Matt Gaetz, I think it only got 60 or 70 votes. But we tried to deny the FBI their new headquarters. It’s going to be bigger than the Pentagon, believe it or not … Who thinks FBI, with their conduct over the last couple years, should be rewarded with a new headquarters bigger than the Pentagon? So the biggest thing that we can do, sir, is use the power of the purse to basically slap individuals or even institutions that have been weaponized against the American people.”
Media Coverage
The closing audience question was, “Why aren’t you out there more in the media?”
“I [am] trying to do a decent amount of media and depending on who I think will cover us fairly,” Crane said. “But at the same time, I try and do most of my talking with my voting card. But to your point, I could do more media, and I know my comms team definitely wants me to do more media.”
Local Control
Regarding OHVs on public land and short-term rental legislation, Crane said, “I think that’s something that should probably continue to be handled at the state and local level. “It’s not saying I wouldn’t look into it but I’m a big proponent of states’ rights and handling things like that at the state and local level.” Following the morning’s event, Jablow lobbied Crane to support the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act of 2023. Under the proposed legislation,
“Hedge funds would have a decade to divest themselves of the homes they own, at a rate of 10% per year,” according to RealEstateNews.com. “If they don’t, the penalty would be a tax of 50% of the fair market value of each property they continued to hold. Hedge funds would also need to report new purchases of single family homes or face a $20,000 fine.”
Research by the Urban Institute has showed that hedge funds owned about 574,000 single-family homes in June 2022. The report found that this made up 3.8% of single-family rentals.
