mayes
Attorney General Adds Five Progressive Democrats To ‘Politically Balanced’ Civil Rights Board

July 9, 2024

By Staff Reporter |

Attorney General Kris Mayes’ five new selections to the Arizona Civil Rights Advisory Board (ACRAB) are all progressive Democrats, challenging her characterization of the board as “politically balanced.” 

These latest ACRAB additions are Heather Ross, Enrique Davis-Mazlum, Justin Weinstein-Tull, Holli Ploog, and Lydia Peirce Linsmeier.

Ross and Weinstein-Tull are Arizona State University professors. Ross specializes in health equity and policy, while Weinstein-Tull specializes in constitutional law, state and local courts and governments, and election law. However, both were highly supportive of centralized COVID-19 government responses and oversight. 

As a special advisor to Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego from 2019 to 2022, Ross was principally behind the mask mandates and ordinances. Ross also advocated for an expansive COVID-19 contact tracing team to ensure quarantining. In a 2022 paper, Weinstein-Tull advocated for increasing the power of the federal government, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as justification. 

Ross is also, notably, an elected precinct committee person and state party delegate for the Arizona Democratic Party, and was a Democratic congressional candidate in 2018.

During her 2018 run, Ross advocated for progressive policies such as stricter gun control, expanding Medicare and Medicaid, and expanding clean energy. 

Ross also chairs both the Arizona Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Phoenix Women’s Commission. 

Weinstein-Tull signed onto a letter opposing now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the highest court, along with 13 other ASU professors.

Weinstein-Tull formerly served as a DOJ Civil Rights Division trial attorney and clerked with Ninth Circuit Justice Sidney Thomas.

Davis-Mazlum holds a doctorate in Gender Equality in Politics, noted for his defense of secularism while promoting gender equality and human rights. Davis-Mazlum has led several prominent progressive organizations: he was Arizona State Director for UnidosUS and UnidosUS Action Fund, campaign director for LUCHA Blue Campaign, and organizer for Voter Choice Arizona.

Through these groups, Davis-Mazlum has advanced progressive agendas, such as legalizing illegal immigration and abortion, and backed Democratic candidates for office: President Joe Biden, along with congressional candidates Ruben Gallego, Raquel Teran, and Kirsten Engel.

Holli Ploog is the vice mayor of Sedona, endorsed by pro-abortion Democratic organization Arizona List. Ploog is on the Democrats of the Red Rocks Board of Directors, and a supporter of progressive policies to address climate change. 

On her reelection website, Ploog is seen posing with Governor Katie Hobbs. Ploog also pledged her support for Senator Mark Kelly back in 2020 during his reelection bid.

Ploog was the sole dissenting vote on a council plan allowing the homeless with full-time jobs to sleep in their cars in a parking lot at Sedona Cultural Park. Ploog voted against the plan due to the uproar from constituents. 

Peirce Linsmeier works as an attorney specializing in fair housing, and serves as a board member for Disability Rights Arizona. Concerning disabilities, Peirce Linsmeier recently defended President Joe Biden’s reelection bid: she compared 32nd president Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s physical disability (paralyzation from polio necessitating a wheelchair) to Biden’s apparent mental disability (a cognitive impairment resembling dementia). 

“FDR used a wheelchair, and he did a pretty good job as president. Mobility aids have nothing to do with competence. #ableism,” wrote Peirce Linsmeier on LinkedIn.

In a press release, Mayes explained that these five additions provided much-needed expertise to ACRAB. 

“Their contributions will be invaluable as we work together to advance justice for all Arizonans,” said Mayes.

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