On Tuesday, the Scottsdale City Council voted 5-2 to ensure that merit-based hiring, evaluation, and promotion replaces “unlawful and anti-meritocratic forms of discrimination,” and that the use of city funds for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) cease.
Despite the protests of 45 activists, along with current and former city employees, the vote carried with the newly elected council members and mayor acting on the mandate voters gave them in November.
The council also voted 5-2 to enact an ordinance requiring all city employees to return to in-person work. In both votes, Councilwomen Maryann McAllen and Solange Whitehead dissented. Mayor Lisa Borowsky voted with the majority. According to the text of the City Council Meeting Agenda, the new Ordinance No. 4662 will:
“1. Ensure city employees are hired, evaluated, and promoted based on merit, protecting City of Scottsdale employees from unlawful and anti-meritocratic forms of discrimination, and ensuring that residents and taxpayers are served by the most qualified city employees.
2. Discontinue the use of city funds for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) systemic programming, to include the Office of DEI, DEI programming and trainings, and other initiatives that could arguably violate A.R.S. § 41-1494. Training and prevention of unlawful discrimination remains encouraged and shall continue.
3. Direct the City Manager, or designee, to reassign the Diversity Program Director and ADA/Title VI Compliance Coordinator to an appropriate department and position; reflect these changes in the city’s organizational chart; and make the necessary budget transfers and amendments necessary to carry out the intent of this Ordinance.”
Councilman Adam Kwasman, a supporter of the ordinances, stated that equity needs to be removed from government because “it infers that equal justice under the law cannot exist. … It imposes a racial hierarchy predicated upon a narrative of past injury at the cost of equality.” Kwasman has been a prominent voice decrying the public being “bombarded with DEI” by the city.
You can’t walk into Scottsdale City Hall without being bombarded with DEI. This poison will be rooted-out of our beautiful city. No matter one’s race, orientation or creed, we value content of character. pic.twitter.com/dho2n4OU7a
Two members of the council attempted to forestall the vote by calling for a work study to be completed, examining the city’s DEI practices. However, this attempt was voted down.
Kwasman addressed the City Council and the activists in attendance by pointing out that the city’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act would not be affected nor would the city’s stance on anti-discrimination practices,
“Tonight, there is a purposeful conflation between intentions of those who do not believe in certain government programs and those who have a heart that’s aimed true and caring toward a diverse crowd. Toward somebody, toward a diverse community, to belief in equity, to a belief in inclusion because the definitions of diversity, equity, and inclusion are wonderful. They’re wonderful. Nobody questions it. Diversity brings together people from different backgrounds and different viewpoints. It enhances decision-making. It prevents group think.
“Equity is a centuries-old concept of law. It boils down to treating people fairly. And who could object to making people feel welcome where they live and work? You’re doing a good job. The problem, the problem is where the rubber meets the road. The problem is that DEI, as practiced here and elsewhere, it runs policies through the lens of race and sex and other identity categories. It actively prevents… it actively prevents diversity of viewpoint. It subverts equal opportunity in favor of an artificial equality of outcome. It excludes those believe whose beliefs diverge from a narrow orthodoxy.
“Companies, as of today, that have moved away from DEI include the following, as of today: Disney, GE, PayPal, Comcast, Amazon, Bloomberg, McDonald’s, Walmart, Lowe’s, Ford, Jack Daniels, which I think we all need one after tonight, Harley-Davidson, and John Deere.
“Scottsdale must be a city where all are welcome…to build a future and a flourishing future for themselves and their families, a place where everyone is treated equally and fairly under the law. This ordinance does not get rid of our ADA compliance, nor does it get rid of our anti-discrimination ordinance. And I stand with the Mayor when she stated that if there is ever an instance of discrimination in this city, I will stand shoulder to shoulder along with everybody on this dais to fight discrimination.”
WATCH THE MEETING:
The ordinance will directly impact two city roles: the city ADA coordinator, whose office would be relocated, and the Diversity Director, who may be reassigned.
A bill to help bolster communications between law enforcement officials and Arizonans with disabilities is advancing through the state legislature.
Earlier this week, the Arizona House of Representatives Committee on Public Safety & Law Enforcement passed HB 2330, which was sponsored by State Representative Julie Willoughby. If signed into law, this proposal would “direct the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) to allow individuals to voluntarily disclose if they or their vehicle have a communication disability, ensuring that this information is accessible to law enforcement officers during traffic stops and other interactions.”
In a statement that accompanied a press release to announce the bill’s progress, Willoughby said, “Public safety means making sure all Arizonans – especially those with unique needs – are understood and protected in interactions with law enforcement. HB 2330 is a commonsense step to give officers the tools they need to respond appropriately while giving individuals with communication disabilities the opportunity to self-identify in a way that can help de-escalate situations.”
Representative Willoughby added, “This bill aligns with the House Republican Majority’s commitment to secure communities, ensuring law enforcement has the resources and information they need to do their jobs effectively and safely.”
According to Willoughby’s release, “Under current law, ADOT provides a medical code designation on a driver’s license but does not retain it in records unless specifically requested.” This bill “improves on this by allowing individuals to voluntarily disclose communication disabilities in both driver and vehicle records, ensuring that first responders have timely access to this critical information.”
On the Arizona Legislature’s Request to Speak system, representatives from the Town of Gilbert, City of Goodyear, Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, League of Arizona Cities & Towns, City of Chandler, and Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police, endorsed the proposal from Representative Willoughby.
HB 2330 sailed through the House committee with an overwhelmingly bipartisan 15-0 vote. It will soon be considered by the full chamber.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Thanks to DOGE and four wunderkind coders in Treasury’s basement, Americans learned this week that their government sent millions to fund a “DEI musical” in Ireland, a “transgender comic book” in Peru, electric vehicles in Vietnam, and an Anthony Fauci exhibit at the NIH Museum.
Faster than Ludicrous+ mode on a Tesla, the Trump admin’s new code bros are sifting through the financial ledger of America’s spending. Just 20 days in office and the new administration has saved the American taxpayer billions of dollars — exactly what Trump promised on the campaign trail. And as the president’s third week unfolded, news worsened for Democrats and America’s permanent bureaucratic state.
It seems the permanent bureaucracy borrowed the U.S.S.R.’s media playbook, funneling millions to left-wing news organizations such as The New York Times, Politico and Reuters. Evidently it wasn’t enough that a Republican in the newsrooms of our state-run media outlets, PBS and NPR, is rarer than a cogent sentence from Kamala.
Democrats, meanwhile, have decided that this Deathstar boondoggle of government spending at its worst is the hill they want to die on. Conservatives watched with glee as Rep. Maxine Waters, Sen. Chuck Schumer, et al, led the Charge of the Lightweight Brigade to USAID’s former headquarters. Cue dopey chant: “wE Will wiN!” (2025 update—no, you didn’t).
Before all the spending porn (as the great Louisiana wag, Senator John Kennedy dubbed it), Democrats’ opinion polls were in the gutter, with a disapproval rating of 57%.
Do the Dems think rushing to the barricades to defend out-of-control spending will earn them the respect and admiration of the American public? Expect their approval ratings to continue to sink like the Hindentanic.
USAID is just the beginning.
Wait until DOGE bites into the Department of Defense, which has never passed an audit.
In 2019 while on reserve duty at the Pentagon, I was thrown into yet another meeting chockablock with PowerPoint slides, so beloved by our military. This particular meeting was to cover the results of a service-wide audit. To summarize about 187 slides and 2 hours: we failed.
All the top brass in the room somberly listened to the auditors describe $5 billion worth of missing aircraft engines, leases for buildings and land that did not exist, accounting systems closer in age to the abacus than a modern spreadsheet, and miles of missing debits and credits.
As the most junior officer in the room, I kept quiet but closely studied the faces of my superiors. They too, kept quiet, only murmuring “next slide” as disaster after financial disaster was flashed across the screens.
My inner fiscal hawk prayed that the service chief would flip the table over and channel Col. Nathan “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH” Jessep. But he remained impassive and the meeting dissolved with a whimper and no plans for reform.
That night leaving D.C., I happened to bump into a very senior republican senator at Reagan National Airport and thought it my civic duty to share the (unclassified) events of earlier in the day. I told the venerable appropriator that the audit had revealed billions in waste, fraud, and abuse, and even suggested he should make a request to see the failed audit for himself.
(In the hindsight afforded by three years working in the U.S. Senate, I now know how utterly naive this moment was).
He paused a moment, then said, “Well, you know how these things are. That’s Washington for you.”
I felt sick at the time, which is likely the same feeling many Americans are having this week as they see the grift laid bare in our nation’s capital.
But the good news is that Trump and his DOGE team have restored the hope that government might be right-sized and returned to solid financial footing.
On Friday, when he was asked about the job Elon Musk is doing, the President remarked, “I think we’re going to be very close to balancing budgets for the first time for many years.”
What a tantalizing prospect — a government that spends within its means may truly bring about the golden age of America promised in the president’s inaugural address.
Morgan Murphy is a contributor to The Daily Caller News Foundation, military thought leader, former press secretary to the Secretary of Defense, and national security advisor in the U.S. Senate.
“Due to the recent executive order issued on January 28, 2025 Phoenix Children’s is indefinitely pausing gender-affirming medical care for children under the age of 19,” read a notice issued by the hospital to patient portals involved in their gender transition program.
Like Trump’s other executive orders, the president’s mandate ending gender transitions for children quickly faced legal challenges.
As a result of its pause on the gender transition program, Phoenix Children’s Hospital arranged for its pharmacists to wean program children off of any puberty blockers or hormones.
On Monday, parents also received letters from providers Vinny Chulani and Ashish Patel advising of the end to puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy.
The hospital marketed its Gender Support Program as the most comprehensive in the state. The program offered consultation for parenting strategies, endocrinology consults, and referrals to mental health providers and specialists for various procedures.
These consultations would explore the use of puberty-suppressing medications as well as masculinizing and feminizing hormonal therapies. The hospital also provided support and advocacy for social transition endeavors in schools and the public through legal name and gender marker changes on identifying documents.
At one time, the hospital affiliated its Gender Support Program with the Arizona Trans Youth and Parent Organization.
Public details of the program in recent years became less available. After AZ Free Newscovered Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s gender transition program at length, the hospital scrubbed more public information of its program from its website.
The extension of transgender ideology to children offered a sort of community for parents affirming the gender dysphoria of their children. Parents of children who underwent gender transition procedures offered by Phoenix Children’s Hospital would join the Gender Proud Patient and Family Advisory Council.
Activist groups issued a statement lamenting Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s decision as a “betrayal” to their cause.
“Gender-affirming care has been shown to significantly improve the mental, emotional, and physical health of transgender youth,” said the coalition. “To remove access to this care in Arizona is a direct attack on the trans community and the families who have fought tirelessly for their children’s well-being.”
Those who signed onto the statement: Tami Staas, the Arizona Trans Youth and Parent Organization; Carol Tappenden, the Education Action Alliance (formerly GLSEN Arizona); Brandie Reiner, NASW Arizona; Dustin Griswold, Family Planning Associates Medical Group; Jeanne Casteen, Secular AZ; Civia Tamarkin, National Council of Jewish Women Arizona; Nate Rhoton, one-n-ten; Grace Chenal, SIGA Therapy; Darrell Hill, ACLU of Arizona; Lynn Davis, Rabbi Joseph H. Gumbiner Community Action Project; Lori Shepherd, Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center; Athena Salman, Reproductive Freedom for All Arizona; Maria Ingalla, psychiatric mental health nurse and practitioner; and Jodi Liggett, Arizona Center for Women’s Advancement.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
An Arizona Democrat lawmaker is working to undermine the efforts in her state and nation to enforce the rule of law when it comes to border security and immigration policy.
Last week, Arizona State Senator Analise Ortiz announced that she had introduced the “Immigrant Trust Act.” The purpose of this bill, according to Ortiz, would be “to ensure Arizona’s immigrant communities feel comfortable seeking medical assistance, reporting crimes and completing their day-to-day activities without the fear of deportation.”
PRESS RELEASE: Senator Ortiz introduces the Immigrant Trust Act to protect Arizona immigrants pic.twitter.com/cooGSfQrb8
In a statement, Senator Ortiz said, “Over the last year, we have seen Republican elected officials at both the state and federal level work to make our country unwelcoming to immigrants. They have pushed racist rhetoric that has caused all immigrants – documented and undocumented – to live in fear. No one should fear that living their normal, every day life could lead to deportation.”
Ortiz added, “While the Arizona Legislature does not have authority to dictate policy at the federal level, we can ensure citizen safety right here at the State Capitol. That is why I have introduced the ‘Immigrant Trust Act’ (SB 1362), which will make the distinction between state, county and municipal law enforcement and federal immigration authorities very clear.”
SB 1362 has been introduced in the face of a drastic change in federal immigration policy, which took place immediately after President Donald J. Trump took the oath of office on January 20 at noon. Since then, the president has prioritized immigration enforcement and border security, which has outraged many on the left, who have sought to protect most of those illegally in the country.
The Democrat legislator’s lengthy statement concluded with the following charge to her colleagues: “Our community is fed up. It is past time to make Arizona a fair and welcoming state where everyone is able to participate in their communities without fear. Passing the ‘Immigrant Trust Act’ is the first step toward making that a reality.”
This bill has been assigned to the Senate Military Affairs and Border Security (MABS) Committee, which is chaired by Senator David Gowan. With Republicans in firm control of the chamber, it has little chance to pass out of the committee – if it is even heard at all.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
