Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap lacks key elections powers, thanks to late decisions by his predecessor and the former Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (BOS).
Reportedly, Heap is operating without a full budget, staff, IT support, access to county buildings, and confirmation of his deputy recorder selection. State lawmakers with the Arizona Freedom Caucus blamed BOS Chair Thomas Galvin for these ongoing limitations to Heap’s authority.
State Senator Jake Hoffman urged Maricopa County residents to contact Galvin over the changes.
“Supervisor Thomas Galvin has STRIPPED Recorder Justin Heap of his control over our Elections and is REFUSING to reinstate it,” said Hoffman.
🚨ELECTION INTEGRITY ALERT
Corruption in Maricopa County!
Supervisor @ThomasGalvin has STRIPPED Recorder @azJustinHeap of his control over our Elections and is REFUSING to reinstate it
Email & Call him now! Thomas.Galvin@maricopa.gov (602) 506-7431
Much of these developments occurred back in October, when the outgoing BOS members and former Recorder Stephen Richer approved changes to the powers of the recorder’s office. The changes took effect in December.
Under that agreement, the BOS assumed control over the recorder’s $5 million budget and IT staff.
Additionally, the BOS appoints the early ballot processing board. Prior to that agreement, the recorder oversaw early ballot processing.
In a statement issued at the time of the agreement, a county spokesperson said the county made changes to make the recorder’s office more efficient.
“In Arizona, elections are administered by the County Board of Supervisors and the County Recorder. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Recorder’s Office have had agreements in place to manage these administrative functions since the 1950s,” said the spokesperson. “The update to the current agreement will adjust administrative responsibilities to create efficiencies, most notably in Information Technology-related services.”
Ultimately, Arizona law empowers county boards of supervisors with authority over election administration.
Despite these limitations, Heap has continued to work around the restrictions on his position.
Last week, Heap announced his office’s policy change allowing bipartisan election observers into the signature verification room.
Heap has done more than that his first month in office. In an update issued on Friday, the recorder recapped other accomplishments from his first days: removing a record number of inactive voters from voter registration rolls, preparing for impending upgrades to the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) process for military personnel on deployment, and eliminating the salaries and positions of six external communications officers to free up resources for elections databases and systems.
In that update, Heap addressed the allegations against Galvin and his predecessor. Heap disclosed that he anticipates a new agreement with the BOS will emerge soon reinstating his authority.
“I am currently working with the members of the Board of Supervisors to replace this agreement with one that serves the people and the mission they gave me to ensure future elections in Maricopa County are fully secure, efficiently operated and, above all, accurate. I am hopeful that we will have a new agreement in the near future that helps us all achieve those aims,” said Heap.
Had a great first month at the Recorder’s office with exciting initiatives leading to more transparency and confidence in our election processes!
There is a lot more planned, and this update is a great summary of our accomplishments and challenges facing the office: https://t.co/LCMJELAawB
— Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap (@azjustinheap) February 8, 2025
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On Friday, Arizona Congressman Abe Hamadeh took up the charge begun by Senator Jim Banks during his time as a Representative when he asked why China Daily, a newspaper owned and paid for by the Chinese Communist Party, is delivered routinely to House and Senate offices throughout the Capitol. Hamadeh, along with 14 Republican cosponsors, has introduced House Resolution 110, which if passed in the House, would prohibit the publication from being distributed in House offices. In a press release, Hamadeh’s office explained that the measure “ensures that foreign adversaries cannot use taxpayer-funded government buildings to push propaganda under the guise of news.”
Hamadeh said in a statement, “The halls of Congress should never serve as a platform for foreign propaganda, especially from a hostile regime like the Chinese Communist Party. For years, China Daily and other CCP-backed publications have been distributed freely in House offices, giving the CCP an unchecked pipeline into our institutions. That ends now. No more free passes for the CCP in the People’s House.”
In a corresponding post to X, Hamadeh’s staff expressed his exasperation writing, “China Daily News just showed up again at our office. It takes only a few minutes of research to learn this is CCP-funded propaganda.”
China Daily News just showed up again at our office.
It takes only a few minutes of research to learn this is CCP-funded propaganda.
This has no business being disseminated in the halls of Congress, especially on the tax-payer dime.
— Office of Congressman Abe Hamadeh (@RepAbeHamadeh) February 7, 2025
“Standing up to the CCP’s influence operations is a bipartisan national security priority,” Hamadeh added in the statement. “I’m grateful to my colleagues who are joining this effort to close an open door the CCP should have never had in the first place.”
Speaking with Jan Jekielek, Senior Editor of the Epoch Times, Hamadeh emphasized the absurdity of Chinese propaganda being permitted in the halls of Congress. He suggested that the China Daily matter would be the equivalent of the Chinese Communist Party allowing Voice of America to be distributed in the Chinese National People’s Congress.
He stressed, “What does that say about us as a government? Can you imagine us putting our propaganda like Voice of America into the Communist Chinese? They would never tolerate that. And they don’t tolerate it. And yet here we are tolerating that the Communist Chinese are able influence and infiltrate in that aspect.”
As a former Intelligence Officer, Congressman Hamadeh was trained never to underestimate your enemy. If you do that, it's game over.
You have to be constantly on guard about what our adversaries are up to, and that's why the Representative is dedicated to securing the border… pic.twitter.com/PG05dGr6mZ
— Office of Congressman Abe Hamadeh (@RepAbeHamadeh) February 7, 2025
In February 2020, thirty-five Republican U.S. Senators and Congressmen penned a letter to then-Attorney General William Barr calling on him to “clamp down on Chinese propaganda,” asking that China Daily be investigated and labeled as a foreign agent, according to the South China Morning Post, a Hong-Kong based publication critical of the CCP,
“China Daily’s important role in China’s foreign disinformation campaign warrants a full-fledged investigation,” they wrote in the 2020 letter, launched by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Banks which was co-signed by seven GOP senators and 26 representatives.
“We cannot allow a foreign dictatorship to use America’s legislative buildings to push their propaganda,” Hamadeh concluded in his statement. “Congress must take a firm stand against the CCP’s disinformation campaigns. This is about protecting our institutions, our national security, and the integrity of the People’s House.”
The resolution is cosponsored by fellow freshman Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) as well as, Reps. Eric Burlison (R-MO), Lance Gooden (R-TX), Mike Haridopolos (R-FL), Darrell Issa (R-FL), Darrin LaHood (R-IL), Troy Nehls (R-TX), Burgess Owens (R-UT), Derek Schmidt (R-KS), Greg Steube (R-FL), Dave Taylor (R-OH), Joe Wilson (R-SC), Rob Wittman (R-VA), Randy Weber (R-TX) .
China Daily was emailed for comment, however no response was received by time of publication.
Marvin Aneer Jalo, a Buckeye 17-year-old charged in an attempted terrorist attack on the 2024 Phoenix Pride Parade will be tried as an adult after a ruling from Judge Joseph Kiefer on Friday. Kiefer denied efforts by the suspect’s attorneys to remove the case to juvenile court stressing the seriousness of the charges against him.
Jalo was arrested in October and charged with one count of terrorism and one count of conspiracy to commit terrorism in connection with an alleged conspiracy hatched on messaging platforms Discord and Telegram to attack the event using a “bomb drone,” equipped with TATP (Triacetone Triperoxide) and C4 explosives.
Judge Kiefer denied the motion by Jalo, as reported by AZ Family, stating “The seriousness of the offenses does not support that public safety is best served by defendant’s case proceeding in juvenile court.” He added that the suspect demonstrated “a very concerning level of participation and planning toward possible attacks in multiple U.S. cities.”
In the indictment against Jalo obtained by Fox News, a Grand Jury alleged that the teenager “intentionally or knowingly did provide advice, assistance, direction or management of an act of terrorism to further the goals, desires, aims, public pronouncements, manifestos or political objective of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.”
A statement from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office revealed that investigators found Jalo had “participated in online chat rooms discussing the supplies necessary to make an improvised explosive device and then had those supplies shipped to him. He discussed his intent to make TATP (tri-acetone triperoxide), an unstable explosive that can propel shrapnel and other dangerous items outward, causing serious injury or death to people in the area,” and furthermore “posted various videos of himself making the TATP” while “continuing to reference a desire to use those explosives.”
Jalo was arrested at his home in Buckeye with his mother telling authorities that the two had argued after she discovered her son “in chat rooms, with the use of his cell phone, speaking with other subjects whom she described as terrorists, who had been conspiring to conduct a possible attack,” per court documents.
The suspect later spoke with police and “confirmed he had been speaking with extremists, who were actively recruiting him. [Jalo] told police that he needed to gather more knowledge and better prepare himself before taking part in a terrorist event.”
Judge Keifer said in his ruling that the messages exchanged between Jalo and his co-conspirators weren’t merely “Should we engage in this conduct” or “What would it be like to engage in this conduct,” but rather centered on “how the group would actually prepare for and accomplish these attacks.” The Judge added that although Jalo could have been “posturing” or “embellishing,” the role he took in the chats was “significant.”
Jalo’s next hearing is scheduled for February. He was held on a $1 million cash-only bond as of October. However, due to his age it is unknown if he is still in custody or has been released on bond.
One of Arizona’s most powerful lawmakers was in Washington, D.C., this week to attend a significant event at the White House.
On Wednesday, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen attended an event at the White House, where President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to keep men out of women’s sports.
The executive order stated that, “In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports. This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”
President Trump’s order went on to mandate that, “It is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
Petersen has been instrumental in leading legal efforts to defend Arizona’s Save Women’s Sports Act in 2022. After a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled to sustain an injunction against this law, Petersen and other Arizona officials appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States to request a hearing at the nation’s high court. The state is still awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision on whether to accept cert on the case.
I am on my way to the White House. Trump is about to make girls sports great again. No more stolen titles. Girls can again pursue their dreams. 70 percent of Americans agree on this issue. And Republicans are delivering on multiple fronts and from all three branches. We have…
In a statement previewing his appearance at the White House, Petersen said, “The war against women and girls is now taking a dramatic turn for the better, and sanity is being reinstated. This is exactly the common sense that Arizona and America voted for. Thanks to President Trump, American girls can once again pursue their dreams. No longer will athletic titles be stolen from them by males. An overwhelming 70% of Americans agree on this issue, which is a key reason why approval ratings of Democrat elected officials are at an all time low.”
🚨FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Senate President @votewarren Joins President @realDonaldTrump at White House for Executive Order Signing to Ban Men from Women's Sports
Petersen added, “I’m proud to join President Trump today in Washington D.C. for this historic moment. He is going to make girls’ sports great again, and I know that he will never stop fighting for us.”
According to a recent poll from Gallup, 69 percent of Americans believe that transgender athletes “should only be allowed to play on sports teams that match their birth gender.” This number was a seven percent increase in public perception over two years.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
With Arizona leaders unifying statewide to back the Trump administration’s effort to make schools healthy, one Maricopa County leader is opposing.
Fountain Hills Town Council initially was unified in its support of HB2164, or the “Arizona Healthy Schools Act”: a bill to clean up the foods offered in the state’s public schools. The town council voted unanimously to issue a letter of support for the bill during its regular meeting on Tuesday. However, after the meeting officially ended, one of the council’s Democrats rescinded her vote.
Even with the rescinded vote from council member Peggy McMahon, the motion still passed.
Welp, that was a short lived beautiful moment of unity for the health of our children.
Peggy McMahon pulled her support now that the cameras are off, so I guess we’ll edit this tweet to say “the council majority”
Vice Mayor Hannah Toth — who led the council effort to file a letter of support — expressed her disappointment with McMahon’s change of heart.
“Welp, that was a short-lived beautiful moment of unity for the health of our children,” posted Toth on X. “Peggy McMahon pulled her support now that the cameras are off, so I guess we’ll edit this tweet to say ‘the council majority.’ What can ya do.”
In her motion to pass the letter of support, Toth pointed out that the U.S. is virtually the only developed country that hasn’t banned the ingredients prohibited in the Arizona Healthy Schools Act.
“[These are all chemicals] that are linked to behavioral issues, cancer, autism, even mental health because it’s chemicals. A lot of it is derived from crude oil,” said Toth. “All cities and towns in my opinion should be coming together in support of this bill – this is something that helps secure our future.”
The motion was celebrated initially as a bipartisan movement to back the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. MAHA is the primary focus of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary nominee and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“[President Trump] asked me to end the chronic disease epidemic in this country,” said Kennedy. “And he said, I want to see results, measurable results, in the diminishment of chronic disease within two years. And I said, Mr. President, I will do that.”
Last month, Texas Republican Congressman Chip Roy published a 47-page report, “The Case for Healthcare Freedom,” detailing America’s health crisis as supplementary guidance for the MAHA movement.
The Arizona Healthy Schools Act, introduced by Republican State Rep. Leo Biasiucci, would restrict public schools from serving or selling “ultraprocessed” food and drink during school hours. The bill defines “ultraprocessed” foods and drinks as those which contain one or more of the following ingredients: potassium bromate, propylparaben, titanium dioxide, brominated vegetable oil, yellow dye 5 or 6, blue dye 1 or 2, green dye 3, or red dye 3 or 40. The bill doesn’t prohibit parents from providing their students with foods or drinks containing these ingredients.
An amendment to the bill also prohibited third parties from selling ultraprocessed food and drink on school campuses. The amendment also directed the Arizona Department of Education to post on its website a standardized form for public schools to certify its compliance with the legislation as well as a list of public schools certified by the department for their compliance with the legislation.
The bill passed out of the House Education Committee recently with unanimous bipartisan support.
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