During a special session on Tuesday, the Pinal County Board of Supervisors approved a plan to fix incorrect early ballots mailed to about 63,000 voters last week. The ballots were missing city and town contests from seven municipalities: Casa Grande, Eloy, Mammoth, Maricopa, and Superior, along with the Pinal County portions of Apache Junction and Queen Creek.
Pinal County agreed with the secretary of state’s office to send supplemental ballots, or “Municipal Only” ballots, to all voters in the seven municipalities. However, those voters must also use their original ballot for all federal, state, and legislative contests — the supplemental ballots will only account for the races absent from the original, erroneous ballots.
The county will also have in-person voting at Election Day polling sites for municipal contests in the seven impacted cities and towns. As for voters with ballots including races outside their jurisdiction, the county assured reporters that the election tabulation system would invalidate and not count them.
— Pinal County – Government 🌵 (@PinalCounty) July 13, 2022
As the Arizona Daily Independent noted, Elections Director David Frisk acknowledged that the county officials bore full responsibility, namely himself.
“Due to human errors made by myself and staff under my direct supervision, ballots were produced and mailed to voters within seven municipalities without the appropriate local races and measures,” said Frisk. “I missed the crucial step of ensuring that each ballot style produced had appropriate races on it […] It was my mistake.”
The plan comes after AZ Free News reported about one Pinal County resident — attorney general candidate Tiffany Shedd — who petitioned her election officials repeatedly about address errors on her and her family’s voter ID cards. Several weeks before the county mailed the 63,000 erroneous ballots, a deputy county attorney informed Shedd — after alleged hostility from the recorder’s office — that she could no longer contact election officials about her issue.
“Our driver’s licenses don’t match our voter ID cards and it was unacceptable to me that any elections official thought it was okay that we might be forced to cast a provisional ballot,” remarked Shedd at the time. “It is a huge problem to receive a ballot for an election that we are not qualified to vote in, and to be denied the opportunity to vote in your own city’s elections. Is it any wonder people are questioning whether our elections are free and fair?”
Shedd also reported that her son received a ballot including a city council race, despite living outside city limits. This was one issue that affected thousands of other Pinal County voters.
For weeks I have been raising the alarm about the wrong address on voter registrations and it’s effect on the primary. After being ignored we now have a huge mess! #Elections2022pic.twitter.com/SRo5ANzokp
The COVID-19 pandemic expedited the political battleground shift to schools, alerting parents to the presence and impact of controversial concepts like Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Social Emotional Learning (SEL), and leading to the launch of grassroots organizations to navigate the new territory: Courage Is A Habit (CIAH) is one of the latest.
CIAH publishes resources focused on defining and identifying hot-button topics prevailing in K-12 classrooms in Arizona and across the country: diversity, equity, inclusion, and their presence in a variety of controversial educational practices like CRT and SEL.
Do you think that radical indoctrination isn't happening in your child's school? Download our free guide: "10 Questions Every Parent Should Ask". This is a tool for the average parent to use right now. Make courage a habit in your home.
In one of their more recent initiatives, CIAH issued a guide to facilitate communication between parents and educators: “10 Questions Every Parent Should Ask.”
In May, CIAH put together an informational video explaining the ideological progress from Marxism to communism and its relation to controversial ideologies in schools like CRT.
Additionally, CIAH collects videos published by teachers discussing controversial social justice topics under a filing series labeled “Classroom Exposed.”
As AZ Free News reported previously, Collaborative Academic Social Emotional Learning (CASEL) helped bring SEL into mainstream practice.
CIAH also offered a sample parental opt-out form for educational materials from or concerning the National Sexuality Education Standards, Future of Sex Education (FSE) Initiative, Sex Etc., Advocates for Youth, Answer, Sexuality Information and Education Council U.S. (SIECUS), Planned Parenthood, the Kinsey Institute, any and all “Pride” vendors and/or third parties like Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN), CASEL Competencies or any evidence-based SEL programs, Black Lives Matter (BLM), CRT, the 1619 Project, and the COVID-19 vaccine.
The opt-out form also revoked parental consent for discussions on abortion, birth control or contraceptives, sexual activity, sexual orientation, and gender ideologies or theories.
For parents and community members navigating the increasingly heated landscape of open records requests — which, as AZ Free News reported, led to Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) to publicizing the names of records requesters and redacting all staff names in records responses — CIAH compiled resources on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
FOIA is the federal law that requires governmental transparency.
🧵 “Open records request” is a tool that many parents do not utilize or even know exist. You may have heard the term “FOIA” which refers to the “Freedom of Information Act” (https://t.co/rOX1H3Z8Dx). This allows citizens (parents) to:
Since last summer, a Democratic political action committee (PAC), Revitalize Arizona, has invested over $120,200 into State Representative David Cook (R-Globe). Their latest investment was nearly $12,500 in communications advocacy, reported on Monday.
In total, Revitalize Arizona invested 250 percent more into Cook than in the next-highest candidate from 2021 and this year, all of whom were Democrats.
Altogether, Revitalize Arizona spent about $128,500 in favor of Democratic candidates from 2021 to present — about $20,800 more for eight candidates.
Over the past decade, Revitalize Arizona has spent well over $1 million opposing Republican state and local-level candidates. By comparison, the PAC spent approximately $10,000 opposing one Democratic candidate in 2020: State Representative Richard Andrade (D-Glendale).
Revitalize Arizona funds began flowing to Cook last June, after Cook was the only Republican to join Democrats in voting against legislation that would’ve prohibited cities and counties from requiring prevailing wages or union labor as a condition of receiving a bid or contract.
Revitalize Arizona, a Tempe-based PAC, is chaired by Israel Torres, a partner in the Torres Consulting and Law Group, which chairs the same address as the PAC. The PAC funneled $48,000 to the group in 2020, totaling over $122,100 over the past decade. It also paid Torres Multicultural Communications, previously known as Torres Marquez Communications, over $681,200 over the past decade, with the majority paid out to the firm in 2019: nearly $646,000.
All of their funds come from another PAC run by Torres: Residents for Accountability. That PAC receives its funds largely from unions. Among its funders from the past two years are the Arizona Pipe Trades 469 PAC, affiliated with a union, and Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC) Action Fund PAC, affiliated with a social justice nonprofit. Over the past decade, a number of other union-affiliated PACs have funded Residents for Accountability.
The PAC has a history of investing in Democratic polling companies such as the D.C.-based Lake Research Partners, whose past clientele have included President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Janet Napolitano, Sheila Jackson Lee, AFL-CIO, and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Arizona.
They’ve also invested in Democratic polling company SKD Knickerbocker, from which Anita Dunn hailed — Biden’s senior advisor and former President Barack Obama’s communications director.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) now posts the names of individuals online who submitted records requests, and redacts staff members’ names in response to requests. SUSD will anonymize its employees’ words and actions, but it will ensure that the public is aware of who is looking into the district and how.
SUSD board candidate Amy Carney accused SUSD of intimidating individuals seeking information from the district.
“They don’t want parents or community members asking questions and they will now out you if you do,” wrote Carney.
Beginning July 1, SUSD began publishing a list of record requests including the name of the requester, the request, and the status of the request’s fulfillment. AZ Free News obtained emails associated with this update, as well as SUSD’s separate decision to redact staff names.
One parent emailed SUSD to request that it comply fully with an open records request by not redacting staff names. SUSD general counsel Lori Bird responded that they wouldn’t. She explained that the district decided to redact all staff names due to media attention.
“The District has a strong interest in maintaining a safe and secure environment for its employees including, to the extent possible, not creating situations where staff members are harassed and threatened either through social, digital or print media,” wrote Bird. “In the last few months specific staff have experienced unfounded accusations of child sexual abuse and ‘grooming’ and have been threatened and harassed utilizing their work contact information and also on social media platforms. Concerns regarding the safety of employees are taken seriously by the District.” (emphasis added)
AZ Free News has been one of the outlets to report frequently on SUSD and the controversial fruits of its records requests. Most recently last month, SUSD unintentionally provided a parent with blank patient intake forms for a Phoenix hormone and gender transition facility. The records request concerned a high school librarian and Gender & Sexualities Alliance (GSA) Club.
Earlier last month, SUSD made headlines again for the content of its social justice programming, “Unitown.” Parents and community members were divided on the curriculum, part of which included a sexual orientation exercise that challenged minors on their heterosexuality and asked about their sexual behaviors, such as whether it was possible they’d consider a homosexual lifestyle if they experienced “a good gay/lesbian lover.”
In May, SUSD came under fire again after its superintendent, Scott Menzel, defended a staff member for discussing gender ideology with kindergarten and elementary students. Menzel accused parents of Civil Rights violations.
Menzel previously defended staff members who encouraged childhood exploration of gender and sexual identity through GSA clubs.
In April, SUSD’s social justice professionals promoted drag queen storytime.
Last December, AZ Free News reported on SUSD allowing students to replace their legal birth names with preferred names to align with their desired gender identity.
Last March, an SUSD middle school principal required teachers to attend a training supporting and affirming LGBTQ+ ideologies in children.
SUSD is currently facing a lawsuit from Attorney General Mark Brnovich over its retention of Jann-Michael Greenburg as a governing board member. Brnovich contended that Greenburg shouldn’t remain on the board due to his alleged circumvention of Arizona’s Open Meeting Law.
Today, our office filed a lawsuit seeking to remove Jann-Michael Greenburg from the Scottsdale Unified School Board.
Parents should never be silenced regarding the education of their children. https://t.co/iIrJPn2kBm
A separate controversy involving Greenburg accrued international headlines, after a dossier on SUSD parents and community members compiled by his father, Mark Greenburg, was discovered. The elder Greenburg sued one mother, Amanda Wray, for publicizing the dossier, under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Last month, a district court judge denied Wray’s anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Last month, Liberty Unified School District (LUSD) outsourced its superintendency oversight to a staffing agency through a “retire/rehire” arrangement. In a divided 3-2 vote, the LUSD governing board allowed their superintendent, Lori Shough, to retire and then be rehired to the district through the staffing agency, Education Services Incorporated (ESI). ESI provides a workaround to state law, enabling Shough to draw from the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) while still working for the district full time.
The LUSD board held discussions on the ESI arrangement in an executive session last month, out of public view, for about two hours. Shough has worked in the Arizona school system for 24 years.
The arrangement is part of ESI’s “RetireRehire” program. The agency claimed that program members make more money in their profession without impacting the state’s retirement benefits. Shough won’t have to pay any fees for administering — but LUSD will.
“For many people, it’s like getting a raise,” stated ESI.
Under IRS guidelines, state law requires anyone who retires from ASRS but continues to work for their ASRS-providing employer to either limit their work to 20 hours for 20 weeks or less per year, or stay out of ASRS work for 12 consecutive months.
In an informational video about RetireRehire, ESI asserted that it began because of the ASRS rules, or separation of service requirement.
LUSD board members Michael Todd and Bryan Parks objected to the arrangement, arguing that it allowed Shough to “double dip” her retirement. In a press release, the pair argued that neither Arizona law or district policy allow school boards to outsource its authority to staffing agencies.
Parks expressed concern that Shough signed the ESI staffing agreement as both a worker and client, which he insisted removed the governing board’s control over the employment, direction, supervision, evaluation, compensation, discipline, and discharge of the superintendency.
“The whole scheme needs to be reviewed by the county attorney or the attorney general’s office,” said Parks. “Why should board members put in this effort and spend countless hours of time just to have schemes like this subject us all to personal liability? Who is going to be willing to volunteer as a board member when school districts do such things?”
As of last October, ESI reported working with over 1,500 retirees across 140 school districts, colleges, and government institutions in Arizona through its RetireRehire program.
The board, in another divided 3-2 vote, also approved confidentiality agreements for all ESI employees placed at LUSD. The board also agreed to a 75 percent performance pay compensation for Shough.
LUSD was also the first school district to have a transgender woman on its governing board. That member, a man named Paul Bixler who believes he is a transgender woman, argued against parents’ rights to their children’s information during House Education Committee discussions in the most recent legislative session.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
