The Arizona Capitol was astir on Wednesday after House leadership entertained the notion of dispatching law enforcement to track down two Republican members needed to pass three election integrity bills. Ultimately, the idea was nixed, the legislators never came back, and the three bills failed — but leadership and the two lawmakers are at odds as to who was to blame.
House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R-Mesa) and Majority Leader Ben Toma (R-Peoria) contemplated dispatching Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers to locate State Representatives Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek) and Jacqueline Parker (R-Mesa) in order to pass three bills: SB1013, SB1260, and SB1362. Though the bills failed, all three will be reconsidered.
Hoffman accused Bowers and Toma of engaging in intimidation tactics. On “The Conservative Circus” radio show, Hoffman claimed that Bowers knew days in advance that he was missing multiple Republican votes for certain election bills, but decided to wait to utilize law enforcement on the day of voting. He said that was why Bowers and Toma were to blame for the three election integrity bills’ failure.
“The bottom line is that Rusty Bowers and Ben Toma knew they were missing Republican votes yesterday, yet they decided to put up election integrity bills up for vote so that they would fail,” said Hoffman. “Rusty Bowers chose to play petty political games with critical election integrity bills, and then attempted to wield the power of tyrants to send armed men to his own conservative members to clean up his mess.”
Hoffman said that Bowers issued disparate treatment in sending DPS after him, noting that Bowers refused to send DPS after Democrats last year who staged a walkout during budget voting.
“Last year when Democrats all over the country, including right here in Arizona, were weaponizing their legislative attendance to try to kill election integrity legislation, when they were running and hiding in an attempt to prevent a quorum, the conservatives were the ones who asked Rusty Bowers last year to send DPS in a legitimate government role to bring them back to the capitol, and he refused to even consider it every single time it was brought up,” said Hoffman.
Hoffman claimed that Bowers and Toma were “playing games” with election integrity bills. He insisted that the pair forced every House representative to sit around for an hour as they planned to send officers to his and Parker’s homes.
In response to Hoffman’s accusations, Bowers explained that Hoffman and Parker walked away from the House floor to influence voting in the Senate. He blamed Hoffman and Parker for the failure of the three election integrity bills.
“House rules permit us to compel members back to vote,” stated Bowers. “Let me be clear, sending DPS was discussed but was never deployed in any fashion. Any notion otherwise is a lie. Because we were missing votes, 3 election integrity bills failed on the House floor.”
Two members of the House walked off the floor during a vote because of Senate action that I do not control. Members of the House of Representatives are expected to show up to do the peoples work. House rules permit us to compel members back to vote. https://t.co/qH3mjpVjT9
— Speaker Rusty Bowers (@speakerbowers) May 19, 2022
Parker made light of media coverage of the situation. She alluded to live reporting from Arizona Republic reporter Mary Jo Pitzl, who relayed that Parker and Hoffman were called “Bonnie and Clyde” by those on the floor and stated falsely that DPS was dispatched.
“Bonnie and Clyde? Is the same press that called us ‘fiscal hawks’ last year now comparing us to bank robbers? More like Robin Hood & Lil John standing up to King Rusty & Sheriff of Nottingham Toma,” wrote Parker. “Just wait until the budget comes out & the real bank robbers are exposed!”
Bonnie & Clyde? Is the same press that called us “fiscal hawks” last year now comparing us to bank robbers? 🤣 More like Robin Hood & Lil John standing up to King Rusty & Sheriff of Nottingham Toma…🤣🤣🤣 Just wait until the budget comes out & the real bank robbers are exposed! https://t.co/djm4AMl2XP
— Jacqueline Parker (@electjacqparker) May 18, 2022
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Democratic congressional candidate and former state senator Kirsten Engel declared on Wednesday that there isn’t a border crisis.
Arizona Horizon host Ted Simons asked Engel during an election debate whether she agreed that the current state of the border constituted a crisis. Engel said she didn’t, adding that additional borders security wasn’t the solution.
“No. It does need help at the border. We do — Washington, I would say, has failed us. It’s not just this administration. It’s the past administration. We do need help at our border. We do need to secure our border. We have issues of drug trafficking and human smuggling that need to be addressed, but certainly not walls. I mean walls are a 13th century solution to a 21st century problem.
Engel, who resigned from the state senate last September, insinuated that turning away illegal immigrants was the real crisis.
“I mean, let’s look at what’s going on here. We have people, migrants, coming who want to make a home in our country. You know, these people are like our ancestors coming here. That is — that’s the crisis. That’s a humanitarian crisis,” said Engel. “What we need from Washington is having an orderly asylum process. That’s national law, that’s international law. We need comprehensive immigration reform. We have to help our Dreamers.”
WHOA: Democrat candidate Kirsten Engel, who’s running in a swing border district, denied the border crisis exists in a debate last night.
Simons: “Does Arizona have an immigration crisis?” Engel: “No.”
The debate also featured Engel’s Democratic opponent, State Representative Daniel Hernández Jr. (D-Tucson), who disagreed with Engel. He said that a wall wasn’t enough, pointing out the need for more security technology like drones.
“We are seeing that people don’t feel safe where they’re living, even though we are saying that this is an issue that has gone time after time,” said Hernández. “To say there is no crisis is wrong.”
Engel agreed that a federal presence was necessary at the border, as well as more technology, but emphasized her opposition to a border wall.
“Walls are not going to do it, and neither are photo ops,” said Engel. “It’s not all drug smugglers. It’s families with little kids.”
Hernández said that his perspective on rescinding Title 42 reflected that of Democratic Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema: the policy should be removed, but there should be a plan ready to fill the void left behind.
“These are people coming here trying to get a better life, so we should treat them humanely with dignity, but make sure we have a plan to actually address [them],” said Hernández.
Engel agreed, calling Title 42 a “stop-gap solution.” She pointed out that about half of the people returned to Mexico under Title 42 ended up reentering the country, citing that as a failure of the policy. Like Hernández, Engel said she wanted to see a plan first before rescinding the policy.
“There’s no adjudication of their claim,” said Engel. “Title 42 is not the answer.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) signed onto a bill allowing victims of illegal immigrant criminals to sue the relevant state or local jurisdictions that adopted “sanctuary” practices. At the time of this report, Gosar was the only one of Arizona’s congressmen to cosponsor the bill. A total of 26 representatives nationwide have cosponsored the legislation.
According to data from the Center for Immigration Studies, Arizona doesn’t have any counties or cities with sanctuary practices: those policies, laws, ordinances, regulations, or resolutions preventing enforcement of federal immigration law by refusing cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Phoenix almost became a sanctuary city in 2017, but their city council voted against it. Then in 2019, Tucson voters rejected a sanctuary city proposal outlined in Proposition 205. Months before the COVID-19 outbreak, Governor Doug Ducey requested the legislature introduce a constitutional amendment to outlaw sanctuary practices statewide. That legislation never came to fruition.
The bill in question — HR515, the “Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act of 2021” — was introduced by Congressman Ted Budd (R-NC-13) in early January of last year. The bill was referred to the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship last March. Since then, it hasn’t moved.
HR 515- Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act, would allow victims of illegal alien crimes to sue sanctuary cities. This would hold them accountable.
Areas in red are where the Congressman is cosponsoring. If you have a GOP Rep and they're not in red, call them! pic.twitter.com/vxwbvaesy5
— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) May 16, 2022
Gosar urged fellow Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) to cosponsor the bill as well. He retweeted a post urging Lesko to take action.
— Sun Belt Politics (@SunBeltPolitics) May 17, 2022
Certain state level efforts to mitigate crimes committed by illegal immigrants haven’t moved either. State Representative John Kavanagh’s bill to require the publication of illegal immigrant mugshots and information, HB2326, hasn’t advanced the Senate since it was passed in the House in February.
Over 100 cities and counties qualify as sanctuary areas. 11 states adopted sanctuary practices: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
A nonprofit promised an entire grade of elementary school students free college tuition should they graduate from high school. Not only will the tuition be covered: books as well as room and board will be covered as well.
The 63 third graders attend Phoenix’s Bernard Black Elementary School in Roosevelt School District No. 66. A nonprofit in Avondale, the Rosztoczy Foundation, raised the funds through their College Promise program. The foundation has also provided scholarships for Hungarian students to research with U.S. college professors.
The students must graduate from their elementary school, then graduate from a school within the Phoenix Union High School District. The students may apply their tuition at any one of Arizona’s state universities or community colleges. They also have the option to attend a private or public post-secondary institution outside of Arizona, with the possibility of receiving funding up to the maximum available to students attending comparable in-state universities or community colleges.
While in college, the student must maintain a 2.0 GPA to continue receiving the scholarship. They must also be enrolled in a minimum of 12 credit hours each semester, with regular progress toward a degree. The scholarship may only apply for four consecutive years. If the student finishes their undergraduate before four years are up, they may apply the remaining scholarship toward their graduate school fees and costs.
The third graders were surprised with the news at an assembly at the end of April.
This isn’t the first time that the Rosztoczy Foundation has done this: in 2012, they awarded about 80 third graders in the Michael Anderson School within the Avondale Elementary District with the same scholarship. They would have graduated high school last year, and those enrolled in college will be completing their freshman year this month.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Democratic leaders liked a tweet describing the assault on a supporter of former President Donald Trump. Specifically, two state legislators, one county election official, two high-level state employees, and three Democratic Party leaders of various levels.
The Democratic legislators supported the violence-glorifying tweet from the same Planned Parenthood leader, Chris Love, who called for people to “break s**t” in response to the Supreme Court’s refusal to stop Texas’ abortion ban. Love tweeted to express her pleasure over her husband assaulting a Trump supporter last weekend during a pro-abortion rally.
“My husband @MiQL got lost in the crowd and I had to send folks to find him. Instead of hanging in the tented area with the cool kids, he was organizing folks,” wrote Love. “He also body checked some dude in a ‘Blacks for Trump’ shirt. Swoon!”
The tweet and Democrats’ support occurred several days before they would demand the censure and expulsion of State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) for alleging in since-deleted social media posts that federal agents were behind the Buffalo mass shooting.
“Fed boy summer has started in Buffalo,” wrote Rogers.
One of the Democratic legislators that liked Love’s tweet celebrating assault was State Senator Juan Mendez (D-Tempe), who’s been absent for a vast majority of the legislative session on excused absence. As AZ Free News reported earlier this week, State Senator T.J. Shope (R-Coolidge) requested an ethics investigation into Mendez’s absence.
State Representative Mitzi Epstein (D-Chandler) also liked the controversial tweet. Additionally, Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly showed her support for Love’s celebration of the assault.
The two state employees that liked the tweet were Allie Bones, assistant secretary of state to Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, and Tyler Kowch, constituent services manager at the Arizona Department of Education.
One of the more prominent Democratic Party leaders that liked Love’s tweet was Priya Sundareshan: state senate candidate for district 18, election integrity staffer with the Arizona Democratic Party, chairwoman of Asian American Pacific Islander Democrats in Arizona, and director of University of Arizona (UArizona) Natural Resource Use and Management Clinic.
The other two Democratic Party leaders to like the tweet were Missa Foy, chairwoman of Navajo County Democrats, and Judy Stahl, former congressional candidate and Democratic Women of the Prescott Area Chair.
Others who liked the tweet were those within academia and activist organizations.
There was Will Knight, former Maricopa County attorney candidate and Arizona State University (ASU) Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law adjunct professor; Rebecca Garelli, Red for Ed organizer with Arizona Educators United; Dr. Dawn Penich-Thacker, co-founder of Save Our Schools Arizona; and Bridget Sharpe, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Arizona State Director.
Republican National Committee (RNC) leader Tyler Bowyer pointed out the Democratic state legislators’ support of social media posts endorsing violence, wondering why mainstream media hadn’t covered it initially.
Wow— so this violent tweet from the Planned Parenthood Board Chair calling for destroying property was liked and retweeted by sitting elected officials, including the AZ Dem Chair, candidates for Statewide and Federal Office. Why aren’t we seeing this radical stuff on @azcentral? https://t.co/R6LfSCXzA6pic.twitter.com/EjeYwgmelU
Bowyer predicted to conservative radio host James T. Harris on the “Conservative Circus” that the mainstream media’s lack of equal treatment when covering Democrats would lead to further divisiveness in the state and country.
“We’re really playing with fire here. We don’t have a community today where we can allow Democrats just to hijack our communities, incite violence, and get away with it,” said Bowers. “This is the reason why nobody trusts the media anymore. People will figure this out, they will talk, there will be an uproar of good, normal people once they find this stuff out, and people will start turning on our local media.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
