by Corinne Murdock | Jul 9, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The city of Phoenix plans to send hundreds of unclaimed guns to Ukraine, around 500 to 600 guns, over the next two years.
The Phoenix City Council approved the measure during last week’s formal meeting. The city will give the guns to a private company headquartered in Pennsylvania, D.T. Gruelle, who will then transport them to the National Police of Ukraine. The city will expend nothing for the transfer.
The approximately $200,000 in firearms given to Ukraine will only be 9mm, 45mm, 39mm, and 12 gauge. The firearms transfer agreement is binding for two years: June 28 of this year to June 28, 2025.
However, the gun donation may be unlawful.
Arizona House Judiciary Committee leaders immediately contacted Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego over the arrangement. In a letter, the committee members warned that the gun donation violates state law.
Reps. Quang Nguyen (R-LD01) and Selina Bliss (R-LD01), chair and vice-chair of the committee, urged Gallego to repeal the ordinance.
The lawmakers noted that state law prohibits political subdivisions from enacting any ordinance concerning the possession, sale, transfer, purchase, acquisition, or use of firearms.
The lawmakers also noted that state law doesn’t permit cities or other local governments from disposing of their firearms through donations. Rather, statute permits local governments to either trade the unclaimed firearms to a federal firearms licensed business in exchange for items like ammunition or weapons, or sell the unclaimed firearms to an authorized business who will then sell those firearms to the public.
The pair reminded Gallego of Brnovich v. City of Tucson, in which the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the city of Tucson’s ordinance ordering the destruction of unclaimed firearms conflicted with state law.
It appears that Phoenix’s donated guns may not only go to the National Police of Ukraine, but the citizens themselves.
The company contracted to take the unclaimed guns, D.T. Gruelle, has close ties to the Ukrainian government. Their managing director, Marco Gruelle, sits on the board of Ukrainian Arsenal of Liberty (UAL): a group created by Ukrainian Parliament members for the purpose of arming citizens. Parliament member Maryan Zablotskyy sits on UAL’s board.
Also on UAL’s board are Oleksandr Markushyn, mayor of the city of Irpin, and Ivan Slobodyanyk, chair of the Union of Local Communities and Farmers Union of Ukraine as well as a fighter in the Territorial Defense Force.
According to UAL’s donation brief, they utilized donated and unused guns obtained by American states’ police forces. Unclaimed guns are held by the Phoenix Police Department; as the Arizona Daily Independent first reported, the donation plan didn’t mention tracking measures for the guns once donated.
The company first engaged in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict last February. D.T. Gruelle has provided “critical aid transport” to various conflict zones since 2019.
That same year that D.T. Gruelle began providing conflict zone assistance, it established its 501(c)(3) nonprofit, D.T. Care, which currently provides emergency relief to Ukraine. Marco Gruelle also serves as president of D.T. Care. In its last annual report, issued in 2021, D.T. Care distributed over $361,000 in relief to South Africa, Panama, Lebanon, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, respectively.
D.T. Gruelle was founded in 1982 by Durard Timothy Gruelle, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War who continues to preside over the company today.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Jul 8, 2023 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
A Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) principal serving on the board of a prominent LGBTQ+ activist group has won principal of the year.
Pueblo Elementary School Principal Shelley Hummon won the 2023 National Distinguished Principal (NDP) from the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP). The Arizona School Administrators’ (ASA) Elementary Division selected her to win. Hummon also serves on the board of one-n-ten, a Phoenix-based LGBTQ+ activist group targeting minors and young adults.
As part of the award, Hummon will be flown to Washington, D.C. in October for formal recognition at an NAESP event.
Like one-n-ten, NAESP supports promoting LGBTQ+ ideologies among children. NAESP expanded its focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in recent years to include gender identity and sexual orientation.
In June 2021, NAESP featured another elementary school principal, Seth Daub of Orange County Public Schools, to argue that educators should guide children in LGBTQ+ beliefs.
“When addressing the topic of LGBTQ inclusion at the elementary school level, schools need to exhibit much more than mere tolerance,” wrote Daub. “Educators must make the conscious choice to accept, embrace, and celebrate it, and must do so without question and without hesitation.”
NAESP, like one-n-ten, also opposes the exclusion of males identifying as females from female sports and private spaces.
Another significant one-n-ten board member is Tracy Nadzieja, the first transgender judicial officer in Arizona. Nadzieja, a man who identifies as a woman, has served on the Maricopa County Superior Court bench since 2018. Nadzieja also volunteers with the women’s collegiate fraternity, Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG). (KKG is considered a “women’s fraternity” because it was founded before the creation of the term “sorority.”)
Other one-n-ten board members are:
- Rick McCartney (chair), CEO of InMedia Company and board member for the Children’s Museum of Phoenix and Gov. Katie Hobbs’ Workforce Council;
- Kris Cano (vice chair), WestWorld general manager and former Scottsdale Police Department forensics director;
- Scott Greenwood (treasurer), longtime ACLU general counsel, board member, and executive committee member;
- David Cane (secretary), Wag! executive and former Uber program lead;
- Cory Braddock, partner at Snell & Wilmer law firm;
- Bev Crair, senior vice president for Oracle Corporation;
- Calvin Cole, vice president of AmTrust Bank and board member for Terros Health, Keogh Health Foundation, and Boys and Girls Club of the East Valley;
- Angie Dittrich, American Express senior manager and lead for the company’s PRIDE+ Colleague Network;
- Darryl Embrey, Vanguard senior business technology project manager;
- Valdo Figueroa, Wells Fargo senior technology operations manager and formerly Bank of America senior vice president;
- Lou Goodman, retired Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections executive and pro tem Maricopa County justice of the peace;
- Floyd Hardin III, Rio Salado College’s executive officer of equity and college relations;
- Manuel (Manny) Soto-Griego, health information management professional and Arizona Health Information Management Association board member;
- Sima Thakkar, Raza Development Fund senior director of health & climate equity, with former roles as regional relationship manager for PetSmart Charities, and manager of the city of San Diego’s Community Development Programs on affordable housing and homelessness;
- Judie Verb, U.S. Bank executive vice president, Arizona Council on Economic Education board member, and Government Relations Council member for Consumer Bankers Association;
- Nate Rhoton (one-n-ten CEO), chair of the city of Phoenix’s Human Relations Commission, vice chair of Leading for Change, member of Maricopa County Community Colleges’ LGBTQ Advisory to the Chancellor, with former roles as a Human Rights Campaign steering committee member, Greater Phoenix Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce board member, and Equality Arizona board of directors co-chair.
Sponsors of one-n-ten include American Airlines, Cox, SRP, Tito’s Vodka, and Estrella Jalisco.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Jul 7, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Governor Katie Hobbs has rejected a request made by 12 of Arizona’s 15 county attorneys to rescind her executive order taking away their authority to enforce abortion law. The county attorneys submitted a letter to the governor on Monday. The county attorneys issued a Friday deadline for her response.
The governor issued an executive order last month stripping county attorneys of their ability to enforce abortion law. Hobbs bestowed that responsibility onto Attorney General Kris Mayes, who has already said she plans on ignoring the law.
Abortion is banned after 15 weeks’ gestation in Arizona.
The letter pointed out that Hobbs’ action undermined the duty and discretion of the county attorneys to enforce the law.
“The governor’s office should not interfere with the discretion of prosecutors in fulfilling their duties as elected officials,” stated the letter. “Whether this was the intended purpose, the result [of the executive order] is an unnecessary and unjustified impingement on the duties and obligations of elected county attorneys in Arizona.”
The county attorneys also contested that Hobbs had usurped authority that didn’t belong to her.
“This executive order results in an exercise of authority not vested in the governor’s office,” read the letter. “It is a substantial overreach to suggest the governor may strip away prosecutorial discretion from local, elected officials.”
READ THE LETTER HERE
Hobbs’ new communications director, Christian Slater, tweeted in response that Hobbs’ assuming control over the judiciary in an effort to undermine the current law was part of her putting “sanity over chaos.” Slater labeled those opposed to abortion as “extremists.”
“Governor Hobbs will continue to use her lawful executive authority to put sanity over chaos and protect everyday Arizonans from extremists who are threatening to prosecute women and doctors over reproductive healthcare,” wrote Slater.
Hobbs issued the executive order one day before the one-year anniversary of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Hobbs’ order revoked the authority of county attorneys to prosecute abortion-related cases, and passed that authority onto Mayes.
Hobbs called abortion a “fundamental right,” the existence of which she claimed was paramount to freedom.
“I signed an Executive Order protecting Arizonans’ reproductive freedom,” said Hobbs. “I will not allow extreme and out of touch politicians to get in the way of the fundamental rights of Arizonans.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Jul 7, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma (R-LD27) told Gov. Katie Hobbs to rescind her executive order banning conversion therapy for minors.
In a letter sent on Monday, Toma advised Hobbs that the order was likely unconstitutional since it wasn’t enacted via the legislature. Toma further warned that the order could violate the Parent’s Bill of Rights as well as the Arizona Constitution.
“Although other states have enacted laws banning conversion therapy, those states have that policy choice through the legislative choice. Your executive order is an improper exercise of your authority,” stated Toma. “The far-reaching mandates of your executive order also threatens to violate the Parents’ Bill of Rights […] and Arizonans’ constitutional rights, including patients’ rights to freely speak with their therapists[.]”
Toma further criticized the governor for her definition of “conversion therapy,” which he asserted was “unprecedented, vague, unintelligible, and unenforceable.” The main reason for this, Toma asserted, was because Hobbs’ team came up with it themselves.
“[T]he executive order’s ban on ‘conversion therapy’ is a ban defined by your administration alone — bearing no resemblance to the laws of other states,” stated Toma. “State agencies directed to implement your executive order cannot even begin to understand what constituted a banned ‘conversion therapy.’”
In one of two executive orders related to LGBTQ+ issues last week, Hobbs banned state or federal resources to promote, support, or enable any conversion therapy. The governor defined conversion therapy as the following:
“‘Conversion therapy’ means any practice or treatment that seeks or purports to change an individual’s non-heteronormative sexual orientation or non-cisgender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expression, under the false premise that homosexuality and gender-diverse identities are pathological. This does not include gender-affirming care.”
The states that banned conversion therapy through legislative statute are New Jersey, California, Oregon, Illinois, Vermont, New Mexico, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Nevada, Washington, Hawaii, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Colorado, Maine, Utah, Virginia, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania enacted conversion therapy bans via executive orders.
Federal courts in Florida have twice ruled against similar bans — in November 2020 in February — as unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
In her executive order, Hobbs cited general consensus from the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Counselor Association, and the National Association of Social Workers that conversion therapy poses a danger to minors.
The governor also cited a duty to use taxpayer funds on fiscally sound, safe, credited, effective, and evidence-based practices.
The other executive order expanded state employee health care plans to cover gender transition surgery.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Jul 7, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Vice President Kamala Harris visited Arizona on Thursday to discuss special advantages her administration has given and plans to give to Native Americans.
The trip marked Harris’ first visit to Indian country, according to the Gila River Tribal Nation’s opening remarks during the event.
Harris called the tribal nation’s reliance on a federal assistance leasing program a “symbol of sovereignty.” The vice president further declared that the federal government retains responsibility to ensure tribal members are successful.
“President Biden and I also believe that we have a duty to address the deep disparities that persist across Indian country. Disparities that are the result, and truth must be spoken,” said Harris. “Disparities are the result of centuries of broken treaties, harmful assimilation policies, displacement, dispossession and violence,. We have a duty to ensure that all Native people have the opportunity to thrive.”
Harris further said it was the federal government’s responsibility to ensure economic opportunity and success to Native communities through home and small business loans, as well as lines of credit. The vice president cited their administration’s investment of over $500 million into Native American entrepreneurs and small business, and hundreds of millions into community banks.
Harris characterized the Native Americans as “stewards” of the environment for “millennia.”
This mass characterization conflicts with certain realities, especially in recent American history. Native Americans played a role in causing the near-extinction of buffalo with their hunting practices, which included driving mass herds of buffalo off cliffs or killing hundreds at a time just to harvest small parts, like tongues.
(A widespread claim blames professional hunters wishing to eradicate Native Americans for decimating the bison population in the 19th century; however, research shows that the near-extinction was caused by mass disease, triggered by the reduction of bisons’ natural population managers: humans.)
Consequently, Harris revealed that the federal government would invest billions into “climate-resilient infrastructure projects” led only by Native American individuals.
“In order to create enduring solutions to the climate crisis, we must then rely on the knowledge and the experience of Native communities,” said Harris.
Harris claimed that Native Americans’ voting rights remain in jeopardy, citing remarks made in a meeting with activist Allie Young and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.
The pair alleged the threats concern the distance it takes to reach polling places, and the denial of tribal land IDs when voting. Harris called for two weeks of early voting, an increased number of dropboxes, and same-day automatic voter registration.
Harris also shared that the federal government is working to install voter registration sites in Indian Health Services locations.
The vice president also touched on the federal government’s internet infrastructure initiative. Native Americans receive a special deal on internet access through the Biden administration’s arrangement: up to $75 off per month, versus only $30 off for non-tribal households.
The Biden administration has consistently focused on equity-focused treatment of Native Americans in issuing federal funding. Last year, the administration awarded $261,000 for a regional study of 16 miles of a pedestrian and bicycle pathway, and nearly $25 million to the Colorado Indian River Tribes to reconstruct 10 miles of road.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
