by Daniel Stefanski | Nov 7, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Two Arizona State Supreme Court justices survived competitive challenges to their retention to the judicial bench.
On Tuesday, state Supreme Court Justices Clint Bolick and Kathryn King won their retention elections. Both individuals had faced heightened challenges to their future service on the court.
Justice Bolick received 58.36% of the vote to retain, while Justice King obtained 59.43% to retain.
Bolick issued a statement after the outcome of his race was known, saying, “I am honored to have the opportunity to serve on the USA’s best state supreme court for another three years. I am beyond grateful for your votes, your support, and your prayers. This was so important to win to preserve an independent judiciary in AZ, and it appears we did so decisively. I couldn’t have better friends and colleagues!!”
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry posted a statement of support for the results of these two elections. Its account wrote, “Congratulations to Arizona Supreme Court Justices Clint Bolick and Kathryn King on overwhelmingly being retained by Arizona voters despite partisan attempts to remove them from the bench. The Chamber was pleased to support these fair-minded and independent jurists.”
Bolick and King were appointed by former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. Bolick received his appointment to the Arizona Supreme Court in 2016, while King obtained hers in 2021. Both justices served in the private sector as attorneys prior to making their journey to the state court.
According to the Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review (JPR), both Bolick and King received extremely high marks to meet the standards on the merits of their decisions. The Commission “exists to provide meaningful and accurate information to the public for its use in voting on the justices and judges appointed to the bench through merit selection.” In his average of all evaluation categories, Bolick acquired 97% or greater. King had 90% and over for her categories. The JPR is used for voter recommendations for each cycle’s judicial retention elections.
For most voters in Arizona, judicial retention contests are often met with more apathy than any other selection(s) on their ballots. In recent elections, however, outside groups have put more of a target on judges for increased voter scrutiny, leading to the addition of Bolick and King with this year’s ballot choices. This was Bolick’s second retention election and King’s first.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Nov 7, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
An attempt to transform Arizona’s elections systems on Tuesday night fell well short after voters went to the polls.
Proposition 140, which would have imposed a mixed system of Ranked Choice Voting and jungle primaries for future elections in Arizona, was defeated with almost 60% of the vote share, as of Wednesday evening.
“We are so grateful for the Arizonans who stood up to oppose this radical transformation of our elections systems,” said Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb and former Arizona Supreme Court Justice Andrew Gould, co-chairs of the No on Prop 140 Committee. “Voters of all political persuasions wisely concluded that Prop 140 would do irreparable harm to our state if enacted. Arizona elections must be free, fair, and transparent, and that is what our system remains after this just result.”
One of the measure’s fiercest opponents, Scot Mussi, the President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, praised the outcome. He said, “Prop 140 was one of the worst ideas to ever be proposed in our great state, and it is fitting that it met its demise from a vast majority of Arizonans. Radical leftists, out-of-state billionaires, and scheming consultants tried to hoodwink voters into adopting this failed system, spending millions of dollars and duplicating signatures to qualify for the ballot. We are so pleased that millions of Arizonans did their homework and said ‘hell no’ to, what would have been, a disastrous transformation of our elections system. California can keep their destructive policies and systems on their side of the state line.”
The organization behind Prop 140, Make Elections Fair Arizona, did not appear to issue a statement as of Wednesday on its website or social media platforms. Immediately following the close of polls on Tuesday night, its account promised to be “back online soon with an Election Day campaign update,” but that does not seem to have materialized yet.
In a Wednesday press release, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club highlighted the defeat of Ranked Choice Voting questions in several states in Tuesday’s General Election. Those results were as follows:
- Colorado: Proposition 131 was defeated with almost 55% of the vote
- Idaho: Proposition 1 was defeated with almost 70% of the vote
- Montana: Both CI-126 & 127 were defeated
- Oregon: Measure 117 was defeated with almost 60% of the vote
- South Dakota: Amendment H was defeated with more than 65% of the vote
- Nevada: Question 3 was defeated with almost 54% of the vote
- Alaska: Measure 2, which repeals the state’s ranked choice voting system, appears headed toward passage
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Nov 4, 2024 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona’s most recent Republican governor is cheering on his state’s latest ranking in a key education report.
This week, Governor Doug Ducey shared a new report from the Reason Foundation on the “K-12 open enrollment laws of all 50 states.” Ducey said, “Another new report shows that Arizona’s education system is one of the best in the nation. Arizona ranks number 3 among all 50 states for our expansive open enrollment policies that ensure every Arizona family has access to a good, high-quality education.”
Jude Schwalbach, a Senior Policy Analyst for Reason, said, “K-12 open enrollment lets students transfer to public schools other than their residentially assigned one so long as space is available. School parents widely support this policy. Public polling from October 2023 by yes. every kid. and YouGov showed that 84% of school parents supported it, while EdChoice’s July 2024 polling showed that 73% of school parents supported open enrollment.”
Schwalbach added, “Students participating in Arizona’s, Colorado’s, and Florida’s open enrollment programs tended to transfer to school districts that were ranked higher by the state, according to Reason Foundation research… On average, 10% of students in Arizona, Florida, and Wisconsin used open enrollment during the 2021-22 school year, totaling more than 450,000 students. Nearly 177,000 of these transferred to schools in other districts. In Wisconsin, open enrollment was the most popular form of school choice and the second most popular in Arizona and Florida during that time, according to data published by Education Next.”
State-specific analysis for Arizona revealed that “the Grand Canyon State also requires districts and schools to update their available capacity every 12 weeks by grade level on their website. The Arizona Department of Education must also provide an annual report to policymakers and the public that shows ‘the open enrollment participation rate by school district, school, and county, including the number of pupils, by student subgroup designation, in each school and school district that are open enrolled as resident pupils, resident transfer pupils, or nonresident pupils for each school district and the school districts and zip codes from which students are rejected.’”
The report gave three suggestions for Arizona to increase its standing with the open enrollment laws. Those ways were as follows:
- “Require the SEA to publish the number of rejected applicants and explain why they were denied in its annual report.
- “Clarify that school districts cannot reject transfer applicants based on their abilities.
- “Require school districts to inform parents of rejected transfer applicants in writing the reasons for rejection.”
In the 2022 report, which was the final one of Ducey’s administration, Reason wrote of the Arizona system and subsequent ranking, “Opponents to open enrollment often object to the policy because it could lower the value of homes inside the district or attendance zones, unfairly penalizing families that ‘bought into the system.’ However, the public school choice options available to families in Arizona should allay those fears. The state’s mandatory cross-district and within-district open enrollment program operates side by side with a robust charter school system. Despite the fact that nearly one in four students enrolled in affluent Scottsdale’s public schools is assigned to different school districts, home values have not decreased. In fact, Scottsdale home prices have steadily increased in recent years. This shows that open enrollment does not damage property values; instead a robust education marketplace can actually be an attractive component to home buyers.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Nov 4, 2024 | Economy, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A longtime Arizona state legislator is highlighting the financial distress of many of his constituents.
Last week, State Senator J.D. Mesnard commented on the misery inflicted on Arizonans by inflation over the past four years of the Biden-Harris Administration. In the Senate Republicans’ weekly newsletter, Mesnard said, “I’ve heard from citizens across Arizona just how difficult it’s become to make ends meet over the past four years, and a new report reveals the financial pain families are enduring under the Harris-Biden Administration. According to the Common Sense Institute’s Arizona Inflation Misery Index, the average Arizonan must spend $9,996 more per year, while the average household must spend $24,972 more per year just to maintain the same quality of life enjoyed in 2019.”
Mesnard added, “I, along with my Republican colleagues at the Legislature, fundamentally believe government should not tax our citizens more than necessary to support core services. This notion is even more important during massive inflation, which is why I’m pleased Arizona Republicans banded together to implement the largest tax cut in state history for our citizens. Every income taxpayer is currently benefiting from a 2.5% flat tax, and I’m looking forward to doing more for our taxpayers next session.”
The Republican lawmaker is running for re-election to Arizona Legislative District 13, which covers Chandler, Gilbert, and Sun Lakes in the East Valley of the Phoenix-metro area. Mesnard first entered the state legislature in January 2011 in the Arizona House of Representatives, and he served eight years in that chamber, including two years as the Speaker of the House. In November 2018, after being termed out of the House, Mesnard won his election to the state Senate.
According to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, Legislative District 13 is one of the most competitive in the state, with a 1.6% vote spread between Republicans and Democrats in the past nine statewide elections. In those contests, Republicans have won five times, compared to four for Democrats.
Mesnard is facing a tough challenge from Democrat nominee, Sharon Winters, in the upcoming election. On his website, Mesnard asks voters to give him another term in the state senate, writing, “Now we face historic economic challenges that require someone with the right experience and a track record of success to navigate. That’s why I need your vote. Let me continue using my diverse background, which includes husband (to a registered nurse), father, professor and small business owner, with master’s degrees in business and public administration, to keep delivering results for you.”
The winner of the state legislative contest could be vital to determining party control of the chamber in the next session. Arizona Republicans enjoy very narrow margins in both the state House and Senate.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Nov 4, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A southern Arizona Member of Congress responded to an insult from a Democrat surrogate in the closing days of the 2024 General Election.
Last week, U.S. Congressman Juan Ciscomani issued a statement in reaction to comments made by Mark Cuban, who is supporting the Democrat candidate for President of the United States, Kamala Harris. Cuban, who was on The View, ignited national outrage when he said, “Donald Trump, you never see him around strong, intelligent women. Ever.”
Soon after those words from Cuban were uttered, Ciscomani posted a picture of a number of women around him, including his wife and daughter, writing, “Proud to have strong and intelligent women supporting our campaign and defending this seat. I was raised by a strong woman, am married to a strong woman, and honored to have the support of strong women!”
Ciscomani’s wife, Laura, also responded to Cuban, saying, “First woman in my family to obtain higher ed, graduated from Stanford with high honors, and I have master’s degree too. By the way, I can deadlift more than what Mark Cuban weighs.”
The freshman Republican legislator is locked in a heated battle for a reelection bid with Democrat Kirsten Engel – a rematch from the 2022 November General Election. That year, Ciscomani won by fewer than 6,000 votes.
Ciscomani has received a number of endorsements from local and national organizations for his reelection bid, including the Tucson Police Officers Association, National Border Patrol Council, AZCOPS, Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Americans for Prosperity, National Federation of Independent Business, Republican Jewish Coalition, and AIPAC. Individuals supporting Ciscomani include Greenlee County Sheriff PJ Allred, Town of Willcox Mayor Mike Laws, City of Benson Mayor Joe Konrad, and City of Casa Grande Mayor Craig McFarland.
The winner of this contest for Arizona’s Sixth Congressional District will be critical for control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 119th Congress.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
