As a pivotal election year approaches, Arizona Republican legislators are still working to strengthen election integrity and security across the state.
Last week, Arizona State Representative Jacqueline Parker and State Senator Wendy Rogers sent a joint press release to “announce their firm commitment to rectify issues arising from conflicting federal and state deadlines in the forthcoming elections.”
The legislators shared that the genesis of their concerns lies with a 2022 law, SB 1008, which “elevated the automatic recount threshold from an arbitrary, below national average margin of 200 votes, to a standard of less than one-half of 1-percent (0.5 percent),” adding that “this change brought Arizona in alignment with several states, including Florida, Colorado, and Pennsylvania.”
SB 1008 may have passed out of both legislative chambers with broad bipartisan support, as Parker and Rogers noted in their release, but it does not appear to be a perfect fix to the issues that lawmakers were attempting to resolve, hence the reason for the push to provide a patch for this bill. In commentary with their release, the two legislators wrote, “As the state approaches the next election cycle, an increased incidence of automatic recounts, expected as a result from the change in law, poses a potential challenge to counties in meeting certain deadlines.”
Both legislators issued statements to accompany their announcement. Parker said, “This challenge presents us with a unique opportunity to correct the underlying problems that have plagued Arizona elections, rather than approach it as a temporary band-aid fix that fails to move us forward.” Rogers said, “A true legislative fix will provide clarity, promote transparency, and will save taxpayer dollars.”
In a follow-up release later that day, Parker revealed that the legislators had met with stakeholders, wasting no time in starting the process of fixing the holes from the bill. Parker stated, “We hosted the first of many stakeholder meetings today to hear from the boots on the ground who are in the thick of administering our elections, as well as legal experts. We want to make sure we have in-depth conversations with these stakeholders, so that we can identify the proper fix needed to strengthen the integrity of our elections and the confidence voters have when they cast their ballots.”
Senator Rogers also weighed in, saying, “In order to remedy the unintended consequences of this law, we must first draft proposed legislation, and that certainly won’t happen overnight. This is a painstaking process that will require feedback from everyone involved with our elections procedures. We plan to resolve this conflict before the 2024 election, but we must first thoroughly and methodically work with all parties involved. This could very well take several months, but as Republicans, we are committed to coming up with a solution that is transparent, organized, accurate, secures our elections, and saves taxpayer dollars.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
A former Arizona legislator has found a new professional home.
Late last week, the T.W. Lewis Foundation announced the hiring of Steve Smith, a former state legislature, as its new executive director. The Foundation shared that Smith would be managing “grant distribution, non-profit assessments and activities to enhance the foundation’s overall core program areas.”
“It is an honor to work with Tom Lewis and the great team at the T.W. Lewis Foundation,” said Smith. “I look forward to bringing my experience and dedication to the foundation to build upon the incredible mission Tom and Jan Lewis started in helping children and families in need, impacting youth through Christian education, supporting civic minded causes, strengthening America and building God’s kingdom.”
“Steve is an energetic and entrepreneurial leader with significant experience in the public sector and private philanthropy,” said Tom Lewis, the Foundation’s founder. “We are extremely grateful to have found an executive director with his depth of experience and passion for our mission.”
Smith previously served as the director for the Arizona Chapter of the American Federation for Children. He has been one of the top school choice proponents in the state, helping Arizona to expand and solidify its historic Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) program. Earlier this summer, he published an op-ed in the Arizona Capitol Times on the support for ESAs in the state, writing, “It can be tempting to listen to the Eeyores and their defenders in elected office and believe that Arizona would be better off if it went back to an old model where students would only attend the school to which they were assigned, regardless of its quality or whether it met their unique educational needs. Politicians who pursue such a model, however, do so at their own peril. Arizona families and voters of all affiliations believe that more educational options – not fewer – is what we need.”
On its website, the T.W. Lewis Foundation reveals that it was “formed in 2000” and “has provided college scholarships to over 200 future leaders, made gifts to dozens of non-profits that help children and families in need, and supported youth education organizations that build character and encourage civic engagement.” The purpose of the Foundation is to “help children and families in need, impact youth through Christian education, support civic minded causes in our community, strengthen America, and build God’s kingdom.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
A freshman legislator is continuing to work toward transportation improvements for an Arizona freeway.
This week, Arizona State Representative Matt Gress sent a letter to the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), addressing the extension of Proposition 400 and the necessity of using those allotted dollars for SR 51. He highlights the “crucial” need for Arizona’s freeways to “be among the best in the country” due to “Maricopa County being the fastest growing county in the country and Phoenix and Scottsdale among the fastest growing cities.”
Repaving much of State Route 51 needs to be prioritized by Proposition 400 dollars.
It’s one of the oldest and most driven stretches of road in Maricopa County.
See my letter to Maricopa County Association of Governments below. 👇👇👇 https://t.co/m3qv9foEDB
In his letter, Gress notes that “SR 51 has become one of the busiest routes in the state highway system” and that “the pavement between the I-10 ministack and Shea Boulevard is well past its expected life.” According to the letter, the area of freeway described by the legislator “was installed back in 2004 making (that) pavement one of the oldest in the county.”
✅FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE✅ State Representative @MatthewGress Seeking Priority Attention for SR-51 Road Improvements
“In July the Legislature approved legislation to enable Maricopa County to call an election for the extension of Proposition 400 which includes $600 million for… pic.twitter.com/7PzXGuv5gl
Representative Gress writes, “In July the Legislature approved legislation to enable Maricopa County to call an election for the extension of Proposition 400 which includes $600 million for the capital rehabilitation of the region’s freeway pavement,” adding that “these funds must be used to ensure our freeways are kept in the best conditions for the people that use them every day to go to work, transport goods, and recreate in our state.”
The lawmaker expressed his hope that MAG expediently takes care of these issues, stating, “I want to ensure your commitment to utilizing these funds to rehabilitate SR 51 in the first phase of MAG’s plan consistent with Proposition 400 monies if approved by the voters.”
Arizona legislators and the state’s governor reached an agreement on Prop 400 at the end of their marathon session in July. After the passage of the proposal out of his chamber, Senate President Warren Petersen said, “The guardrails, taxpayer protections and funding allocations in the text of this bill reflect the priorities of voters, to reinvest their tax dollars in the transportation modes they use most.” Governor Hobbs added, “Today, bipartisan leaders invested in the future of Arizona families, businesses, and communities.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Arizona Legislative Republicans aren’t finished with the City of Phoenix’s action to donate firearms to Ukraine.
Last week, three Arizona State Representatives sent a letter to Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, calling on the prosecutor to “immediately undertake a criminal and civil investigation of City of Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and City Councilmembers for their intentional and flagrant violation of state law in connection with their actions surrounding the City’s Ordinance S-50010.”
🚨FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE🚨 House Members Demand Investigation of City of Phoenix’s Intentional Violation of State Firearms Law
Following a damning report last month from the Arizona Attorney General finding the City of Phoenix intentionally violated state law approving an… pic.twitter.com/4hOuDmtENP
The letter from Representatives Travis Grantham, Quang Nguyen, and Selina Bliss, follows a response from Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes regarding a 1487 complaint for “a recently passed City of Phoenix ordinance allowing the illegal donation of 599 unclaimed firearms to Ukraine’s national police force.” Mayes’ report found that “Arizona law requires cities to dispose of unclaimed firearms by selling them in the manner provided by statute, yet the Ordinance provides for Phoenix to dispose of its unclaimed firearms by donating them to Ukraine via an export company. Because a ‘donation’ is not a ‘sale’ – and because the Ordinance conflicts with A.R.S. 12-945 in other related respects – it violates that statute, and therefore also violates A.R.S. 13-3108(A) and A.R.S. 12-943.”
Attorney General Mayes’ findings forced the City of Phoenix to repeal the Ordinance, as the lawmakers admitted in their letter to Mitchell. However, the legislators noted some “alarming details” contained in Mayes’ report “that confirm the City Council’s lawlessness and egregious disregard for state law.” One of those details was that when faced with the threat of the Attorney General’s investigation, the City’s counsel disclosed that the City has already completed the firearms transfer contemplated by the Ordinance and the Agreement.
The three state lawmakers argue that “neither the AG’s Report nor the City’s repeal of its Ordinance absolves the City Mayor or Councilmembers of criminal or civil liability for their misconduct,” hoping that the County Attorney could determine “the extent to which the City’s elected officials conspired to: (1) knowingly and repeatedly violate state law – particularly after we alerted them to the illegality of their conduct; (2) conceal their conduct; and (3) interfere with, coerce, or thwart the Attorney General’s S.B. 1487 investigation through improper means or communications.”
At the end of the letter, the legislators wrote, “In a free society, it is critical that our elected officials follow the rule of law, even when they may disagree with the underlying policy of the law. Citizens in our state are held to this standard every day. Arizonans reasonably expect – and the law demands – that government leaders likewise comply with state law or risk serious consequences for their intentional disregard of the law.” They added their collective hope that “the Mayor and City Councilmembers must also be held fully accountable for facilitating crimes of others through their illegal transfer of weapons, including but not limited to domestic civil offenses, war crimes, and organized crimes defined in Chapter 23 of Title 13.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
A high-ranking Border Patrol official is sounding the alarm about the number of ‘gotaways’ in the month of October.
This week, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens posted on “X” that “over 18,000 gotaways” have been known to have escaped detection from law enforcement “in the first 16 days of Fiscal Year 2024.”
Over 18K known gotaways in the first 16 days of FY24. These are individuals whose identities & purpose we do not know. That is why you need every Border Patrol agent to be in the field and on patrol. pic.twitter.com/uQlRgR76HQ
Chief Owens added that “these are individuals whose identities and purpose we do not know.”
The 2024 fiscal year just began this month of October. Ali Bradley, a National Correspondent for NewsNation, reported that there were “roughly 670,000 ‘gotaways’ for Fiscal Year 2023.”
👀 CBP reports more than 18K “known gotaways” in the first 16 days of FY24.
The Tucson sector is seeing record encounter numbers— Agents aren’t able to patrol the border and go after people like this because they’re too busy… pic.twitter.com/rS3aRiukUR
During President Joe Biden’s three-year (and counting) tenure in the White House, there have been more than 1.7 million estimated ‘gotaways’ at the border, compared to just over 415,000 ‘gotaways’ for former President Donald J. Trump’s four years in office. Border officials and experts have varied theories and opinions on how to estimate groups of ‘gotaways’ – especially since some are known to cover their tracks, which are key to Border Patrol’s approximations in the field. The actual number of ‘gotaways’ could be much higher than the reports.
‘Gotaways’ could pose a serious danger to the homeland of America because, as Chief Owens stated, their identities and purpose for migrating to the United States are unknown. However, these ‘gotaways’ aren’t the only concern for border officials and local law enforcement.
With the rising tensions and violence in the Middle East this month, more attention has been given to the apprehensions of aliens crossing America’s border illegally from ‘special interest countries,’ which, according to a definition from the Department of Homeland Security, is “a non-U.S. person, who, based on an analysis of travel patterns, potentially poses a national security risk to the United States or its interests.” Bradley also reported this week that there were more than 76,000 migrants from ‘special interest countries’ arriving in the United States during the just-completed fiscal year.
NEW: 27 migrants from Syria were apprehended in the Tucson sector last week—Compared to 21 in the same sector for the entire month of September.
Sources confirm more than 76k migrants from special interest countries entered the U.S. in FY23 which just ended last month.
Apprehensions of suspected terrorists have also created major fears for law enforcement and elected officials alike, who have seen those numbers drastically increase over the past few years. In the first eleven months of Fiscal Year 2023, officials encountered 151 individuals between ports of entry, who were flagged on the Terrorist Screening Dataset, compared to 98 in FY 2022 and 15 in FY 2021.
The counts of ‘gotaways’ and apprehensions of suspected terrorists and migrants from ‘special interest countries’ aside, the situation at the border has continued to spiral out of control on all fronts. Official numbers from the month of September have not been released as of Friday afternoon, but earlier this month, Fox News reported over 260,000 apprehensions for that month. If those numbers are accurate, which they usually are, that would put the number of apprehensions at the Southwest border for FY 2023 at just under 2,500,000 – an increase over FY 2022, which was a significant jump from FY 2021.
In Chief Owens’ communication about the number of ‘gotaways,’ he also writes, “That is why you need every Border Patrol agent to be in the field and on patrol” – something that the beleaguered and overwhelmed agency hasn’t been able to institute for the better part of the past decade with the exponential rise of illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
