After an alleged error cost the Republican Party’s favored candidate for Maricopa County Recorder the chance to participate in a televised debate, Arizona PBS is reportedly trying to make amends with Arizona State Rep. Justin Heap and his supporters.
As reported by The Arizona Daily Independent, the June 11 debate made headlines for all the wrong reasons when just two of the three candidates in the GOP Primary were invited, namely Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Don Hiatt. Heap’s absence was notable, public, and embarrassing for the public broadcaster.
Both Richer and Hiatt capitalized on the State Representative’s absence, taking rhetorical shots at Heap and moderator and “Arizona Horizon” host Ted Simons. Simons, who severs as Managing Editor of the platform, failed to acknowledge the error before the debate commenced.
Sources near the Heap campaign told ADI that they weren’t contacted by Arizona PBS until an hour before the event was to take place. Heap himself only became aware of it after seeing it on Richer’s X feed. Producers from Arizona PBS asked at 3PM on the 11th if he could get to the studio by 4PM… from East Mesa… in rush-hour. He replied that he could get there by 4:15PM at the earliest, and Arizona PBS informed him that would be too late.
It wasn’t until later that a request was found emailed to Heap’s official legislative email account. And had he replied to it, political consultants advised, he could be prosecuted for violating state law by using public resources for a partisan campaign.
After contacting Heap with a formal apology, Arizona PBS will air a one-on-one interview with Heap Thursday at 5 PM, an hour before the CNN Presidential Debate. In a letter to Heap, Arizona PBS political news producer, Grace Provenzano, apologized to the candidate.
In the letter obtained by the Independent, Provenzano wrote, “I want to apologize, once again, for our failure to reach you in a timely fashion in advance of the Maricopa County Recorder debate event yesterday. We know that it placed you and your campaign at a disadvantage and for that we are truly sorry.
In order to provide equitable airtime, we would like to schedule a one-on-one interview with you and Horizon host Ted Simons to offer you the opportunity to discuss your campaign platform and issues for our viewers. The interview would be pre-taped to air during the regular broadcast of Arizona Horizon the same day it is recorded. We would like to schedule the on-set interview as soon as possible so it can be seen prior to the beginning of the early primary voting.”
The outlet reported that the interview will be aired Thursday, June 27 at 5 PM.
In a post to X, Heap answered his opponents’ comments on his absence from the debate, writing in part, “The desperation from my opponents & their supporters is just embarrassing at this point They’re laughably trying to claim I’m too ‘scared’ to debate them in the government-subsidized PBS debate. Let’s clear something up, we’ve already debated once, and I won easily. We also have a Clean Elections Debate coming up. In fact, tonight’s debate is yet another example why we shouldn’t have state-subsidized media outlets like PBS. Their incompetence is so glaring that they couldn’t even manage to properly contact me or my campaign about the debate. …or maybe they just wanted to help their preferred Democrat-friendly candidates. Whatever the reason, it’s PBS with their total of ~53 viewers. FWIW, I made a good faith effort to rearrange my schedule and attend; however, it simply wasn’t possible without disrespecting the voters who had already made plans to come and meet with me about my plans for the Recorder’s office.”
The desperation from my opponents & their supporters is just embarrassing at this point
They’re laughably trying to claim I’m too “scared” to debate them in the government-subsidized PBS debate😂
Let’s clear something up, we’ve already debated once, and I won easily.
We also…
— Az State Rep. Justin Heap (@azjustinheap) June 12, 2024
Heap would later participate in the forum presented by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission on June 24 and made serious accusation against incumbent Stephen Richer saying that election rules were not followed and that Arizonans have a right to be skeptical about election results. He said that legal safeguards weren’t followed according to 12News and that the signature verification process for mail-in ballots was “inadequate.”
“I do not trust the system as it is currently being operated,” Heap added.
The Goldwater Institute, acting on behalf of Former Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane, local activist Susan Wood, and AZGOP Member-at-Large Yvonne Cahill (CD1) filed a lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court against the city of Scottsdale on June 18. In the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that the city is mischaracterizing a proposed new sales tax set to be voted on by the public in November with “objectively false or misleading information.”
According to court documents, the Goldwater Institute and the plaintiffs allege that the proposed tax’s “titles and tagline text are misleading, obscure the principle provisions of the measure, and constitute a ‘bait and switch.’” They go on to explain, “The Resolution is deceptive and inherently misleading, and fundamentally unfair.”
The controversy has arisen from a 0.2% Land Acquisition Tax that was approved in 1995 which is set to expire no later than June 30, 2025, and another in 2004 at 0.15% which funded the land purchase and construction of trailheads in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve respectively and a newly proposed 0.15% sales tax that would last for 30 years to provide funds for city parks.
In the 2025 Scottsdale 0.15% Sales Tax: Questions and Answers, the new tax description claims, “The ballot proposal would replace and reduce an expiring 0.20% city sales tax with a 0.15% sales tax to provide funds solely for capital replacements and improvements at city parks and recreational facilities and additional maintenance, preservation and protection, including police and fire protection, of city parks and the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. This tax would expire after 30 years.”
As the lawsuit notes, “the New Parks & Rec Tax does not, and cannot, ‘replace’ the Land Acquisition Tax that was scheduled to expire already. And likewise, the New Parks & Rec Tax “does not, and cannot, ‘reduce’ the current Land Acquisition Tax,” which without any intervention would already be eliminated as scheduled.
The City wrote that the new tax, which it calls a “replacement tax,” would provide:
51% for capital asset replacements and improvements to aged Indian Bend Wash parks and other citywide parks (see further discussion of capital replacements and improvements below)
14% for increased citywide park maintenance including additional maintenance workers and contracts to enhance park maintenance
7% for the Police Park Ranger program including additional resources for enforcement and education to provide better safety and security for city parks and the Preserve.
18% to increase maintenance, protection, and care for the McDowell Sonoran Preserve and its desert plants and wildlife, including trail and trailhead maintenance; protecting wildlife habitat; assessing and protecting archaeological, ecological, and cultural resources; and removing invasive plants to reduce wildfire risk (known as fire fuel mitigation)
10% for the Fire Department wildland fire fuel mitigation program with additional resources to remove/reduce overgrown plants and weeds around the Preserve and in city open spaces that pose ongoing wildfire risk during dry summer months, and additional Fire Department resources including technical rescue teams for citywide parks and the Preserve.
Goldwater Institute spokesman Joe Seyton told the Daily Independent, “They are deceiving voters because they are claiming a tax increase is actually a tax reduction, but what they are not saying is that voters will pay a lower sales tax if they vote no than if they vote yes.” He added, “Arizona law prohibits ballot measures from communicating information that is objectively false or misleading. It’s a bait and switch.”
In a statement published by the Goldwater Institute Cahill said, “Our own city leaders are deceiving taxpayers so that we’ll vote to raise taxes on ourselves. We deserve honesty from our local officials—especially when it comes to the money hardworking Arizonans are required to fork over to the government.”
Speaking with The Scottsdale Progress, Mayor David Ortega lashed out at his predecessor saying, “It is sad that former Mayor Jim Lane, who saturated our city with 23,689 apartments during his tenure, now tries to stop citizen-driven renewal of our 48 city parks, the Green Belt and protection of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.” He continued, “Adding new Police, Fire and Park Ranger personnel for our safety is also a key element of the ballot measure. In Scottsdale, we value our treasured open space legacy, and commitment to pass them on in great shape to future generations.”
The mayor continued, “Lane and opponents failed to show up during months of deliberations, so we will see them in court.”
Senator Laphonza Butler (D-CA) Chair of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution will be holding a ‘field hearing’ on ‘Reproductive Rights’ in Arizona on Tuesday, June 25th. The stated purpose of the hearing is to “examine the impact that various state laws have had on abortion patients and providers across the country in the two years since Dobbs.” Arizona is to serve as the hearing’s backdrop just one day after the ruling’s anniversary, likely due to the resurgence of a pre-statehood abortion ban following the Dobbs ruling that threw out Roe v. Wade and it’s later repeal.
Arizona’s post-Roe abortion law saga may not tell the whole story though. Given that Arizona legislators repealed the near-complete ban on abortion in May, reverting back to the 2002 15-week abortion ban, politicos have instead suggested that the hearing has far more to do with the contentious Senate race for ex-Democrat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-AZ) seat.
As previously reported by AZ Free News, the race between closely matched candidates Republican Kari Lake and Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ03) is down to a single-point lead.
In April, Gallego told NBC News that a repeal of the abortion ban would be too late. He told reporters, “The damage is done,” adding “Any initiative they pass right now wouldn’t even take effect for quite a while.” The reversion to the 2002 15-week ban takes effect on September 24, 2024. “To make matters worse, it could just get overturned later by another state House or state Senate,” Gallego noted. “The only protection we really, really have is to codify this and put this on the ballot and enshrine Roe and protect abortion rights,” he said. Just hours before speaking with reporters, he had held a rally with Vice President Kamala Harris ginning up support on the back of the abortion debacle.
It seems unlikely that this is an event that Gallego would sit-out, and even if he should stay on the sidelines. The hearing seems likely to play out as an informal campaign event.
As reported by Deadline, Gallego was in Los Angeles fundraising for his Arizona race as recently as June 10th, shmoozing with show-business executives and Democrat power-brokers at the home of political strategist Donna Bojarsky. In 2018, both Bojarsky and Butler enjoyed appointments to positions of prominence in the L.A. area by then-California Gov. Edmund Brown. Bojarsky was reappointed to the California Volunteers Commission, and Butler was appointed to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission.
Butler, the former President of pro-abortion lobbyist group EMILY’s List, has been working collaboratively with Arizona Democrats since at least September 2022 when then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs joined the group for a round-table event in Pima County.
In a press release from Hobbs’ campaign for the roundtable, Butler reportedly referred to Gallego’s opponent, Kari Lake, as an “extremist.” The release noted, “Butler also highlighted the dangerous policies that anti-choice extremists like Kari Lake want to force on Arizonans, stressing how crucial it is that we elect Katie Hobbs as governor to defend the state from life-threatening abortion bans.”
I look forward to holding a field hearing in Phoenix, AZ tomorrow to examine how SCOTUS’ decision in the Dobbs case has impacted the lives of patients and providers across the country. pic.twitter.com/YySQ3oHhum
— Senator Laphonza Butler (@Senlaphonza) June 24, 2024
According to the Arizona Republic, the Bulter hearing entitled, “Chaos and Confusion: Examining the Patchwork of Abortion Restrictions Across America Since Dobbs,” is scheduled for 12:30PM at the A.E. England Building, at 424 N. Central Ave in Phoenix and will feature testimony from a panel of so far unnamed guests. Butler said in an emailed statement, “For nearly 50 years the U.S. Supreme Court, in decision after decision, guaranteed women of the United States the constitutional right to privacy and the right to make decisions about their own bodies.” She added, “As Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, I lead this field hearing to further examine the consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision to roll back that right.”
Senator Butler’s office told AZ Free News in an email that the witness panel will include “Mini Timmaraju – Policy Expert, President and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America), Eloisa Lopez – Patient Witness, Executive Director of Pro-Choice Arizona and the Arizona Abortion Fund, and Dr. Misha Pangasa – Provider Witness, a Phoenix-based OBGYN, abortion provider, and physician advocate with Physicians for Reproductive Health.” As of this report AZ Free News has not been able to ascertain if Gallego will be in attendance.
New internal polling from the National Republican Senate Committee announced by Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake’s campaign shows that Lake now leads Democrat Congressman Ruben Gallego by one-point in the narrow race. The survey further demonstrated that the contentious race for President between former President Donald Trump and Democrat incumbent President Joe Biden is casting a large shadow over the down-ballot races.
An NRSC Memo obtained by The Washington Post regarding the poll stated, “In the multi-party ballot for the presidential race, President Trump leads Joe Biden by a significant margin of +11 (46% to 34%) among likely votes. This trend is crucial as it demonstrates a strong Republican presence in Arizona, which can positively influence down-ballot races like the Senate contest.” The NRSC also endorsed Kari Lake in February as reported by Politico; she also enjoys the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.
A press release from Lake’s campaign noted that among undecided voters, Trump holds a 7% lead over Biden which bodes well for Lake.
NRSC memo on Arizona Senate race: The latest NRSC survey shows Kari Lake leading Ruben Gallego by one point, 47% to 46%, among likely voters —aligning with another recent poll on the race. Trump’s standing in Arizona could help down-ballot candidates like Lake. pic.twitter.com/dUsYCJ3Ekx
— Yvonne Wingett Sanchez (@yvonnewingett) June 20, 2024
The NRSC concluded that while the race is still “a pure toss up,” Lake is “well positioned to win.” The memo explained, “The undecided voting block presents a significant opportunity to further define Ruben Gallego and attract more support for Lake. Given the unfavorable views of President Biden among undecided voters, Lake has a pathway to consolidate and expand her base.”
The Lake campaign released a statement along with the announcement saying, “Arizonans overwhelmingly disapprove of Joe Biden’s performance. Soon, Arizonans will learn just how closely Ruben Gallego is tied to Joe Biden and his radical policies – voting with him 100% of the time – and they won’t approve of his record either. Kari Lake is ready to get to the U.S. Senate to help President Trump implement the policies that provided Arizonans, and Americans as a whole, with historic peace and prosperity.”
The Lake campaign notes that the NRSC result aligns with credible pollsters citing “the bipartisan AARP Poll conducted by President Trump and Joe Biden’s pollster.” It would appear to diverge from many mainstream polls which have shown Lake trailing Gallego from 3-6 points since early June, according to RealClear Politics. The AARP poll which showed Gallego ahead by 3 points found in part, “One reason Gallego is ahead is Democrats are more consolidated in their backing of him than Republicans are behind Lake. Additionally, Independents, who favored Trump by 6-points, give Gallego an 8-point edge.”
The NRSC poll by contrast could indicate that Lake is succeeding in consolidating her base.
A massive new ad-buy released by State Solutions, Inc., a company connected to the Republican Governor’s Association, has placed Governor Katie Hobbs under a microscope urging her and her office to cooperate with the criminal investigation of her ongoing pay-to-play scandal with Sunshine Residential Homes, Inc. The new ad campaign represents a six-figure investment to pressure Hobbs to clean up corruption in Phoenix.
In a press release from State Solutions, spokesman Ryan Koopmans explained, “Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and Katie Hobbs’ administration is up in flames. “This pay-to-play scandal is so brazen, Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes has launched a criminal investigation. Arizonans deserve answers, and Katie Hobbs needs to cooperate, not dodge questions.”
The ad explains, “Three days after a state agency denied a contractor’s request to charge taxpayers higher rates, a donation appeared: One hundred thousand dollars from the same company… into a slush fund controlled by Governor Katie Hobbs. Within months the Hobbs administration reversed course, approving the request for more taxpayer money. Pay-to-play so brazen, Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes has launched a criminal investigation. Tell Hobbs to cooperate — and cut the corruption..”
The ad, in video and audio formats, is already hammering the Arizona airwaves and digital spaces.
As previously reported by AZ Free News, Hobbs has been implicated in an alleged “pay-to-play” corruption scheme with Sunshine Residential Homes (formerly Sunshine Group Homes), a major donor to her inaugural fund and the Arizona Democratic Party which enjoyed a major increase in contract rates from the Arizona Department of Child Services (DCS) shortly after the donations. The rates received by Sunshine Residential Homes was almost sixty percent according to an Arizona Republicreport.
Even more blatantly, CEO and founder, Simon Kottoor, of Sunshine Residential Homes and his wife, Elizabeth, were even appointed to Hobbs’ inauguration committee.
Hobbs’ refutations via spokesman Christian Slater impugned the accusations as unsubstantiated attacks from ““radical and partisan legislators,” adding, “Governor Hobbs is a social worker who has been a champion for Arizona families and kids. It is outrageous to suggest her administration would not do what’s right for children in foster care.”
These protestations have widely fallen flat though with Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes sparring with Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell over their office’s dueling investigations. As reported by The New York Post, Treasurer Kimberly Yee, a Republican, urged Mayes to stand down after she asserted she has jurisdiction over any investigations.
“As the Treasurer of Arizona, I am responsible for overseeing, safekeeping, and managing the State of Arizona’s securities and investments, which are duties I take seriously. Arizona taxpayers need financial accountability and deserve to know how their money is being spent,” Treasurer Yee told the Post. “Providing state dollars to political donors is a grave misuse of public funds. ‘Pay to play’ and special favors have no place in state government.”
“I have requested a separate investigation to be conducted by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office,” Yee said. “The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has separate jurisdiction in this matter and the current investigation by the Attorney General’s Office raises concerns of potential ethical conflicts of interest in representing state agencies and officials involved in the alleged scheme.”
In a respone, Mayes wrote, “As with any other investigation our office conducts, we will follow the facts wherever they lead us. As with everything else we do, we are also fully cognizant of our ethical obligations and have taken appropriate measures to protect the interests of all concerned, including directing the Department of Child Services to obtain outside counsel in this matter.”
As of this report, it appears that the calls for Hobbs to submit and cooperate with investigators are not only coming from political action campaigns but also from within her own cabinet, and her own party.
