Mesa voters are backing an effort to recall their council member, Julie Spilsbury, a self-identified Republican representing district two.
The recall effort focuses on several of Spilsbury’s past votes and her support for Democratic candidates last year.
JoAnne Robbins, a resident, filed the petition to recall Spilsbury. Robbins’ petition cited Spilsbury’s past votes approving a permit changing the use of a hotel into a homeless housing program, as well as increasing both city council salaries and citywide utility rates.
Other residents blame Spilsbury and the rest of council for the homelessness nuisance they endure. Earlier this month, failed Mesa mayoral candidate Scott Neely offered a first-person view of his average experience navigating the homeless while driving around the city.
“My neighborhood is a war zone in Mesa Arizona,” said Neely. “Thank you Julie Spilsbury and Mayor-Elect Mark Freeman for shoving this low income housing down our throats that our neighbors voted against.”
Spearheading the signature gathering effort is Turning Point Action (TPA). The activist arm of Turning Point USA launched a “super chase” initiative: door knocking efforts to gather enough signatures to oust Spilsbury. TPA has four different events scheduled over the coming week and some odd days.
The recall effort needs around 3,100 signatures by May 30 in order to launch a special election.
Working hard today to make sure we recall Julie Spilsbury! Thank you to all who showed up to help or those who swung by to pick up supplies. Every signature matters!@TPAction_@TPACoalitionspic.twitter.com/z5nfU79gef
Spilsbury responded to the recall with a statement on social media pledging her continued commitment to nonpartisanship. She justified her past votes over which the recall participants took offense by citing the wide margin of her reelection victory. Spilsbury also cautioned against supporting a special election due to its costliness.
“You might not agree with every decision or action I’ve made on the City Council but I have put every part of my heart into this job,” posted Spilsbury on Facebook. “I care deeply for the City of Mesa and for this community that is not only where I grew up but where Jeremy and I decided to raise our 6 kids. I love to serve our community! I care deeply about EVERY person in our city, not just the ones who look like me or think like me. I have tried to vote and make decisions on what is best for our entire city and to be true to what I feel is right in my soul.”
Beyond her voting history, it was Spilsbury’s personal political beliefs that spurred the recall effort. Spilsbury endorsed failed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and successful Democratic Senate candidate Ruben Gallego last year, much to the chagrin of mainstream Republican voters. Spilsbury joined groups like “Republicans for Harris” and “Republicans and Independents for Gallego.” Spilsbury and her husband were featured several times in media reports documenting the Mormon split away from Donald Trump and the Republican Party last year.
One signature gatherer, Cynthia, reported most voters she met have expressed an overall disappointment in Spilsbury’s representation.
“They feel betrayed because there was a promise to protect their kids, a promise to protect their community, and a promise to protect their money, and all three of those things she’s turned her back on,” said Cynthia.
Actions have consequences and the people of Mesa feel betrayed
Broken promises Protect the children – no Protect the city – no Protect the taxes – no
Spilsbury won reelection last summer outright in the primary after the general election was canceled.
Fellow council member Jennifer Duff also defended Spilsbury after early reports of the recall emerged.
“Julie Wold Spilsbury is an excellent council member, serving in a non partisan position,” posted Duff on Facebook. “Please don’t bring partisanship to city council. It’s actually where government works. I support Julie! Don’t sign a petition that is destructive to our city council.”
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The former recorder for Maricopa County, Stephen Richer, is again headlining a “Principles First” summit this weekend.
Principles First, the nonprofit behind the annual D.C.-based summit, proposes a medley of libertarian and progressive values as the true basis of conservatism.
In his panel, Richer will host a “keynote conversation” with former Congressman Adam Kinzinger on the last day of the conference. Kinzinger now works as a commentator for CNN.
Richer also participated in panels during last year’s Principles First summit, themed around defending elections. Richer’s panel focused on improving voter sentiments concerning election integrity.
“We can’t cede the territory [in politics]. We can’t just have it be people who don’t believe in democracy and Democrats, because that’s not a healthy system,” said Richer.
Principles First advocated for the election of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race.
Like others frequently involved with Principles First, Richer voted for Harris last year.
Principles First launched in 2019 as an alternative to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), founded by corporate lawyer Heath Mayo. Mayo voted for former President Joe Biden in 2020 and independent candidate Evan McMullin in 2016. Mayo planned on voting for Biden again prior to the former president dropping out of the race last year.
“Donald Trump represents an existential threat not just to the Republican Party, but to the constitutional principles that shape our country,” said Mayo in a Washington Examiner interview last June. “So, I personally would be voting for Biden.”
Other headliners for the summit this year can be classified as Democrats, centrist or left-leaning Republicans, or Republicans-turned-Democrats: entrepreneur Mark Cuban, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Congresswoman Barbara Comstock, lawyer John Conway, former Fifth Circuit Judge J. Michael Luttig, former Lieutenant Governor of Georgia Geoff Duncan, former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland Michael Steele, former Defense Press Secretary Alyssa Farah, chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, former congressman and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, former United Nations ambassador and National Security advisor John Bolton, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, political commentator and The Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell, author and political candidate Harry Dunn, political commentator and former consultant Tim Miller, political analyst Michael Fanone, and journalist Steve Hayes.
Participant organizations include Unite America, The Bulwark, The Dispatch, Protect Democracy, Afghan American Veterans Alliance, American Values Coalition, Grumpy Combat Veteran, Veterans for All Voters, ESC, Country First, Leaving MAGA, Nate Gowdy Photography, Rank the Vote, Ranked Choice Voting Maryland, UpVote Virginia, The Concord Coalition, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, An Accountable America, Welcome Democracy Institute, Bright America, and Center for Collaborative Democracy Grand Bargain Project.
Past donors to Principles First included Defending Democracy Together, which gave the nonprofit over $600,000 per 2023 tax records.
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Parents within the Deer Valley Unified School District (DVUSD) raised concerns over compliance with the Trump administration’s directive to end Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
Last Friday — Valentine’s Day — the U.S. Department of Education (ED) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent a letter to the Arizona Department of Education (AZED), along with the departments of education in the remaining 49 states, ordering an end to DEI in all public schools, from K-12 to higher education. The deadline for compliance is Feb. 28, 2025.
Just 11 days left now. As good as they may sound, MTSS and Portrait of a Graduate are problematic and often incorporate DEI.
The Deer Valley Unified 2024-2025 handbook is not available, so one can only assume that's one of the more public documents that needs necessary changes… https://t.co/Qi63QxU29Wpic.twitter.com/sIhAVk6K4b
Additionally, ED opened an OCR complaint line to report unlawful discrimination within public schools based on its letter. ED characterized DEI as unlawful discrimination.
“Educational institutions have toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism’ and advanced discriminatory policies and practices. Proponents of these discriminatory practices have attempted to further justify them—particularly during the last four years—under the banner of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (‘DEI’), smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline,” stated ED. “But under any banner, discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is, has been, and will continue to be illegal.”
Arizona Women of Action (AWA) expressed concerns over DVUSD’s Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) and Portrait of a Graduate.
“As good as they may sound, MTSS and Portrait of a Graduate are problematic and often incorporate DEI,” stated AWA.
In an X post over the weekend, DVUSD candidate Tiffany Hawkins said she had yet to hear from district leadership about their plan to address the DEI eradication directive. Their next board meeting is next Tuesday.
Deer Valley District has 14 days to comply with removing DEI ordered by US dept of ed. pic.twitter.com/vEV6gtrqFq
MTSS and Portrait of a Graduate are two subcomponents within the DVUSD Strategic Plan for 2023-2028’s “Excellence in Student Learning” component.
The MTSS component relies in part on a “campus equity flowchart,” which is no longer available.
Paradise Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) governing board member Sandra Christensen indicated parental concern over DEI eradication compliance in other districts as well.
“We all do [need to comply],” said Christensen. “Districts need to address this.”
DEI ideology hasn’t been stripped immediately from DVUSD’s website — the ideology remains.
The district’s Gifted Services parent portal page includes a section on “Culturally Fair and Inclusive Practices in Serving Gifted Populations” which illustrates its claims of DEI using the oft-employed “Reality-Equality-Equity-Justice” cartoon depicting fans attempting to watch a sports game from different vantage points over a fence.
“The identification and dismantling of barriers must be included as part of the definition of equity since the road to identification for gifted services contains several barriers for [Culturally, Linguistically, and Economically Diverse,] CLED students,” stated the webpage. “Gifted characteristics manifest themselves differently in CLED students — some may even appear as negative characteristics[….] Various gaps (which include cultural perception, beliefs, opportunity, etc.) of CLED students and teacher perceptions or stereotypes of giftedness.”
The district claimed barriers included the exclusion of CLED parents due to their ignorance of the gifted services program, educators’ inability to recognize gifted characteristics in CLED students, CLED parents’ reticence to access gift services due to an inability to complete referral forms, and inherent bias against CLED students within assessments or use of national norms.
The Gifted Parent Portal also included Social and Emotional Learning resources.
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Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed a key bill aimed to speed up election results on Tuesday.
Hobbs rejected HB 2703 (SB 1011). The legislation proposed modifying the deadlines and methods by which a voter could return their voted early ballot in person, restricting early ballot drop-offs to vote collection locations on the Friday preceding Election Day. The bill also allowed for on-site tabulation during the period of early voting, including on the weekends and on the Monday before Election Day.
The legislation also required voters in larger counties such as Maricopa County (the fourth most populous county in the nation) to confirm their address every election cycle in order to be eligible to receive ballots by mail. Voters in smaller counties would also have to confirm their addresses to receive mail ballots, but only every four years.
In a statement on the veto, House Speaker Steve Montenegro lamented Hobbs’ continued refusal to approve reforms speeding up elections while making them more transparent.
Governor Hobbs and Democrat legislators continue to block reforms aimed at ensuring timely and transparent election results. If they won’t act, we will—letting Arizona voters have the final say. https://t.co/WLVxYjWGGs
The speaker alluded to a planned attempt by the GOP to get the legislation passed without Hobbs’ approval: by putting the changes on the ballot for voters to decide.
“Governor Hobbs and Democrat legislators continue to block reforms aimed at ensuring timely and transparent election results,” said Montenegro. “If they won’t act, we will—letting Arizona voters have the final say.”
Governor Hobbs claimed the changes made by HB 2703 created partisan benefits for Republicans. Hobbs cited aspects of the legislation that reformed the Active Early Voting List and late-early ballot drop-offs.
“After adding partisan policies that do nothing to speed up election results and refusing to compromise to protect voting access, it’s clear to me the focus of this bill is disenfranchising voters for partisan gain, not speeding up election results,” said Hobbs.
Today, I vetoed HB2703.
I offered compromises that would have sped up our election results while protecting voting rights. Those were rejected. I won't let partisan actors write our election laws for their own benefit.
The public policy organization Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) released a statement calling Hobbs’ decision a “foolish, stubborn, and politically minded” fodder for keeping Arizona “the laughingstock of the country” in the next election.
“Governor Hobbs is more interested in catering to a fringe minority of her party than the vast majority of Arizonans who were calling for this necessary and reasonable election reform,” said Scot Mussi, AFEC president. “This action from the Governor’s Office is not what our state expects from our leaders when there are clear procedural problems to address on issues that are central to the government’s purview.”
House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos claimed the rejection of HB 2703 crossed party lines, citing polling results from Noble Predictive Insights as proof.
The Republican Governors Association (RGA) issued a statement criticizing Hobbs’ veto as a rejection of “common sense” policymaking.
“Katie Hobbs is failing to sign even the most common sense bills being placed on her desk,” said the RGA. “Arizona lags the nation in the time it takes to count ballots and report results. The insane wait in reporting results is bad for governance, and causes chaos and uncertainty for voters, elected officials, and the country.”
🚨@GovernorHobbs just vetoed commonsense elections reform.
Arizona lags the nation in counting ballots and in the time it takes to count ballots and report results.
Congressman Abe Hamadeh welcomed the families of remaining Israeli hostages from the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack.
In another week, it will be 500 days since the attack occurred.
The family pictured with Hamadeh were Ronen and Orna Neutra for their son, Omer Neutra, a gap-year Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier; Ilana Gritzewsky for her partner, Matan Zangauker; and Moshe Lavi for his brother-in-law, Omri Miran.
“Our hearts are with Ronen and Orna Neutra, Illana Gritzewsky, and Moshe Lavi,” stated Hamadeh. “We will do everything we can to get justice for those lost and bring the remaining hostages back home.”
Congressman Hamadeh had the honor of hosting family members of Israeli hostages still held from the October 7 attacks.
Our hearts are with Ronen and Orna Neutra, Illana Gritzewsky, and Moshe Lavi.
— Office of Congressman Abe Hamadeh (@RepAbeHamadeh) February 12, 2025
Others present were Daniel Lifshitz for his grandparents, Oded and Yocheved Lifshitz; Gal Dalal for his brother, Guy Gilboa-Dalal; and Ilay David for his brother, Evyatar David.
The families were present at the Capitol to participate in a special roundtable dedicated to their situation held by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
Chairman Brian Mast expressed not only hope in the ability of the U.S. to recover the remaining American Israeli hostages, but the necessary duty on the government to recover these hostages to declare the conflict ended.
“Congress and the world must hear from each of you because there are individuals in Washington and across the globe who will deny, and they will whitewash, and they will simply ignore what has taken place. It’s up to us to make sure that does not take place,” said Mast. “They will make excuses for the terrorists who raped and slaughtered 1,200 innocent Israelis and Americans on October 7th. They will make excuses for the animals who continue to hold Americans hostages in Gaza right now as we speak.”
There were other American hostages who were held or killed by Hamas. In addition to Neutra, Gritzewsky, and Miran, those include Itay Chen, Sagui Dekel-Chen, and Gadi and Judi Haggai.
President Donald Trump took credit for Israel taking the ceasefire deal with Hamas several days prior to his inauguration last month. However, that ceasefire may end before a full month of its implementation has passed.
On Monday, Hamas announced its indefinite postponing of the anticipated hostage swap on Saturday. The terrorist group accused Israel of not holding to the ceasefire, claiming the continuation of shooting and delays to the return of Palestinians. Three more hostages were scheduled to be released this Saturday.
The current pace of hostage releases — “in dribs and drabs” — hasn’t satisfied the president.
During his signing of executive orders in the Oval Office on Sunday, Trump promised to reporters this week that “all hell is going to break out” if Hamas fails to release the remaining hostages this week: 76 captives, at least 44 of whom are believed to still be alive. Trump said he believes many of the captives are deceased.
“I think it’s a great human tragedy what’s happened,” said Trump.
Trump indicated the ceasefire would end for the U.S. on Saturday at noon should Hamas not release all hostages by then. Trump did stipulate the ability for Israel to override the U.S. on the ceasefire cancellation.
“Hamas will find out what I mean,” said Trump. “These are sick people, and they’ll find out what I mean Saturday at 12.”
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