A top staffer for Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, is backing Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican.
Fontes’ state elections director Lisa Marra praised Richer for his performance the past four years and encouraged people to vote for him.
“Maricopa County voters, including myself, are lucky to have Recorder Richer,” said Marra. “He’s responsible for so much more than just voter rolls. We need people like him in public office.”
Maricopa County voters, including myself, are lucky to have Recorder Richer. He's responsible for so much more than just voter rolls. We need people like him in public office. https://t.co/QvWna1SFDR
Richer has faced widespread criticisms from within his own party over voter grievances with his view of the 2020 election’s validity and his administration of the 2022 election.
Aggrieved voters have made themselves a regular presence at the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meetings. In September, voters made headlines for accusing the board and Richer of “deep state” affiliations.
Earlier this year, AZ Free News reported that he used his staff to compile news of his personal defamation lawsuit against Senate candidate and former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
Part of the grievance with Richer had to do with the political action committee he established to beat GOP candidates supportive of the claim that the 2020 election was stolen. The PAC — Pro-Democracy Republicans of Arizona — was seen as an overt attempt to influence elections, and prompted lawmakers to introduce legislation to ban similar PAC building.
Richer’s PAC has raised over $88,500 since its inception in 2021 and spent about $83,000. In the summer of 2022, the PAC gave $45,000 to Defending Arizona Values, and $10,000 to Awareness Analytics.
Since last year, Richer’s PAC has paid him just over $8,000 for operating expenses, or just about $14,600 since the PAC’s inception.
Ahead of the 2022 election, Richer also advised the Department of Homeland Security on tactics to moderate free speech. A controversial right-wing outlet, the Gateway Pundit, successfully sued Maricopa County over its denial of press passes under Richer.
Marra apparently may relate: she faced similar revile as Richer during her stint as Cochise County Elections Director, a role she quit early last year.
Marra testified before the House Oversight and Reform Committee that she had received threats during her tenure over elections administration, a claim later discovered to not have any backing according to the Cochise County Attorney’s Office.
It was Marra who resisted the county’s efforts to conduct an expanded hand count audit during the 2022 election, citing since-scrutinized legal advice from the county attorney’s office.
That same attorney, Brian McIntyre, remains under investigation by the State Bar for violating the county supervisors’ attorney-client privilege by allegedly colluding with Attorney General Kris Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.
McIntyre announced last month that he wouldn’t run for county attorney again, citing his inability to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.
For her troubles while working in Cochise County, Marra received a settlement of $130,000 due to an alleged toxic work environment.
Richer’s primary opponent, State Rep. Justin Heap, has capitalized on the public discontent with Richer to advance his campaign.
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The Arizona Supreme Court has once again pumped the brakes on the state’s total abortion ban which dates back to pre-statehood days.
The order in the case, Planned Parenthood v. Hazelrigg, offered a temporary lifeboat for abortion supporters awaiting possible appeal. The court’s order, combined with the separate directive in Isaacson v. Arizona, means the abortion ban won’t go into effect until Sept. 26 of this year.
The Arizona Supreme Court rejected attempts to nullify the total abortion ban last month. That ruling, posted here, reflected the justices’ commitment to following their “limited constitutional role and duty to interpret the law as written” and deferring to the legislature.
“To date, our legislature has never affirmatively created a right to, or independently authorized, elective abortion,” ruled the court. “We defer, as we are constitutionally obligated to do, to the legislature’s judgment, which is accountable to, and thus reflects, the mutable will of our citizens.”
A version of the total abortion ban dated back to Arizona’s territorial days, to the final year of the Civil War: 1864. The law on the books, A.R.S. § 13-3603, prohibits abortions except when necessary to save the mother’s life.
The Supreme Court’s injunction only served to reduce the amount of time the ban would be enforced. The Arizona legislature passed a bill repealing the total abortion ban; Governor Katie Hobbes signed the bill earlier this month.
Arizona’s 1864 abortion ban is now officially where it belongs — in the past. https://t.co/sT7LETOuFn
Currently, state law banning abortions after 15 weeks remains in effect.
An activist group hopes to end all restrictions on abortion in the state by enshrining abortion as a constitutional right.
Arizona for Abortion Access is gunning to secure a constitutional amendment question on the November ballot. Most of the group’s funding has come from out of state. The activists have until July 3 to gather just over 383,900 valid signatures for ballot referral.
Leftist organizations and Democrats, including Hobbs, are in full support of making abortion a constitutional right.
In response to her signing the bill repealing the total abortion ban, Hobbs’ administration rolled out a website advocating for unfettered abortion access, painting those opposed to abortion as “radical extremists.”
The website also depicted crisis pregnancy centers as inaccurate and deceptive operations, citing an Attorney General Kris Mayes webpage portraying these centers as predatory with personal health information and potentially even dangerous.
Repealing this 1864 ban is a major victory for reproductive rights. But the fight isn’t over — right now Arizona women are still living under these extreme abortion bans.
Mayes celebrated the court’s decision. She said that her office may use the time afforded them to petition the U.S. Supreme Court.
“I am grateful that the Arizona Supreme Court has stayed enforcement of the 1864 law and granted our motion to stay the mandate in this case for another 90 days,” said Mayes. “During this period, my office will consider the best legal course of action to take from here, including a potential petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Apart from the additional stay granted, Mayes said that she opposed the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling. Mayes indicated that abortion was a form of medical care.
“I continue to believe this case was wrongly decided, and there are issues that merit additional judicial review,” said Mayes. “I will do everything I can to ensure that doctors can provide medical care for their patients according to their best judgment, not the beliefs of the men elected to the territorial legislature 160 years ago.”
My Statement on Arizona Supreme Court Ruling Granting Additional Stay of 1864 Abortion Law. pic.twitter.com/8akSTWR3jt
— AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes (@AZAGMayes) May 13, 2024
Former Attorney General Mark Brnovich, during his last months in office, backed the total abortion ban.
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On Sunday, Mother’s Day, the Mesa Police Department commemorated 10 years since the death of Sergeant Brandon Mendoza.
At 32 years old and with 13 years on the force, Mendoza was slain while returning from work by a drunk illegal immigrant driving the wrong way on the freeway. His killer, Raul Silva-Corona, had a lengthy criminal record and was driving without a license at the time of the accident. Silva-Corona was high on meth and his blood-alcohol content was .24 percent, three times the legal limit.
Mendoza died the day after Mother’s Day that year. Mendoza was survived by his parents, siblings, and extended family. It was Mendoza’s dream since childhood to become a police officer, according to his obituary and subsequent interviews with his mother, Mary Ann Mendoza.
It’s been 10 years and your family, friends, and community still feel your loss. Sergeant Brandon Mendoza was killed on his way home from work on May 12, 2014 by a wrong way driver on the freeway. Remembering you, today and always.. Sgt. Brandon Mendoza EOW 05-12-2014. pic.twitter.com/PDEK32s4bp
Silva-Corona’s criminal record dated back for nearly 20 years to 1994, when he was arrested for burglary and assaulting an officer in Colorado. Silva-Corona skipped out on his sentencing hearing, avoiding detection until 2012 when Border Patrol discovered him in Arizona and transported him back to Colorado. Instead of imprisonment or deportation, Colorado sentenced Silva-Corona to probation and freed him.
Mendoza’s mother, Mary Ann, would later become a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, a sharp departure from predecessor Barack Obama and successor Joe Biden. Mary Ann appeared frequently on Trump’s 2016 campaign trail.
“Every person who’s here illegally is going to have a sob story about their family being ripped apart,” said Mendoza in 2017. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for them if they’ve committed a crime. My family’s already been ripped apart.”
After her son’s death, Mary Ann petitioned Obama to ban illegal immigrants from registering vehicles. She also founded Angel Families, a national support and advocacy group for families of individuals killed by illegal immigrants. Mendoza’s organization is engaging in a class action lawsuit against the Biden administration over not enforcing immigration laws.
Mary Ann was a guest speaker for the 2016 Republican National Convention (RNC).
“Every one of the crimes [Silva-Corona] committed had laws that should’ve resulted in jail time, but it didn’t happen. Instead, I had my son’s life stolen from me by a man who was three times the legal limit drunk, was high on meth, and drove for over 35 miles the wrong way on four different freeways, and he had no business being in this country,” said Mary Ann. “His death has left a large void in many people’s lives. This is a good cop’s story, cut short.”
Mendoza was one of the first officers to volunteer to wear a body camera.
Mary Ann was the guest of Congressman Andy Biggs for the 2020 State of the Union address.
The City of Mesa honored Mendoza’s memory in 2015 through the renaming of its baseball field at Guerrero Rotary Park, “Mendoza Field.”
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A majority of college students support pro-Hamas protests and a significant percentage condone violence.
According to a survey of nearly 800 full-time college students by Intelligent.com, 65 percent of students were supportive of the pro-Hamas protests. 36 percent of those students supportive of protests condoned the use of violence. About 18 percent of respondents opposed punishment for student protesters who broke the law, compared to 60 percent who were supportive of punishment for lawbreakers and 22 percent who were unsure.
A slightly higher percentage of students expressed opposition to punishment for student protesters who violate school policy, compared to 55 percent who expressed support for punishment and 24 percent who were unsure.
51 percent of protest supporters said they sympathized with Hamas. By comparison, 40 percent of all respondents said they sympathized with Hamas. However, 71 percent of all respondents expressed the belief that Israel has the right to exist.
While not all condoned acts of violence, a greater majority supported aggressive and even unlawful protest tactics. 75 percent reported support for encampments, 45 percent reported support for blocking students from attending class, and 38 percent reported support for canceling graduation ceremonies.
36 percent of students revealed that the protests caused them to be more supportive of Palestine, and 46 percent said the protests didn’t sway their level of support.
Eight percent of protest supporters revealed that they disliked Jewish people, 39 percent said they had no opinion, and 51 percent had a favorable opinion.
The survey also offered insight to a main source of information for college-age students: TikTok. 31 percent reported that the Chinese-owned social media app provided them with the background and updates on the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
By comparison, about 15 percent of college students reported TV news as their source of information on the conflict. As for the others: a little over ten percent cited Instagram and YouTube, respectively, while about ten percent cited friends and family. Less than ten percent cited newspaper articles, and less than five percent cited professors, academic papers or books, or other sources of information.
This survey took place from May 1 to 2, across 763 full-time college students ages 18 to 24 balanced across four U.S. regions: Northeast, Midwest, West, and South.
Though gatherings and smaller protests began after Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, the larger and rowdier pro-Hamas protests — marked by their encampments — broke out across all of Arizona’s public universities late last month. Many persist despite encampment teardowns from law enforcement as well as punitive measures like arrests and student suspensions.
Several activist groups have led in organizing the protests, facilitating resources for protesters, or establishing encampments, including: Arizona Palestine Solidarity Alliance, Mass Liberation Arizona, Muslim Students of America, Students for Justice in Palestine, Tucson Coalition for Palestine, Arizona Palestine Network, and Jewish Voice for Peace.
Activists with Mass Liberation Arizona and other groups also plan to pack the Maricopa County courthouse next Tuesday to protest the charges filed against those who encamped at Arizona State University.
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Arizona State University (ASU) banned a professor after his verbal confrontation with a Muslim woman on campus went viral online.
ASU professor Jonathan Yudelman, a School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership postdoctoral research scholar, confronted a hijab-clad Muslim woman during a pro-Israel protest near campus last Sunday, captured in viral footage amplified by pro-Hamas activists.
The events leading up to the heated, expletive-laden exchange weren’t captured or circulated, and the identity of the woman is unknown. It is also not known if she is an ASU student.
“You’re disrespecting my religious boundaries,” said the woman.
“What does this have to do with religion? You’re spewing hate,” said the man with Yudelman, former IDF soldier Sammy Ben.
“You disrespect my sense of humanity, b****,” said Yudelman.
“Get the f*** out of my face,” responded the woman.
“Get the f*** out of here,” said Yudelman.
“Go back to Jihad,” said Ben, to which another woman recording the viral exchange began screaming “Hate Crime!” and yelling for the cops to come handle the two men. At that point, Ben turned around to face the woman filming.
“What do you say about the seventh of October? Do you have an opinion about it? You also glorified it? You’re happy about it?” asked Ben.
His identity must be discovered and revealed! Footage shows a former Israeli soldier harassing a Muslim woman in the United States, along with other pro-Israeli gang members. The police do not intervene in Islamophobic and racist attacks against women. pic.twitter.com/oFz1vMePb2
Clemson University professor C. Bradley Thompson, a peer of Yudelman, offered some background to the viral exchange: the mystery woman had allegedly engaged by verbally accosting him first, and Yudelman wasn’t initially part of the pro-Israel protest.
According to Thompson, Yudelman is talking with a lawyer about his situation.
ASU President Michael Crow said in a statement that Yudelman was not only dismissed, but completely banned from campus and future teaching opportunities.
“He is no longer permitted to be on campus and will never teach here again,” said Crow.
Yudelman resigned before Sunday’s incident, though his resignation wasn’t scheduled to take effect until the end of June. Yudelman is an associate professor with University of Austin, a new private university enrolling its first undergraduate class this fall.
Yudelman formerly held positions with Harvard University, Princeton University, Baylor University, and the University of Texas.
Activists and organizations such as the Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-AZ) demanded Yudelman to be arrested and fired for the exchange.
CAIR-AZ Executive Director Azza Abuseif said Yudelman’s rhetoric amounted to a “broader pattern of Islamophobia and religious intolerance weaponized by pro-Israel, pro-genocide extremists.” Abuseif also called for any criminal charges possible to be filed.
In a Wednesday press release, ASU reported that it had placed Yudelman on leave on Monday pending their investigation. The university referred the matter to Tempe police.
“Arizona State University protects freedom of speech and expression but does not tolerate threatening or violent behavior,” said ASU. “While peaceful protest is welcome, all incidents of violent or threatening behavior will be addressed.”
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