On Wednesday, Kari Lake declared herself victorious in the Republican primary election for governor. On Thursday, the rest of the state followed.
Lake has nearly 19,800 more votes than her main challenger, Karrin Taylor Robson, as of Thursday night. She was one of several candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and former Vice President Mike Pence had endorsed Taylor Robson, who held a commanding six point lead when the first results were announced around 8 p.m. Election Day. However, that margin continued to shrink as updated results were announced throughout the late evening hours.
With nearly 200,000 ballots across the state still needing to be tabulated as of Wednesday morning, election observers predicted Lake would likely receive the majority of the still-to-be-counted votes. They pointed to the Lake campaign’s well-executed “get out the vote” promotion for election day.
Those predictions held true throughout Wednesday as additional results were announced. Lake quickly pushed ahead of Taylor Robson and held a small lead all day.
Then on Thursday, Lake’s margin of victory continued to expand as the bulk of the previously unreported votes were announced. Shortly after 7 p.m., the Associated Press declared Lake the winner. Her margin of victory is holding at just less than three percent.
.@KariLake has officially taken every single county in Arizona.
Lake was brutally critical of Taylor Robson during the primary but hopes her main challenger “will come over” to support Lake’s campaign against the Democratic nominee, current Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.
“We don’t maybe agree on every single thing. but I think we agree on the most important issues of the day,” Lake said of Taylor Robson. “And I believe that Karrin will come in because I know for a fact Karrin loves this state.”
The Republican Governors Association (RGA) released a statement late Thursday congratulating Lake on her victory. Ducey, who is co-chairman of the RGA, was not quoted in the statement. Instead, the comments came from RGA Vice-Chair Kim Reynolds, the governor of Iowa.
“From tackling Biden’s border crisis, to standing up for law enforcement, or keeping Arizona’s economy growing, Kari is ready to fight for Arizona,” according to Reynolds. “In contrast, Katie Hobbs is nothing more than a radical far-left politician whose open borders, anti-law enforcement views are completely out of step with mainstream Arizona.”
Congrats to @KariLake who has inspired an entirely new generation of Republicans to show up and vote in Arizona. The @AZGOP is lucky to have one of the most inspiring and exciting candidates in America this cycle and I could not be more happy to get out and work for her. pic.twitter.com/XBJqfuppzV
Lake and Taylor Robson led a field of five Republicans seeking to take on Hobbs. One of those candidates was former Congressman Matt Salmon, who withdrew from the race in late June, past the deadline for having his name removed from the ballot.
Salmon received more than 27,700 primary votes despite throwing his support to Taylor Robson. Nearly 86 percent of those voters would have had to follow Salmon over to the Taylor Robson camp in order hold off Lake.
The other Republican candidates were Scott David Neely, who received almost 23,000 votes, and Paola “Z” Tulliani-Zen, who received nearly 15,500 votes.
With all the pre-election hype about possible violence at polling stations for Tuesday’s primary election, the most serious election day misconduct appears to have been a town councilman removing opposition campaign signs.
AZ Free News has confirmed that current Gilbert councilman Scott September is the subject of a criminal investigation initiated Tuesday when a Gilbert police officer was dispatched to the Southeast Regional Library off South Greenfield Road and East Guadalupe Road for a report of a man pulling up campaign signs.
In Arizona, it is a Class 2 misdemeanor for an unauthorized person to “knowingly remove, alter, deface or cover any political sign of any candidate for public office” in the days leading up to an election unless the sign’s location “is hazardous to public safety, obstructs clear vision in the area. or interferes with” the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or is otherwise in violation of state law.
September has been a councilman since April 2020 and was seeking to remain in office on this year’s primary election ballot.
According to public records, September was at the library which serves as a Maricopa County voting center on Tuesday morning when at least two witnesses say they saw him pulling up campaign signs which opposed his election.
Andrew Adams, the Republican chairman of Legislative District 14, had reportedly placed some of the campaign signs near the library property but well outside the mandated 75-foot “no electioneering” buffer zone around official voting locations. It was Adams who told police he actually witnessed September tampering with the signs.
Richard Young, another witness, told the responding officer that he took images of September at the library. Young also reportedly snapped a photo of September’s vehicle to share with police.
September reportedly handed over the signs to Adams at the library. There is no indication any of the signs were damaged.
As of press time, AZ Free News is awaiting a response from the Gilbert Police Department as to whether the investigation has been referred to an outside law enforcement agency given the conflict of interest with the suspect being a town councilman.
If cited and convicted, September faces a sentence of four months in the county jail and / or a fee for each count contained in the conviction.
The same day the Washington, D.C. mayor pleaded for National Guard troops to handle the “crisis” her city is experiencing from undocumented migrants, a fatal vehicle accident near Interstate 10 in Benson shut down one of southeast Arizona’s key roadways for several hours due to yet another human smuggling effort.
Mayor Muriel Bowser was upbraided July 28 by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey after she complained about 4,000 or so migrants in the nation’s capital. Ducey pointed out Arizona dealt with more than 10 times that number in June alone, not counting thousands more illegal border crossers who were not apprehended due to a lack of federal resources.
Then just hours after Ducey’s comments, law enforcement agencies and emergency medical responders were on scene of a deadly two-vehicle accident one block south of the I-10 interchange with State Route 90, the key route to Sierra Vista and the border.
According to the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office, deputies attempted a traffic stop of a white Ford Expedition on Davis Road near Tombstone around 1:15 p.m. The driver of the Ford failed to yield and began travelling at speeds over 100 miles per hour, forcing the deputy to end the effort due to safety concerns.
An “attempt to locate” the vehicle was put out by the deputy to surrounding law enforcement agencies. A sighting was made shortly after 3 p.m. when the vehicle was spotted several miles to the west, heading north on SR90 toward I-10.
The Ford was still traveling at speeds estimated over 100 miles per hour, prompting law enforcement personnel to deploy tire deflation devices a few blocks south of the Interstate. Unfortunately, the driver of the Ford -later identified as a Tucson woman in her 20’s- failed once again to stop, eventually crashing into a white SUV at a controlled intersection.
The Ford driver was removed from the vehicle with serious injuries and airlifted to a Tucson hospital where she remains in critical condition. A male passenger trapped in the Ford died at the scene, while two undocumented immigrants in the Ford were injured.
The SUV driver and a passenger also suffered injuries which required their transportation to a hospital for treatment. No medical update has been provided by Arizona Department of Public Safety as of press time.
Thursday’s fatal accident is just the latest serious crash the last 18 months involving drivers engaging in human smuggling. The additional responses are overtaxing the resources of law enforcement, first responders, and medical facilities.
Which makes last week’s comment by another Washington, D.C. official that their city’s situation is “unsustainable” particularly upsetting to those living along and protecting the southwest border.
Like Ducey, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office also hit back at Bowser last Thursday, noting that Washington, D.C. finally sees what states like Arizona and Texas “have been dealing with every single day, as our communities are overrun and overwhelmed by thousands of illegal immigrants” since President Joe Biden’s open border policies began in January 2021.
“If the mayor wants a solution to this crisis, she should call on President Biden to take immediate action to secure the border — something he has failed to do,” Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze added.
Bowser’s request for National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C. requires Presidential approval. The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III received the mayor’s request and is taking it “very seriously.”
The fatal accident in Benson and the call for National Guard troops in the capital also came the day U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced he was authorizing funding to complete a critical section of the border wall at the Morelos Dam in Yuma.
No date was provided for undertaking the construction which will close four gaps in an area along the swift moving Colorado River. However, Mayorkas’ statement implies it won’t be any time soon.
“Prior to construction, DHS will engage in standard environmental planning and conduct stakeholder outreach and consultation,” the announcement states. “DHS will move as expeditiously as possible, while still maintaining environmental stewardship.”
An application to utilize roughly 10,000 acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Mangement (BLM) near Safford for a solar energy project will be the subject of a virtual public information forum later this month.
A right-of-way application has been submitted by IP Land Holdings LLC for its proposed Hopper Renewable Project to be located in the San Simon Valley, about 20 miles south of Safford. The project calls for construction and operation of a 1,000 megawatt solar generation facility entirely located on BLM-managed land in Graham County. The proposal also includes a generation tie-in transmission line.
A Zoom-based public meeting is set for Aug. 17 starting at 5 p.m. and will run about 90 minutes, including an introduction by BLM staff followed by presentations from company officials.
IP Land Holdings is wholly owned by IP Renewable Energy Holdings LLC, a Delaware corporation with operations in multiple states. But for Hopper Renewable Project to move forward it needs to be granted a right-of-way to build on BLM land. It also needs a solar variance because the land involved is outside of a BLM designated Solar Energy Zone (SEZ).
Suchright-of-way applications for utility-scale solar energy development are considered by BLM on a case-by-case basis. Among the considerations are environmental impacts, public comment, and coordination with appropriate federal, state, tribal and local agencies, according to BLM.
Input from the public and other stakeholders will be used by BLM officials to determine whether the company’s application should be denied or allowed to continue to the National Environmental Policy Act planning process. If the application moves forward, there will be additional opportunities for public involvement, according to BLM.
Projects like the one proposed for the San Simon Valley fall under the Congressionally-approved Energy Act of 2020 to promote approval of 25 gigawatts of solar, wind, and geothermal production on public lands no later than 2025.
Last December, BLM auctioned utility-scale solar energy development leases in each of Arizona’s three solar energy zones (SEZs). The development from the resulting leases and right-of-way could produce as much as 825 megawatts of solar energy.
Heliogen, Inc. placed the high bid of $114,428 for a lease in the 3,348-acreBrenda SEZ near Lake Havasu City, while Leeward Renewable Energy, LLC placed a high bid of $78,728 for a lease in the 2,560-acre Agua Caliente SEZ east of Yuma.
There were no bids for the lease of the 2,618-acre Gillespie SEZ southwest of Phoenix, so BLM made the lands available for application by a non-competitive grant. This resulted in a solar energy right-of-way application being accepted for that zone from Candela Renewables.
The SEZs were previously analyzed and designated a decade ago after stakeholder involvement, including conservation organizations, state and local governments, Tribes, solar energy industry representatives, and cooperating Federal agencies.
BLM must conduct environmental reviews of all site-specific proposals before any company can proceed with development.
Those interested in viewing and/or participating in the upcoming Zoom meeting about Hopper Renewable Project need to enter Passcode 08172022. The meeting will be recorded and posted soon after on the BLM Arizona YouTube channel.
In addition, interested parties may submit comments until Sept. 17 via email to BLM_AZ_SFO_Solar@blm.gov or by mail to BLM Safford Field Office, Attn: Ron Peru, 711 S 14th Avenue, Safford, AZ 85546. Be aware that personal identifying information such as name, address, phone number, and email address may be made publicly available.
If state lawmakers provided nearly 28 percent more funding to increase the salaries of Arizona’s public school teachers between 2018 and 2021, why did those teachers’ pay only go up 16.5 percent? And how did Arizona’s public schools spend billions of federal COVID funds?
Those are among the questions related to public school expenditures addressed in a policy report released this week by the Goldwater Institute which uses Arizona as a case study to delve into how school districts allocated COVID funds and why teachers have not seen meaningful pay increases dispute funding being made available to their district boards.
The report, “The COVID Funding Flood: How Spending Surged in Arizona’s Public School System Amid the Pandemic Era” by Matt Beienburg contains information which lawmakers, school district stakeholders, and the public can learn from when addressing future school funding issues.
Beienburg, Goldwater’s Director of Education Policy, provides data showing that the flood of taxpayer spending in response to COVID was “ostensibly meant to address the harms of the pandemic” but actually led to a massive overspending of federal funds, triggered a costly cycle of fiscal irresponsibility within K-12 public schools, and prioritized the interests of teachers’ unions “over student wellbeing.”
And during that time, the long-running pattern of public school districts increasing overall spending without meaningfully raising teacher salaries continued, according to Beienburg’s report. It should not be surprising then that district boards and administrations engaged in the same type of redirection when it came to COVID funds, the report notes.
Some key findings of the policy report are:
· Between fiscal years 2018 and 2021, Arizona lawmakers increased funding for teacher pay by 27.9 percent. But district schools provided only a 16.5 percent average teacher pay raise during that time, showing many district boards chose to use the funds for other expenditures and not what the legislators, teachers, and parents understood those funds were being used for.
· Arizona public school districts triggered a massive statewide enrollment decline of nearly 50,000 students as a result of their COVID mitigation protocols (i.e. closures, mask mandates) even as charter school enrollment rose and state and federal taxpayer funding for all public schools surged during the pandemic;
· Arizona school districts spent a significantly smaller proportion of their federal COVID funds (23.6 percent) compared to charter schools (31.3 percent) during the peak of the pandemic through June 2021. This was primarily due to a disproportionately high level of funding that districts have received from legislation but accumulated instead of spending at that time.
· The vast majority of public school districts’ expenditures of federal COVID funds for technology and school facilities upgrades occurred more than a full year after most public schools reopened for in-person learning. This suggests the funds are being primarily used for a non-COVID-related purpose. According to Beienburg’s report, the “COVID-19 pandemic ushered in an era of unprecedented spending on public K-12 schools, yet available evidence suggests that the bonanza of federal spending was almost entirely avoidable and that much of it will likely serve a very different purpose than the one originally sold to policymakers and the public.”
The report recommends that to avoid this sort of institutional failure in the future, policymakers in other states should seek to replicate the steps taken by the Arizona legislature to mandate reporting requirements on the use of all federal COVID stimulus funds.
