by Matthew Holloway | Sep 27, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Former gubernatorial candidate Karrin Taylor Robson responded to a report from 12News’ Braham Resnick about the ‘Future Freedoms PAC’ pumping money into Arizona elections to turn the legislature blue. Her answer? Join her Arizona PAC.
Taylor Robson stressed that if successful in gaining control of the Arizona legislature, the Democrats would “turn Arizona into a place none of us recognize,” citing “Higher Taxes,” “More Regulations,” “Open Borders,” and “Rising Crime.”
She added, “This is not what Arizonans stand for, and I will keep fighting to protect the state we know & love.”
The Arizona PAC, launched in 2023, lists Taylor Robson and Tucson philanthropist Jim Click of the Click family of car dealerships as the committee’s leadership. According to the website, the purpose of the PAC is that “to maintain and grow the Republican majorities in the Arizona legislature.”
The PAC wrote:
“Arizona has benefited from decades of conservative leadership and conservative policies. Arizona is a business-friendly, pro-family state that has grown due to a low-tax, low regulatory environment. Thanks to conservative governance, Arizona’s workers have the right to work and our families have the right to choose the best education options for our children.
These priorities and others are at risk if we allow far left policies to take over. Arizona’s legislature is a target of big out-of-state interests hoping to turn Arizona bright blue and make our state the next California with high taxes, high barriers to opportunity and government involvement in all aspects of our lives.”
Taylor Robson was defeated in the 2022 gubernatorial primary election by Kari Lake. Lake went on to be defeated in a highly contested election by Democrat Katie Hobbs with the results of the election marred by litigation for months afterword. Since facing off against Lake, Taylor Robson in turn endorsed both Lake and President Donald Trump following the August primary going into the 2024 elections.
In an interview with the New York Post, she told critics of her endorsement, “It’s a binary choice. It’s Donald Trump or Kamala Harris. You look at the conservative and Republican vision for America or the Democrat vision for America, and they’re two completely different visions.” She added, “Take personalities out of it.”
“I do not subscribe at all to Kamala Harris’s vision for America, which is colossal government, growth of the regulatory state, more taxes now, price controls, open borders, chaos in our streets. That is not my vision for America. I want a safe and secure America,” she continued.
Taylor Robson also took aim at Democrat Senatorial nominee Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) saying , “He, like Kamala Harris, is very much remaking themselves from where they are, right? Ruben Gallego was a member of the Progressive Caucus his entire career in Washington until he decided to run for the US Senate.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Staff Reporter | Sep 26, 2024 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
The nation’s largest university is balking its years-long trend of growth and expansion with the closure of one of its campuses.
Arizona State University (ASU) announced earlier this week that it will close its Lake Havasu campus in the summer 2025, affecting over 200 students and 20 faculty members. The Lake Havasu campus opened just over a decade ago in 2012.
The university will also be increasing tuition for those on campus: full-time students will pay another $350, with part-time students to pay a lower, “proportional” amount.
ASU blamed state budget cuts for the campus closure in its Monday announcement, citing an $11 million reduction in funding. ASU President Michael Crow said this latest reduction was part of a longtime refusal by the state legislature and governor to fund higher education adequately.
“These necessary actions reflect the continuing lack of public investment from state government for higher education in Arizona,’’ said Crow. “ASU simply cannot be asked to fund the expansion of higher education across the state without state investment as a part of the financial structure to do so. These budget cuts put the state of Arizona even further behind in ensuring that Arizona has the talent and workforce necessary to advance its economy.”
Governor Katie Hobbs — often at odds with the slim Republican majority of the state legislature — was supportive of this most recent budget, including the cuts to higher education and nearly all other agencies.
“[T]his bipartisan, balanced budget puts our state on solid financial ground,” said Hobbs at the time.
A spokesperson for Hobbs told outlets that the governor remains supportive of the budget, but didn’t elaborate whether the governor was supportive of ASU’s decision.
However, lawmakers have refuted this claim. House Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci, who resides in Lake Havasu City, issued a joint statement with Republican State Rep. John Gillette expressing disappointment with ASU’s decision and concern for the lack of public discussion or stakeholder involvement.
“ASU’s strong financial health simply does not justify its action. The State Legislature has made significant investments in ASU over the past few years,” said the lawmakers. “ASU’s budget has increased by 22 percent since FY20, and by 40 percent since 2015, with $408 million allocated to the university this year, reflecting our commitment to higher education, even while difficult decisions were made to balance the budget.”
Gillette also added the speculation in a separate post of his own that ASU’s decision was politically motivated.
“When times are good, it will receive new funds; when times are tough, it should tighten its belt — just like every other agency that serves the public,” said Gillette. “We call on ASU to immediately reconsider this closure and urge the Arizona Board of Regents to take a much closer look at this decision as it looks very politically motivated this close to the election.”
According to Lake Havasu City leadership, ASU kept the city out of their decision to close the campus. It was members of the community and city leadership that served on the committee that brought ASU to the city over a decade ago.
Mayor Cal Sheehy told Havasu News the city wasn’t given the opportunity to seek an alternative to closing the campus.
“It’s really sad that ASU has made the decision to close the college at Lake Havasu City, but the real challenge is that we haven’t had a chance to discuss any alternatives,” said Sheehy. “They believe the legislature put them here, but Lake Havasu has shown we are innovative, starting with the $2 million it took to get it here in the first place, and a conversation about what solutions could be there and what the opportunities are.”
One of the committee members, business owner Steve Greeley, also didn’t buy ASU’s claim that financial woes had forced their hand.
“I saw the quote by President Crow in regards to the Legislature cutting back on funding. I understand that, but you would think they would have a workaround before making a decision so burdensome,” said Greeley. “It was a huge effort by the community all those years ago, that took a lot of time, resources and money. I’m hoping something can be resolved.”
Havasu News editorial staff reported that their community raised $2 million in an effort to assist ASU in coming to their city.
“Our community deserved a seat at the table,” said the outlet. “We should be angry about this. The closure will affect students, families, and local jobs. And ASU’s promise to relocate students doesn’t make up for the loss of a school that became a part of our town. ASU has broken its promise to Lake Havasu City, and they owe us more than a simple goodbye.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Sep 26, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Republican Congressman David Schweikert, working alongside Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA), Glenn Grothman (R-WI), and Jared Golden (D-ME) introduced the Employee Retention Tax Credit Repeal Act on Tuesday. The bipartisan legislation is designed to streamline lower-risk returns from small businesses for more rapid processing by prohibiting the IRS from processing COVID-19 Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) claims filed after January 31, 2024. The bill also drastically increases the penalties on businesses and individuals defrauding the government.
According to a press release from Schweikert’s office, the ERTC was initially created to enable “Main Street” businesses to keep furloughed staff employed during the COVID-19 pandemic. “However, legitimate returns from small businesses desperately needing support were crowded out by perverse promoters looking to take advantage of an emergency program, landing ERTC on the IRS’s ‘Dirty Dozen’ list in 2023.”
In a July statement, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel warned that the law, as written, presented “more and more questionable claims,” noting that, “The further we get from the pandemic, we believe the percentage of legitimate claims coming in is declining.” The Congressman’s office noted that Werfel asked for Congress to help with this situation and to assist the U.S. Department of the Treasury to “address fraud and error.”
“The ERTC Repeal Act would enable the return to fiscal sanity and end a program riddled with fraud that could cost up to seven times more—up to $550 billion—than initially estimated if allowed to continue. By eliminating the ERTC program, this bill would save taxpayers an estimated $79 billion over ten years. “
Schweikert explained, “We’ve all heard from the number of small businesses in our district waiting for their claims to be processed. A 1.4 million return backlog still exists, and moving the deadline up, rather than waiting until April 2025, will enable the IRS to go after the bad actors seeking to take advantage of taxpayers while approving legitimate claims faster and delivering long-overdue refunds to small businesses. Congress would be perpetuating a moral hazard if this level of fraud were allowed to go unpunished. It’s past time fiscal responsibility prevails, and we act on behalf of future generations who will be shouldered with a more than $35 trillion national debt.”
Per the release, the ERTC Repeal Act would advance the sunset date of the original program, and in addition to prohibiting processing of claims submitted after January 31, 2024, it would:
- Increase penalties for promoters from $1,000 to $10,000 for individuals and $200,000 for business promoters;
- Impose a $1,000 penalty for failure to comply with due diligence requirements; and
- Extend the statute of limitations period on assessments to six years.
According to the text of the bill, any businesses promoting the ERTC may also be subject to “75 percent of the gross income derived (or to be derived) by such promoter with respect to the aid, assistance, or advice.”
A corresponding Senate Measure spearheaded by Senators Tom Tillis (R-NC), Mitt Romney (R-UT), and Joe Manchin (D-WV) was announced September 18th.
“Repealing the ERTC is a critical step towards addressing America’s debt crisis,” Tillis said in a statement. “It’s past time to eliminate this fraud-ridden pandemic-era policy so we can concentrate on getting our fiscal house in order.”
According to the Senate findings, the ERTC added approximately $230 billion to the U.S. deficit through Fiscal Year 2023 and was projected to ballon to as much as $550 billion. The IRS also announced in June that between 10% and 20% of claims showed “clear signs of being erroneous” while another 60% to 70% showed an “unacceptable risk” of being improper.
Under existing law, the credit will persist until April 25, 2025.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Sep 25, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
In a series of posts to ‘X,’ Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer reported via his personal account that his office has received the first batches of ballots under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA ). According to Richer, “The 2024 General Election is officially underway here in Maricopa County!”
In full he wrote, “We’ve already received back 200 Uniform and Overseas ballots. The 2024 General Election is officially underway here in Maricopa County!”
Richer also reported via X that the Recorder’s Office now has “three remote recording kiosks up and running,” sharing the locations as the Sun City Library, the Southeast Regional Library in Gilbert, and the Georgia T. Lord Library in Goodyear.
He followed up with the Maricopa County Active Voter Registration Totals as of Monday totaling 2.512 million registered voters: 883,494 Republicans, 868,825 Independents, 719,324 Democrats, 19,5226 No Labels Party, 18,715 Libertarians and 2,120 Green Party.
According to a Monday press release from Maricopa County Elections:
- Maricopa County Elections is expecting a total turnout of 2.1 million voters.
- It is expected that half of voters will do so by voting early by mail and the other half will vote early in-person, drop off an early ballot, or cast their ballot in-person on Election Day.
- Approximately 315,000-420,000 voters are expected to visit a Vote Center on Election Day.
- 246 Vote Centers will be opened, and more than 3,000 election workers will be hired to service voters.
On the 2024 ballot, voters will decide 144 elected offices, 45 judges up for retention, and 76 ballot measures of which 13 are statewide propositions.
Jennifer Liewer, Deputy Elections Director for Communications, advised, “With a two-page ballot, containing contests on the front and back of both pages, it is more important than ever for voters to do their research ahead of time. Voters may also want to make a plan to either vote early by receiving a ballot in the mail or vote early in-person at a Vote Center to avoid longer than normal lines on Election Day.”
Since his ouster as Recorder, Richer has touted his recent lengthy interview with TIME in which he repeated his claims that “the 2020 election wasn’t stolen,” calling this view “a documented fact,” despite the hotly disputed status of the claim at the highest levels of the GOP. The outgoing County Recorder was defeated in the Republican Primary by Arizona State Rep. Justin Heap who ran on a platform to “Restore Voter Confidence.”
During a forum presented by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, previously reported by AZ Free News, Heap made serious accusation against Richer that election rules were not followed and vocally defended Arizonans’ right to be skeptical about election results. He said that legal safeguards weren’t followed 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.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Staff Reporter | Sep 25, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Climate activists are crowdfunding bail to free those arrested for trespassing a Phoenix campaign field office for Donald Trump on Monday.
The activists were with the Sunrise Movement, a national organization dedicated to initiating a “climate revolution” by popularizing and implementing the Green New Deal. Among those arrested were out-of-state activists: 20-year-old Nate Scofield and 21-year-old Riya Kumar.
Scofield is a University of North Carolina student and substitute teacher for the Central Park School for Children in Durham, North Carolina. Scofield serves as a campus organizer and hub delegate with the Sunrise Movement.
Kumar is a University of Idaho student; she posted asking for bail money after her arrest.
“I was arrested at a Trump office because I am fighting for a just and liveable future for all beings,” said Kumar.
An organizer for Monday’s event and founder of the Sunrise Movement’s Phoenix hub, 17-year-old Ashton Dolce, participates in FEMA’s Youth Preparedness Council and attends BASIS Scottsdale.
As of this report, nearly 200 individuals have contributed over $7,000 of the $10,000 goal. Simren Kaur, a California-based activist and farming nonprofit coordinator, organized the fundraiser.
“A Donald Trump Presidency would put us in danger. He will do the bidding of Big Oil, revoke protections for millions of immigrants, and take away access to abortion and gender-affirming care for people in red states,” read the GoFundMe page. “Trump is radical and extreme right-wing Republicans have detailed plans to strip our rights away. That is why these young activists took the sacrifice of risking arrest to expose Trump for who he is, and fight for a livable future for all of us.”
The Green New Deal, like its namesake instituted by former President Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression, seeks to completely overhaul American society through public programs and projects. Unlike the New Deal’s focus on job creation, however, the Green New Deal focuses on power: 100 percent replacement of current energy sources with “clean,” or “green,” renewables supported by “green” jobs and crackdowns on emissions.
Donors include Dhakshinamurthy Suppusamy, Hannah Amick, Mazie Drummond, Xiuhua Miao, Sage Clausen, Michael Koob, Dana Johnson, Evan Blue, Honora Wolfe, Sean Cohen, Danielle Mayahi, Daniel Warner, Arabella Garcia, Emilia Anders, Bryan Chu, Ellen Tucker, Yoram Tereleth, Emma Ramalingam, Rebekah MillerMacPhee, Josie Cohen-Rodriguez, Eva Cohen, Maelynn Oudjit, Mars Cantrell, MacKenzie Mae MacFarland, Rebecca Davis, Kai Uehara, Mary Collier, Aaryaman Singhal, Jenifer Miller, Keanu Arpels-Josiah, Lilian Montagne, Abigail McIver, Maddie Goldstein, Parker Abell, Brian Giacoppo, Lynn Handlin, Markus Ceniceros, Chloe Qin, Simon Aron, Dylan Mitlehner, Stacy Steinberg, Nicole Green, Sean Haskett, Ariela Lara, Pamela McInnes, Maia Cuddy, Logan Madden, Mayuri Nagpal, Richard Cho, Isabel Marlens, Violet Pearcy, Sarah Shahinpour, Lisa Hyman, Kiersten Hackman, Rose Cheyette, Celestina Garcia, Carla Diehl, Jessy Lloyd, Kaitlin White, Aum Davé, Stacy Miller, Sarah Borokowski, Olivia Campbell, Leontina Hormel, Ian Gentry, Mary King, Kailee Ford, Yeishka Montalvo, Christina King, Christian Keeve, Paola Sanchez, Katerina Leedy, George Bergan, Robert Accardo, Derek Miranda, Alexander Tinker, Patrick Harper, Leif Running, Jessica Barranco, Jacob W. Apenes, Julie Volpenhein, Lindsay Volpenhein, Luis Mirianda, Sarah Shahinpour, Caroline Lindy, Vianni Ledesma, Ashna Shah, Yesenia Garza, CJ Janssen, Caitlyn Carpenter, Tasia North, John Ramos, Avi Horwitz, Adina Gitomer, Audrey M., Hugo Aponte, Jeremy Liskar, Joseph Markus, Harita Iswara, Yong Zhou, Alisa Bennett, Jacob Glass, Indigo Lemke, Victoria Garcia, Genna Kieper, Eric Fishman, Adah Crandall, Jennifer Pierce, Mekala Kumar, Katherine Campion, Thomas Blackwell, Yara Levin, Terri Pickens, Aly Bean, Lillian Saperston, Ajit Rajbhandari, Michael Field, Abraham Layon, Jordan Reif, John Paul Mejia, Ian Sippel, Rosemary McInnes, Ryan Dickey, Laela Zaidi, Ling Xiong, Hannah Hayes, Ella Weber, Paul Campion, Adin Alem, Alyssa Harrison, Victoria Plant, Anton Cedergrund, Sawyer Pappas, Dylan Mitlehner, and Shiva Rajbhandari.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Sep 25, 2024 | Education, News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne issued a press release Thursday alerting parents of the Osborn School District that callers to the Arizona Department of Education’s (ADE) Empower Hotline have reported the central Phoenix district is allowing race and gender politics into the classroom, supporting Black Lives Matters and other political signage. Horne condemned the decision stating that the district is allowing race and gender politics to distract from academics. However, he noted that Arizona is a local-control state, so he is unable to intervene, and Osborn District parents must act.
In a statement, Horne said, “As Superintendent of Public Instruction my primary focus is helping schools increase academic outcomes, and the Osborn school district is not doing well academically, in part because of needless and provocative distractions.”
“We received a notification on the department’s Empower Hotline from a member of the Osborn community, who is offended by what is going on at that school district. This person sent pictures of a classroom wall that instead of posting academic materials had a big Black Lives Matter poster. They also sent a picture of stickers given to the students with the Osborn logo, surrounded by the colors associated with gender politics. The district provides magnets to attach this to cars, and stickers to students and staff, according to the notification we received on the hotline. There are no posters of brown lives matter, blue lives matter. Where does one stop when one goes down this path?”
Citing test scores holding up Phoenix’s Osborn District alongside the demographically similar Avondale Elementary District, which has an even higher poverty rate according to the free and reduced lunch enrollment, the release from the ADE noted that Avondale scores “significantly higher in academics.”
“81 percent of Osborn students are not proficient in math, compared to 67 percent in Avondale. In reading, 76 percent of Osborn students are not proficient, while that figure for Avondale is 63 percent.”
Horne offered some advice to school districts.
“If districts eliminate the time spent on race and gender politics they will have more time for academics. This will produce higher test scores. I spoke to the Osborne superintendent about this. He said what I was complaining about was designed to make all students feel welcome. The way to do that properly is to teach students to treat each other as individuals without regard to race, sexual orientation, sexual identity, or any such characteristic. It is not to promote identity politics in our public schools. He responded that we would have to agree to disagree.”
The State Superintendent added, “Arizona is a local control state. I do not have authority to order this to stop. We must rely on the parents and taxpayers in the Osborn school district to bring proper values and focus on academics to that school district. I urge them to do this as I do parents throughout Arizona who may observe this kind of needless distraction being promoted by schools.”
Pre-empting criticism for his opposition to the racial politics at play, Horne recalled his history of support for civil rights saying, “I have been a passionate supporter of civil rights since childhood. I attended the march on Washington in 1963 in which Martin Luther King gave his famous speech arguing that we should be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin. That has been my philosophy my whole life.”
However, he made his recommendation clear: “Race and gender politics in schools are contrary to this philosophy which should be taught to all students.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
