by Matthew Holloway | Oct 15, 2024 | Education, News
By Matthew Holloway |
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell has announced that her office has filed misdemeanor trespassing charges against 68 demonstrators who were arrested during a pro-Hamas protest at ASU in April. The demonstrators defied the orders of ASU police to disperse and leave the ad hoc encampment they illegally created on the alumni lawn near Old Main.
Under A.R.S. 13-1502, criminal trespassing entails “knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully on any real property after a reasonable request to leave by a law enforcement officer, the owner or any other person having lawful control over such property.” As a Class-3 misdemeanor, the penalty, if the accused are found guilty, could be up to 30 days in the county jail with a $500 fine and up to one year of probation.
“The right to free speech does not extend to violating the law,” County Attorney Mitchell said.
“The university’s policy is clear – encampments are not permitted in this particular area on campus. The protestors – many of whom were not students – were given the chance, over and over again, to peacefully take down the encampments and leave the area. ASU, along with local law enforcement, had a responsibility to keep the area safe for students and faculty. My office is now playing the equally important role of holding these people accountable for their actions.”
Shortly after the arrests on April 26th, ASU released a statement, now seemingly confirmed by Mitchell, that the demonstrators were mostly not ASU students or faculty:
“ASU Police arrested 72 people for trespassing after they set up an unauthorized encampment Friday, in violation of university policy. Encampments are prohibited on Arizona State University property. Lawful demonstrations can take place except overnight between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
A group of people – most of whom were not ASU students, faculty or staff – created an encampment and demonstration that continued until well past 11 p.m. when the group was instructed repeatedly to disperse. Individuals who refused to leave after numerous warnings were arrested and charged with criminal trespass. Of the 72 arrested throughout the day Friday, 15 were ASU students; about 80 percent of those arrested were not students.“
According to later reporting from ABC15, twenty of the people arrested were later revealed to be ASU students who were subsequently suspended from the university after their arrest.
In the days following the arrest, independent journalist Kyle Becker reported that ASU fraternity members could be seen assisting campus police to tear down the demonstrators’ encampment. Speaking to Campus Reform, the students told reporters that the university was happy to have their help.
“It’s our duty to help keep our freedoms secure. Jews should not have to feel threatened to hide on campus,” they told the outlet. “When they call for “Jewish genocide” the answer was extremely clear: help the police.”
In May, charges against the 68 suspects were initially vacated due to a failure on the part of ASU police officials to refer them to the prosecutor’s office in a timely manner. The charges were eventually submitted over the next few months.
The incident resulted in ASU police chief Michael Thompson being placed on administrative leave after a series of complaints were filed against him for his actions during the demonstration. He ultimately retired.
Mitchell’s office stated that the arrests were carried out by Tempe Police, Arizona Department of Public Safety, and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Officers, and that trial dates for the accused are pending.
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 | Oct 14, 2024 | Education, News
By Matthew Holloway |
The Common Sense Institute of Arizona (CSI) has released a comprehensive report setting facts versus myths surrounding Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) program.
According to the CSI, the full eleven page report, “dispels misconceptions and presents data-driven insights into the fiscal and educational impacts of the ESA program on Arizona’s public education system and state budget—an issue of growing interest for states considering ESA expansion.”
Although it follows an argumentative “claim/fact” format, the primary findings of the report can be broken down into five key area: K-12 Funding Growth, Per-Pupil Spending, Public School Enrollment Decline, ESA Program Costs, and Accountability and Oversight.
According to the release, during the nine year-span from Fiscal Year 2016 to 2025, the K-12 funding for Arizona Public Schools exploded by approximately 60 percent, jumping up by over $6.3 billion. Conversely, the funding allocated to ESAs only increased by $792 million over the same period, amounting to barely 11% of the budget’s overall growth. This simple fact torpedoes the popular online fiction that legislators are making cuts to public school funding to pay for the ESA.
As previously reported by AZ Free News, the report aligns well with a statement from Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne as well as a report from the Arizona Legislative Budget Committee and the Goldwater Institute.
Answering concerns on per-pupil spending, the CSI found, “Arizona now spends over $15,100 per public school student, a 30% increase since FY2016 (adjusted for inflation). Despite a decrease of over 23,500 students in public school enrollment over the past five years, overall funding has continued to grow.”
In a post on X, the CSI observed, “Traditional district public school enrollment has been steadily declining in Arizona for years. This trend, driven by demographic shifts and changing attitudes, is likely to continue regardless of the ESA program. ESA is the response not the cause.”
Easily the most divisive effort to assail ESA funding has come from the claim that it only benefits wealthy, urban students. The CSI joins the Joint Legislative Committee in dashing the notion, stating, “Since the pandemic, demand for traditional district public schools has fallen nationwide – among broad demographic groups. With the expansion of things like home schooling, Microschooling, etc., non-traditional students may look very different than you’d expect!”
As noted in prior reporting: the Goldwater Institute, the nonpartisan Common Sense Institute, and multiple conservative outlets have repeatedly verified that families of ESA children cover the full breadth of the socio-economic strata from crushingly impoverished to blindingly wealthy, from the broken down trailer parks of South Phoenix to the most lavish homes of Paradise Valley.
The report notably cites the Black Mother’s Forum, an Arizona microschool operating two locations and serving over 150 pupils since 2021. All the students use ESAs and 90% are non-white with a wide majority classified as low-income. According to the Forum’s CEO, “Without the universal ESA program, these schools would not exist.”
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 | Oct 14, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Regina Romero, the Democrat Mayor of Tucson, released a “Voter Guide” via Facebook on Wednesday, which calls for her supporters to vote “No” on Proposition 140. The proposition would create an open primary system in Arizona along with a system of ranked-choice voting.
As AZ Free News previously reported, a broad, bipartisan coalition has formed to oppose Prop 140 including Democrat groups such as: Coconino County Democrats, Gila County Democrats, North Scottsdale Democrats, LD 5 Democrats, LD 3 Democrats, LD 8 Democrats, LD 13 Democrats, LD 14 Democrats, South Mountain Democrats, and Democrats Abroad. And Republican groups such as: Arizona Free Enterprise Club, Center for Arizona Policy, Heritage Action for America, AMAC Action, Goldwater Institute, EZAZ, Turning Point Action, and the Republican Party of Arizona.
For Romero to find herself on the same side of an issue as some of these groups seems to indicate the profound impact the proposed changes would have on Arizona politics. Even the Libertarian Party of Arizona has lent its voice to oppose Prop 140, writing in a post to X that repeated an alert from the AZGOP, “The AZLP approves this message. Prop 140 could effectively kill third-party and independent candidates. Vote no!”
Legislative District 8 Democrats posted a brief explanation of the proposition on their website with the objection:
“This amendment to the state Constitution would open primaries to all voters, regardless of party. Proponents say this process would moderate the extremism we’ve seen on numerous contentious issues. The Legislature would be required to pass a bill to determine how many candidates would advance from the primary to the general election. This could be the top-two primaries like California, top-five primaries, or any number in between. For two-winner elections for the Arizona House, the number to advance could be from four to seven. If the Legislature fails to pass such a bill by 11/1/2025, the Secretary of State would choose the number of candidates to advance.
The proposition requires a majority of the votes to win the general election. It requires the use of ranked-choice voting in general elections where three or more candidates advance from the primary. This proposition has attractive features, but important decisions left to the Legislature make it harder to support. “
As previously reported by AZ Free News, a press release from the Arizona Free Enterprise Club warned that Prop 140 would do the following if enacted:
- “Allows one politician, the Arizona Secretary of State, to decide how many candidates qualify for the general election ballot for every single contest, including his or her own race
- Would result in some races where candidates from only one political party appear on the general election ballot
- Would force voters to navigate two completely different voting systems on the same ballot, with some races requiring voters to rank candidates and others that do not
- Will increase tabulation errors, create longer lines at the polls, and significantly delay election results.”
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 Daniel Stefanski | Oct 14, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona lawmakers are holding the state’s top election official accountable for his failure to be transparent with the public over a growing database error.
Earlier this month, a coalition of Republican legislators issued a statement “on Secretary [Adrian] Fontes’ failure to accurately report MVD database errors impacting thousands of Arizona voters.”
The statement followed an additional revelation from Fontes that there were 120,000 more Arizona voters who were in the database error universe, increasing the total count to approximately 218,000 of these individuals.
According to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, “The recent addition of approximately 118,000 people to the list of impacted registrants (originally thought to be approximately 98,000) was a result of including renewed and reinstated licenses in the MVD data pull of registrants that state officials now know may not have shown documentation sufficient to meet voter registration requirements.” Fontes said, “All of the Arizonans affected by this issue remain eligible voters and are long-time Arizona residents. All have attested under penalty of perjury – the same standard the rest of the country uses – that they are U.S. citizens.”
The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office asserted that it would “soon be able to accurately communicate with affected voters and provide clear next steps to resolve any issues pertaining to DPOC (documented proof of citizenship) needs, but this will not happen prior to the 2024 election.”
However, the coalition of Republican legislators were not satisfied with Fontes’ assurances. They wrote, “We will continue to monitor Secretary Fontes’ administration of this election and all litigation surrounding the MVD database / citizenship issues. As Republican members of the Arizona House of Representatives, we remain committed to exercising appropriate oversight during and after the election to ensure that elected officials in our Executive Branch are complying with Arizona’s proof-of-citizenship laws.”
They added, “It goes without saying that requiring proof of citizenship to vote is of paramount importance. Earlier this year, House Speaker Ben Toma and Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen – without support from Attorney General Mayes – fought in the Mi Familia case all the way to the United States Supreme Court to vindicate A.R.S. 16-121.01(C), which requires proof of citizenship for individuals to receive and vote a full ballot. Nonetheless, it is just as important that our election officials implement Arizona’s election laws in a manner that does not violate Arizonans’ rights to notice and due process.”
Signing the statement were Arizona State Representatives Ben Toma, David Marshall Sr, Leo Biasiucci, Travis Grantham, Michael Carbone, Joseph Chaplik, Lupe Diaz, Tim Dunn, John Gillette, Gail Griffin, Justin Heap, Alexander Kolodin, Quang Nguyen, Barbara Parker, Jacqueline Parker, Kevin Payne, Selina Bliss, and Michele Peña.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Oct 13, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona may soon be faced with an overhaul of its election system if a current ballot measure passes this November.
In the upcoming General Election, state voters will decide the fate of Proposition 140, which would transform Arizona’s election system into what has been referred to as “a California-style election scheme built around ranked-choice voting and jungle primaries.”
According to the No on 140 campaign, which is being co-chaired by Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb and former Arizona State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Gould, if passed by voters, Prop 140 would:
- “Allow one partisan politician (the Arizona Secretary of State) to decide how many candidates qualify for the general election ballot for every single contest, including his or her own race.
- Result in some races where candidates from only one political party appear on the general election ballot.
- Force voters to navigate two completely different voting systems on the same ballot, with some races requiring voters to rank candidates under a rank choice voting system and others that do not.
- Increase tabulation errors, create longer lines at the polls, and significantly delay election results.”
Just recently, this opposition group released a bipartisan list of organizations from around Arizona that were encouraging their followers to vote against Proposition 140. These groups included the Coconino County Democrats, the Gila County Democratic Party, Heritage Action for America, Goldwater Institute, Republican Party of Arizona, League of Women Voters, and the Libertarian Party of Arizona.
In a piece for the Goldwater Institute, Gould wrote, “Americans are understandably concerned about the current acrimony and division in politics. But rather than addressing this problem in a focused, thoughtful manner, Prop 140 takes a sledgehammer to the Arizona Constitution by imposing ranked choice voting and jungle primaries on Arizonans.”
Trent England, the founder and executive director of Save Our States and co-chairman of the Stop RCV Coalition, added, “Ranked-choice voting makes the entire election process more complicated and less transparent. That is why so many places that have tried RSV have gotten rid of it – something Alaska voters are poised to do this year. Yet the onslaught continues, thanks to just a few billionaires who would make our elections worse.”
Thanks to a heated legal battle that ping-ponged between the state’s supreme court and superior court, both sides have an extremely limited window to make their case to voters why Arizona should or should not enact this system to replace our current elections operations.
Last week, the Arizona Supreme Court made its final ruling in a matter concerning tens of thousands of duplicate signatures that threatened to upend this measure for voter consideration. Despite a special master’s determination that 99% of the signatures were, in fact, duplicates, the state’s high court allowed Prop 140 to go forward before the Arizona electorate. The Arizona Free Enterprise Club accused the proponents of this proposition of “obstruct[ing] and delay[ing] the review of the duplicate signatures for over a month.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Oct 13, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The Arizona Court of Appeals ordered the unsealing of divorce records between Ruben Gallego, Senate candidate and congressman, and his ex-wife, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego.
The Washington Free Beacon, a right-leaning media outlet, sued for access to the records.
On Thursday, Presiding Judge Brian Furuya ruled in a memorandum decision that the burden remains on the Gallegos to demonstrate why records shouldn’t be unsealed. Furuya rejected the Gallegos’ argument that the records contained mention of their son, and therefore should be sealed completely. Furuya ruled that redactions of the record protecting the interests of their son were sufficient enough.
“To begin, the State of Arizona presumes court records are available to the public,” said Furuya. “[T]he party opposing the unsealing ‘must show that overriding circumstances continue to exist or that other grounds provide a sufficient basis for keeping the record sealed.’”
The Yavapai Superior Court said as much in its ruling for the unsealing of the divorce records as well. That court found that the original order sealing the records was improper, and ordered the Gallegos to submit redaction requests. The Gallegos complied, but then took issue with the rejected redactions and appealed.
Furuya had no criticisms for the superior court’s ruling.
“Upon review, we hold the court properly exercised its discretion by narrowly tailoring what is to be withheld from public view for those legitimate purposes,” said Furuya.
Ruben Gallego filed for divorce in 2016 when his wife was nine months pregnant. The Gallegos finalized their divorce the next year after their son arrived.
Last year, he told the Washington Post that PTSD was to blame for his divorce. He claimed that PTSD, acquired from serving in Iraq, caused him to drink and smoke too much, and he was prone to have “extreme outbursts.” Ruben Gallego also said he “had an addiction to artificial points of success” like running for office. Essentially, his ex-wife’s pregnancy was too much to handle on top of his professional goals and self-professed emotional issues with anxiety, moodiness, and survivor’s guilt.
The Washington Free Beacon sued earlier this year for access to those divorce records, arguing that Gallego’s race for the Senate necessitated full public transparency over his divorce with the Phoenix mayor. The outlet cited Ruben Gallego’s own remarks from his Washington Post interview, questioning whether his admission to “extreme outbursts” was in reference to physical threats or violence.
“The people of Arizona deserve to know the man who is getting down on one knee before they accept his proposal,” stated the Washington Free Beacon.
The outlet also noted that neither of the Gallegos lived in the county in which the divorce was filed, though state law requires couples to file in the county of their residence.
The Washington Free Beacon also reported that Gallego privately married lobbyist Sydney Barron in 2019, but he claimed in 2021 that he had just proposed to her that year and went on to have a public wedding months later.
Gallego is running against Republican candidate Kari Lake.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
