On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and 10 media companies and nonprofits sued the state over its new ban on recording police within 8 feet. The groups argued in their lawsuit that the ban violates the constitutional rights to free speech and a free press.
The law, HB2319, requires observers to obtain an officer’s permission in order to film within that distance while officers are questioning, arresting, or handling disruptive or otherwise abnormal behavior. If not, the filmer may be charged with a misdemeanor.
However, individuals personally approached or stopped by police may record within 8 feet — so long as they’re not being searched, arrested, or tested for sobriety — as well as bystanders in an enclosed structure of private property where the law enforcement activity is taking place, so long as officers don’t ask the bystander to leave.
The organizations filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Arizona. Those named in the suit were Attorney General Mark Brnovich, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, and Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone. A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office told AP News on Tuesday afternoon that they hadn’t received the complaint, and therefore couldn’t comment.
BREAKING: We’re suing Arizona over a law that makes it a crime to record police officers if you’re within 8 feet of them.
We have a First Amendment right to record police in public. Full stop.
Media companies joining the ACLU in the lawsuit are: Phoenix Newspapers (Arizona Republic); Gray Media Group (AZFamily and KOLD); Scripps Media (ABC15 Arizona, CW61 Arizona, KGUN9, CW Tucson); KPNX-TV (12News); Fox Television Stations (Fox 10 Phoenix, Tucson News Now, Your TV Family); NBCUniversal Media (NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo Arizona); Arizona Broadcasters Association; States Newsroom (Arizona Mirror); Arizona Newspapers Association (represents 84 newspapers); and the National Press Photographers Association.
BREAKING: ACLU, Arizona media organizations (including @abc15) just filed a lawsuit to challenge Arizona’s new law banning people from videotaping police activity within 8 feet of the officers. It’s a First Amendment complaint.
The plaintiffs recounted in the lawsuit how their lobbying efforts to defeat HB2319 failed in the past legislative session.
Several news organizations, including The Arizona Republic, are joining the ACLU of Arizona to challenge a new state law banning close-range recordings of Arizona police. https://t.co/31Er0LiNFD
The lawmaker who came up with HB2319 was State Representative John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills), a former New York Police Department (NYPD) officer. In a March opinion piece defending the ban, Kavanagh explained that individuals filming within 8 feet of an officer posed a potential danger to active investigations and arrests.
“Police officers have no way of knowing whether the person approaching is an innocent bystander or an accomplice of the person they’re arresting who might assault them,” wrote Kavanagh. “Consequently, officers become distracted and while turning away from the subject of the encounter, the officers could be assaulted by that subject or that subject could discard evidence or even escape.”
Kavanagh introduced the bill in response to requests from Tucson police officers who experienced bystanders videotaping as close as one foot behind them, even during arrests.
Governor Doug Ducey signed Kavanagh’s bill into law last month. The ban goes into effect on September 24.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Republican Accountability Project (RAP) is using $2 million from Democrat billionaires to take down Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
RAP is relying on funds raised through their new political action committee (PAC), the Republican Accountability PAC, established in February. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) campaign finance reports, the PAC has well over $5.1 million in funding from just 21 donors. Only 8 gave donations of $1,000 or less.
The majority of the PAC’s funds came from the following billionaires bankrolling the Democratic Party, none of which are from Arizona:
$1 million, Kathryn Murdoch: daughter-in-law of News Corporation co-founder and Fox Corporation owner Rupert Murdoch. Co-founder and president of Quadrivium Foundation, which endorsed and heavily funded the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and recently committed $250 million to BlackRock for “green energy infrastructure.” Former strategy and communications director for the Clinton Foundation (2007-2011). Member of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) board of trustees.
$1 million, Sue Mandel: wife to hedge fund billionaire Stephen Mandel. Director of the ZOOM Foundation, a social justice activism organization. Co-founder of Moms Clean Air Force, which fights climate change and air pollution. Member of Harvard Business School’s Board of Dean’s Advisors. Member of EDF board of trustees.
$1 million, John Pritzker: member of Pritzker dynasty, son of Jay Pritzker and related to Democratic Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. Finances left-leaning causes through his foundation. Issued a $25 million grant to an environmental justice project. His relative, Rachel Pritzker Duarte, also gave $100,000.
$500,000, Seth Klarman: founder and chief executive of the Baupost Group, a private investment partnership. Donates heavily through his Klarman Family Foundation, which has backed George Soros’ organizations, the NAACP, the Brennan Center for Justice, the National Center for Transgender Equality, and the ADL.
$500,000, Sam Rawlings Walton: grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton. Former EDF board of trustees member.
$500,000, Gordon Gund: heir to Ohio’s Gund dynasty. Affiliated with the George Gund Foundation, which funds social justice initiatives across the board, including climate justice, abortion, transgenderism, and racial equity.
$200,000, Jeff and Erica Lawson: co-founder and CEO of Twilio, a cloud communications services firm. Major financier of a dark money favorite for Silicon Valley liberals, Future Forward (FF) PAC, initially funded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz.
Republican Accountability PAC has just launched a new $2 million campaign targeting the MAGA extremists running for office in Arizona.
Kari Lake is the first candidate being targeted. The campaign will feature real Republicans voters like Tom and Sue who refuse to support Lake. pic.twitter.com/2XFsTLKMec
— The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) August 16, 2022
RAP is an initiative of the Democratic, “Never Trump” dark money group, Defending Democracy Together (DDT). DDT was one of the top-spending dark money groups in the 2020 election, spending over $15 million to either oppose former President Donald Trump or support President Joe Biden.
One of the RAP promotional videos announcing their PAC campaign features a “Republican voter” and “Arizona conservative” named Tom, who AZ Free News discovered is actually registered Democrat Tom Rawles. The timing of Rawles’ feature is noteworthy, considering that his wife, Linda Rawles, penned an Arizona Republic opinion piece shared far and wide by Democrats and self-described Republicans like Bill Kristol earlier this week.
"I’m a lifelong Republican, but I can’t even recognize the state GOP…Instead of nominating distinguished leaders, the party has elevated unhinged and anti-democratic candidates. It pains me to say this of my own party: The Arizona GOP is beyond repair." https://t.co/9GCtpsGlVM
Rawles served on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (BOS) from 1993 to 1996, then on the Mesa City Council from 2004 to 2008. As a councilman in early 2007, he gained notoriety nationwide for remaining seated and silent during the Pledge of Allegiance at a council meeting, in protest of the Iraq War. In 2012, Rawles failed in a run for District 1 of the Arizona State Senate.
Rawles’ wife, Linda, also has a political history. Linda launched multiple, unsuccessful campaigns in the 1980s in Indiana before coming to Arizona. Then she ran and lost as a Republican for an Arizona congressional seat in 1994.
The Republican Accountability PAC treasurer Sarah Longwell is an avowed “Never Trumper” who claims to be a Republican. Longwell was the first female national board chair for the Log Cabin Republicans (LCR), an organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ acceptance within the GOP and criticized for promulgating a “big tent” GOP and being “Republicans In Name Only,” or “RINOs.”
"Inclusion wins, which makes the Texas Republican Party leadership’s decision to exclude the Texas Log Cabin Republicans from their convention not just narrow-minded, but politically short-sighted." pic.twitter.com/vp1UAZJZtn
— Log Cabin Republicans (@LogCabinGOP) June 17, 2022
Longwell resigned from LCR’s board after the organization endorsed Trump’s re-election. She became the publisher of a neoconservative news and commentary site, The Bulwark, with the support of Bill Kristol and Charlie Sykes.
RAP received the endorsement of Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Supervisor Bill Gates. The pair appeared in a RAP promotional video last September. At the time, Richer told AZ Free News that he appeared in the RAP video because January 6 reminded him of the French Revolution, and he felt it was important to support DDT.
Richer added that his support would make great minds like Edmund Burke, a predecessor to modern conservatism, as well as law and order supporters, proud.
Neither Richer or Gates received compensation for their video appearance.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) is requesting information on the Biden administration’s practice of flying illegal immigrants without proper identification around the country. Biggs leads a coalition of 24 Republicans in seeking answers, which includes Congressmen Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) and Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08).
In a press release, Biggs accused the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of using taxpayer dollars to help illegal immigrants reach their desired destinations, further incentivizing illegal crossings. Biggs argued further that the ID standard for illegal immigrants compromises post-9/11 security measures.
“Transporting potentially tens of thousands of lawbreakers throughout the country — with virtually unknown backgrounds — is a national security risk and defies the recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission,” stated Biggs.
In the letter, the coalition noted that about 45,000 illegal immigrants flew without proper ID from last January to October.
According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), illegal immigrants may use papers related to their immigration processing such as the notice to appear (DHS Form I-862), warrants for arrest of alien (ICE Form I-200) and removal/deportation (ICE Form I-220A), order of supervision (ICE Form I-220B), arrival and departure form (CBP Form I-94), and alien booking record (DHS Form I-385).
Unlike illegal immigrants, American citizens must present a form of government-issued photo ID; alternative IDs like weapon permits and temporary driver’s licenses aren’t acceptable forms of ID.
I'm demanding answers from @DHSgov regarding the department allowing illegal aliens to fly on commercial airplanes—at taxpayers’ expense—without presenting acceptable identification.@SecMayorkas must immediately cease this operation. https://t.co/VMkx8r2PMG
TSA Administrator David Pekoske claimed in his Senate confirmation hearing last month that less than 1,000 illegal immigrants flew without proper ID this calendar year. Biggs’ coalition challenged that claim as “extremely low” since DHS has released nearly 500,000 illegal immigrants into the country this year.
Pekoske asserted during last month’s hearing that the immigration papers in question offered similar security to traditional forms of ID because they were issued by Border Patrol or a customs officer, and that TSA validated the papers using an alien identification number reflected in Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) databases.
“We aren’t looking at whether a person is legal or illegal in the country,” said Pekoske. “Our role is to make sure that people who may pose a risk to transportation that is significant enough to require enhanced screening or to not allow them to fly.”
The latest CBP reporting shows about 3.5 million illegal immigrant encounters along the southern border since President Joe Biden took office.
The head of TSA admits the Biden Administration has let nearly 1000 illegal aliens use arrest warrants as ID to get on planes this year. Think about that while you wait in line at the airport pic.twitter.com/rNIiGa8yBu
The TSA hasn’t been consistently forthright about its allowance of illegal immigrants flying without government-issued photo ID.
In 2014, TSA confirmed that they began accepting notices to appear as acceptable travel ID.
Then in 2017, TSA informed the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) that they did allow notices to appear.
Yet in 2019, TSA publicly denied that they allowed illegal immigrants to present immigrant processing papers.
1: Reports stating that illegal aliens may fly without Government-issued photo ID and may instead present their “Notice to Appear” paperwork are false. A “Notice to Appear,” issued by the Executive Office for Immigration Review isn't an acceptable form of ID at the checkpoint.
In January, Congressmen Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY-11) and Rodney Davis (R-IL-13) introduced legislation to prohibit the TSA from allowing illegal immigrants to board planes with alternative forms of ID.
Other congressmen in Biggs’ coalition include Mo Brooks (R-AL-05), Lauren Boebert (R-CO-03), Ken Buck (R-CO-04), Bill Posey (R-FL-08), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14), Jody Hice (R-GA-10), Mary Miller (R-IL-15), Ron Estes (R-KS-04), Andy Harris (R-MD-01), Tom McClintock (R-MN-04), Dan Bishop (R-NC-09), Scott Perry (R-PA-10), Jeff Duncan (R-SC-03), Ralph Norman (R-SC-05), Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01), Michael Cloud (R-TX-27), Louie Gohmert (R-TX-01), Chip Roy (R-TX-21), Ben Cline (R-VA-06), Bob Good (R-VA-05), and Glenn Grothman (R-WI-06).
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM)’s Lower Sonoran Field Office is once again seeking public comment where recreational target shooting should be allowed within the 486,400-acre Sonoran Desert National Monument, if it is allowed at all.
Tuesday’s notice of the call for public input begins a 30-day scoping period prompted by a court settlement earlier this year. The comments will be used to identify areas where recreational target shooting might continue to be offered. There will also need to be an environmental assessment.
“While we have preliminary alternatives for the environmental assessment, we expect that public scoping will generate more alternatives for us to consider,” said BLM’s Phoenix District Manager Leon Thomas. “This scoping period is an opportunity for the public to help guide land use decisions at the Sonoran Desert National Monument.”
Established in 2001, the Sonoran Desert National Monument is located on public lands in Maricopa and Pinal counties. About 435,700 of its acres are currently available for recreational target shooting.
In 2015, a federal judge ordered BLM to reanalyze the impacts of recreational target shooting on the SDNM. The led in August 2018 to the issuance of Record of Decision / Resource Management Plan amendment based on extensive public input and an updated environmental analysis to maintain access for target shooters throughout 90 percent of the SDNM while ensuring public safety and resource protection.
Much of the restrictions are centered on the Juan Batista de Anza recreation management zone, the most heavily area of SDNM.
However, a legal challenge to that decision was filed in 2019, leading to a settlement in April which requires a new round of planning.
There are also plans for BLM to conduct virtual public meetings. Those dates have not yet been announced.
The Sonoran Desert National Monument contains three distinct mountain ranges – the Maricopa, Sand Tank and Table Top Mountains – as well as the Booth and White Hills, all separated by wide valleys. The monument also contains three Congressionally designated wilderness areas and many significant archaeological and historic sites, and remnants of several important historic trails.
Wednesday, Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ-03) requested that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) cease confiscating illegal Sikh migrants’ religious items. Grijalva, along with Representatives Joaquin Castro (D-TX-20) and Judy Chu (D-CA-27), insisted that the practice constituted a violation of religious freedom.
Grijalva later told Arizona Luminaria that Americans were too busy complaining about the border crisis to notice that the illegal immigrants were enduring religious disrespect.
“All these festering issues get overwritten because everybody starts screaming about the border and the invasion, and so these go into the background,” said Grijalva. “I don’t think they’re background issues. Border Patrol is the largest law enforcement agency with the least amount of accountability in the country. And that’s the problem.”
Grijalva is worried about religious freedoms for small minority groups but he was absent when the religious freedoms of Catholics and christians were attacked by the government during COVID. Where was he? Where was he when the government shut down our churches. pic.twitter.com/VwU9kNHeG0
Sikhism requires followers to wear a steel bracelet, uncut hair and beards, and a turban. The three representatives admonished CBP for reports of Sikh turbans and other religious items being confiscated at the border.
The trio issued their complaint letter to CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus. The commissioner pledged earlier this month to investigate, but the three representatives insist that there hasn’t been progress.
Grijalva’s religious liberty stance is nuanced. He opposed the Trump administration’s protections for contractors whose religious beliefs dictated their employment decisions for LGBTQ+ individuals.
“Religion is not a license to discriminate,” tweeted Grijalva.
The Trump Admin is attacking #LGBTQ protections under the guise of 'protecting religious freedom.'
Religion is not a license to discriminate, and it's time to pass the Equality Act to give LGBTQ Americans the protections they deserve. https://t.co/Hf6xWyPlL6
Grijalva identifies himself a Catholic, but doesn’t believe that Christians may oppose LGBTQ+ lifestyles. He called former President Donald Trump’s 2017 attendance of the Values Voter Summit “repulsive” because of its sponsorship by the religious think tank opposed to LGBTQ+ lifestyles, the Family Research Council (FRC).
Last month, Grijalva voted to codify same-sex marriage into federal law: the Respect for Marriage Act. The law would repeal a 1996 protection for states that don’t recognize same-sex marriage.
Grijalva was joined in his vote Arizona’s other Democratic representatives, who also identify as Catholic: Representatives Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ-01), Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ-02), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-07), and Greg Stanton (D-AZ-09).
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
On Sunday, Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs announced that she booked the drag queen who’s spoken out against her opponent, Kari Lake, over their past friendship.
Social media posts by the drag queen, Richard Stevens, went viral in June for showcasing his past friendship with Lake as well as her support and enthusiasm for the drag queen lifestyle.
Stevens spoke out in mid-June after Lake criticized the normalization of drag queens publicly. He called her a hypocrite, claiming that he did a drag queen performance for her birthday with children present years ago, and that she attended his performances at various Phoenix bars.
They kicked God out of schools and welcomed the Drag Queens.
They took down our Flag and replaced it with a rainbow.
They seek to disarm Americans and militarize our Enemies.
As proof, Stevens posted photos of Lake standing alongside two drag queens, one of them being him. In one of the photos, Lake was dressed as Elvis Presley and posing alongside Seville dressed as a blonde female with a sugar skull face. It’s unclear whether whether Lake intended to dress as a “drag king,” which is cross-dressing for a woman, or merely intended to wear a costume for a themed party.
“Now that @karilake has waded into the war on drag queens, know she is a complete hypocrite,” wrote Stevens. “Kari was a friend of mine, and I stood by her when she turned to the right. I reached out (and she responded repeatedly) when she took a public drubbing.”
Lake served Stevens a cease-and-desist letter. Incidentally, Stevens was preparing to perform for a “family-friendly” drag show brunch when he received the letter.
In response, Stevens’ lawyer Thomas Ryan called Lake a “bully” and threatened to provide evidence that Lake hired Stevens to perform for a news anchor friend’s baby shower.
“Now Kari is a bully, and the reservoir of goodwill she had built up over the years as a cherished news anchor — well, that’s been drained to the point where we might as well just refer to her now as Kari Puddles,” wrote Ryan.
@tomryanlaw has notified @KariLake I will not cease or desist telling the truth about my relationship with her.
The Arizona Senate Republican caucus pledged in June to introduce legislation banning child attendance at drag shows. The leaders said that drag shows sexualized and groomed children. They noted that they were working with several other states to draft the legislation.
“If men want to dress as women, and if adults want to participate in watching these hyper-sexualized performances, they have the freedom to do so. It crosses the line when kids are subjected to these drag shows,” wrote the caucus. “We will be damned if we won’t fight like hell to protect the most innocent from these horrifying and disturbing trends that are spreading across the nation now that extremist Democrats are currently in control of our federal government.”
JOINT STATEMENT BY THE ARIZONA STATE SENATE MAJORITY TEAM: Senate Republicans Fight Back Against the Sexual Perversion Children Are Being Exposed To
Their announcement followed a series of reports on the controversies following drag shows across the state. In May, a Tucson high school counselor who organized a drag show for students was arrested for having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student. In June, a Phoenix museum hosted a drag show open to children.
Studies have linked youth exposure to sexually explicit material with risky sexual behaviors, intimacy disorders, sexual violence and misconduct, and sexual deviancy.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
