by Staff Reporter | Jul 5, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Governor Katie Hobbs’ high rate of vetoes in election-related legislation was featured in a new Ballotpedia report released this week.
That report also detailed the thousands of election-related bills considered nationwide, highlighting those passed and vetoed in Arizona specifically.
Arizona with its divided government saw the passage of three key election bills, and the veto of seven.
The digital nonprofit featured several key bills passed by the Arizona legislature this year: HB 2785, which modified the statewide primary date by one week; SB 1342, which provided compensation to political party designees for post-election audit hand counts, with a limit of 75 percent of those conducting the hand count from being members of the same political party; and HB 2482, which required county election officials to notify voters of registration record changes within 24 hours.
Ballotpedia also highlighted the seven bills vetoed by Governor Katie Hobbs: SB 1060, allowing federal candidates to choose observers at polling centers; SB 1330, replacing the term “drop box” with “ballot box” or “container”; SB 1097, making school board races partisan; HB 2393, allowing for an alternative presidential preference election for overseas military voters; HB 2404, prohibiting county recorders from issuing voter registration cards to out-of-state addresses; HB 2612, prohibiting individuals convicted of ballot abuse offenses from holding elected public office; and HB 2031, reducing the threshold for asking voters to expand the board of supervisors from 150,000 to 125,000.
Hobbs’ vetoes pushed Arizona to the top in terms of highest vetoes nationwide.
Although Arizona was featured as one of the key states reviewed, the state didn’t make the top 10 for most active overall in passing bills. With the exception of Maryland and Virginia, all of these states had Republican trifectas. In order from most activity to least: Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, Louisiana, Idaho, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia, South Dakota, and Maryland.
Arizona was, however, most active among the 10 states with divided governments.
In its report, Ballotpedia tallied the total of election-related legislation considered across Arizona and the rest of the nation: over 3,700 bills.
The nonprofit also noted that legislation topic or type was often determined by the political party leading the state. In Republican-led states, the election-related bills focused on ballot harvesting or collection, voter registration drives, noncitizen voting, or ranked-choice voting. In Democrat-led states, the bills focused on ballot curing for absentee or mail-in voting, voter suppression, and election disinformation or misinformation.
Bipartisan support existed for about eight percent of bills on topics such as voter list maintenance, protections for elections officials and workers, presidential electors, and voting by eligible but incarcerated individuals or felons.
States with a Republican trifecta and Republican or other sponsorship of the bills enacted the greatest majority of election-related legislation: 64 percent (196 bills). Democratic trifecta and Democratic or other sponsorship of the bills enacted 19 percent of the legislation (57 bills). “All other” totaled 17 percent (52 bills).
However, states with Democratic trifectas considered more changes to election laws than those states with Republican trifectas or divided governments. Ballotpedia noted that this was true for the third year in a row of their tracking history.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Jul 5, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona Senator Jake Hoffman (R-LD15) has raised a potent legal challenge to the politically driven prosecution that he and 17 other prominent Republican alternate electors have faced at the hands of Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes whom he referred to as “zealously partisan.” Hoffman released a scorching statement to accompany a legal motion to dismiss the case on July 2, along with his official mugshot taken after his indictment “in response to Kris Mayes political persecution campaign against the 2020 Republican electors.”
Hoffman wrote,
“In war, only leaders are targeted for assassination.
This is a political war.
You can persecute us.
You can attack us.
But you will never silence us.
Truth will always prevail.
NEVER SURRENDER.
Before an investigation had even been conducted and with no evidence, Kris Mayes declared that she believed electors such as myself were guilty of a crime, that it was her job to get Biden re-elected, and that she would control the timing of the indictment.
Let me be unequivocal, I am innocent of any crime, I will vigorously defend myself, and I look forward to the day when I am vindicated of this naked political persecution by the judicial process.”
Hoffman’s attorney Tim La Sota filed the motion citing Arizona state law that allows for rapid dismissal of cases under special circumstances to protect citizens from legal action for exercising a constitutional right known as “SLAPP” or “strategic lawsuit against public participation,” according to the Arizona Republic.
La Sota called the charges against Hoffman “politics by other means,” describing it as, “an effort by an overtly partisan elected attorney general to shame and punish her political opponents and critics for exercising their constitutional rights.”
In the motion, La Sota added, “The attorney general’s novel, overzealous, and retaliatory prosecution is also tied to Sen. Hoffman’s Republican colleagues’ efforts to conduct oversight of her office.”
Hoffman’s attorney pointed to multiple examples of extra-judicial speech from Mayes and her Chief Deputy Dan Barr for prejudicial statements posted to social media, such as a July 2022 post in which Mayes wrote she “would have immediately investigated the fake electors” stating they “videotaped their crime for all to see.” He also pointed to an August 2022 post from Barr who wrote, the alternate GOP electors were “criminals” claiming they “should be prosecuted as such,” according to AZCentral.
La Sota wrote in the motion, “Attorney General Mayes’ and Chief Deputy Attorney General Barr’s extrajudicial statements demonstrate a strong animus against those who questioned the 2020 election and particularly the alternate electors, including Senator Hoffman, and a desire to prosecute them before any investigation had taken place.”
In an email to the outlet Tuesday, he explained that Mayes’ and her surrogates had effectively branded his client and his co-defendants as criminals before any investigation into their actions began. “It was more than a mere pledge to investigate whether or not they committed a crime, which would have been ethical.”
Executive Director of Save Arizona and Chairwoman of Strong Communities Action Merissa Hamilton reposted Hoffman’s post to X supportively writing, “Future generations will look back on this dark time in our nation’s history and remember those that stood in the gap to save our freedom! Please keep @JakeHoffmanAZ and his family in your prayers! They have backbones of steel! Every day wake up and ask yourself what you can do to save Arizona today! Then go forth like your freedom and life depends on it!”
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 | Jul 4, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Democratic Senate candidate and Congressman Ruben Gallego has flipped his stance on voting rights for illegal migrants.
The congressman recently introduced legislation to clarify the illegality of non-citizen voting in federal elections. Yet last year, Gallego voted against a bill that similarly condemned non-citizen voting.
The legislation Gallego rejected, House Joint Resolution 24, was an opposition to the D.C. City Council’s approval of the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022. Even without Gallego’s vote, the resolution ultimately passed the House 260-162.
That D.C. act allowed noncitizens, mainly illegal immigrants, to vote in elections. It became law last February for a time, but the House quickly voted to cancel it.
Gallego’s newest bill, the Voting Clarity Act, serves as an advisory to illegal immigrants. The brief legislation is a mandate for Customs and Border Protection to inform illegal immigrants of federal law: that only citizens may vote in federal elections.
“The Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide information to each alien applying for asylum under this section on the restrictions on voting and the penalties for voting unlawfully under Federal law, including under section 611 of title 18, United States Code, at the time of such application. Information under this paragraph shall be provided in a form and language that the alien can understand.”
Violation of voting law would incur a fine and/or up to one year in prison.
In a press release, Gallego said that the privilege of U.S. citizenship, voting, shouldn’t be extended to noncitizens.
“That is why it is critical that those seeking to enter the U.S. are told clearly and upfront that they cannot vote in our elections if they are not citizens,” said Gallego. “I’m proud to introduce this commonsense bill to combat misinformation about who can, and cannot vote in our federal elections.”
Gallego’s legislation portrays the Senate candidate as tough but fair on the hot topic of the border. Last week, Gallego issued an ad featuring the sheriff who denied the border crisis and rejected Arizona National Guard assistance for his county in doing so, Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway.
Hathaway has downplayed the severity of the state of the border.
“We don’t have a migrant crisis on the border. We do not need to militarize our counties and have troops come to the border,” said Hathaway. “We have certain, very vocal sheriffs in this state who are trying to fan the flames on a supposed crisis.”
Conversely, Gallego has admitted that the state of the border constitutes a crisis.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee issued a statement claiming the Voting Clarity Act was just a way to “pander” to Arizonans.
“Ruben Gallego has been rubber-stamping the far left’s most radical, open border policies for his entire career in Washington,” said the NRSC. “His election year pandering is a slap in the face to Arizonans who are facing the brunt of the border crisis Gallego helped create.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jul 4, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas claimed during a recent visit to Tucson that the Biden administration has reduced illegal immigration.
Levels of border encounters have dropped since this time last year, but remain much higher than those that occurred during the 2022 fiscal year and exponentially higher than those of past administrations.
Mayorkas held a press conference last week at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. In his remarks, Mayorkas claimed that southwest border encounters dropped 40 percent since President Joe Biden took executive action.
“We are imposing stricter consequences for those who cross the border without authorization,” said Mayorkas. “These actions are changing the calculus for those considering crossing our border.”
Mayorkas also claimed that the blame lies with Congress, not Biden, for the prolongation of the border crisis.
The secretary said that Congress needed to provide more funding to hire agents, officers, support personnel; buy, install, and maintain technology; and equip border agents to remove illegal immigrants.
Just several days after addressing Tucsonans, Mayorkas granted an 18-month temporary amnesty to over 300,000 illegal Haitian immigrants. Mayorkas and the Biden administration stated that the migrants don’t pose a threat to national interest.
Yet earlier this year, a Haitian man was arrested for murder and criminal possession of a weapon. That Haitian national, Kenol Baptiste, came into the country using the controversial Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) One app. The CBP One app has come under scrutiny for its perceived facilitation of illegal migration; it began allowing appointment scheduling last January, offering otherwise illegal immigrants the option to schedule an appearance at a port of entry to be released into the country rather than go through smugglers.
Since last January and through May, the app has brought in over 636,600 individuals according to the CBP.
The House impeached Mayorkas earlier this year over his handling of the border crisis, but the Senate later opted to dismiss the impeachment.
While the numbers presented by Mayorkas appeared high, total illegal border crossings remain at historical highs.
According to CBP data last updated in May, southwest border encounters totaled nearly 1.7 million this fiscal year (from October to present), a decline of 46,00 from this time last year and an increase of 152,000 from this time in the 2022 fiscal year.
Since Biden took office, there have been over 8.1 million illegal immigrant encounters. That number serves as an estimate of total illegal immigrant entries, as it doesn’t include “gotaways,” or those who evaded detection upon entry.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) pointed out that the Biden administration continues to allow over 70,000 illegal immigrants into the country through the CBP One app and the Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV) parole program, the latter which FAIR disputed was unlawful.
Violent crimes involving illegal immigrants have been on the rise under this administration. The most high-profile cases have frequently involved illegal immigrants who were either inadmissible for admission or were eligible for deportation.
Earlier this week, two employees in a Texas Chick-fil-A restaurant were shot and killed by an El Salvador illegal immigrant, 37-year-old Oved Bernardo Mendoza Argueta.
A number of murders by illegal immigrants also occurred earlier this month.
In Texas, two Venezuelan illegal immigrants — Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel, 22, and Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26 — murdered a 12-year-old girl in Houston, Jocelyn Nungaray. In New York, 21-year-old Ecuadorian illegal immigrant Jhon Moises Chacaguasay-Ilbis murdered a 21-year-old woman on her birthday.
Last month, police arrested 23-year-old El Salvador illegal immigrant Victor Martinez-Hernandez for raping and killing 37-year-old Rachel Morrin, a Maryland mother of five, while she was on a run last August. Martinez-Hernandez allegedly fled his home country last February due to accusations of murdering another woman there.
Earlier this year, an illegal immigrant who had been scheduled to be removed in 2020, 25-year-old Mexican citizen Brandon Ortiz-Vite, was arrested for the murder of Ruby Garcia, a 25-year-old woman in Michigan.
There was also the murder of 22-year-old college student Laken Riley in Georgia by 26-year-old Venezuelan illegal immigrant Jose Ibarra. Ibarra was permitted entry despite documented ties to Teen de Aragua (TdA), a Venezuelan gang operating in New York and Georgia, the two states he would live in before murdering Riley.
Even with the rising concerns of public safety and resources illegal immigrants impose, the Biden administration has made more public resources available to them.
In November, DACA recipients (also called “Dreamers”) will qualify for Affordable Care Act health care. American taxpayers will be on the hook for nearly 600,000 DACA recipients, nearly 21,000 of which reside in Arizona.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Jul 3, 2024 | Economy, News
By Matthew Holloway |
A report released by the American Farm Bureau Federation has revealed that for the third year in a row, the national average consumer cost for putting on a typical Fourth of July cookout has increased. This year the average given for a conservative celebration feeding 10 is approximately $71.22. The increase of about 5% from 2023 would seem minor if it were not merely the latest increment of the 30% jump from 2019 prices enjoyed during the Trump administration.
The report contradicts a White House release from June 20 that claimed, “grocery inflation is, in fact, way down.” In a survey conducted by the Farm Bureau, volunteers across the country registered a record high result since the survey began in 2013. The volunteers priced out the constituent components of cheeseburgers, chicken breasts, pork chops, homemade potato salad, strawberries, and ice cream, with other common accompaniments.
AFBF Chief Economist Roger Cryan laid it out in a statement,
“Higher prices at the grocery store reflect a number of challenges facing America’s families. Lower availability of some cookout staples and inflation are hitting people in their wallets. Farmers are also feeling the effects of high prices. They’re price takers, not price makers. Their share of the retail food dollar is just 15%, but they still pay elevated fuel, fertilizer and other supply prices.”
The Bureau reported the price increases broken down by individual purchases:
- 2 pounds of ground beef, $12.77 (+11%)
- 2 pounds of chicken breasts, $7.83 (-4%)
- 3 pounds of pork chops, $15.49 (+8%)
- 1 pound of cheese, $3.57 (+1%)
- 1 package of hamburger buns, $2.41 (+7%)
- 2 ½ pounds of homemade potato salad, $3.32 (-4%)
- 32 ounces of pork and beans, $2.49 (+2%)
- 16 ounces of potato chips, $4.90 (+8%)
- 13-ounce package of chocolate chip cookies, $3.99 (+2%)
- ½ gallon of ice cream, $5.65 (+7%)
- 2 pints of strawberries, $4.61 (+1%)
- 2 ½ quarts of lemonade, $4.19 (+12%)
While a record high, the report detailed that costs have not exceeded the all-time high in 2022 crediting the adaptability of the American farmer. AFBF wrote, “Our volunteer shoppers had their most expensive Fourth of July grocery bill in the history of the survey this year. However, when adjusted for the high inflation rates plaguing the United States in recent years, the real value of their Independence Day party has not surpassed the previous record set in 2022. Though faced with disease outbreaks, inventory shortages and operating challenges, farmers and ranchers have adapted to increased demand across the world for U.S. products, providing safe, affordable food for your Independence Day celebration and every other day, showcasing the resilience of the American food system.”
In an interview with Yahoo Finance’s Jennifer Schonberger, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made the Biden administration’s case as to why food prices have not noticeably declined despite alleged improvements in the economy. She essentially blamed increased labor costs and grocery store profit margins claiming, “I think largely reflects cost increases including labor cost increases that um firms, um grocery firms have experienced, although there may be some increases in margins.”
On June 20, the Biden White House put out a report based on the most recent Consumer Price Index data alleging that not only “some grocery prices have fallen,” but that “wage growth has been strong, grocery purchasing power is up.”
A survey from Intuit Credit Karma reported by CNBC on June 17 seemed to align with the Farm Bureau’s assessment with 80% of Americans polled stating a noticeable increase in the cost of groceries with many having to skip necessities like rent or mortgage bills to afford food. They wrote, “That includes 28% who sacrificed other needs like rent or bills to pay for groceries, and 27% who occasionally skipped meals. Additionally, 18% have either applied for or considered applying for food stamps, while 15% rely on or have considered turning to food banks.”
Startlingly though, 53% of those asked told pollsters that they “earn too much to qualify” for food stamps or any other government assistance and despite their earnings are still struggling to make ends meet.
In a statement, AFBF President Zippy Duvall said, “As we celebrate this nation’s independence, we also celebrate America’s food independence. And while all families in America are paying more for food than before, we still have one of the most affordable food supplies in the world. In the United States, we are blessed with the tools to grow the food, fiber and renewable fuel to meet the needs of every family across the country.”
Duvall stressed the importance of Congress passing legislation to better support agriculture to ensure the nation remains dominant in the field. “The success of America’s farmers is due in part to partnerships in research, conservation and farm safety net programs that are made possible through a strong farm bill. It’s crucial that as we celebrate the holiday we also urge members of Congress to return to Washington and pass a new, modernized five-year farm bill. We cannot afford more delays and short-term extensions. Farmers, and every family in America, are relying on them to get the job done to ensure America continues to lead the world in agriculture.”
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 | Jul 3, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Another poll shows former President Donald J. Trump with a growing lead in Arizona for the 2024 General Election rematch with President Joseph R. Biden.
Last week, a P2 Insights poll revealed that Trump led Biden by eleven percent (47-36) in a June 2024 survey. The poll was conducted between June 11-20 with likely voters in the all-important swing state.
The firm conducted a similar poll in May, which had Trump leading Biden by only three percent (41-38).
According to the numbers produced by this report, Trump is winning 87% of his 2020 Arizona voters, while only losing one percent of voters who cast their ballots for him in the most recent presidential contest. Meanwhile, Biden is only winning 81% of his 2020 Arizona voters, while losing six percent of his former ballot box supporters to his Republican opponent.
The memo from P2 Insights Partner, Ryan Tyson, states that “around 60% of swing state voters across all states agree that Joe Biden is too old to be an effective president and that he can’t handle four more years in the White House.” Tyson added that “Trump’s greatest advantage in this race remains that he is more trusted to handle the economy than Biden, [and that] positive perception of Trump’s economy outperforms his baseline image by roughly 10 percentage points in every swing state.” In June, Trump leads Biden by 22% (59-37) among Arizona voters who agreed that “the economy was better under Trump than Biden” compared to ten percent in May (52-42).
This new poll on the current state of the 2024 presidential race in Arizona came just before the first debate between Trump and Biden last Thursday night. In his conclusion for his latest polling memo, Tyson opined that “Joe Biden is in desperate need of a moment in Thursday night’s debate to turn his campaign around.” With Biden’s debate performance receiving harsh marks from nearly all sides following the event, it may be safe to surmise that the Democrat president may have lost even more ground in a swing state like Arizona per the analysis from Tyson’s survey.
In the Real Clear Polling average, Trump leads Biden by 5.8% in the Grand Canyon State. At this point in the 2020 campaign, Biden led Trump in Arizona by a 5% average, and Clinton led Trump by an average of .5% in 2016. In 2020, Biden went on to narrowly edge Trump by .3% in Arizona, and Trump defeated Clinton by 3.5% in the state for the 2016 contest.
Arizona’s eleven electoral college votes will be critical to securing the presidency. Both Republicans and Democrats realize the importance of this state and those votes and are deploying a massive number of resources for this race and many others that will determine the political future for the southwestern state.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
