by Daniel Stefanski | Jan 9, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona’s leading Republican lawmakers wasted no time in holding the state’s Democrat governor accountable on the first day of the Second Regular Session of the 56th Legislature.
On Monday, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs delivered her second State of the State address, and the border crisis was the first theme she tackled in her speech to legislators and guests in the House chamber and gallery.
Hobbs blamed both “Democratic and Republican administrations” for “the failure to secure our southern border,” railing against “the same old political games that created this crisis and that have continually hurt communities, families, and our state.” The second-year governor asserted that she “delivered” on multiple fronts to help mitigate the crisis, including the launch of Operation SECURE and the creation of a Border Coordination Office within the Arizona Department of Homeland Security.
Both Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma reacted to the governor’s State of the State, releasing a joint video immediately after the conclusion of Hobbs’ remarks. The two men prioritized their response to this specific issue, dedicating almost two minutes of their five-minute video to discuss the governor’s record on border security. Toma argued that despite Hobbs’ attempt to make Arizonans “believe she’s all about securing our border and ending the lawlessness caused by Joe Biden’s immigration system…her record is one of open borders…and she’s continued that approach as governor.” The House Speaker alleged that “the governor’s reputation on immigration policy has only fueled this crisis.”
Petersen talked about “major mistakes” from Hobbs by vetoing three bills in particular “that would have kept families safe from drugs and crime.” Those 2023 bills, according to the Senate Republican leader, were HB 2675 (drug cartels, terrorist organizations; sponsored by Montenegro), HB 2469 (sovereign authority, border, health crisis; sponsored by Montenegro), and SB 1408 (electronic applications, human smuggling; sponsored by Wadsack). The East Valley lawmaker also noted that Hobbs “was a staunch critic of the shipping container barrier and advocated for its removal” at the border.
Toma also highlighted an instance when his colleagues “stopped (Hobbs’) irresponsible proposal of providing $40 million in state funding to pay for the college education of illegals in our state.”
During 2023, the first year of a rare, divided government in the Grand Canyon State, legislative Republicans effectively pointed out that the reality with the border crisis could have been more daunting for Arizonans if not for their check on Democrats. When Hobbs signed the state budget compromise in May, Petersen noted his members “prevented the Governor and Democrat Legislators from advancing their extremist agenda,” and promised “we’re not getting rid of state-funded border security resources to keep our communities safe.” Despite Hobbs’ efforts to be perceived as taking the border crisis seriously in the new year, she is unlikely to work with legislative Republicans on much – if any – fixes to help mitigate the lawlessness and consequences for affected communities.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Jan 9, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
The Arizona House Republican Caucus released its Majority Plan for the upcoming 2024 Legislative Session.
On Friday, Arizona House Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci posted his Caucus’ Majority Plan in advance of Monday’s session. Biasiucci wrote that “Arizona House Republican members will serve Arizonans once more by doing what we do best: defending past legislative victories and protecting our citizens’ fundamental rights.”
The House Republicans’ plan includes five pillars – border security, fiscal responsibility, good governance, education freedom, and constitutional rights.
On the border, House Republicans assured Arizonans that they could count on them “to again pursue meaningful policy and budgetary solutions in the upcoming legislative session to protect Arizona’s border,” including “empowering and supporting our county attorneys to prosecute egregious criminal activity, fighting fentanyl, combatting human trafficking, and engaging the Arizona National Guard.”
On fiscal responsibility, the Republicans cautioned that Arizona “must live within its means by reprioritizing discretionary funding and programs.” They pledged to “continue to put more money back in your pocket” and vowed to “pass a balanced budget that maintains Arizona’s competitive business and family-friendly economy.”
On good governance, the Majority Plan telegraphed Republicans’ intentions to be working on “election reforms in a deliberate manner aimed at fostering integrity and trust within our systems,” adding that ballot referendums would be likely on this front – especially in a divided government shared with Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs. House Republicans also stated their willingness to “remove barriers to entry, aid in cultivating a highly skilled new-blue-collar workforce, and tackle issues surrounding affordable housing,” in addition to continuing their efforts “to protect, prioritize, and secure water resources” for the future of Arizona.
On education freedom, House Republicans promised “to continue to protect school choice this year and beyond,” as well as supporting parental rights “to protect their children from vulgar and sexual material.”
On constitutional rights, the Republicans’ Plan assured Arizonans that their Caucus would “always protect rights guaranteed by the Constitution.” Throughout 2023, House Speaker Ben Toma and his Caucus had been extremely active in engaging in litigation to defend both state laws and cases in various federal courts. According to the 2024 Plan, those efforts will continue.
The House Republicans’ Plan for the 2024 Legislative Session follows the Senate Republicans’ Roadmap, which was released last month before Christmas. The Senate Republicans’ plan featured eleven categories for the upcoming session – budget approach, inflation relief, law enforcement & military, education, water, infrastructure, health, government, judiciary, elections, and litigation. They pledged to “remain laser focused on easing the burden of rising costs for our citizens, while continuing to stop dangerous California-style policies from being implemented in the Grand Canyon State,” adding their resolve to stay “unified in protecting freedoms and constitutional rights, advocating for family values and safe communities, promoting free market principles and limited government, and stopping radical ideologies from infiltrating the way of life and opportunities we’ve established over the past decade for all Arizonans.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Jan 9, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
An Arizona Republican lawmaker is warning his state about what it could experience if Democrats were to control the legislature.
Last week, freshman State Representative Austin Smith highlighted a handful of bills that had been pre-filed by his Democrat colleagues, referring to those proposals as “DEMOCRAT EXTREMISM 2024.”
Smith summarized four Democrat bills, which included the following:
- Allow changing genders on birth certificates after undergoing surgical, hormonal, psychological treatments.
- Banning unmarked police vehicles.
- Repealing no duty to retreat law.
- Repealing drug possession paraphernalia laws.
The Republican legislator from the Southwest Valley sounded the alarm that these bills could become reality for Arizona “in one year under the rule of an extremist Democrat controlled legislature.”
Representative Joseph Chaplik, one of Smith’s fellow Republicans in the chamber, echoed the sentiments, writing, “We are in the front row seats seeing these ideas. Most voters have no idea how radical the democrats are with trying to destroy our society.”
The warning from Smith comes at the start of a pivotal election year for the Grand Canyon State, with both the Arizona House and Senate hanging in the balance for 2025. Republicans have razor-thin majorities in both chambers, giving them very little leeway in conducting business. In addition, Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs occupies the Ninth Floor of the State Executive Tower, which means that many conservative policies are vetoed. As Smith alluded to, should Democrats take over the legislature, they would be able to enact many leftist reforms into law with the support of Hobbs.
Many Republicans have also warned about greater restrictions to the state’s school choice opportunities (like the Empowerment Scholarship Account program) or to Arizonans’ Second Amendment freedoms if legislative Democrats have free rein in the House and Senate.
Arizona may undergo another significant makeover before Democrats even could have an opportunity to pass unfettered legislation. Special interest groups are attempting to refer several issues to the November ballot, including an abortion access amendment and a change to the state’s elections systems. Voters’ passage of those initiatives would save political capital for Democrats in 2025 and beyond, while accomplishing the work they might attempt anyway if they simultaneously controlled the legislature and the Governor’s Office.
With Republicans now in control of the Arizona Legislature, though, the Democrats’ transformative policies are likely dead on arrival. Republican leaders and Hobbs will have to negotiate compromises on select items, such as the state’s budget.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Jan 8, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanksi |
A new wave of lawlessness is hitting America’s southern border.
Last week, Fox News reporter Bill Melugin shared a memo from the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector Intelligence Unit about “stolen/altered Guinea passports being encountered” in the region.
The Border Patrol’s alert revealed the following information from intelligence gathered in the field:
- Officials from the Guinean government may be advising people obtaining new passports they can change their age for them to have a better chance of entering the United States as minors. (most encounters are from adults claiming to be UAC’s)
- Another migrant claimed an illicit group stole many blank passport books from the ministry in Conakry and has been selling and issuing the passports without the proper procedures.
- It’s suspected that Guinean passports issued in Conakry after June of 2023 are most likely fraudulent or altered.
Melugin added that “hundreds of adult men from Guinea have been crossing illegally in the Tucson sector every day.”
The Fox News journalist also communicated a story from a couple of weeks ago, when he was in Lukeville, Arizona, and came across a Guinean man, who had just illegally entered the United States. Melugin posted that this man had told him that “he planned to go to Philadelphia” – likely based on an address that someone had procured for him.
This week, Ali Bradley, a National Correspondent for NewsNation, reported that out of 806,000+ illegal immigrants who have crossed into the United States since October 1, almost 206,000 of those encounters have occurred in the Tucson Sector, where Lukeville lies. For a number of months, the Tucson Sector has led the country in apprehensions, leading to an unprecedented closure of the Lukeville Port of Entry in recent weeks. ‘Gotaways’ are not factored into the number of registered encounters from CBP.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Elizabeth Troutman | Jan 8, 2024 | News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
A Republican ballot chasing effort is hiring 10 full-time ballot chase managers in Arizona to turn the state red in the 2024 election.
Turning Point Action’s Chase the Vote initiative, which launched on July 17, 2023, contacts voters who have received mail-in ballots to urge them to fill them out and make a voting plan, according to Chase the Vote’s website.
Chase the Vote will send outdoor knockers to encourage voters in “battleground states” including Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Nevada, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Florida to vote Republican in response to left-wing battle-chasing initiatives.
The initiative will identify Republican voters, help them register to vote, inspire them through rallies and events, and mobilize voters to the polls on election day, according to the website.
Applications are open for ballot chase managers in the cities of Anthem, Glendale, Buckeye, Goodyear, Peoria, Surprise, North Phoenix, Queen Creek, Gilbert, and Mesa.
“The Radical Left is beating us in the ballot game,” Chase the Vote’s website says. “They have strategically concentrated their efforts on key states, massively expanding their ballot-chasing operations in critical battlegrounds.”
In 2020, President Joe Biden won the vote in Maricopa County, Arizona’s largest county. Chase the Vote aims to turn Maricopa County red in the 2024 election.
“In 2024, Turning Point Action will launch the first and most robust conservative ballot-chasing operation,” the website continues. “With a strong national grassroots network and a track record of empowering conservative leaders, we are committed to ensuring every American makes a voting plan for victory.”
Responsibilities of ballot chase manager positions include “daily communication, training and guiding ballot chasers across the state of Arizona, and volunteers;” and “hiring and building a community of the nation’s most aggressive and highly skilled ballot chasers in recent American history,” according to the job description.
Chase the Vote hopes to mobilize more than 1,000 field organizers to track and chase target ballots in battleground states.
Turning Point Action is partnering with Early Vote Action, Tea Party Patriotic Action, and America First Works to build the ballot chasing operation.
“Whether we like it or not, it’s time for conservatives to accept that our elections have been fundamentally transformed from traditional same-day voting to an early vote mobilization game. It’s time for our side of the aisle to adapt and respond,” Tyler Bowyer, Turning Point Action chief operating officer, said in a news release. “Our new coalition will build and execute an early vote juggernaut, giving us the upper hand in this logistical battle. From now on, we will play by the Left’s rules and chase every vote before Election Day even begins.”
Turning Point Action did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AZ Free News.
Executive director of Turning Point’s partner, America First Works, said conservatives need to mobilize early for the America First movement to succeed.
“In partnership with Turning Point Action, we will outmatch the Left’s early vote and ballot harvesting machine and, finally, even the election playing field,” Ashley Hayek said. “Our side has the winning message and the winning policies. And through this coalition, we will no longer wake up after an election wondering what went wrong.”
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Jan 7, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
This week, the Arizona State Senate Republicans Caucus announced that it had joined an amicus brief in federal court to help challenge California’s Assault Weapon Control Act.” The brief, which was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, was led by the attorneys general of Idaho, Iowa, and Montana, and co-signed by almost two dozen additional States.
The Caucus’ “X” account wrote that “the Second Amendment doesn’t allow California to force its liberal policies on the rest of the country and outlaw hundreds of semiautomatic rifles and handguns commonly used by law-abiding citizens for self-defense.”
In their brief, the attorneys general and legislators asserted that the California gun law “reflects a starkly contrasting view of the Second Amendment.” They added that “instead of protecting the right, the Act attacks its core. It disregards a fundamental liberty that belongs to all law-abiding Americans. The Act further encourages other governments to experiment with the people’s rights. In many ways, States are laboratories of democracy. But when it comes to the Bill of Rights, States cannot experiment. All States must respect and defend all Americans’ rights. Unless enjoined, the AWCA’s eroding impact will not be confined to California.”
The action from the Arizona’s legislators follows another brief they joined with a coalition of attorneys general from around the country. In December, Petersen and Toma joined a public comment letter to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to address its newly proposed rule, Definition of “Engaged in the Business as a Dealer in Firearms.”
By co-signing the ATF letter, the Grand Canyon State lawmakers concurred with the arguments that the proposed rule “violates the Second Amendment, is arbitrary and capricious, and is bad public policy.” Petersen told AZ Free News that “in the absence of our Arizona Attorney General defending our citizens’ constitutional rights, I believe it’s imperative state lawmakers push back against this bureaucratic infringement on lawful gun ownership.” Toma said, “Arizona Attorney General Mayes has not expressed any interest in safeguarding Arizonans’ gun rights protected by the Second Amendment.”
Over the past month, the two Republican legislative leaders have signaled a more aggressive shift in taking the reins from Mayes to defend the law and Constitution. Attorneys general are not usually joined by outside parties on their amicus briefs, yet two coalitions of Republican state prosecutors have included Petersen and Toma on these two major filings. Before those instances, the legislators filed their own briefs on several cases in 2023. One of those was in Garfield County v. Biden, supporting the State of Utah in a challenge to Biden’s recent federal land grab. Another was in City of Grants Pass v. Gloria Johnson and John Logan, asserting that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals erred in deciding “it was better at making policy than elected state legislatures and city councils” in a matter of homeless encampments. Yet another was in Doe v. Horne, defending Arizona’s Save Women’s Sports Act.
In another case where they intervened in federal court, Mayes v. Biden, the Republican leaders recently won a significant legal victory, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an order against the Biden administration’s Contractor Vaccine Mandate, vacating its earlier opinion for mootness.
Petersen and Toma are expected to continue their legal fights through this pivotal election year, while also navigating, what is expected to be, a very contentious legislative session with the state’s Democrat Governor, Katie Hobbs.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
