The Arizona Board of Education’s decision to uphold rejections of questionable Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) expense requests shows that “we allow only what public schools provide at reasonable cost,” according to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne.
Horne applauded the State Board’s unanimous decision. In Monday’s meeting, the board rejected two appeals of expense requests from parents that the Department of Education had rejected.
“In recent months much has been made of supposedly extravagant ESA expense approvals,” Horne said. “But our policy of reviewing all requests is far different from that of my predecessor who did allow a number of inappropriate expenses to be approved and which ESA opponents continue to falsely claim as alleged abuses today.”
“The department and State Board have again shown this week that we take these expense approvals seriously and will not tolerate attempts to go beyond what the law permits,” Horne continued.
One of the rejected ESA requests was for a $2,300 commercial freeze dryer, which serves no educational purpose, so is not a valid expense under state law. The other rejected request was for car seats.
State law says that every child must be secured in a car seat, and parents do not have the right to use ESA funds to buy something they are already required to provide, according to Horne’s news release.
The department expects to defend against an appeal from a parent requesting a $500 dune buggy in the next few months.
“Despite the claims we hear from opponents of the ESA program, under my watch we review every expense request regardless of dollar amount,” Horne said. “Things such as commercial freeze dryers and dune buggies that might be approved under the previous administration are being rejected now.”
Horned said ESA staff has reviewed 252,000 orders and rejected 12,200 of them in recent months.
“This work takes extra time and effort, but it is necessary to make sure ESA taxpayer funds are spent for valid educational purposes and are in line with state law,” Horne said.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
For over an hour on Tuesday, Gilbert residents demanded justice for free speech violations committed by their town’s Office of Digital Government (ODG).
Most public comment during Tuesday’s town council meeting consisted of community members’ resounding call to end ODG and reappropriate the funds, citing the AZ Free News investigative report on the department. As we reported last week, records revealed that ODG monitored the online speech of employees and elected officials to ensure conformity with a progressive political agenda.
Several residents also related the report on ODG to their discontent with ongoing investigations into the “Gilbert Goons,” a violent group of teens and young adults behind reported and confirmed assaults on youths in Gilbert and the surrounding areas.
One 16-year resident, Carol Cherry, said that Gilbert was “hardly recognizable” and lacking common sense amid plaguing issues like the Gilbert Goons and ODG. Cherry called for the replacement of ODG with a more clearly defined and transparent communications department, arguing that paying a department to “spy” on employee speech shouldn’t be a government priority.
“Our children are being threatened by vicious beatings and even death by the infamous Gilbert Goons, and now we find out that we have another group of goons threatening segments of our community: that would be the Office of Digital Government,” said Cherry. “These dozen or so ‘thought police’ order supervisors to confront any employee who dares speak against the progressive narrative, even if that speech is on a personal social media account.”
Gilbert pays a department over $1 million a year to control town employees and elected officials' online speech to ensure conformity with a progressive political agenda. My latest covered by @azfamily ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/bBs07t09aE
Mayoral candidate Shane Krauser described the town government’s permissiveness of ODG as irresponsible. He took issue with the decision-making power and authority of unelected officials, referencing Town Manager Patrick Banger specifically. Krauser also criticized the amount of communication on the Gilbert Goons as too little.
“What we’re looking for here is just competent leadership, and maybe more than that, we’re looking for the individuals who were actually elected to run the government,” said Krauser. “These things are irresponsible from the town government’s perspective, and they’re fundamentally illegal, if they are true.”
Krauser added that $1.1 million was far too great an amount to pay ODG, especially considering the operations and apparent mission of the department. ODG employee salaries amounted to over $1.1 million prior to the departure of two employees within the last fiscal year. The head of ODG, Dana Berchman, made over $200,800.
“Dana Berchman has her own political philosophy that is being advanced through a platform that’s funded by the taxpayers of Gilbert,” said Krauser. “It’s a fundamental violation of the Constitution, it’s a fundamental violation of the rule of law.”
Concerning the cost of ODG, Gilbert’s former mayor, Steve Berman, suggested that the town disband the department and use the funds to pay the salaries of 15 new police officers capable of cracking down on teen violence like that of the Gilbert Goons.
Berman said it was well within the council’s authority to dissolve ODG, should at least four councilmembers direct the town manager to do so.
“What gives this department the right to spy on anybody’s Facebook account and then report their results to the town manager?” asked Berman. “I would like to see you disband the department, and take the money that’s being paid now, and we can fund the salaries of 15 new police officers for Gilbert. I think people would rather spend the money on more cops than on a secret police that’s spying on the employees.”
Scott Runde, chair of the Gilbert Town Council Watch Group for legislative district 14, similarly expressed a desire to end ODG and redirect the funds to something else, like a water treatment plant.
Councilman Jim Torgeson proposed the council add an agenda item to review the mission, purpose, and future existence of ODG. It didn’t appear that any other councilmembers backed the proposal.
Mayor Brigette Peterson asked Town Manager Patrick Banger — who started ODG under inspiration from former Democratic New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg — to look into the ODG.
Police Chief Michael Soelberg addressed concerns from the residents concerning the Gilbert Goons and teen violence in the town and surrounding communities. Soelberg promised that more arrests would be forthcoming. He emphasized that, in spite of all that had happened, Gilbert remains a safe community.
“Gilbert is one of the safest cities in the country,” said Soelberg.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Arizona’s Republican Senate President is standing with families over a recent decision from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Late last week, the Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus announced that President Warren Petersen “is working diligently to come to a resolution that will protect the more than 700,000 recipients from having to give the federal government a portion of [the 2023 Arizona Families Tax Rebate] this tax season.”
🚨 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Senate President @votewarren Works to Prevent Biden's IRS from Taking Advantage of "Arizona Families Tax Rebate" Recipients ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Y2B2JisOvy
According to the Senate Republicans, the IRS recently made the decision to collect federal income taxes on the rebate, which was passed in the 2023 Arizona budget compromise between legislative Republicans and Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs. The caucus noted that “more than a dozen other states have passed similar legislation, in which the IRS concluded those funds were not considered taxable income.”
On February 10, 2023, the IRS released a determination that taxpayers in many of the states that issued special payments in 2022 would “not need to report these payments on their 2022 tax returns.”
In a statement that accompanied his news release, Petersen said, “It makes zero sense that the IRS is choosing to hurt Arizona families by taxing a tax rebate. I’m thankful for the help from Senator Sinema’s office in working to get this matter front and center with the IRS and U.S. Treasury. With tax season less than two weeks away, time is of the essence. While litigation likely isn’t the best approach, I appreciate the Attorney General’s office reaching out to us on this matter.”
The Senate President was critical of Governor Hobbs’ perceived inaction to protect families in this matter, saying, “I am, however, incredibly disappointed our Governor is again nowhere to be found on an issue that could ultimately cost our citizens tens of millions of dollars. I’m calling on her to not turn a blind eye on this issue, as she did with gas prices last spring, and to work with us on solving this problem for Arizona families.”
Petersen’s sharp rebuke follows a back-and-forth between the Governor’s Office and legislative Republicans this past fall, after Hobbs championed “the deployment of the Arizona Families Tax Rebate.” Hobbs said, “I made a promise that when I took office, I would take every opportunity I had to make it easier for Arizonans to provide for their families and lower the cost of living.”
Hobbs’ actions surrounding the issuance of rebates to Arizona families earned a Cease and Desist letter from attorneys for Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma. The letter highlighted an agreement in the FY 2024 budget that “[n]o letter relating to the Arizona families tax rebate issued under this section shall…reference the governor’s office.” According to the letter, the Arizona Department of Revenue had “distributed, apparently to all individuals who are eligible for the Families Tax Rebate, a letter that advises them to ‘visit the Arizona Department of Revenue’s online claim portal….’ The advertised URL, however, not only explicitly references the Governor but directs users to the Governor’s own website. Further, clicking the designated link on the homepage brings the user not to the Department’s portal, but rather to another webpage in the azgovernor.gov domain that features a video of self-congratulatory bloviations form the Governor.”
Republican Senator Jake Hoffman shredded the action from the Governor’s Office, stating, “The sad reality exposed by this situation is that Katie Hobbs doesn’t care about anyone other than herself. She tried to play fast and loose with the law, as she so often does, and forced Director Woods to violate it.”
Yesterday the legislature sent @KatieHobbs’ Director of the Dept. of Revenue a Cease & Desist Letter due to ADOR illegally spending millions at the direction of Hobbs.
Under state law, the Director of ADOR is personally liable for the illegally spent public funds, estimated to… pic.twitter.com/lenpnMauv4
Another Senate Republican, T.J. Shope, said, “I know the Governor wanted no part of this tax rebate but thankfully, the Arizona Senate and House caucuses, led by the Arizona Freedom Caucus, stood strong and demanded it be part of the State Budget. When we stick together, we can provide positive things for Arizona’s families.”
I know the Governor wanted no part of this tax rebate but thankfully, the @AZSenateGOP & @AZHouseGOP caucuses, led by the @AZFreedomCaucus, stood strong and demanded it be part of the State Budget. When we stick together, we can provide positive things for Arizona’s families.… https://t.co/JP2VndTeKU
President Petersen will try to make contact with liaisons from the IRS and U.S. Treasury Department in an attempt to reverse the decision from the federal government in the days before the new tax season commences.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes wants the Department of Justice (DOJ) to crack down more aggressively on threats to election officials.
Fontes revealed his dissatisfaction with the Biden administration in an exclusive interview with The Rolling Stone. He said that prosecutors ought to hit harder and treat the threats as domestic terrorism.
“We’ve got people who are threatening violence or committing acts of violence to achieve a political end,” said Fontes. “How are these people not being treated like terrorists?”
Fontes said that DOJ Attorney General Merrick Garland is endangering Americans because has been “far too cautious” when handling threats against election workers and officials.
“I have a lot of respect for the attorney general, but he is not being nearly aggressive enough on this threat, which is imperiling our democracy, and he and the department are not devoting nearly enough resources to it,” said Fontes. “It’s a crying shame when they put the physical health of their agency up against their actual duties to protect people and to protect our democracy.”
The secretary of state further accused the Biden administration of taking election officials for granted, and implied that entities like the DOJ owed election workers for getting them elected.
“They have the capacity to serve with honor because we have changes in administration at the White House, different people doing investigations and oversight in Congress,” said Fontes. “They need to prioritize those folks who administer the democracy that gives them that warm blanket that they serve under.”
According to the DOJ, Fontes and federal agents have engaged at least four times over the past 18 months. DOJ deputy chief John Keller told Rolling Stone that the agency has been aggressive in its response to threats against election workers and officials.
“The Justice Department will continue to aggressively prosecute cases involving threats to election workers to the fullest extent of the law,” said Keller. “Recent convictions and sentences demonstrate that federal courts and the department are taking threats to the election community extremely seriously, and there will be consequences commensurate with the seriousness of the activity.”
The Biden administration launched the Election Threats Task Force in mid-2021. In 2022, the DOJ announced its investigations into over 100 cases out of over 1,000 complaints reviewed.
Since the ETTF’s launch, the DOJ has charged four individuals for making threats to Arizona election officials concerning the 2020 election: James Clark, Walter Lee Hoornstra, Mark Rissi, and Joshua Russell. Several major threats made by critics against GOP election audit efforts, however, were overlooked.
Fontes also said that he and other election workers were risking their lives every day due to lies about the recent past elections and the elections system.
“[S]omeone who’s listening to that lie, believing it, is so upset about it that they literally want to go kill you. It’s a very very strange place to be as a civilized society,” said Fontes.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Maricopa County Superior Court has denied an attempt by Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to bar the release of Maricopa County’s absentee ballot envelopes from the 2022 election.
Last Thursday, Judge John Blanchard denied Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ motion to dismiss the request for the ballot data made by election integrity activists: We the People Arizona Alliance (WPAA), represented by failed gubernatorial (now Senate) candidate Kari Lake’s counsel challenging the 2022 election results, Bryan Blehm.
Blanchard ordered Fontes to work on a solution with WPAA and, at minimum, provide a sworn affidavit of the difficulties his office would have in providing the envelopes. The judge also gave WPAA permission to resolve these difficulties with Fontes or bring suggested remedies to the court.
“[T]he parties have not had a meaningful opportunity to discuss, test, and explore the stated technological and practical reasons why [the secretary of state] cannot comply with the public records request,” said Blanchard. “[T]he parties shall meet and confer regarding the Secretary of State’s reasons for refusing to produce the data that is responsive to [the request].”
During last week’s hearing on the case, Kyle Cummings with the attorney general’s office claimed that election officials would have to pull each individual voter file in order to access the ballot envelopes. Cummings said that such an undertaking would be far too time-intensive and costly for the secretary of state.
“The secretary [of state’s] folks who manage their database and their systems said that, ‘Hey, we can’t produce this, it would have to be done individually, we cannot just gather it all together,’” said Cummings. “The secretary’s office does not have the time, resources, or manpower to pull at least one million individual entries for the request[.]”
Blehm countered that a database administrator could “easily” pull that data and consolidate it into one electronic file. He noted that the database lead for the secretary of state’s office should be made to testify on why that isn’t the case.
“If they’re going to continue to take the approach that they have to run an individual query for each of these five things of data for over a million voters, I would like the opportunity to depose their database administrator or data manager to dive into this,” said Blehm.
Absentee voting remains the primary method of ballot casting in Arizona. As of Monday, Fontes reported over 4.1 million registered voters in the state, with Republicans wresting the majority from independent voters: about 1.42 million Republicans and over 1.41 million independents.
Over 1.2 million voters registered as Democrats, over 32,400 registered as libertarians, over 25,900 registered as No Labels Party, and just over 2,500 registered as Green Party.
PRESS RELEASE: STATEWIDE VOTER REGISTRATION REPORT NOW REFLECTS FIVE PARTIES – For more information visit – Voter Registration Statistics | Arizona Secretary of State (https://t.co/6UIaW6Rtzq) pic.twitter.com/b4Zt20MURM
Arizona State University’s McCain Institute hosted a discussion on the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2023.
The organization, which claims to be nonpartisan, invited CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett and left-leaning election law advocate David Becker to discuss their 2022 book, “The Big Truth: Upholding Democracy in the Age of ‘The Big Lie,’” with Executive Director of the McCain Institute Evelyn Farkas.
“This book, although it was written in 2022, is incredibly timely… because right now… we have the former president of the United States in D.C.’s court of appeals sitting there listening to an argument about whether he should have immunity for actions that he took, things that he said in the 2020 election,” Farkas said.
In 2020, the election process was “placed under more pressure than ever since the Civil War” and “was carried out with the highest turnout ever, the most diverse populace ever to participate in a presidential election in our history,” according to Garrett.
“Those things are signs of success, not failure,” Garrett continued.
The discussion fell on the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, breach at the U.S. Capitol and focused on “what actually happened in the 2020 election.” The speakers discussed the “misinformation” designed to “con and beguile Americans into chasing phantom allegations of election crimes.”
“People who spread disinformation don’t necessarily have to convince you of the lie, they just have to convince you that nothing is true,” Becker said at the event.
The election “was an impressive example of democracy at work, despite attempts to overshadow its success,” according to the McCain Institute.
The McCain Institute has a history of dwelling on the 2020 election years after the fact. The ASU center hosted a panel discussing “election denialism” and former President Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” about the 2020 election in February.
Inspired by Senator John McCain and his family, the McCain Institute is part of Arizona State University and based in Washington, D.C. The book discussion was part of the institute’s Authors and Insights book talk series, which started in 2020.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
