Voters are split on a proposed new sales tax on the ballot benefitting fire districts, according to the latest polling.
A Data Orbital poll surveying 550 voters indicated that just over 12 percent of voters are undecided on Proposition 310. Nearly 44 percent are in favor of the proposition, while just over 42 percent are against it.
Of those in favor of Prop 310, nearly 30 percent were completely for it while just over 14 percent were somewhat for it. Of those against Prop 310, nearly 33 percent were strongly opposed to it while nearly 10 percent were somewhat opposed to it.
Pollsters read voters Prop 310’s official ballot summary, then asked how they would vote if the election were held on that day.
41 percent of respondents were registered Republicans, 32 percent were Democrats, and 24 percent were independents or unaffiliated. The greatest majority of them had some college education but no degree, 46 percent, while 24 percent had a bachelor’s degree, 16 percent had a graduate or postgraduate degree, and 11 percent had a high school degree.
Respondents’ demographics revealed that most voters answering were aged 65 or older: 36 percent. The remaining age categories were evenly split, all under 20 percent. 75 percent of respondents were white, 17 percent were Hispanic, four percent were African American, and 2 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander.
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC), an opponent of Prop 310, commissioned the poll.
Proponents of Prop 310 argue that it would help underfunded, rural fire districts, and claim that increased funding would cut response times. Opponents argue that Prop 310’s fund awarding would favor districts with larger property valuations, even with the three percent cap on distributions, and insist that funding solutions should be tailored to the districts rather than imposed on all taxpayers.
Prop 310 would generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually for the next 20 years without requiring fire departments to disclose how those funds were spent. The Common Sense Institute Arizona (CSI), a nonpartisan research nonprofit, projected that Prop 310 would have a negative effect on the state’s economy.
CSI claimed that the cumulative $5.5 billion in additional fire tax revenue would come at a cost of fewer jobs, lower personal income, and higher local prices.
CSI projected that Prop 310 would reduce statewide employment by 2,500 jobs in 2023 and then 3,800 jobs by 2042; reduce state GDP by $7.4 billion; reduce resident personal income by a cumulative $8.55 billion ($690 million in 2042); and increase the local price level by .04 percent.
As part of their data modeling, CSI included background on fire districts’ historical funding and expenditures: from $114 million in 2003 to nearly $500 million annually in 2020, accrued from revenues such as property taxes. CSI shared that a significant portion of those funds went toward unfunded public pension liabilities. CSI noted that no available source regularly tracks fire district funding.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Parents attempting to call the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) helpline for the school choice program are met with an automated voice that rejects their call due to “excessive call volume” and promptly hangs up.
No indication of wait times, and no promise of a call back.
We need a new ESA administration! It has been poorly managed for years. The issues everyone is having now are the same old problems, but just multiplied since we have tens of thousands of new students in the program.
It’s just another day of Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program administration under ADE Superintendent Kathy Hoffman, who hasn’t exactly been shy about her disdain for school choice programs. Hoffman proclaims loudly and often that the ESA Program lacks accountability and remains dysfunctional, even well over three years into her administration.
AZ Free News asked ADE about the ESA Program helpline. They didn’t respond by press time.
What happened in Snowflake is one example of the lack of accountability with the ESA program. Stories like this will become more common with universal expansion. We only have 3 days left to stop this law from going into effect. Find out where to sign at: https://t.co/0j0mJo7IIhpic.twitter.com/mIxyaw1v2D
Christine Accurso, one of the ESA parents on the frontlines advocating for universal school choice, criticized the ADE for taking in an additional $2.2 million to hire 26 new workers this summer, yet still can’t manage the universal school choice program.
For many months the ESA office has only had their phones open from 10-2. They have an additional $2.2 million dollars & 26 new positions with this expansion & that money was retroactive back to 7/1. There should have been plans to have a larger team ready on DAY ONE. ⬇️
Last month on her reelection campaign trail, Hoffman insisted that universal school choice doesn’t help children with unique learning needs. She declared that it was a “taxpayer-funded coupon for the wealthy.” She then advocated for voters to sign an initiative to refer universal school choice to the 2024 ballot.
The ESA program was intended to provide more options for children with special needs or unique circumstances, like military families. With the current status of applicants, it is not achieving those goals. Instead, it is just a taxpayer funded coupon for the wealthy. https://t.co/hOqWm4iGfQ
Hoffman has fought consistently to eradicate the ESA Program.
The ESA program has an extensive history of financial mismanagement & lack of oversight. It's inappropriate to expand this program when it's grappling with many critical issues. Vote #NoProp305 to stop the expansion & keep public money in public schools 👉 https://t.co/CZs5zOUm7cpic.twitter.com/d0ZvH7oyj7
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs blamed two years of rhetoric from her opponent, Republican Kari Lake, for a break-in at her campaign headquarters earlier this week. Lake denied Hobbs’ accusation, calling it “absurd.”
Hobbs’ campaign manager issued a statement on her behalf, insinuating that Lake was the source of all threats against Hobbs.
“Let’s be clear: for nearly two years Kari Lake and her allies have been spreading dangerous misinformation and inciting threats against anyone they see fit,” stated Hobbs. “The threats against Arizonans attempting to exercise their constitutional rights and their attacks on elected officials are the direct result of a concerted campaign of lies and intimidation.”
In statements to reporters, Lake compared Hobbs’ blame to that of the infamous Jussie Smollett hate crime hoax.
“That is absolutely absurd. And are you guys buying that? Are you really buying that? Because this sounds like a Jussie Smollett part two,” stated Lake. “I don’t even know where her campaign office is. I’m assuming it’s in a basement somewhere because that’s where she’s been campaigning.”
On @katiehobbs campaign office burglary, @KariLake responds to @KateSullivanDC: “That is absolutely absurd. And are you guys buying that? Are you really buying that? Because this sounds like a Jussie Smollett part 2.”
According to surveillance footage obtained by the Hobbs campaign, the suspect may be a dark-skinned, dark-haired man wearing a green t-shirt, gray pants, white tennis shoes, a watch on his left wrist, a backpack, and a metallic necklace. The Hobbs campaign reported that some unspecified items were taken.
As of Wednesday, Phoenix Police Department said that they hadn’t identified any suspects.
This wouldn’t be the first time Hobbs blamed Lake for unwanted aggressions toward her. Just last week, Hobbs claimed that Lake incited protests and threats of violence causing Arizona State University (ASU) to shut down campus. It appears those claims originated from one of Hobbs’ staffers, since the school didn’t report receiving threats and no protests occurred.
Hobbs’ announcement of a burglary at her headquarters comes hours after one of the latest polls revealed Lake leading Hobbs by 11 points.
That same poll by Fox News revealed incumbent Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) leading his Republican challenger Blake Masters by two points.
A new FOX 10 InsiderAdvantage poll shows the race for Governor – widening a bit. But the race for U.S. Senate is turning into a dead heat. https://t.co/wrG7DQeAiX
In a bid to win over independent voters, Arizona’s dominant voting group, Senator Mark Kelly’s campaign staffers are telling voters he’s pro-life.
Paid campaign staffer Evynn Bronson told an undercover Project Veritas reporter that Kelly is pro-choice, but advised the reporter to tell voters that Kelly is pro-life and avoid the phrase “pro-choice.”
“I would [tell a pro-life voter that] Mark Kelly is pro-life but also pro-keeping the government out of our health care. I don’t know, something stupid like that,” said Bronson. “Absolutely he is not pro-life.”
Bronson, an Idaho native and LGBTQ+ activist, is a political science major at Brigham Young University (BYU) and plans to graduate this fall. Bronson was involved with the Raynbow Collective, an activist group pushing for LGBTQ+ acceptance at BYU, a private Mormon university. Bronson has since wiped her social footprint: her LinkedIn profile, Twitter account, Facebook and Instagram profiles are gone. Earlier this spring, Bronson interned with Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA-28) — a gig set up by the Victory Institute.
Bronson claimed to Project Veritas that she didn’t know Kelly’s stance on abortion. However, her job as a paid campaign staffer contradicts that claim: she gave a presentation on Kelly’s abortion stance and other topics like inflation and gun control.
“As far as I remember, I said that I don’t know his stance but that he supports the decision between a woman and her health care specialist,” stated Bronson.
Bronson worked the Kelly campaign through Mission for Arizona (AZ) throughout the summer, the advocacy nonprofit funded by the Arizona Democratic Party. In July, Bronson advised the Democrats of Greater Tucson (DGT) on “How to Talk to Voters.” One of the contentions that DGT members had during the presentation was that Bronson and fellow Mission for AZ staffer Anna Smith focused on advocating for Kelly rather than other Democratic candidates ahead of the primary elections.
In her advice, Bronson claimed that she and other campaign staffers weren’t there to change minds. Advice on addressing Kelly’s stance on abortion didn’t include any mention of his being “pro-life.”
“It’s important to remember we are not changing minds. We cannot have a productive conversation with a super far-right-leaning, conservative person because they’re just so rooted in their beliefs,” said Bronson. “We’re focusing in on those independents, those 40 percent of independents that we showed you, that really don’t know who they’re going to vote for.”
Part of the Mission for AZ plan presented by Bronson included registering voters to the Active Early Voting List (AEVL). According to the nonprofit’s research, those who receive an early ballot are 30 percent more likely to vote. Mission for AZ also collected “vote commitments” that included voters’ contact information.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
A political action committee (PAC) financed by Democrat billionaires is making good on its promise to spend millions to ensure Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s defeat.
The Republican Accountability PAC, an advocacy arm of the Republican Accountability Project (RAP), spent nearly $3.7 million on advertising against Lake according to trigger reports on the secretary of state’s campaign finance website. They began spending their millions a week after the primary election, and haven’t spent for or against any other candidates.
Those expenditures break down as follows: Trilogy Interactive, over $1 million; Google, over $840,000; Longwell Partners, over $441,000; Tegna, over $284,000; Scripps Media, nearly $245,000; Fox Corporation, nearly $230,000; Gray Media, over $222,000; Meta Platforms, over $202,000; Allen Media Broadcasting, over $100,000; Clear Channel Outdoor, over $83,000; and Extreme Reach, over $1,000.
It appears that one of the RAP leaders benefits greatly from the PAC money. Sarah Longwell, RAP executive director and the PAC’s treasurer, owns Longwell Partners. In addition to the over $441,000 her communications firm received for anti-Lake advertising, her firm has received at least over $554,000 for advertising and political consulting according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Longwell, a self-described “Never Trumper” is also the Defending Democracy Together co-founder (the parent organization behind RAP, and one of the top-spending dark money groups in the 2020 election), The Bulwark publisher, and former Log Cabin Republicans national board chair.
The only media company with an Arizona address that received Republican Accountability PAC money was Tegna. The listed address is the building that houses 12News and the Arizona Republic. Tegna was formerly part of Gannett before the media giant split into two publicly traded companies in 2015: Tegna, the broadcasting and digital operations, and Gannett, the publishing operations. Gannett shareholders retained the shares that became Tegna shares.
Gannett’s primary shareholder is BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager and one of 100 strategic partners for the World Economic Forum (WEF). The WEF is the globalist lobbying organization that invented the social credit score system similar to one used currently by the Chinese government, called ESG investing or scoring, short for “Environmental, Social, and Governance” scoring.
Tegna’s board of directors consists of major corporate players representing nearly all sectors: its chairman is also a president of Dell Technologies, while other members include the executive vice president of Pfizer, the CFO of global sports entertainment giant DAZN Group and former Morgan Stanley executive, the former vice president of Coca-Cola, the former president of HBO, the former vice president and CFO of E*Trade, the president and CEO of WNET and former president of NBC, and former vice president of Time Warner Cable and HBO.
Last year, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates teamed up with RAP for a video speaking against the Arizona Senate’s audit of the 2020 election. About a month before Richer and Gates released their RAP video, RAP’s executive director Sarah Longwell donated $250 to Richer’s PAC, Pro-Democracy Republicans of Arizona.
A week before Longwell’s donation, Richer’s PAC also received $100 from Mindy Finn (formerly Feinberg), the founder of another self-described Never Trumper advocacy group called Stand up Republic. Both Defending Democracy Together and Stand Up Republic receive funding from nonprofit networks associated with Pierre Omidyar, eBay’s founder, a partner organization of the lucrative leftist dark money network originating with Arabella Advisors.
The other top PACs spending millions against candidates are the Future Forward PAC and MoveOn.org PAC: both leftist dark money groups, both spending to defeat Trump-backed Arizona candidates. In addition to Lake, they spent to defeat attorney general candidate Abraham Hamadeh and secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
One lawmaker has a solution to the ballot drop box watcher controversy in Maricopa County, but the recorder says they won’t be modifying their operations.
State Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-Scottsdale) proposed removing the two controversial drop boxes situated outdoors, leaving voters with the drop boxes located indoors. However, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer told AZ Free News that removing the two controversial drop boxes would be surrendering to cancel culture, not assuaging voter tensions. Richer explained that outdoor drop boxes enabled a 24/7 option for returning early ballots, whereas drop locations inside government buildings are limited to business hours.
“I don’t believe in surrendering to cancel culture. I don’t believe that we should cave to intentionally disruptive behavior (as some of the watchers appear to be; others not). I don’t think ASU should cancel speaker events because some people protest,” said Richer. “I don’t think the county should change the voting plan that has been in place for many months now — and that worked successfully for the August primary — because of these people.”
I tried to ban drop boxes last session. At a minimum, the county should remove the 2 outside drop box locations before someone gets hurt. Problem solved.
Ugenti-Rita proposed her solution on Sunday. By Monday, the Democratic Party’s top election lawyer renowned for his role in the Russiagate hoax, Marc Elias, had jumped into the Arizona elections ring again — ensuring that Arizona’s elections are once more the center of national attention.
Outdoor drop boxes have been the source of numerous complaints of voter intimidation and voter fraud this election season. Secretary of State Katie Hobbs announced in a press release on Monday that her office referred six complaints of voter intimidation to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Arizona police were called to investigate 2 individuals parked near a ballot drop box Friday night, dressed in tactical gear & armed with guns. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said they were not breaking any laws because they were more than 75 feet away from the ballot box.
Those seeking to report voter intimidation may call 1-877-THE-VOTE or access Arizona.Vote. Those seeking to report voter fraud may submit their complaint to the attorney general here.
Elias sued to stop Arizona’s ballot drop box watchers on behalf of the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and Voto Latino against Clean Elections USA. The nonprofits allege that the drop box surveillance amounts to voter intimidation prohibited by the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.
. @marceelias sounds an encouraging note on the speed with which the court is responding to the lawsuit against Arizona ballot box vigilantes. pic.twitter.com/ketOafu29B
Elias and the two leftist nonprofits have been busy resisting Republican-led changes to election law. In August, the pair sued to stop SB1260, a bill enacted in June to clean up the state’s voter rolls. The Arizona District Court issued a temporary injunction against provisions of the bill enforcing voter registration cancellation for those who register to vote in another county and issuance of felony charges against those who facilitate voter fraud, but didn’t block removals from the Active Early Voting List (AEVL). Elias’ team appealed.
In March, Elias’ law group sued on behalf of Voto Latino as well as Mi Familia Vota against HB2492, a bill signed into law earlier this year requiring proof of citizenship in order to vote (though it won’t go into effect until 2023). The Arizona District Court is hearing that case; at present, the court is considering the state’s motion to dismiss.
In that case, Elias and the nonprofits have the Biden administration’s support: in July, the DOJ sued the state over the new law. DOJ Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke claimed that Arizona’s required proof of citizenship to vote was “onerous” and “unnecessary.”
Prior to this year, Elias only represented Voto Latino in one other case: a 2020 lawsuit against Hobbs to extend the state’s mail-in ballot deadline. Although Elias’ team was unsuccessful in extending the mail-in ballot deadline, they did get Hobbs to expand Hispanic voter outreach efforts and increase funding for early voting across different counties.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
