This week, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs launched a campaign ad featuring a sheriff who denied the existence of the border crisis. Yet, Hobbs characterized the border situation as a crisis in her proposed plan to improve the border.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway denied that there was a border crisis last April when he rejected Arizona National Guard assistance for his county. Hathaway said that the only crisis Arizona suffered from was an economic crisis, seeming to insinuate that border restrictions prevented Mexican workers from contributing to the U.S. economy.
“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.”
We need less talk and more action when it comes to securing the border. My highest priority is keeping Arizona communities safe which is why law enforcement like Sheriff Hathaway and Sheriff Nanos are backing my campaign. Watch here👇 pic.twitter.com/4IpFuUJgND
In the video, Hathaway said he was “tired of the talk” of other politicians and declared that Hobbs was the candidate who would take action.
Hobbs’ campaign video also featured Sheriff Chris Nanos. His remarks alluded to Hathaway’s past sentiments: that characterizations of the border as a crisis were overblown.
“She’s not here to politicize our border,” said Nanos.
Sheriff David Hathaway giving Governor candidate Katie Hobbs a tour of the beautiful ranchlands of Santa Cruz County. pic.twitter.com/LVBPpmxck4
— Sheriff David Hathaway, Santa Cruz County, AZ (@JamesDavidHath1) August 30, 2022
Hobbs’ views on the border have resulted in mixed messaging. In May, Hobbs said it was “ridiculous” that the border was a core issue for the governor’s race. In the preceding months, Hobbs flipped on her support for ending Title 42. Hobbs initially supported an immediate end to Title 42 before adopting her current perspective that Title 42’s demise would be a “rash decision” and a “disaster.”
Hobbs’ border plan pledged a “tough but fair immigration process” that would disincentivize illegal entry. She promised increased funding for border sheriffs and law enforcement, increased funding for border community centers and hospitals, increased funding for ports of entry, an increase and reallocation of work visas to address the labor shortage, a short-term plan to phase out Title 42, and citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients.
By comparison, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s border plan issued a lengthier plan. Lake proposed the establishment of an interstate compact in which a commission would oversee border operations. States in the compact would declare an invasion; create a border security force that would arrest, detain, and deport illegal immigrants; and buck federal restrictions and regulations from federal border enforcement agencies.
Additionally, Lake promised to veto any budget that didn’t fully fund border wall completion, derive border construction funds from seized cartel assets, request border construction reimbursement from the federal government, expand the Arizona Rangers, destroy smuggler and cartel tunnels using Israeli military expertise, shoot down Mexican drones in Arizona airspace, increase the National Guards’ border presence and grant detainment authority, put a carveout in HB2810 to allow for civil asset forfeiture of cartel and trafficking assets, allow law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants under trespassing laws, create a special “border court” within the superior court to adjudicate illegal immigrant trespassing crimes, allow the Arizona Guard and National Guard to deport illegal immigrants, expand Governor Doug Ducey’s Border Strike Force Bureau, creation of a border task force for the tribal communities, institute a “Refuse and Lose” law that divests state funding from counties or municipalities that employ sanctuary policies, creation of a publicly-available illegal alien database, lobby Congress to remove Arizona from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals jurisdiction, have cartels designated as terrorist organizations, and require stricter screening for illegal immigrant minor placement.
A Sierra Vista-based company which started with just one government contract in 2017 has been named to Inc. Magazine’s 5000 fastest growing private companies in America, ranking in the top five in Arizona and number 158 nationwide with more than 3,200 percent growth the last three years.
Nemean Solutions provides a variety of services to the U.S. military, as well as state and federal agencies in support of America’s Defense, Intelligence, and Aerospace sectors. It ranks #5 of the 154 honorees based in Arizona, with those companies accounting for $18.5 billion in total revenue and more than 12,000 jobs, according to the magazine.
The company’s three-year growth also ranked #4 of the 120 businesses nationwide in the Government Services industry to make the 5,000 list in 2022. They far outpaced their Arizona competitors MO Studio (ranked 2,088) and Vector Solutions (ranked 4,743).
Nemean Solutions was founded by Craig Mount and Simon Ortiz in Mount’s kitchen in Sierra Vista with plans to offer intelligence contracting at the U.S. Army’s Fort Huachuca. Today it employs nearly 80 full-timers and dozens of part-timers as a certified SBA 8a Native Hawaiian-Owned and veteran-operated company.
Mount, a former Sierra Vista city councilmember, told AZ Free News he and Ortiz started the company with $5,000. It then took six months for the two former U.S. Army members to get all the clearances necessary to work at secured military installations before receiving about $80,000 in contracts.
Two year later, Nemean Solutions had its SBA 8a certification which allows the company to receive sole source service contracts of up to $100 million per award. Today, Mount serves as president and Ortiz as CEO of the company which could end the year with more than $8 million in revenue.
“We want to thank our partners at Ho’okahua Hawaiian Foundation, our fantastic mentors at Trideum Corporation, our amazing banking team at Bank of America -Chris Patty, Christa Williams and Edward Spenceley- for putting the fuel into the machine, the ever patient Kelly McBride and her outstanding team at Global Dynamic Consulting, Inc. keeping the wheels on, and all our amazing industry teaming partners,” Mount said.
But most of all, he acknowledged “the Pride of Nemean” as he calls the company’s “incredible employees and their families who dedicate their professional time, energy, talent and experience to deliver Unbreakable Values and Superior Solutions to our nation’s military in fourteen states.”
Ortiz also gave credit to two Sierra Vista business development experts for their support over the years with Nemean Solutions’ growth.
“Mark Schmidt and his team at the Cochise College Small Business Development Center have been amazing in championing for Sierra Vista’s small business community and for us at Nemean,” Ortiz told AZ Free News. “Also, we would be remiss in not giving credit to Mignonne Hollis of the Arizona Regional Economic Development Foundation for helping us establish our headquarters in Sierra Vista.”
Nemean Solutions is a key Cybersecurity services provider for U.S. Army 7th Signal Command (Theater), U.S. Army NETCOM, U.S. Army CSLA, and the U.S. Air Force, offering Risk Management Framework support services and Cyber Electromagnetic Activities Subject Matter Support and Emerging Threat for U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force commands.
It also employs expert Administrative and Project Management Professionals to support critical missions for the U.S. Army including the Intelligence Center or Excellence, U.S. Army Mission Command Center of Excellence, and Army Research Office.
Other Nemean Solutions employees are experts in Military Support, Military Intelligence and Intelligence Operations Support, providing critical mission support for the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence, and U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command.
And the company currently provides vital Information Technology Services for U.S. Army CECOM, U.S. Army NETCOM, and the U.S. Navy through a leadership team which has over a decade of Department of Defense Joint Live, Virtual, and Constructive Modeling & Simulation and Experimentation Support.
In addition to the recent recognition by INC. Magazine, Nemean Solutions was the recipient of the 2022 SBA Arizona Small Business Development Center’s Success Award, the 2021 and 2020 HIRE VETS Platinum Medallion awards from the U.S. Department of Labor, and the 2021 SBA SBDC Arizona Veteran-Owned Congressional Business Economic Impact Success Story.
Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee divested $143 million from Unilever because its subsidiary, Ben & Jerry’s, boycotted Israel — inspiring multiple other states to follow suit. Arizona law prohibits state funds from going to entities that boycott Israel.
In the weeks after Yee’s decision, Texas, New Jersey, New York, and Florida pulled their investments from Unilever. Altogether, their divestments totaled well over $500 million. Yee said the series of events were a testament to Arizona’s leadership in an interview with AZ Free News.
“It was truly a movement,” said Yee.
These divestments all occurred last fall, but it wasn’t until late June that Unilever decided to sell Ben & Jerry’s in the Israel area, effectively ending boycott. Yee recounted how Unilever informed her immediately that they sold their Ben & Jerry’s business in the West Bank to an Israeli-owned manufacturing company. However, Yee explained that she was hesitant to reinvest in Unilever because of their delay in complying. Yee issued the ultimatum last September.
“My response to them was, ‘What took you so long?’” said Yee.
I am pleased that Unilever overturned the decision made by Ben & Jerry's and changed their course of action to boycott Israel as I had requested in September of 2021. I continue to be concerned about the woke decisions of Ben & Jerry's Board of Directors. See full statement: pic.twitter.com/GSoJWdR6uF
Yee observed that Unilever ultimately realized the great financial risk that came with supporting Ben & Jerry’s political activism.
“The response by Unilever was such that they thought there are dollars to be lost by partnering with a company, Ben & Jerry’s, that doesn’t stand with American values,” said Yee.
Yee added that her hesitation was vindicated when Ben & Jerry’s decided to sue Unilever. The ice cream giant requested an injunction, arguing that Unilever’s move to resume Ben & Jerry’s ice cream sales throughout Israel violated its core values. Ben & Jerry’s lost their case last Monday.
That means the ice cream giant doesn’t own and won’t profit from its brand in Israel.
Unilever's arrangement means Ben & Jerry's in Israel will be owned and operated by AQP. Our company will no longer profit from Ben & Jerry's in Israel.
Ben & Jerry’s announced its boycott last July. The company asserted that Israel was occupying the West Bank and Gaza illegally, which it recognized as the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). The company’s plan was to end its partnership with the licensee that manufactured and distributed its ice cream in Israel. The license agreement would’ve expired at the end of this year.
At the time, Ben & Jerry’s denied that their boycott was part of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. They claimed that they would stay in Israel through a different business arrangement, which they haven’t clarified.
The company pledged to disclose this new arrangement before the end of this year, according to what Unilever toldReuters in February. It appears that the arrangement either never came to fruition, or a satisfactory one wasn’t produced by the end of June, when Unilever announced it would sell Ben & Jerry’s in Israel.
Unilever may not be the only company that Arizona won’t invest in due to Israel boycotts. This past week, Yee announced that Morningstar, a major global financial services company, may be placed on the state’s list of prohibited investments if it doesn’t prove that its subsidiary, Sustainalytics, isn’t boycotting Israel. Although Arizona doesn’t have public funds invested in Morningstar currently, it would prevent future investments.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Last Tuesday, hundreds of concerned Gilbert citizens enlivened a town council study session with vocal opposition to funding any rail project — not even a survey.
Most of the council expressed confusion about the citizens’ discontent, denying intent on establishing a commuter rail in the town. Councilwoman Kathy Tilque stated repeatedly that there were no plans to bring a commuter rail to Gilbert, and that it probably wouldn’t ever happen. Mayor Brigette Peterson and councilmembers Scott Anderson, Yung Koprowski, and Scott September echoed Tilque’s sentiment throughout the study session, which neared two hours.
“I’m just trying to figure out why we have so many upset people thinking we’re spending taxpayer dollars to bring a commuter rail here,” said Tilque.
Earlier this year, the council proposed a $289,000 consulting contract for a feasibility study on establishing a commuter rail. Council discussion on the subject revealed similar divisions that persisted in last week’s discussions.
When Peterson repeated that Gilbert hasn’t issued plans to build a commuter rail, the citizens shouted “Lies!” Peterson insisted she was telling the truth, further claiming that Gilbert wouldn’t have any say over the establishment of a commuter rail on existing rail lines. Vice Mayor Aimee Yentes rebutted that the town’s actions over the years conflicted Peterson’s claim.
Yentes told AZ Free News that the council’s denial of commuter rail planning was “semantics,” pointing out a February 2018 development agreement, Resolution No. 3955, that Peterson signed onto while a councilwoman. That development agreement described the possibility of a light rail as well as a commuter rail, further conflicting with another one of Peterson’s claims in a July statement that the term “light rail” was used by outside groups and individuals, and that “there are no plans, discussions, or any considerations to construct or extend a light rail” to Gilbert.
The development agreement further noted that the town of Gilbert would be responsible for the cost of future development of a transit station at Cooley Station Village Center. According to a 2018 study on commuter rails conducted by the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), nearly all commuter rails require a dedicated local sales tax to operate.
During the study session, Yentes asserted that the community’s discontent stems from the council’s unwillingness to take a definitive stance for or against a commuter rail, not a misunderstanding over the town’s role as one of several decision makers on establishing a commuter rail.
“Clearly they’ve been planning for it. They’ve done studies. They’ve dedicated transit stations. They’ve entered into a development agreement that tried to bind us to it. There’s lots of things that Gilbert can do to either plan to do it or be a thorn in their side,” said Yentes.
Yentes proposed an ordinance to prohibit the use of town resources for the furtherance of commuter and light rail development. That would also prohibit additional taxes and application of funds to carry out related studies. It will be voted on during next Tuesday’s town council meeting.
Yentes warned that the city of Phoenix’s commuter and light rails “cannibalized” their transportation budget to the extent that the city couldn’t fix potholes, prompting citizens to pass an additional sales tax in 2017 to cover those expenses.
Tilque called Yentes’ proposed ordinance “dishonest representation” since future councils may overturn it. However, that’s something that new leadership may do at any given time with any ordinance, which Yentes pointed out.
One citizen, Brandon Ryff, told AZ Free News that Tilque’s opposition to the ordinance came across as doubting citizens’ intelligence. Ryff expressed frustration over the conflict between Peterson’s remarks and actions concerning a commuter rail, citing the 2018 development agreement.
Ryff also criticized commuter rails as outdated, “19th-century” technology, pointing out the consistent drop in ridership throughout major cities in Arizona and other states. He contrasted the decline in ridership with the consistent uptick in crime. In Phoenix, crime rates have nearly doubled since 2016; a majority of those crimes were aggravated assault and drug offenses.
“We laugh at it and say that [a commuter rail] looks like a solution looking for a problem,” said Ryff. “For whatever reason and whatever motivation, our town council is defying all logic concerning crime statistics and progress. I can’t help but feel this is related to money from somewhere. Someone is influencing these people to behave this way. It just doesn’t make sense.”
Another citizen, Tyler Farnsworth, remarked to AZ Free News that their opposition was a positive example of engaged citizenry, yet most of the council portrayed it as a negative. Farnsworth commended Yentes’ proposed resolution barring their tax money from funding town rail projects.
“The Mayor and several members of the Council were visibly and vocally annoyed that citizens chose to show up and speak their mind,” said Farnsworth. “We just want to be heard. We want our tax money to be spent wisely. I hope the meeting was a wake up call to this Council. We are watching. Welcome to democracy in action.”
Watch the study session below:
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Last Tuesday, the Tucson City Council mandated new multifamily residential, office, and commercial buildings increase their costs by requiring them to be outfitted with electric vehicle charging stations. The new requirement, Ordinance No. 11953, takes effect on December 1 (the council agreed to that date during last Tuesday’s meeting, not the one written into the ordinance linked).
The council also allowed builders to reduce regular parking by up to 30 percent in order to incentivize electric vehicle usage.
Tucson #August wins! 🙌 1. Passed amendments to require EV readiness in new multifamily/office/retail spaces. 2. Received $12.1M grant to double our EV bus fleet 3. Received a $1 Million dollar Brownfields grant to remediate and redevelop in historically underserved communities
This latest mandate is an expansion of an ongoing initiative by the council to make all of Tucson electric vehicle-friendly. Last summer, the council mandated that all new single and duplex homes have electric vehicle charging. As part of that mandate, the council launched planning efforts to draft this latest requirement.
Mayor Regina Romero insisted during last Tuesday’s council meeting that the city needed to keep up with the federal government’s climate change initiatives. Romero alluded that electric vehicles were the answer to the historically high gas prices, which she acknowledged was hurting people.
The resounding sentiment of the council was that climate change necessitated immediate action in the form of electric vehicle infrastructure expansion.
However, some researchers report that the mining and production of electric vehicle batteries negate the environmental benefits of driving electric through carbon emissions and water depletion. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rejects those observations, along with concerns that the electricity generated for charging creates other negative environmental impacts.
Yang Shao-Horn, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineering professor, indicated that battery production processes aren’t environmentally friendly.
“If we don’t change how we make materials, how we make chemicals, how we manufacture, everything will essentially stay the same,” stated Shao-Horn.
Electric cars require lithium for rechargeable batteries. Atop salt flats of northern Chile, lithium evaporation ponds stretch across the Atacama Desert. Charlotte, N.C.-based Albermarle Corp. mines lithium there from underground brine. #gettyimages#gettyimagesnews#lithiumpic.twitter.com/md6Ux1GE9s
There’s also concern over the toxic waste of expired electric vehicle batteries. Apart from that issue, crashes or manufacturing mishaps may result in batteries emitting toxic fumes at best or fires and explosions at worst.
Only 64 members of the public reportedly offered input to the city council; about 50 (80 percent) expressed support for the requirement, with 26 (40 percent) insisting that the requirement should go further.
Tucson’s electric vehicle initiative aligns with state goals. In June, the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) announced the development of a statewide network of electric vehicle charging stations using over $76 million in federal funds. At present, ADOT is gathering public input.
ADOT laying groundwork to develop statewide network of electric vehicle charging stations. More than $76 million in federal dollars on the way to state. More: https://t.co/bYdirQMSFHpic.twitter.com/Nt4StF3nsP
The White House’s denial that migrants are walking across the border sparked backlash from Governor Doug Ducey and Border Patrol (BP) leaders.
This week, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed that illegal immigrants don’t merely walk across the southern border. Fox News reporter Peter Doocy had asked Jean-Pierre why the unvaccinated traveling by plane were refused admission into the U.S. while unvaccinated illegal immigrants could walk into the U.S. and stay.
“It’s not like somebody walks over — that’s not how [it works],” responded Jean-Pierre.
Watch what happens when Peter Doocy asks Karine Jean-Pierre why illegal aliens are released into the country even if they don't have the COVID vaccine, but Novak Djokovic isn't allowed in for the U.S. Open: pic.twitter.com/Jdqmo0IpEN
Jean-Pierre’s denial prompted Ducey to call the White House “clueless.” He stated that the Biden administration’s negligence further affirmed his decision to finish Yuma’s border wall himself. The state closed those gaps last week.
“If only President Biden visited the border, he’d see the mass amount of migrants walking across the border,” wrote Ducey.
The White House is clueless. If only President Biden visited the border, he’d see the mass amount of migrants walking across the border.
This negligence is exactly why Arizona took action to close the border wall gaps near Yuma. 1/ https://t.co/9XQdJe5OJU
The denial prompted similar criticism from the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC). Jean-Pierre’s denial — along with discovery this week of BP Chief Raul Ortiz’s admission in July that Biden’s border policies lacked consequences for illegal immigration — prompted NBPC to demean the Biden administration as the “Barney Fife” administration, a slang term for ineptitude and incompetence.
“[This administration is] importing millions of fraudulent ‘asylum’ seekers,” declared the NBPC. “This mess will take decades to clean up, if it can ever be cleaned up.”
We've been saying it for nearly 2 years. The Barney Fife Administration is single-handedly causing the disaster on our border. They're importing millions of fraudulent "asylum" seekers. This mess will take decades to clean up, if it can ever be cleaned up.https://t.co/bzth4Pv4uB
Along with the historic number of illegal crossings, there have been historic highs of drug trafficking. Earlier this month, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reported that fentanyl, meth, and heroin seizures increased greatly from June to July.
CBP Releases July 2022 Monthly Operational Update
In July, fentanyl seizures at Arizona Ports of Entry were up 218% over June. The number of fentanyl seizures also increased by 128%.
As AZ Free News reported at the beginning of this month, hard drugs have largely replaced marijuana for drug smugglers. The main substance seized by far is fentanyl.
NEW: @CBP agents at the Nogales, AZ port of entry seized 625,000 fentanyl pills in five smuggling busts over the weekend, including another 12,000 that were rainbow colored to have a similar appearance to candy or ecstasy. Agents also seized 4lbs of fentanyl powder. @FoxNewspic.twitter.com/Orr38BdFXR
What’s more, smugglers are now disguising fentanyl with rainbow coloring to look like candy or ecstasy, dubbed “rainbow fentanyl.” On Tuesday, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued an official warning that the rainbow fentanyl has been discovered in 18 states. Officials warned that drug traffickers are targeting children and young adults with the rainbow fentanyl to spark addiction.
NEW: The DEA has put out an official notice warning Americans of the “alarming” new trend they began seeing this month w/ rainbow colored fentanyl being smuggled into the country & appearing 18 different states. They say cartels are using it to appeal to children & young people. pic.twitter.com/tTtTK85u2B
It appears that the White House isn’t the only leadership sector apparently unconcerned with the state of the border. A source informed the Daily Caller on Monday that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was vacationing in Maine.
NEW: A source tells me DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas is currently on vacation in South Casco, Maine while the border crisis continues to get worse and worse every day. He had security surrounding him at a picnic tonight. Yet, our border is being flooded with drugs and criminals.
