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.”
🚨DEMOCRAT EXTREMISM 2024 🚨
So far leftwing extremists have pre-filed bills this legislative session to:
1. Allow changing genders on birth certificates after undergoing surgical, hormonal, psychological treatments.
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.”
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. #Arizona
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.
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.
NEW: Per an internal alert sent out by Border Patrol’s Tucson, AZ sector intel unit, some illegal immigrants from Guinea are using fraudulent/altered passports to change their age & masquerade as unaccompanied minors in an effort to get into the U.S. The notice says agents have… pic.twitter.com/nV0vOmaEq4
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.
When I was in Lukeville, AZ a couple weeks ago, I met this man from Guinea who had crossed illegally and said he was from the municipality of Conakry. He told me he planned to go to Philadelphia. When I asked him why, he didn’t know, and pulled out a piece of paper w/ address. pic.twitter.com/4zBNowQBsq
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.
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.
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.
We're proud to join 26 other states in protecting your constitutional right to bear arms by challenging California’s so-called “Assault Weapon Control Act.”
The Second Amendment doesn’t allow California to force its liberal policies on the rest of the country and outlaw… pic.twitter.com/Nc4zN3ylMK
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.
MAJOR win this week for Arizona Legislative Republicans in protecting you against a FORCED COVID-19 VACCINE!!⁰⁰Earlier this year, Biden issued a mandate that anyone who is employed by a federal contractor (which includes state government workers) is required to get the… pic.twitter.com/3Raect5TjE
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.
A Phoenix-area Spanish teacher, 50-year-old Ernesto Moncada-Cota, was arrested earlier this week on allegations of a sexual relationship with a minor student.
Law enforcement charged Moncada-Cota with six felony counts of sexual conduct with a minor and sexual abuse according to reporting from Arizona Daily Independent.
Moncada-Cota, an immigrant from Mexico City, Mexico, taught at the Arizona Conservatory For Arts and Academics, where his alleged victim was a student. Moncada-Cota immigrated to Arizona around 2000 on a type of work visa, according to his statements made in various interviews and skits over the years. Administrators at the charter school became aware of Moncada-Cota’s alleged relationship on Tuesday, according to the Phoenix Police Department. That same day, Moncada-Cota was arrested.
Outside of teaching, Moncada-Cota was a longtime fixture in Phoenix’s local art scene as a performer, writer, musician, and director openly supportive of progressive social justice views like Black Lives Matter.
Moncada-Cota would feature his views through his art. One such display relative to his alleged recent crime was a 2011 skit focused on opposition to a controversial immigration enforcement bill: SB 1070, enabling law enforcement to request proof of citizenship from those suspected of being in the country illegally, which the Supreme Court largely upheld. In the skit, Moncada-Cota had a mock altercation with an actor portraying then-Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a major proponent of the bill.
In his skit, Moncada-Cota overpowers and whips the Arpaio character, who falls to the ground and becomes unresponsive, repeatedly calling him a “cabron” (meaning “b*****d” in English).
As one of his criticisms of Arpaio in the skit, Moncada-Cota questioned in a monologue why Arpaio would want to remove individuals like the “super hot” 12-year-old Latina girls he sees accompanying their parents at the supermarket.
“[The family is in] Ranch Market, you know, and the daughters are following them, super hot, like 22 hot in a magazine — they’re 12,” said Moncada-Cota. “Why does he want that out?”
Moncada-Cota then referred to the young girls as “cheap labor that looks good.”
Moncada-Cota’s other artistic endeavors included his work at the Alwun House, where he would host an annual Erotic Poetry & Music Festivus and various burlesque shows known as “Provocatease,” and an experimental theater ensemble called “Arcana Collective.”
Another recurring event featuring Moncada-Cota was a “satanic mass,” in honor of classic horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. Moncada-Cota told The Arizona Republic in 2014 that he had fun creating disturbing visuals for participants.
“I’d always wanted to stage a satanic mass just for the fun of it,” said Moncada-Cota.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The No Labels Party argued for a federal injunction against Secretary of State Adrian Fontes in a court hearing on Friday.
Arizona District Court Judge John Tuchi heard Friday’s arguments from the party, which seeks to stop Fontes from putting non-presidential candidates under its label on this year’s primary and general election ballots.
The No Labels Party of Arizona, in a Thursday filing preceding the hearing, declared that their party was established for the purpose of placing only presidential and vice-presidential nominees on the 2024 general election ballot. The party cited its constitution and bylaws, which declared that the party would nominate only presidential and vice-presidential candidates, and no candidates for any state, county, municipal, school, or district office or position.
“No Labels Arizona asserts, and for the purposes of this litigation the Secretary does not contest, that No Labels Arizona’s only current objective is to ensure that Arizonans have a potential presidential candidate option other than the candidates who may be selected at the 2024 Democratic and Republican National Conventions,” stated the filing.
Fontes said in a letter to the party last September that any candidates of a valid political party had a right to participate in the primary election and determine that party’s nominee.
There are five individuals who filed interest to run under the No Labels Arizona banner, none of which relate to the presidency: Tyson Draper for Senate; Richard Grayson for the Arizona Corporation Commission; Omar Farooq Chaudry for Congress in the fifth district; Michael Bishop for state representative in the fifth district; and Sam Huang for state representative in the twelfth district.
As of October — the latest update offered by the secretary of state — there were just under 19,000 registered No Labels voters. There were over 1.45 million independent voters, over 1.44 million Republican voters, over 1.2 million Democratic voters, and over 33,700 Libertarian voters.
In their complaint, filed last October, the No Labels Party of Arizona argued that they reserved the right to deny nominations of candidates to the ballot based on state law and the Constitution.
No Labels Arizona state committee members include Gail Koshland Wachtel, a former University of Arizona professor who has donated over $242,000 exclusively to Democratic candidates, campaigns, and organizations over the last decade; Joel (Joe) Smyth, the former longtime board chair of Independent Newsmedia, with outlets across Arizona including Daily Independent, as well as outlets in Delaware, Florida, and Maryland; and Sentari Minor, vice president of strategy for evolvedMD.
Koshland Wachtel also served as the president and director of the Koshland Foundation, a California-based grantmaking nonprofit largely focused on reforming Oakland, California schools which boasted over $2.7 million in revenue and over $11 million in assets in 2022.
No Labels Arizona has yet to receive or submit any campaign contributions, and noted in its communications with Fontes that it doesn’t plan to do so in the future. Its national affiliate, based in D.C., was established in 2009.
The party has ballot access in 13 states as of Friday: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota, and Utah, in addition to Arizona.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
