Most Arizonans are likely aware of the coup d’état to unseat Heather Rooks from the Peoria Unified School District (PUSD) board president position. Board members Becky Proudfit and Melissa Ewing requested the special meeting on May 5, 2026, with approval from superintendent Dr. KC Somers, and a guaranteed vote from board member Jeff Tobey. As I said in my recent Substack, Tobey would not have been elected to the board without Rooks’ help.
For those unaware of the backstory: two Centennial High School teachers, Haley Beck and Angela Burlaka, were credibly accused of sexually exploiting and abusing their students. What the public doesn’t know is the extent of Centennial High School principal Scott Hollabaugh’s knowledge of these alleged crimes. The 200-page Peoria Police report reveals Hollabaugh had “spoken to Beck” about student complaints of inappropriate behavior on campus.
Rooks sought an investigation into Hollabaugh’s potential failure to act as a mandated reporter pursuant to A.R.S. 13-3620. Arizona laws should have compelled Hollabaugh to report Beck to authorities, even in good faith. At the very least, an internal district investigation into both teachers’ actions should have been conducted to determine if children were safe around them. Instead, Beck and Burlaka remained in their classrooms.
PUSD leaders mistake the public for fools. They expect us to believe all the kids at Centennial knew about Beck’s alleged sexual relationship with a student, but all the adults in the school were too dumb to pick up on it. The progressive majority school board also wants parents to “wait and see” the results of pending investigations. However, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office confirmed to Rooks that they were not looking into mandated reporting violations.
During the April 23, 2026, board meeting, Tobey, Proudfit, and Ewing voted against an independent third-party investigation into Hollabaugh’s conduct, as well as all other employees who stayed silent. In regard to unseating Rooks, the progressive majority claimed they had “heard from so many in the community” that she was unfit to be board president. Rooks was elected by over 40,000 Peoria residents. So, unless Curly, Larry, and Moe are sitting on 40,000 emails, they didn’t hear from a majority of anybody. They acquiesced to the demands of teachers’ unions and certain turncoat Legislative District leaders.
The angle no one is talking about is how cover-up culture also marks the career of Dr. Somers. Before coming to PUSD, Somers was the superintendent of Lewis-Palmer School District 38 (LPSD) in Monument, Colorado, serving roughly from July 2019 to April 2024. During that time, students from Palmer Ridge High School accused the district of failing to act when a star athlete named Anthony Roberson allegedly harassed and sexually assaulted several female students without consequence. The alleged crimes reportedly took place between 2016 and 2020 when Roberson attended Palmer Ridge.
A former Palmer Ridge student named Jenna Baker started a Change.org petition that said, “Because of the allegations…it seems [Roberson] was pressured to graduate early instead of facing expulsion or exposure. The admin at the time gave him this choice as an easy way out. Justice was never served for his behavior.” The petition garnered over 5,700 signatures as it circulated among CU Boulder students who had attended high school with Roberson and were facing four more years with him at the college.
According to Fox 21 News, Baker came forward and “accused the school district of negligence and ignoring a litany of sexual assault and harassment reports filed by students.” During the April 17, 2023, LPSD school board meeting, Baker answered a call to the public and stated, in part:
“I was sexually assaulted at 15 years old by another [Palmer Ridge] student and still suffer from PTSD to this day, despite the fact [Palmer Ridge] was made aware of the student and at least five other sexual predators at large in the district in 2022. And no consequences were ever implemented, telling my parents the same thing they always tell victims, ‘It’s my word against his.'”
Shortly after Baker’s speech, Somers told LPSD board members that he was “looking forward to continuing the good work that’s in front of us and maintaining our focus on what’s most important.” He then read a prepared statement where he claimed to “stand wholeheartedly opposed to all forms of misconduct of a sexual nature, and take all reports of student and potentially staff misconduct seriously.”
Although some alleged sex crimes predate Somers’ time in LPSD, he was superintendent during the timeframe when Baker accused district administrators of allowing Roberson to quietly graduate early. Roberson was supposedly investigated by local law enforcement, but the allegations never led to formal charges. I found no record of LPSD conducting an internal investigation to know whether sex crimes had taken place on campus.
In light of all the controversy and contradictions, Somers popped up in Peoria and is now working with Tobey, Proudfit, and Ewing to silence the outcries and control the narratives surrounding Beck, Burlaka, and Hollabaugh. Now that his “good work” is almost finished in PUSD, Somers will soon be heading back to Colorado to serve as superintendent of the Eagle County School District. I hope those families know what kind of “leadership” is headed their way.
When Peoria High School basketball coach Patrick Battillo (Mr. ORNG) was arrested for child sex crimes, a teacher named Holly Holgate—who had been in the district for 20 years—tipped him off before police arrived to make an arrest. Battillo recently pled guilty to three counts of attempted exploitation of a minor but only received a three and half year prison sentence. I did not find court records showing Holgate was prosecuted for any crime.
Now do you understand why Rooks didn’t want to “wait and see” what happens with the other open investigations? Do you see why Hollabaugh should be placed on administrative leave until all investigations are concluded? Is it possible police investigators missed something during their initial interviews? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you know Rooks was well within her First Amendment right as a mother, taxpayer, and resident to insist on an investigation into mandated reporter violations—and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office gave her the green light.
Rooks’ inquiry does not interfere with any other open investigation even though the three progressive board members are trying to make people think it does. At the same time Rooks is being accused of political grandstanding, it’s Tobey, Proudfit and Ewing who turned grooming and sexual assault into political theatre. Whatever Rooks’ aspirations or motivations may be, they are irrelevant to the fact that she’s trying to increase student safety on campus…which is one of the pillars Tobey ran on in 2024.
For the record, nobody has to follow any directives given by Tobey, Proudfit, Ewing, or Somers. Their positions and authority were given to them by voters, and they can be taken away by voters. If parents, including Rooks, want an investigation into mandated reporting violations, they should be able to submit a request without retaliation. The U.S. Constitution is higher than any district policy, and holding public office does not equate to a forfeiture of constitutional rights.
Aesthetics only matter to people who have something to hide. Those of us who put children’s wellbeing first don’t care how much money it costs, how much time it takes, or how much damage is done to the district’s reputation. We want all sexual predators, and all their accomplices, off the payroll and locked up.
Witnesses and victims of Beck and Burlaka are encouraged to contact the Peoria Police tip line. Anyone can also sign the Change.org petition calling for a full child safety investigation into PUSD.
Less than an hour had passed from when Republicans delivered a budget to Katie Hobbs desk yesterday to when she stamped it with a ‘veto.’ No one is surprised, since from the moment she walked out of negotiations six weeks ago and “challenged” Republicans to show their budget hand, she had already made up her mind about vetoing it. She just needed them to do all the work first.
Hobbs has grown far too comfortable being the only one setting conditions on budget negotiations, considering every condition she has set has been unreasonable, unworkable, or erratic.
She tried to anchor the entire budget to an unprecedented raid of the state land trust, speculative revenue requiring voter approval that could never functionally bridge her reckless spending. She wanted to deliver only half the conformity relief Arizona taxpayers are entitled to under the One Big Beautiful Bill, in direct contradiction to tax forms her own Department of Revenue already issued, creating tax filing chaos. She tried to “trade” not forcing that tax hike on Arizonans for kicking kids off the ESA program (insane). And when Republicans said no to all of it, she flipped the table and stormed off, openly admitting she was out of ideas, and demanding Republicans produce a budget on their own.
While the veto from Hobbs was largely expected, Hobbs’ explanation for her veto was such brazen hypocrisy that it raises the genuine question of whether she is being ironic or fails to see the numerous contradictions in her opposition to the GOP budget…
Over the past three years, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has been executing a political agenda.
She has refused to defend state laws—while going out of her way to attack common-sense federal policies—simply on the grounds that she personally disagrees.
She’s failed to uphold our values. She’s destroyed common sense. And she has pursued an extreme political agenda to appease her party leadership—all the while undermining President Trump’s efforts to make America great again.
Principled, hard-working Arizonans have paid the price for her politically motivated dereliction of duty.
I’m running for Attorney General because Arizona desperately needs a top law enforcement officer who will uphold our laws and fairly represent Arizona families.
As Senate President, I’ve taken part in over 110 lawsuits to ensure Arizona’s laws and interests are defended when the Attorney General wouldn’t act. We have led an unprecedented campaign to protect Arizonans, and our action has provided unparalleled experience.
I’ve defended Arizona’s sex offender registration laws. The case in question, Doe v. Sheridan, argues whether our state can mandate convicted sex offenders to keep law enforcement informed, including reporting online identifiers used on social media and other platforms, so officers can investigate crimes and prevent future harms. The Arizona Legislature stepped up and successfully defended the sex offender registration laws in court after the Arizona attorney general failed to carry out her responsibility to do so.
I’ve defended the integrity of girls’ sports. As Senate President, I’ve led the defense of Arizona’s Save Women’s Sports Act in federal court against special interests seeking to allow boys to play in girls’ sports. We’ve taken this case all the way to the Supreme Court, and we’re waiting on a major ruling from the nation’s high court on similar cases that could affect Arizona’s law.
I’ve defended laws dealing with the First Amendment. One of those cases was Chiles v. Salazar, where the Arizona Legislature joined a challenge to Colorado’s conversion therapy ban. Another was in NRA v. Vullo, where we challenged whether the State of New York could threaten banks with adverse regulatory actions if they provided services to the National Rifle Association.
I’ve defended laws related to the Second Amendment. One of those cases was Smith & Wesson v. Mexico, defending American firearms manufacturers from being held liable from frivolous lawsuits from foreign entities. Another was Miller v. Bonta, challenging California’s ban on the manufacture, distribution, importation, and possession of various firearms.
I’ve defended laws related to the Eighth Amendment. Under my leadership, the Arizona Senate filed briefs to allow cities to disband homelessness encampments, winning at the Supreme Court.
I’ve defended the state’s right to carry out justice regarding capital punishment.
I’ve defended election integrity. We intervened to defend Arizona’s ability to make sure only citizens are voting in our elections.
I’ve defended our state against radical environmentalists. In Petersen v. EPA, we sued the Biden-led EPA to overturn unattainable environmental standards that punished job creators, and detrimentally impacted America’s power grid. We joined a lawsuit to block a California rule forcing trucking drivers to use less efficient battery-powered vehicles, which would have further increased the costs of everyday items.
I’ve defended our state against unconstitutional executive overreach. We challenged then-President Biden’s executive order forcing federal contractors and their employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
And I’ve defended our state against rampant government encroachment on our lands.
Thanks to my involvement in these—and dozens of other legal efforts—I’ve been called Arizona’s de facto Attorney General, stepping in where our liberal Attorney General has shamefully abdicated her role. Our engagement in these matters has allowed me to serve our great citizens and provide leadership where none existed. It’s time for Arizona to once again have an Attorney General committed to serving all the people—not just partisan special interests.
Arizona’s trailblazing Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program enables the families of more than 102,000 students to choose the learning environments that work best for their children.
All Arizona K-12 students are eligible for an education savings account, which lets families direct their children’s education funding toward private schools, tutoring, curricula, therapies, and other educational expenses that fit their children’s unique needs.
Families love it. Three-quarters of parents of school-aged children in Arizona support it.
Yet, although the ESA program is very popular and highly accountable, special-interest groups pushing two separate ballot initiatives are seeking to curtail and regulate it. Advocates working on both campaigns have been caught on camera giving false information to voters whom they are soliciting to sign their petitions.
The initiative aims to regulate the Empowerment Scholarship Account program in several ways, including restricting eligibility to families earning under $150,000 annually—less than the median income of an Arizona firefighter married to a registered nurse—which could kick tens of thousands of children out of the program.
Although students with special needs would still be eligible, they would have to spend 45 days in a public school before getting access to the ESA.
As the Goldwater Institute detailed, the initiative would impose a host of unnecessary and harmful regulations on private schools and homeschoolers. It would also severely restrict what families can buy with their ESA funds, and it would confiscate any unspent funds remaining in a family’s ESA at the end of the year, punishing families who have spent wisely and saved. Those funds would be redirected to district schools that did not educate the ESA students.
The second campaign, Fortify AZ, is more surprising. It is backed by the American Federation for Children, a pro-school choice group.
Their initiative mostly mirrors the union-backed anti-ESA initiative, including a modified version of a provision that the Goldwater Institute has warned “[t]hreatens to block parents from buying basic school supplies and grind the ESA program to a halt with mindless bureaucratic red tape.” However, it would retain the ESA program’s universal eligibility and would not confiscate yet-to-be-used ESA funds.
Nevertheless, the American Federation for Children initiative is worse in other ways, as it would impose regulations and restrictions that the union-based initiative does not.
For example, it would require all ESA students to take a standardized test—something no school choice law in Arizona has required in three decades—and would eliminate two of the four ways that families can spend their ESA funds, leaving only direct pay and “Marketplace,” which is an online platform managed by ClassWallet.
The last provision is particularly puzzling, as the American Federation for Children claims its initiative is intended to “strengthen fiscal accountability and prevent fraud,” which it would supposedly accomplish through “an online marketplace payment system.” According to the Arizona Department of Education, only 0.3% of ESA funds have been spent on fraudulent or egregious purchases, and nearly all the fraud was in Marketplace.
Meanwhile, the two payment methods that the American Federation for Children would inexplicably eliminate—debit cards and reimbursements—have almost no fraud. It makes zero sense to eliminate the more accountable payment options in the name of “accountability.”
The American Federation for Children ballot initiative goes against the wishes of nearly every ESA family, 90% of whom say they support having ESA debit cards.
Arizona School Choice Advocates Oppose Both Initiatives
“The entire Arizona school choice coalition opposes both anti-ESA initiatives,” explains Jenny Clark, the founder and executive director of Love Your School, a local school choice group.
“These initiatives have the potential to disrupt the education of tens of thousands of students,” warned Clark. “They would make it harder for families to use their ESAs, impose unnecessary regulations of private schools and homeschoolers, and even throw children out of the program and potentially out of the schools that serve them.”
Dan Kuiper, the executive director of the Arizona Christian Education Coalition, agrees. “These initiatives were crafted and funded by out-of-state special interest groups without any input from Arizona families or education providers.”
Kuiper worries that if either initiative were to pass, it “would force education providers who serve even one ESA family, including those who serve children with disabilities and special needs, to become part of the government bureaucracy that has already failed many of these families, causing them to seek the alternatives that the ESA offers their children.”
National school choice organizations are also weighing in. EdChoice, the nation’s premier school choice organization, also opposes both ballot initiatives because they would impose “new restrictions” that “would do little to improve accountability while directly reducing the flexibility that families value most.”
Caught on Camera: Initiative Backers Misleading Voters
Under Arizona law, citizens can bypass the Legislature by collecting enough signatures to place a measure directly before voters. Once enough valid signatures are gathered, the initiative goes on the ballot, and a simple majority decides the law.
The ballot initiative process depends entirely on voters understanding what they’re signing. That process is undermined when activists give false or misleading information to voters.
Unfortunately, that is exactly what signature gatherers working for both initiatives are doing.
In one video taken by an ESA parent, a signature gatherer working on behalf of the American Federation for Children initiative made it appear as though the ballot initiative was creating a new school choice program rather than curtailing an existing one. She claimed erroneously that the ballot initiative was “to help out with the cost of charter schools, private schools, tutoring, for the kids.”
Not only do charter schools not charge tuition, but full-time charter school students are not eligible for ESAs.
Worse, the American Federation for Children signature gatherer appeared to encourage Arizona voters to also sign the other, union-backed anti-school choice petition, claiming that it is “the same thing,” albeit with an income cap. “This is just to help get it onto the ballot,” she explained, “either or, whichever one you sign.”
When the ESA parent challenged the signature gatherer, noting that the ESA program already exists, she had no response.
This was no isolated incident.
In another video, a signature gatherer working for the American Federation for Children erroneously stated that their initiative was “to keep the ESA scholarship for families.” Of course, no initiative is needed for that.
Even more troubling, the American Federation for Children signature gatherer misrepresented the initiative, falsely portraying it as “not restrict[ing] ESA funds.”
As in the other video, the American Federation for Children signature gatherer told the voter that she could “sign both” anti-ESA petitions.
In a third video, a pair of signature gatherers representing each of the two initiatives falsely claimed that their ballot initiatives expanded school choice.
When asked what the ballot initiative would do, one signature gatherer misrepresented that it was “to support the children so that they get the funding … to receive the funding and expand the Empowerment Scholarship program.” The second gatherer also fraudulently asserted it was “to expand the [ESA] program.”
When the voter asked the first signature gatherer how the initiative would expand the ESA program, she replied, “By adding more funds.” That is false. The ESA program is already fully funded via the state funding formula. Neither initiative adds additional funding.
The series of false statements by the signature gatherers working for both anti-ESA initiatives could lead to legal trouble.
Arizona Revised Statutes § 19-116 states: “A person who is a circulator of an initiative or referendum petition and who induces any other person in the circulator’s presence to sign the initiative or referendum petition by knowingly misrepresenting the general subject matter of the measure is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor.”
Likewise, Arizona Revised Statutes § 19-119.01 states that “any fraudulent means, method, trick, device or artifice to obtain signatures on a petition” constitutes “petition signature fraud.”
Whether Arizona’s anti-school choice attorney general actually prosecutes the fraud is an open question. But one thing is certain: Both anti-ESA ballot initiatives would hurt the children who currently benefit from the ESA.
“Neither of these initiatives deserves to reach the ballot,” said Clark. “If you’re approached to sign either one, the right answer is simple: Decline to sign.”
Jason Bedrick is a Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy.
Behind the anti-ICE, pro-Hamas, anti-Iran war, and some No Kings protests in Arizona (and across the nation) rests the pro-Maoist Party of Socialism and Liberation. The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) is a pro-Maoist communist party funded with millions of dollars by Shanghai-based American millionaire, Neville Roy Singham. Singham has close ties with the Chinese Communist Party. PSL lists on its website over a hundred chapters located in nearly every state of the union.
PSL is ready at a moment’s notice to stage a protest as soon as a news story drops. These protests might be about ICE enforcement, the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, abortion restrictions, or American action against the communist governments in Venezuela and Cuba.
To a dedicated core of protesters, the issue doesn’t matter so long as it can be spun as anti-capitalist and anti-Western. While some protesters join because they are motivated by a specific issue, for the PSL, the revolutionary overthrow of American capitalism and political institutions is the ultimate goal.
The PSL runs candidates for office, but the party’s power rests in organizing street protests and disruptive demonstrations. Examples include:
In February, 2025, the Phoenix chapter of the PSL, led a series of anti-ICE protests across Maricopa County, including a march to the state house. PSL leaders, Lexia Isais, a public-school teacher, and her comrade, Jordan Napier organized the march on the state house. “No one is illegal! Viva Mexico!” Napier shouted. Organizers arranged similar marches in Flagstaff. Isais got her start in PSL activism as an Arizona State University (ASU) student. PSL remains active today at ASU. In 2024, it led the construction of an encampment – the “ASU Liberated Zone” – on the Tempe campus in solidarity with Hamas.
Highway shutdowns are a specialty. In 2016, they organized the shutdown of a road to block access to a rally for then-candidate Donald Trump in Fountain Hills. Whether PSL was involved in a road closure and general chaos at an anti-illegal immigration enforcement rally in Glendale in 2025 is unclear from media reports, but it fits the pattern.
PSL cultivates college campus memberships. The University of Arizona also sported an encampment, while members of the PSL chapter chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” at a rally denouncing Israeli actions in Lebanon, American capitalism, and Western imperialism everywhere.
PSL strongly continues to support the brutal Maduro regime in Venezuela. Protests against Maduro’s capture to stand trial in the United States drew few if any Venezuelans, who were thrilled to see the dictator removed from power. Protesters also rallied to the defense of the Iranian government at the start of the American Epic Fury campaign. In contrast Iranians turned up as counter-protesters.
PSL member Dania Duran was one of the organizers of the ICE Out protest at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. At a time of public concern about long security lines because of the government shutdown, the stunt was an airport version of blocking traffic, since their presence could add to delays. The protest was sure to make the local mainstream news, even if travelers were annoyed. In this case and others, the PSL minimized its visibility to the public. The public-facing organizing group – the one more likely to generate quotes in mainstream press – was the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. It is funded through left-wing sources.
Unlike the Democratic Socialists of America, the PSL does not believe that working within the Democratic Party is a viable strategy to gain power. PSL organized a march at a campaign appearance by Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Kept outside of the venue, they shouted about how the ticket was insufficiently opposed to Israel.
The PSL does not publish membership totals, but mass membership is not its goal. PSL considers itself a vanguard party with a tight cadre of dedicated revolutionaries.
The party follows the Leninist doctrine of a disciplined revolutionary party spelled out in his lengthy pamphlet “What Is to Be Done?” published in 1901. Lenin believed a centralized, disciplined party was necessary for communist revolution. As self-proclaimed vanguard party, PSL is organized as a centralist party in which all members are bound to defend and act on the party’s program. Members who don’t follow the party line are expelled.
Why PSL Matters
The PSL’s instant disruptive protests on most any leftist issue is obviously within their First Amendment rights, even if they dismiss the Constitution as a capitalist farce.
Their funding and connections to Chinese Communist Party groups are what should alarm us.
The PSL collects dues from members, but the real money comes through Neville Roy Singham, a tech billionaire who cashed out his business fortune to focus on his political passions. From his office in Shanghai, he funds left-wing, pro-Chinese groups in the United States as well as India, South America, Great Britain, and Africa.
Singham shares office space with a Chinese media group, with a link so seamless “It can be hard to tell where Maku begins and Mr. Singham’s groups end.” It is a connection that goes back to at least 2019.
How much Singham contributes to the PSL is impossible to track.
In a five-part series that documented the Singham network, Fox News estimated the spending of the total Singham network at $401 million between 2017 and 2025.
Money that has been partially entangled with investment in Chinese companies and until recently passed through an untraceable Goldman Sacks donor-advised fund among other dodges that maximize opacity, makes it way to nonprofits with blandly positive names.
The core group includes The People’s Forum, the Justice and Education Fund, the United Community Fund, The Progress Unity Fund, and BreakThrough Media (BT Media). Some exist only as post office boxes in UPS stores.
Media Matters
In media outreach, for example, Ben Becker, a founder of PSL, started BT Media in 2020. As the Network Contagion Research Institute reports, PSL dominates the key offices and editorial team of BT News. They include:
Claudia De la Cruz – BT Media’s Secretary and Director, as well as PSL’s candidate for the 2024 Presidential election.
Karla Reyes – BT Media’s Chair and Director and De la Cruz’s 2024 PSL Presidential campaign running mate.
Yari Osorio – BT Media’s Treasurer and Director and PSL’s 2012 Vice-Presidential candidate.
“The degree of overlap between BT Media and PSL on their executive and editorial teams is so significant,” the NCRI concludes, “that one can easily conclude that the former is functionally serving as a mouthpiece for the latter.” BT Media is now a multimedia outlet for anti-Western content.
The People’s Dispatch published an approving story about No Kings rallies that even included an X post from the Speaker of Iran’s Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. “Welcome to the party we started 47 years ago, No kings. This is the people of Iran, and we approve this message. #NoKings.” The People’s Dispatch weirdly characterized the 1979 Iranian Revolution as the fruit of class struggle.
Other Singham-funded media connections are much more subtle. The Justice and Education Fund, for example, has supported The Independent Media Institute. Through that grant, writers for such publications as Teen Vogue, Salon, and Food and Wine wind up in the Singham network.
With PSL as the networking hub, other groups, some basically hashtags for a temporary cause, demonstrators and pre-printed signs appear as if by magic.
PSL, with its siblings, the ANSWER Coalition, the People’s Forum, and Code Pink (Singham’s wife, Jodie Evans was a co-founder) reliably advance the views and interest of China. Code Pink was once critical of human rights abuses in China. Evans is now the co-author of China Is Not Our Enemy.
At a February 2026 Ways and Means committee hearing on foreign influence in America’s tax-exempt sector, Adam Sohn, Co-founder of Narravance, a social media research and intelligence firm, concluded:
“The ANSWER Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation mobilize the protesters. The People’s Forum trains and coordinates the activists. BreakThrough News handles messaging and media amplification. The impact of this money is ongoing: federal property vandalized at Union Station; American flags burned and police officers assaulted. Airports blocked at JFK and LAX. Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges shut down. Ambulances and commuters disrupted. Wall Street blockaded; holiday commerce halted at Macy’s Herald Square; and immigration and law enforcement facilities targeted. This is not grassroots protest. It is a repeatable system for paralyzing American infrastructure on demand, financed through U.S. tax law, and aligned with a hostile foreign power. It is an active vulnerability we cannot afford to leave intact.”
In multiple decisions, the United States Supreme Court upheld the right for free speech for communist and radical agitators. The Center for American Institutions supports this right for free speech. Citizens though have a right to know that Arizona popup protests are not spontaneous expressions of widespread public discontent. The Arizona mainstream media has an obligation to report the news truthfully.
The Center for American Institutions examines issue confronting the state of Arizona. Its goal is to go behind the headlines to better inform the citizens of our state.
Last week, the Arizona House of Representatives passed an Arizona First budget focused on increasing take-home pay, lowering costs, and protecting core services. The Arizona Senate is on track to approve it today. Governor Hobbs should sign it.
The fastest way to address an affordability crisis is simple: let people keep more of what they earn.
This budget returns $1.45 billion to taxpayers over the next three years. When government takes less, families keep more through bigger paychecks, larger refunds, and lower overall tax burdens.
Our plan raises the standard deduction so workers can keep more from each paycheck. It exempts tips and overtime pay so frontline workers see meaningful relief at tax time. It reduces the cost of raising a family by exempting childcare expenses from state taxes and increasing the per-child tax refund by 25%. And it supports seniors on fixed incomes by exempting retirement income for Arizonans age 60 and older.
The goal is straightforward: you keep more, and government takes less.
At a time when families are tightening their belts, government should do the same. Yet the governor’s proposal increased spending to $18.7 billion. The House budget spends $800 million less without compromising the core services Arizonans rely on. It reflects the same discipline families practice every day.
This plan shows that responsible leadership is still possible in divided government. It prioritizes stability, protects taxpayers, and delivers a balanced approach ahead of the new fiscal year.
It fully funds K-12 education with an inflation increase, provides $200 million for public school facility repairs, gives additional support to low-income students, and eliminates co-pays for reduced-price school meals. It protects the most vulnerable by funding congregate care within the Department of Child Safety, addressing rising costs for high-need individuals with developmental disabilities, and strengthening foster care support through community providers.
This is what responsible governing looks like: targeted tax relief, controlled spending, and a commitment to core priorities. It recognizes that affordability is not just a talking point. It is the defining issue for Arizona families.
Governor Hobbs now has a clear choice. She can embrace a balanced, responsible budget that lowers costs and delivers real relief. Or she can reject a plan that reflects the will of a divided government working in good faith.
The House has done its job. We cut taxes. We protected essential services. We kept spending in check.
For Arizona families feeling the strain of rising costs, this budget deserves the governor’s signature.
Steve Montenegro is the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives and serves Legislative District 29 in the West Valley, Goodyear, and Surprise. Follow him on X at @SteveMontenegro.
