Maricopa County Attorney candidate Julie Gunnigle has campaigned alongside a man and a woman that mocked Blue Alerts: a safety protocol enacted to counter law enforcement murders. The exchange occurred between Planned Parenthood of Arizona (PPAZ) Board Chair Chris Love and gender dysphoric Arizona Democratic Party leader and state legislature candidate Brianna Westbrook. The two tweeted criticism against the safety protocol in response to a Blue Alert for a man ambushed and shot at Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) troopers in September 2020.
Brian Anderson, founder of the research company Saguaro Group, rediscovered the Twitter exchange between Love and Westbrook. He shared the posts in response to a recent tweet of Gunnigle’s, in which the candidate wrote over a t-shirt from her 2020 run to read “Gunnigle 2022.” Love and Westbrook supported Gunnigle during her 2020 run as well.
In 2020, violent criminals shot at @Arizona_DPS troopers, leading to a "Blue Alert."@PPAZAction's Chris Love and @AZDemParty's @BWestbrookAZ8 both mocked the attempted murder of law enforcement.
— Brianna Westbrook for AZ State Representative #LD5 (@BWestbrookAZ8) September 17, 2020
“Blue Alerts” are information lines dedicated to communications on violent criminals who pose a threat to law enforcement. The Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) will issue a Blue Alert when a suspect kills, assaults, or imposes serious or life-threatening injuries on an officer; the suspect is deemed an imminent threat to the public and other officers; and the suspect’s vehicle license plate number or detailed description of the vehicle exists.
Love has consistently called for and celebrated violence against those she dislikes. In May, Love bragged about her husband assaulting a supporter of former President Donald Trump.
They're currently testing these drugs on Black folks and prisoners, Next up? Natives and veterans. So, every time someone tells me they vote Republican because they're "fiscally conservative," should I punch them before or after they finish? Which sparks more joy?
Westbrook has approved of controversial protest tactics as well.
In response to the protesters that followed Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) into the bathroom last October, Westbrook denounced condemnation against the protesters as the invalid complaints of “white folks.”
It never fails anytime Black and Brown folks protest. There are always white folks saying, “this is not the right way.” If this is you and you want to be an ally to communities of color, check your privileges, sit down, listen, and follow their lead.
— Brianna Westbrook for AZ State Representative #LD5 (@BWestbrookAZ8) October 5, 2021
Westbrook was also one of a small group of activists protesting for “housing rights” outside Governor Doug Ducey’s home in December 2020.
Activists protest outside Gov. Ducey's home, calling for an end to housing insecurity https://t.co/XpLotAdnji
— Brianna Westbrook for AZ State Representative #LD5 (@BWestbrookAZ8) December 26, 2020
In 2018, Westbrook was charged with criminal trespass for protesting against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination outside former Senator Jeff Flake’s office.
Thank you for your calls, letters, and emails. Three of the #FlakeFour have agreed to the Maricopa County Prosecutors plea deal for the #Kavanaugh protest at @JeffFlake’s office. All of our charges have been dropped, and the judge has waived all fines and court fees. pic.twitter.com/rdNqkHjIu5
— Brianna Westbrook for AZ State Representative #LD5 (@BWestbrookAZ8) October 19, 2018
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story accidentally listed Julie Gunnigle as the Maricopa County Attorney. She is currently a candidate for that office, and the story has been corrected.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Democratic leaders liked a tweet describing the assault on a supporter of former President Donald Trump. Specifically, two state legislators, one county election official, two high-level state employees, and three Democratic Party leaders of various levels.
The Democratic legislators supported the violence-glorifying tweet from the same Planned Parenthood leader, Chris Love, who called for people to “break s**t” in response to the Supreme Court’s refusal to stop Texas’ abortion ban. Love tweeted to express her pleasure over her husband assaulting a Trump supporter last weekend during a pro-abortion rally.
“My husband @MiQL got lost in the crowd and I had to send folks to find him. Instead of hanging in the tented area with the cool kids, he was organizing folks,” wrote Love. “He also body checked some dude in a ‘Blacks for Trump’ shirt. Swoon!”
The tweet and Democrats’ support occurred several days before they would demand the censure and expulsion of State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) for alleging in since-deleted social media posts that federal agents were behind the Buffalo mass shooting.
“Fed boy summer has started in Buffalo,” wrote Rogers.
One of the Democratic legislators that liked Love’s tweet celebrating assault was State Senator Juan Mendez (D-Tempe), who’s been absent for a vast majority of the legislative session on excused absence. As AZ Free News reported earlier this week, State Senator T.J. Shope (R-Coolidge) requested an ethics investigation into Mendez’s absence.
State Representative Mitzi Epstein (D-Chandler) also liked the controversial tweet. Additionally, Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly showed her support for Love’s celebration of the assault.
The two state employees that liked the tweet were Allie Bones, assistant secretary of state to Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, and Tyler Kowch, constituent services manager at the Arizona Department of Education.
One of the more prominent Democratic Party leaders that liked Love’s tweet was Priya Sundareshan: state senate candidate for district 18, election integrity staffer with the Arizona Democratic Party, chairwoman of Asian American Pacific Islander Democrats in Arizona, and director of University of Arizona (UArizona) Natural Resource Use and Management Clinic.
The other two Democratic Party leaders to like the tweet were Missa Foy, chairwoman of Navajo County Democrats, and Judy Stahl, former congressional candidate and Democratic Women of the Prescott Area Chair.
Others who liked the tweet were those within academia and activist organizations.
There was Will Knight, former Maricopa County attorney candidate and Arizona State University (ASU) Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law adjunct professor; Rebecca Garelli, Red for Ed organizer with Arizona Educators United; Dr. Dawn Penich-Thacker, co-founder of Save Our Schools Arizona; and Bridget Sharpe, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Arizona State Director.
Republican National Committee (RNC) leader Tyler Bowyer pointed out the Democratic state legislators’ support of social media posts endorsing violence, wondering why mainstream media hadn’t covered it initially.
Wow— so this violent tweet from the Planned Parenthood Board Chair calling for destroying property was liked and retweeted by sitting elected officials, including the AZ Dem Chair, candidates for Statewide and Federal Office. Why aren’t we seeing this radical stuff on @azcentral? https://t.co/R6LfSCXzA6pic.twitter.com/EjeYwgmelU
Bowyer predicted to conservative radio host James T. Harris on the “Conservative Circus” that the mainstream media’s lack of equal treatment when covering Democrats would lead to further divisiveness in the state and country.
“We’re really playing with fire here. We don’t have a community today where we can allow Democrats just to hijack our communities, incite violence, and get away with it,” said Bowers. “This is the reason why nobody trusts the media anymore. People will figure this out, they will talk, there will be an uproar of good, normal people once they find this stuff out, and people will start turning on our local media.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The chairwoman of Planned Parenthood’s activist arm in Arizona bragged about her husband assaulting a supporter of former President Donald Trump.
In a midnight tweet over the weekend, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona (PPAZ) Board of Directors Chairwoman Chris Love tweeted that her husband “body-checked” a man wearing a “Blacks for Trump” t-shirt while at a “Bans Off Our Bodies” pro-abortion rally in Phoenix on Saturday. PPAZ organized and hosted the rally as part of their national organization’s greater protest movement nationwide.
“My husband @MiQL got lost in the crowd and I had to send folks to find him. Instead of hanging in the tented area with the cool kids, he was organizing folks,” wrote Love. “He also body checked some dude in a “Blacks for Trump” shirt. Swoon!”
My husband @MiQL got lost in the crowd and I had to send folks to find him. Instead of hanging in the tented area with the cool kids, he was organizing folks. He also body checked some dude in a “Blacks for Trump” shirt.
Others disparaged the man in the comments, mocking his hygiene and physical appearance.
That “blacks For Trump” (he gets the lil ‘b’) dude was a whole goofy. Also his teeth had more plaque than Kendrick’s discography. So there’s that. Great meeting you both in person. Powerful event.
This wasn’t the first time Love advocated for violence. In September, Love called for riots after the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) refused to intervene in Texas’ abortion ban. Elected Democratic officials approved of her messaging — both state legislators running for higher offices.
State Representatives Daniel Hernandez (D-Tucson) and Diego Rodriguez (D-Phoenix) retweeted Love’s urge to followers to “break some s**t” in response to Texas’ ban on abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Hernandez is running for Congress and Rodriguez is running for attorney general.
Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) Governing Board member Lindsay Love won’t be seeking re-election this coming year. The freshman board member decided one term was enough after what will be four years of escalating tensions between the board and parents. During her tenure, Love was integral to mounting divisiveness and controversy between parents and the board with her advocacy for social justice agendas such as comprehensive sex education and equity initiatives aligned with Critical Race Theory.
In a Halloween interview with 12 News to explain why her first term at CUSD will be her last, Love remarked on the tensions between her and the community. She followed that observation with a comment that she was the first woman of color and Democrat to join the board, though CUSD Board members are presented as nonpartisan.
Love claimed that she arrived as an answer to the “high profile” incidents of racism in CUSD when she ran in 2018. In January of that year, a Snapchat video of San Tan Junior High students chanting a song that included racial slurs circulated. Along with that controversial Snapchat video, CUSD parents alleged that their students were experiencing racist bullying.
Upon Love’s arrival to the board in 2019, her social justice agendas incited controversies of their own. Concerned parents and community members such as Not In Our Schools began documenting Love’s policy approaches – especially her connection to Planned Parenthood. Love’s sister, Chris Love, chairs the board of Planned Parenthood Advocates Arizona, the advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood Arizona.
Love has advocated for more expansive K-12 sex education, pushing back against CUSD’s leading with an abstinence-focused approach. Her sister also disagrees with abstinence. In a profile with Emerge America, Love explained that her sister urged her to run for the CUSD board and emphasized the importance of swapping abstinence-only education for a “comprehensive” sex education.
“Our children deserve medically-accurate and age appropriate comprehensive sex education because abstinence-only education has done little to reduce the teen pregnancy rate in Arizona which is higher than the national average,” said Love.
Love has received help from her sister in other ways. During a board meeting last January, her sister led a group that shouted down the board for not allowing more public comment on the topic of revising sex education.
The Love sisters are similar in many regards, including their predilection for embracing controversy. Chris Love made light of her use of dismembered baby doll parts for her “spooky” Christmas tree. She later tweeted that she appreciated the work of the Texas Satanic Temple for their activism to reverse Texas’s abortion law.
“A tribute to the other Love sister – Courtney Love – or the anti-abortion trolls. You pick. Still, these are getting spooked up and placed on the Halloween tree! I’ll write the headline for you. ‘Chandler School Board member dismembers Black babies for Satanic abortion tree,’” wrote Chris. “The white dolls will be ready tomorrow. I’m equal opportunity for #SpookySzn.”
A tribute to the other Love sister—Courtney Love—or the anti-abortion trolls. You pick. Still, these are getting spooked up and placed on the Halloween tree!
I’ll write the headline for you. “Chandler School Board member dismembers Black babies for Satanic abortion tree.” pic.twitter.com/4aODW7NS5z
“Before the antis get their panties in a bunch, I absolutely appreciate the abortion rights work of @satanic_temple_ . Have y’all even seen my #TrickOrTree?” wrote Chris.
Even with parental pushback on certain subjects, Lindsay Love has consistently doubled down throughout her tenure. In terms of her equity initiatives harmonious with Critical Race Theory concepts, Love has insisted that schools have been “built off of white supremacy” and that not seeing students for their color harms students. She’s also supported efforts to have teachers acknowledge their “unconscious bias” while students explore their racial and ethnic identities.
In an argument for a revised history that would offer a purportedly more accurate account of the harms done to minorities and oppressed groups, Love claimed that Critical Race Theory isn’t being taught in schools and that the concern for it was manufactured by parents wanting to protect white children.
“These school board meeting takeovers are manufactured by people who are afraid of the impact of our full and accurate history on white children,” wrote Love.
A little over a year ago, Love deleted a controversial Twitter account after tweeting that good manners were white supremacy.
“Hey guys! Politeness is white supremacy. Every time you prioritize politeness and civility over everything in a conversation, you are complicit in upholding white supremacy. All that to say, DISRUPT,” wrote Love.
As reported by Arizona Daily Independent, Love also likened conservative black radio host James T. Harris to a “house slave” and insisted he suffered from “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome” for his differing political views. These remarks also appeared in the “Community Love” group.
Amid the surge of parent demands for curriculum reform and transparency, as well as ending mask mandates, Love shared a controversial Politico opinion piece in September titled, “The Dangerous Legal Illusion of ‘Parental Rights.’” Love posted that in her community group page for CUSD community members and affiliates, “Community Love.” In her post, Love quoted the following from the opinion piece:
“When it comes to society’s interest in protecting children, the legal precedent is unambiguous: The rights of their parents come second. Parents do have the freedom to direct the health care and education of their children, but these rights are not unlimited. As the Supreme Court said in Prince v. Massachusetts, parents are not free ‘to make martyrs of their children’ by putting them in harm’s way. Governments can and do limit parents’ discretion with the goal of protecting the health, safety and welfare of children. One example is child car seat requirements, which exist in all 50 states. Every state also has a law authorizing the government to intervene when parents abuse or neglect their children.
All 50 states also have the power to limit parental discretion to protect other children. For instance, schools and day care facilities are heavily regulated by local, state and federal laws to make sure that they are safe. Children who attend school are required to be immunized in all 50 states. These requirements have been upheld by numerous courts, including the Supreme Court. Schools also prohibit parents from sending children to school when they are sick, and a federal appeals court held that unimmunized children could be excluded from school during “an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease.” Given these legal precedents, it is clear that schools and day care facilities can require masks as a condition of attendance.” (emphasis added)
Love’s approach to governance hasn’t been complemented by the district’s efforts, either. CUSD made national news last month after it was discovered that the district coordinated with Chandler Police Department (CPD) to surveil and act against parents who protested masking requirements.
Love’s decision to leave after only one term is unusual. Former Arizona Superintendent Diane Douglas told AZ Free News that she’s observed many school board members staying on for three or more terms, because the first term is more of a learning curve.
“The first term is generally a learning curve. It needs to be a pretty quick one. At eight years you really hit your stride and get good at understanding. After twelve years – anyone that stays any longer it becomes more about the person than the community. It’s really for the wrong reasons after that,” stated Douglas.
Douglas added that she hopes Love’s replacement would better represent constituent interests.
“I would hope that the community would consider candidates that would be more reflective of the community itself. It doesn’t seem like she has been,” remarked Douglas.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Two of the Arizona Democratic Party’s top leaders apparently want people to riot over the Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene in Texas’s abortion ban. State Representative Daniel Hernandez (D-Tucson) liked and State Representative Diego Rodriguez (D-Phoenix) retweeted a post calling for the public to “break some s***” over the ban.
Both Democrats are running for higher seats. Hernandez is aiming to become the second district’s next congressman, while Rodriguez has his sights on becoming the state’s next attorney general. After news of their support for riots circulated, it appears that Rodriguez removed his retweet. As of press time, Hernandez’s like remains on the tweet.
The tweet originated from Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona (PPAZ) Board Chair Chris Love, posted early Wednesday in response to Texas’s fetal heartbeat law going into effect. The law effectively bans abortions at 6 weeks, when a fetal heartbeat is first detected.
“I mean, what exactly did you all expect?” wrote Love. “You’re devastated, but you consistently ignored every single sign. I’ll write something coherent in the morning, but just know that fighting back doesn’t mean pussy hats or petitions. Be ready to break some s***.”
Love retweeted the above tweet with further commentary, as promised – a thread of 12 tweets, to be exact. She explained that she knew for years that Roe v. Wade, the cornerstone for abortion legality, was imperfect and doomed to fail. She added that Texas’s fetal heartbeat law was proof of her predictions. Love said that the time for “polite” debate is over, and advocated for people to fight and “shatter this s*** system.”
The entirety of Love’s follow-up post is reproduced below:
If you went to bed early last night, you’re waking up to news that SCOTUS did not to intervene in Texas, so SB8, a bill that bans abortion at 6 weeks, is now law. If you’re like me, your timelines [are] awash with folks being all varieties of upset as Roe [v. Wade] is essentially done. I’m not upset. I’ve been numb to this for a while. We knew this was going to happen. Black women told you think [sic] would happen. THIS Black woman told you it was coming…and many of you rolled your eyes. But the die was cast a while ago. The first sign was Dems doing absolutely nothing to force through a SCOTUS appointment in Obama’s last year. They let Republicans run roughshod and hold up the Garland nomination. BTW, the choice of Garland was a strategy to appease Rs [Republicans]. The thing is, it didn’t work. Never does. Next, white people voted for Trump. Those of you didn’t didn’t [sic] were shocked! Why? Again, many people, especially Black women, TOLD YOU IT COULD HAPPEN. And you shrugged and wore your white suits to the polls instead of making sure “you people” knew what was at stake. As promised, Trump and the Rs appointed some of the most conservative justices to the bench as a whole, not just the SCOTUS. Again, y’all were shocked. Why? They told you that was exactly what they planned to do. But white folks were too busy upholding whiteness to see clearly. Now, Dems are back in the majority. What have they done? Exactly NOTHING. It took 6 months to get the Biden administration to even look at the Hyde Amendment. That dude has never said abortion. Conservative Dems are holding up the filibuster, which limits options in Congress. Simultaneously, y’all kept voting for a**holes in your states. Arizona did, too. Don’t believe that “we went blue” nonsense. We still have [a] Rep[ublican] Governor, AG, and leg[islature]. Legislatures around the country have been working overtime to ban abortion and get a case to this new SCOTUS. When SCOTUS agreed to take the Mississippi case, folks in repro knew what it meant for Roe. So did the antis. I’ve been saying for months that Roe is done and we need to build movement around creating a new abortion rights framework, especially b/c Roe is imperfect. Then last night happened. I know you’re upset, but we’ve had years to recon with what was coming. So, I’m not broken or deterred. I’m ready to FIGHT BACK! Are you? Then stop being polite about this. Stop speaking in hushed voices. Get some courage and shatter this s***system! To every person who called me dramatic or I said needed to “give Biden a chance” or “stay in your lane,” I hope your eyes are open now. I hope your ears are open now. And I hope you’re ready to fight to protect abortion in this country. Say it with me–ABORTION! If you’re not sold on abortion on demand and without apology, then it’s well past time for you to get there. If you need a push, I’m happy to discuss. But if you can’t get on this train, then GET OUT OF THE WAY! And with that, all antis will be blocked. Do me a solid and don’t feed the trolls. (emphasis added)
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
