The Fountain Hills Town Council voted to adopt a resolution banning all DEI on Tuesday. Councilman Allen Skillicorn, who introduced the measure, noted that the policy was authored with the assistance of the Goldwater Institute.
“I talk a lot about how Fountain Hills is open for business,” Skillicorn said. “Tonight, I get to join Amazon, Disney, Ford, Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s, McDonald’s, Molson Coors, Pepsi, and Toyota in rejecting divisive DEI policies. In the public sector, the Supreme Court ruled that most forms of affirmative action were unconstitutional in 2023. Our town joins the Federal Government, Department of Education, and many states banning divisive DEI.”
Skillicorn noted, “Included in the language is also a ban against using invented gender identity pronouns in town email signatures.”
The measure was debated in an explosive 45-minute segment of the town council meeting which saw frequent sparring between Councilwomen Peggy McMahon and Brenda Kalivianakis, and Councilman Skillicorn as well as Vice Mayor Hannah Toth.
Kalivianakis, speaking on the resolution, accused the Councilman Skillicorn of “mischief,” saying, “I’m reticent to because ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.’ I could use those same adages, ‘problem solution seeking a problem,’ but I do see mischief in this too and and maybe for the sponsor of the bill.”
Responding to concerns that the resolution could preclude the town from membership in various civic organizations, Skillicorn clarified, “If those organizations that we belong to are in violation of and have active divisive Dei policies, it appears that yes, our town does have a problem with divisive DEI policies.”
Councilmembers Gayle Earle, Rick Watts, and Allen Skillicorn voted in favor of the ban along with Vice Mayor Hannah Toth and Mayor Gerry Friedel. Councilwoman Peggy McMahon voted against and Councilwoman Brenda Kalivianakis abstained.
Watch the Town Council Meeting Section on the DEI Policy:
One Arizona town recently pledged cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
On Tuesday, the town of Fountain Hills passed a resolution (6-1) pledging cooperation with ICE’s mass deportation efforts under the Trump administration.
The resolution cited the existence of over 647,000 illegal immigrants with pending charges or convictions for violent crimes within the U.S. as justification for the town’s support.
“[T]he Town remains steadfast in its commitment to protecting the safety and well-being of its residents, particularly those most vulnerable to criminal activities such as human trafficking and drug distribution,” stated the resolution. “[T]he Town will continue to comply with all applicable federal and state laws, recognizing that there can be conflicts between federal and state laws.”
The resolution also committed the town to not becoming a sanctuary town as others in the state have done, and pledged to seek assistance from the U.S. Attorney General’s office to indemnify the town and employees for any assistance or cooperation provided to federal immigration authorities.
According to a press release also issued on Tuesday, Fountain Hills Town Council member Allen Skillicorn drafted and introduced the resolution. Skillicorn cited his past experience as an Illinois state lawmaker as the impetus for presenting the policy.
“Not long ago I was a state legislator. I had to solve problems, both present and in the future,” Skillicorn said. “My commitment is to our town and keeping our town safe from crime.”
Fountain Hills, passed a resolution of cooperation with ICE to enforce Federal immigration law. “My commitment is to our town and to keep our town safe!”
— Skillicorn for Arizona🌵 🇺🇸 (@allenskillicorn) March 5, 2025
The resolution didn’t pass unanimously.
Councilwoman Peggy McMahon questioned whether Skillicorn was accusing town council members, staff, and community members of impeding law enforcement. McMahon further alleged the resolution would encourage racial profiling.
“Are you saying they’re not doing their job in enforcing the laws? Are you implying the town and the sheriffs are not committed to cooperating with enforcing laws to protect the health, the welfare, and the safety of our community?” asked McMahon. “Accordingly, the resolution to me is moot and legally unenforceable. So I don’t even know why we’re talking about it.”
McMahon also argued that illegal immigrants were responsible for just a small fraction of crimes committed in their town and the state as a whole.
Councilman Brenda Kalivianakis, who voted for the resolution, asked why the resolution was necessary. Kalivianakis criticized the resolution as another “time-sink” designed to further other council members’ political careers and not the town’s priorities.
“This seems like a solution looking for a problem. This isn’t a problem we have in this community. It seems like a case of just virtue signaling. Here I am, I’m going to lead the way on DEI and all these nationally divisive issues and then I’m going to appear in some small newspaper tomorrow and be called a hero,” said Kalivianakis. “Why are we talking about things that don’t matter?”
During the same meeting on Tuesday, the town council passed a resolution (5-2) banning Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and the usage of gender identity-based pronouns.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
The Trump administration has been hard at work dismantling offices of “environmental justice” in the federal government.
Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it began implementing Trump’s executive order “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.” The agency placed on leave 171 employees in DEI and environmental justice offices.
The EPA intends to close the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, The Washington Post reported. Trump appointees at the Justice Department announced they would restructure the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
Shortly after her confirmation, Attorney General Pam Bondi rescinded any “memoranda, guidance, or similar directive that implement the prior administration’s ‘environmental justice’ agenda.”
“Going forward, the Department will evenhandedly enforce all federal civil and criminal laws, including environmental laws,” Bondi noted.
Why does this matter?
“Environmental justice” refers to the toxic brew of critical race theory and climate alarmism. According to critical race theory, America is institutionally racist against black people and other minorities and in favor of white people. According to climate alarmism, the burning of fossil fuels will bring about Armageddon.
The EPA defines “environmental justice” as ensuring that Americans “are fully protected from disproportionate and adverse human health and environmental effects (including risks) and hazards, including those related to climate change, the cumulative impacts of environmental and other burdens, and the legacy of racism or other structural or systemic barriers” (emphasis added).
Trump entered office promising to unleash American energy and reverse the Biden administration’s promotion of critical race theory and its application in the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” movement. This diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) movement aims to promote some racial minorities, rejecting the colorblind approach of focusing on merit or competence.
While President George H.W. Bush established the EPA’s Office of Environmental Equity — the office that President Bill Clinton would later rename the Office of Environmental Justice — President Joe Biden hypercharged its mission, directing all-of-government efforts on DEI, restrictions on fossil fuels, and a promotion of less reliable forms of energy, like wind and solar.
In doing so, Biden followed the demands of activist groups, many of which staffed and advised his administration.
As I note in my book, “The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government,” Biden tapped climate alarmists for key leadership positions.
Biden picked Michael Regan, a vice president at the Environmental Defense Fund, to head up the EPA. He selected Laura Daniel-Davis, a vice president at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), to serve at the Department of the Interior. He nominated Tracey Stone-Manning, another NWF staffer who confessed to typing out a letter on behalf of tree-spiking eco-terrorists, to head the Bureau of Land Management.
Gina McCarthy, who headed EPA under President Barack Obama, became president of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) until Biden appointed her national climate adviser.
When Trump moved against the EPA’s environmental justice office, NRDC released a statement condemning the move as a “disgrace.” Who did NRDC enlist to make the statement? None other than Matthew Tejada, who directed the Office of Environmental Justice from 2013 to 2022.
“The Trump EPA is abandoning the communities across our nation that need help the most,” Tejada said. “Shuttering the environmental justice office will mean more toxic contaminants, dangerous air, and unsafe water in communities across the nation that have been most harmed by pollution in the past.”
That conclusion, of course, relies on the assumptions of critical race theory and climate alarmism, however. If America is not institutionally racist but rather a country with civil rights laws that protect citizens of all races from discrimination, the EPA does not need an “environmental justice” office to combat pollution for Americans of specific skin colors.
If the predictions of climate disaster are overblown and based on false assumptions that exaggerate the risks when actual deaths from climate disaster have declined by 99% over the past century, then perhaps the EPA need not invest extra funds in an office of environmental justice. If fossil fuels have gotten substantially cleaner, perhaps the EPA should focus on specific air quality issues, rather than premonitions of global climate doom.
This seems to be at least part of the reasoning behind EPA’s restructure.
“Under President Trump, the EPA will be focused on our core mission to protect human health and the environment, while Powering the Great American Comeback,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement Tuesday. “The previous Administration used DEI and Environmental Justice to advance ideological priorities, distributing billions of dollars to organizations in the name of climate equity. This ends now.”
“We will be good stewards of tax dollars and do everything in our power to deliver clean air, land, and water to every American, regardless of race, religion, background, and creed,” he added.
While pollution affects Americans in different ways, the EPA need not indulge in critical race theory and climate alarmism to effectively combat the real threats Americans face. Rather than addressing supposed institutional racism and fossil fuel-induced disaster, the EPA should focus on its actual mission: protecting Americans from concrete instances of pollution and environmental harms.
Of course, those humdrum concerns don’t require as much federal funding and staff — and that might explain the real reason behind the Left’s freakout over Trump’s move.
Tyler O’Neil is a contributor to The Daily Caller News Foundation, managing editor of The Daily Signal, and the author of two books: “Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center,” and “The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government.”
In a letter issued to all schools and school board members in Maricopa County, Maricopa County School Superintendent Shelli Boggs gave notice that they are legally obligated to conform to an Executive Order from President Donald Trump ending illegal Diversity Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies.
Within the letter, Boggs detailed a series of specific steps that all schools must now take to erase the illegal DEI-based hiring, training, and curricular practices that stand in violation of federal law. According to a press release from Maricopa County Schools, Boggs emphasized that while the Superintendent lacks jurisdiction to directly enforce compliance upon the schools, it strongly encourages that they do so in order to “restore education to its core mission.”
“DEI programs have been used as a tool to divide students, teachers, and parents rather than foster true unity and equal opportunity,” Superintendent Boggs said. “Schools should be places of learning, not ideological indoctrination. Education must return to its fundamental purpose—teaching students the skills they need to succeed—not promoting political agendas that undermine academic excellence.”
The release continued, “One of the most critical responsibilities of this office is the appointment of school board members, who share the authority to set policies within school districts. Under Boggs’ administration, appointees must be committed to meritocracy and academic excellence over politics. Schools should reward hard work and achievement, not lower standards in the name of equity. Education should empower students with knowledge, critical thinking, and opportunity—not divide them by race, gender, or political ideology.”
The Superintendent’s letter also informed school administrators that the county will be monitoring their compliance and has offered resources to assist with the transition away from DEI policies. Superintendent Boggs restated a “commitment to ensuring that all students receive a high-quality, merit-based education free from politically driven programs that promote division.”
In a bipartisan effort between Republican Congressman Eli Crane (AZ) and Democrat Congressman Mike Levin (CA), the “Hire Veterans Act” was reintroduced to the U.S. House of Representatives. If enacted, the bill would employ U.S. military veterans in vacant, critical roles within the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, and Bureau of Land Management.
According to Crane, all three of the federal land management agencies have been suffering from serious staffing shortages that have negatively impacted their operational effectiveness. In particular, both Congressmen cited the U.S. Forest Service facing an ongoing struggle to recruit and train staff in multiple critical roles with what they referred to as “a noticeable gap in the experience and skill sets of candidates, affecting their capacity to address increasing wildfire threats.”
“As a 13-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, I’m all too familiar with the obstacles servicemen and women face when transitioning to civilian life. I’m also well-aware of the challenges our federal land management agencies currently face, particularly in filling vacancies for firefighters, park rangers, and foresters,” said Crane in a press release.
As reported by the New York Times, 3,400 employees from the U.S. Forest Service were terminated by the Trump Administration on Thursday, amounting to approximately 10% of the service’s workforce. Many of the newer employees would have been hired under the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion regimen of the Biden Administration.
“With this bill, Congress has the opportunity to both streamline the employment process for veterans AND better ensure that our natural resources are protected for future generations. I’m grateful to be able to introduce this legislation that serves our veterans while furthering the responsible stewardship of U.S. land,” Crane added.
“Our veterans sacrifice so much for our nation. We have an obligation to ensure that veterans returning to civilian life can get jobs and support their families,” said Rep. Levin. “I’m glad to be partnering with Rep. Crane on our bipartisan bill to expand opportunities for veterans and help connect them to jobs in federal land management agencies. I look forward to working with my colleagues to advance this important legislation.”
According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which manages the Forest Service, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins issued a memorandum to rescind all Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) programs and celebrations. Instead, the USDA will reprioritize unity, equality, meritocracy, and color-blind policies.
Rollins said in her opening remarks at the USDA, “We will neither commemorate nor celebrate our immutable characteristics, neither among ourselves nor among Americans at large. We will instead celebrate the things that make us American: merit, faith, and liberty first among them. All Americans deserve equal dignity, and at this Department they will receive it. On this precipice of the 250th anniversary of our Revolution, we will rededicate ourselves to ‘the proposition that all men are created equal.’”
