Former Ambassador and Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) wrote a post to X on Sunday in which he reiterated his support for Democrat Presidential nominee Kamala Harris, extolling the virtue of the “rule of law.” In a scathing response to the post, former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio refuted Flake’s stance based in the “rule of law” by hearkening back to a 2014 scandal that nearly ended Flake’s career.
In his post, Flake wrote, “I’m voting for Kamala Harris not in spite of being a conservative, but because I’m a conservative. Conservatives believe in the rule of law.”
In reply, an evidently unamused Arpaio wrote, “Your son Austin and his wife killed 23 dogs, and then sued me and the Sheriff’s Office for prosecuting them. You tried to destroy me and my detectives, you don’t believe in the rule of law!”
Your son Austin and his wife killed 23 dogs, and then sued me and the Sheriff's Office for prosecuting them. You tried to destroy me and my detectives, you don't believe in the rule of law!
Arpaio was referring to an incident which found Flake’s son Austin Flake and wife Logan Flake (née Hughes) indicted on multiple felony charges in connection with the deaths of 23 dogs at the Green Acre dog-boarding facility, owned by his in-laws Jesse Todd and MaLeisa Hughes. Arpaio, then-Sheriff, was the public face of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department which led the investigation and told the public during a press conference, “The caretakers were the Senator’s son and his wife.”
As reported by ABC15, the case against the Flakes was dismissed and the Hughes pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges in 2014. As the saga unfolded, the Flake family launched a lawsuit, alleging malicious prosecution against Arpaio and his now-late wife Ava personally, along with Maricopa County, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, and Deputy Sheriff Marie Trombi and her husband.
The legal battle raged for three years until its resolution, largely in Arpaio’s, Trombi’s, and the county’s favor in 2018. That’s when a final effort to revive the lawsuit and a civil trial was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Neil Wake, according to AZCentral.
During the ongoing litigation, then-Senator Flake announced that he would not seek re-election. Flake was facing collapsing populariaty, had vocally set himself against the sitting President Trump, and faced primary defeat from pro-Trump Republicans. At the time, Politico reported that a top GOP strategist “said Flake’s team had been polling the race since the beginning of the year and had repeatedly found no path to victory in either the GOP primary or the general election.”
“He basically lost to all comers,” the GOP strategist told the outlet. “There wasn’t a Republican or a Democrat you could put next to him on the ballot who he wouldn’t lose to.”
Since his public fall from grace with the Arizona GOP, Flake has become a minor surrogate for the Biden administration, attracting a small cohort of anti-Trump Arizona Republicans. He was rewarded for siding against Trump with a posting as U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye. The 61-year-old ex-Senator stood down from his post in Ankara in September and has since aligned himself with the Biden campaign at first, and now the Harris campaign as previously reported by AZ Free News.
Flake’s enthusiastic advocacy for Harris has left many in Arizona wondering what a future under Harris could hold for the Snowflake-born politician. When asked by AZ Free News if he received any policy concessions for his endorsement, such as protecting the filibuster, religious liberty, or SCOTUS; or if he was promised another ambassadorship or a cabinet post, Flake did not reply.
National and local Republicans are pulling out all the stops to protect election integrity in the critical swing-state of Arizona for the upcoming November contest.
Last week, the Donald J. Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) announced the creation of a new Election Integrity team in Arizona. The team will be shepherded by Harmeet Dhillon. According to the press release issued by the coalition, the team “will stop Democrat interference and secure Arizona’s elections.”
“We are proud to announce President Trump’s appointment of Harmeet Dhillon as our new legal counsel in Arizona,” said Trump Campaign Managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita and RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-Chair Lara Trump. “She will spearhead critical legal battles, stop the many attacks on the integrity of our elections, and lead our winning election integrity team to Protect the Vote. Election Integrity is the top priority for President Trump, his campaign, and the RNC, and with a fair and secure election Arizona will send President Trump back to the White House. Harmeet is an unmatched force for Election Integrity and will lead the fight, and win, to secure Arizona’s elections – for our country’s most important election.”
Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Gina Swoboda added, “Arizona is the battleground for this election, and Harmeet is ready to lead the fight. We are committed to an honest and secure election system, that counts every legal vote properly. Arizonans, and Americans, deserve nothing less, and we are full steam ahead in our unprecedented dedication to Election Integrity.”
After the revelation about her appointment, Dhillon said, “I’m happy to report that after meeting and speaking with state party and candidates and outside volunteer groups and Arizona lawyers, we are in better shape this cycle than ever before and on a strong legal and political footing for Republican victory in AZ.”
🥵 I’m happy to report that after meeting and speaking with state party and candidates and outside volunteer groups and Arizona lawyers, we are in better shape this cycle than ever before and on a strong legal and political footing for Republican victory in AZ! Have to stay cool! pic.twitter.com/netML2VHL4
Early voting in Arizona is now officially underway across the state with ballots hitting mailboxes and voters frequenting sites to cast their ballots ahead of the November 5 General Election. Besides the contest for President of the United States, Arizona features other pivotal races, including U.S. Senate, state legislature seats that could determine party control of either chamber, and constitutional amendments with key implications for the future of the state.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Former President Donald J. Trump appears to be maintaining his edge for Arizona’s eleven critical electoral votes as the November General Election nears.
According to the Battleground Poll Averages from Decision Desk HQ / The Hill, Trump enjoys a razor-thin 1.3% lead in Arizona over his Democrat opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. And according to the Real Clear Politics poll average, Trump has a 1.1% advantage in the Grand Canyon State over Harris.
Some of the recent polls out of Arizona include the following:
Trafalgar: Trump +2 over Harris (48-46)
NYT / Siena: Trump +5 over Harris (51-46)
Emerson: Trump +2 over Harris (49-47)
In the Emerson survey, immigration is at the top of mind for voters, with 30% of respondents selecting this issue as their top area of concern for the upcoming election. The economy finished second in the poll (24%).
In the NYT / Siena poll, the issues of importance are reversed. The economy received 24% of the share of the vote, and immigration obtained 18%. Trump also improved his standing among individuals who believed he would do a better job handing the issue they thought was most important, besting Harris by eleven percent (a five-point improvement from the previous month’s results).
Early voting is now underway in Arizona as men and women around the state are sending in their absentee ballots or frequenting sites to cast their selections for President and other critical contests before them for consideration. Arizona has been a key battleground state in past elections, with both Republicans and Democrats vying extremely hard for voters’ affections and support for their candidates. Trump won Arizona in 2016, and Biden narrowly took the Electoral College votes in the 2020 election. In both 2016 and 2020, the man who won Arizona won the White House.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Former President Donald J. Trump picked up a significant endorsement while campaigning in the Grand Canyon State earlier this week.
On Sunday, President Trump appeared in front of thousands at a rally in Prescott Valley, where he was endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) for his bid for the White House.
On behalf of the 16,000 men and women represented by the National Border Patrol Council, we strongly support and endorse Donald J. Trump for President of the United States.
At the event, Paul Perez, NBPC’s President, said, “If we allow border czar Harris to win this election, every city, every community in this great country is going to hell. The untold millions of people unvetted, who she has allowed into this country that are committing murders, rapes, robberies, burglaries and every other crime will continue to put our country in peril.”
Perez added, “Only one man can fix that. That is Donald J. Trump. He has always stood with the men and women who protect this border, who put their lives on the line for the country.”
Art Del Cueto, the Vice President of the NBPC, stated, “Zero question as to who should lead this country. The time to save America is NOW!!”
State Senator Janae Shamp, one of the top border hawks of the Arizona Legislature, responded to the announcement, posting, “They know exactly what is at stake and who can fix it! God bless each and everyone of these men and women for standing for all Americans!”
The endorsement from the NBPC was reported as unanimous for the 45th President of the United States.
According to a press release from the Trump-Vance campaign, Trump promised to “hire 10,000 new Border Patrol agents and ask Congress to immediately approve a 10% raise for all agents, and a $10,000 retention and signing bonus.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
The dead-end hyperinflationary policies of the Biden-Harris administration have put the American Dream out of reach for many young people. I have talked to my 21-year-old daughter about this so many times that it breaks my heart.
Ruby, like so many young Americans, is doing everything right. She works hard, she saves up, but that old-fashioned notion of the white-picket fence seems to be slipping away from her grasp. Part of the reason I am running for Senate is to make America affordable again. And I know that bringing down out-of-control housing prices is the key to restoring access to the American Dream for our young people.
Per Federal Reserve data, in 1984, the median U.S. household income was $22,400 and the median home price was $78,200, or about 3.5 times the median income. By 2022, median household income had risen to $74,580, but median home prices had risen to over $433,000 — or nearly six times median income.
Elected officials owe it to our constituents to take clear and decisive action to reduce housing costs.
There has been so much focus on the role of interest rates, but the answer to bringing them back down, while hard to achieve, is fairly straightforward: the federal government needs to stop printing money we don’t have so that it can pay bills that we can’t afford. Taming that imbalance won’t be quick or easy, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you a bill of goods.
But there is another key element of the housing crisis that we can address quickly and effectively: a lack of skilled tradespeople. According to an analysis by Associated Builders and Contractors, the United States is short over half a million skilled construction workers. The lack of skilled construction workers combined with rapidly increasing costs of materials is creating a roadblock to building the millions of additional housing units that are needed to relieve the cost bottleneck.
Bringing down the cost of materials largely hinges on three things: reducing the price of energy and fuel, eliminating excessive regulations created by the Biden-Harris administration, and increasing the number of skilled workers available to producers. Limitations on oil-and-gas production and refining are leading to rapidly increasing fuel and energy costs that have inflated the price of building materials by tens of thousands of dollars per home.
Likewise, excessive regulation and DEI mandates being forced on producers by the Biden-Harris administration are also increasing materials and labor costs, without appreciable benefit to society in terms of reduced inequality. Lastly, the rush to send every high school graduate to a four-year college, with massive government subsidies, is draining the workforce of skilled tradespeople which both increases the cost of construction and delays additional new home starts.
Solving the first two problems is very simple. Replace President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris with Donald Trump, overturn the current administration’s pointless and counterproductive executive mandates, and you are two thirds of the way there. The last step — increasing the number of skilled construction workers — is going to take more effort.
But with some simple changes in federal education funding and policy, we can turn that deficit around in a matter of just a few years by revising federal education funding and loans to stop discriminating against trade schools and technical education and support the development of a skilled workforce sufficient to meet the demands of our housing market.
First, we need to revise the guidelines for Pell grants to allow them to be issued and used for more students to attend trade and technical schools. Second, if the government is going to continue to back student loans, eligibility for those loans needs to be aggressively expanded to include more trade schools.
Currently, trade-school students can access government-backed student loans, but only if their trade school is federally accredited. Many are not. Getting the vast majority of trade schools nationwide accredited so their students have access to government-backed loans should be a major priority for the next administration and will be a priority of mine in the U.S. Senate.
Lastly, the government needs to aggressively partner with industry to expand trade school opportunities by making low-interest loans available to companies and unions to invest in new and expanded trade and technical-school facilities.
The cost to attend trade and technical schools is far less than the cost of a four-year degree, and the returns on that investment are astronomical. A few thousand dollars of up-front investment in these careers yields a lifetime of high earnings, and resultant increased tax revenues. As a result, investing in expanding our skilled workforce is responsible governance, and must be a priority going forward.
