The transition in Arizona’s statewide leadership party credentials continues to manifest itself in the fight to defend innocent life in the womb.
Last week, Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs announced that she had “filed an amicus brief in support of Planned Parenthood, opposing the reinstatement of a total abortion ban.” The legal filing was transmitted to the Arizona Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood v. Mayes. The case was previously initiated under the prior Attorney General’s, Republican Mark Brnovich, administration. Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, has made no secret of her opposition to the pro-life law in dispute, despite her office named as one of the defendants.
Yesterday, I filed an amicus brief in support of Planned Parenthood, opposing the reinstatement of a total abortion ban.
I’m fighting against extremists who want to jail doctors and bring an end to reproductive freedom in Arizona.
In the Hobbs’ amicus brief, she argues that “Abortion access is critical to the health, safety, and wellbeing of Arizonans, and implicates significant liberty interests,” that “failure to harmonize the Territorial Ban with Title 36 and returning to a near-total ban on abortion raises serious questions under the Arizona Constitution,” and that “the constitutional avoidance canon further supports affirming the Court of Appeals’ decision.”
The governor highlighted her battle “against extremists who want to jail doctors and bring an end to reproductive freedom in Arizona.” She noted the stories of two women in the state “who have relied on access to abortion care,” writing, “Erika who sought reproductive healthcare after a previous pregnancy threatened her life. She now lives happily with her daughter & husband in Sedona. And Jasmine, who struggled to provide for her two children when she discovered she was pregnant. Abortion access allowed her to graduate from college & pursue full-time work.”
One of Arizona’s premier pro-life organizations, the Center for Arizona Policy, also filed its own amicus brief at the state’s Supreme Court. The Center’s President, Cathi Herrod issued a statement about the brief and the importance of the case, writing, “The brief pushes back against claims from abortion activists suggesting that because Arizona lawmakers only passed pro-life laws within the constraints of Roe, that they never wanted to further restrict abortion. That is clearly false. In anticipation of the eventual fall of Roe, the Arizona Legislature consistently showed its dedication to preserving the rights of the unborn by keeping the pre-Roe law on the books, which reflects Arizona’s strong pro-life position.”
The brief from Center for Arizona Policy argues that the “Respondents’ focus on legislative inaction is incomplete and unavailing,” that “the legislature’s express instruction to retain 13-3603 and to interpret Arizona law to protect unborn children should be respected – especially given the unique circumstances here,” and that “overlap in laws protecting unborn children is a feature, not a flaw, where legal challenges are an ever-present threat.”
The case will be before the Arizona Supreme Court in December.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
The historic Turf Paradise racetrack in Phoenix responsible for generating thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions in revenue will close, with Gov. Katie Hobbs partly to blame. Those involved in the racetrack and in a failed deal to purchase it have offered accounts of Hobbs that indicate the governor neglects issues that won’t benefit her politically, even if they benefit the state.
As part of this apparent neglect, Hobbs removed a budget item over the summer that would have continued a $5 million COVID-19 relief grant to Turf Paradise, slashing it to $1 million. Hobbs has also reportedly refused to assist in legislative deals viewed as necessary to secure the purchase of the racetrack.
James Watson — managing partner of the California-based company that failed to close their deal on the racetrack, CT Realty — said Hobbs cut the funds because she “doesn’t care” about racing.
“We’ve been arguing, as is evident across the country, that racing is struggling right now. It needs all the help it can get,” said Watson in an interview with DRF. “But the governor doesn’t care about racing.”
The racetrack would bring in about $90 million into the local economy during its race meet session from November through May, according to the track’s general manager, Vincent Francia, in an interview with ABC 15.
The economic impact from Turf Paradise’s closure is expected to cripple the state’s horse industry. On top of the closure of the track’s 37 betting sites, the track’s leading trainer Justin Evans toldBloodHorse that the farms, ranches, feed stores, horseshoers, apartment complexes, trailer parks, and all other businesses “down the line” that rely on the racetrack season for revenue will be crushed by the closure. Evans reported that he moved his family to Louisiana due to the closure.
“It’s gonna kill [the Thoroughbred industry, the racing industry in Arizona] because now people are going to other places and they’re going to make a new life and they’re not going to come back on a whim that it’s going to reopen or now everybody’s going to be gun shy like they are with Arizona Downs,” said Evans. “This is a terrible thing for the racing community, for the fans, for jocks, trainers, owners, and grooms.”
CT Realty’s deal fell through recently despite its projection to close in December. In addition to the funding, a critical contingency for their deal was the legalization of casino-type games, namely the historical horse racing machines. CT Realty reportedly earned lawmakers’ support on the legalization. However, tribal community lobbyists successfully stonewalled their efforts, arguing that the proposed gaming would jeopardize their gambling industry.
Per reporting by DRF, track owner Jerry Simms was also thwarted by tribal lobbyists in his attempts to obtain similar gaming legalizations over the years.
It’s likely an intervention by the governor would’ve saved the racetrack. Watson indicated to Axios last month that Hobbs had multiple opportunities to legalize the horse racing machines. This would’ve included working with the legislature to overcome tribal opposition earlier this year, or even calling a special session this fall to address the issue.
Such an exercise of power wouldn’t be unusual for Hobbs. Just several months ago, Hobbs stripped all 15 county attorneys of their authority to prosecute abortion cases. That authority went to her political ally, Attorney General Kris Mayes.
I joined @cnn to talk about the energy in Arizona for our 2024 ballot measure that will finally enshrine a right to abortion in our constitution next November! pic.twitter.com/NiRwYmil4O
A partner in the failed track purchase, Larry Lucas with Revolutionary Racing, toldPaulick Report that Gov. Katie Hobbs “lack of interest” in fighting for Turf Paradise’s survival had “frustrated” him.
Simms announced that the site will close on Oct. 1 and that he would retire. Simms purchased the track over 20 years ago for $53 million.
Turf Paradise Will Not Continue Live Racing or Simulcasting Beginning October 1, 2023 Follow the link for details.https://t.co/PfTgGSn6md
CT Realty planned to develop the site to maintain some horse racing, with other parts of the property turned into housing, industrial lots, and a data center.
Turf Paradise – which opened in January 1956 and is home to a Unibet Sportsbook – has announced it has run its last race. In May, it was reported the 252-acre Arizona site would become an industrial space, data center, and housing area. pic.twitter.com/whW18ZEoXX
— Sports & Betting History by BestBettingSites (@CDCHistory) September 19, 2023
Some locals also blamed Sims for difficulties that led to the track’s closure, a speculation that aligns with reporting issued over the years on open feuds with track officials and the large racing company 1/ST Racing.
Fitting that first line of @turf_paradise announcement of closing is all about track owner Jerry Simms who ran the place into the ground and was despised by virtually everyone at Turf. pic.twitter.com/OJWuk0Eemg
Others opined the closure was the inevitable outcome of a dying industry.
The closing of Turf Paradise was pretty much inevitable for decades as the entire horse racing industry declines but it still sucks to hear it, that place is a Phoenix dirtbag icon
Turf Paradise opened over 67 years ago, on Jan. 7, 1956, under a Phoenix millwork company owner named Walter Cluer. The businessman purchased 1,400 acres of the desert to establish the racetrack.
Last week, a superior court judge ruled that Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and his predecessor, now-Gov. Katie Hobbs, enforced an Election Procedures Manual (EPM) that ran afoul of voter signature verification law. The problematic EPM in question was crafted by Hobbs in 2019.
The ruling came in the case Arizona Free Enterprise Club v. Fontes. Contrary to the law, Fontes claimed to the court that the term “registration record” was ambiguous and up for interpretation — meaning, he could decide what constituted a valid signature record for the purposes of verifying the validity of a ballot signature. For that reason, Fontes said that the lawsuit against his administration should be dismissed.
Judge John Napper disagreed, rejecting the motion to dismiss last Friday; he stated that only a voter’s signature used to register to vote was valid. Napper ordered Fontes to adhere to the definition of “registration record” for the purposes of signature verification.
“Here, the langu[ag]e of the statute is clear and unambiguous. The statute requires the recorder to review the voter’s registration record. The common meaning of ‘registration’ in the English language is to sign up to participate in an activity,” wrote Napper. “No English speaker would linguistically confuse the act of signing up to participate in an event with the act of participating in the event [….] Applying the plain and obvious meaning of ‘registration,’ the legislature intended for the recorder to attempt to match the signature on the outside of the envelope to the signature on the documents the putative voter used to register.” (original emphasis included)
Fontes petitioned the court to interpret the law to mean that other documents could be included in the definition of “registration record” based on a change of the law from reading “registration form” to “registration record.” Fontes argued that “record” was a more expansive term meant to encompass a greater set of documents than “form.” Fontes also argued that the term was ambiguous and therefore up to interpretation.
Napper rejected these arguments. The judge explained that the term change only expanded the “volume of documents” for signature verification to allow for review of multiple forms comprising a registration record. Napper also declared that the statute wasn’t ambiguous at all.
“That limitation remains the same, documents are part of the ‘registration record’ only if they involved the voter’s ‘registration,’” stated Napper. “[T]he recorder is to compare the signature on the envelope to the voter’s prior registrations (the record).”
Napper also declared that the Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) correctly defined “registration record,” unlike Fontes and former Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (now governor) per her 2019 EPM. Napper ruled that Hobbs’ 2019 EPM violated the law.
“The 2019 EPM creates a process that contradicts the plain language of A.R.S. §16-550(A),” stated Napper. “Therefore, this portion of the EPM and the instruction from the Secretary do ‘not have the force of law.’”
Napper’s ruling acknowledges a major issue: in the four years of its use, Hobbs’ unlawful 2019 EPM signature verification instruction has carried “the weight of the law.”
Mi Familia Vota also intervened in the case and requested dismissal of AFEC’s lawsuit. They claimed that any real or existing issues with the EPM didn’t matter because Fontes would produce a new EPM this December that could potentially adhere to state law. Napper also rejected this argument. The judge pointed out that those in the executive branch, including Hobbs, have consistently failed to produce a valid EPM, including in 2021.
“While the production of a new EPM is statutorily required, the multiple offices of the executive branch have not consistently adhered to the statute’s dictates,” said Napper. “They were unable to produce an EPM in 2021. This is why the 2019 manual carries the force of law to this day. The Court has been unable to find any authority suggesting a case is not ripe for decision because a government actor may choose a different course of conduct in the future.” (emphasis added)
The case is ongoing, with a status conference scheduled later this month.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Another week brings another school choice battle between Arizona’s Governor and Superintendent of Public Instruction.
On Monday, the state’s schools chief, Tom Horne, issued a statement to continue to push back against Governor Katie Hobbs political assaults over the historic Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program, calling her recent attacks “unfounded.”
The release touted an “independent analysis by education analyst, Dr. Matthew Ladner, of how much the ESA program will cost, showing the dire predictions made by Governor Hobbs and other opponents of the program are incorrect.”
@katiehobbs memo on AZESA conflates the interests of the spending lobby with those of taxpayers (taxpayers pay all the taxes and they are all green) and ignores $218,000,000 in tax credits in making fiscal estimates https://t.co/jc15ayJWkF
Last month, Governor Hobbs’ Office issued a memo, highlighting that the ESA program “would cost the state over $943 million, with over 53% of all new K-12 education spending going towards only 8% of Arizona students.” Hobbs stated, “The universal school voucher program is unsustainable. Unaccountable school vouchers do not save taxpayer money, and they do not provide a better education for Arizona students. We must bring transparency and accountability to this program to ensure school vouchers don’t bankrupt our state. I’m committed to reforming universal vouchers to protect taxpayer money and give all Arizona students the education they deserve.”
Horne has been extremely proactive in responding to all of Hobbs’ attacks on the ESA program, and the fight over the veracity of the Governor’s memo has been no exception. Horne wrote that the author of the analysis, Dr. Ladner, “has studied the issue thoroughly and without political bias. His analysis should be read to reassure taxpayers the ESA program saves tax dollars and is sustainable.”
The Republican schools chief concurred with Dr. Ladner “that the costs of the ESA program will never be $943 million.” However, he pointed out that “even if it were, that would be only about one percent of the fiscal 2022 state budget of $80.5 billion.”
He then took two routes to defend his argument that the cost of the state’s ESA program would not reach the controversial $943 million mark. First, Horne reasoned that “taxpayers pay both state and local taxes. Combined they contribute about $13,000 per student for every student in public school. If a student leaves a public school for a private school, and obtains a payment from ESA of $7200, that is a savings of about $6000 per student to the taxpayers.”
Second, Horne argued that “if the student was never in a public school but was already in a private school when the ESA program was adopted, there is still a benefit to the state for the following reasons: many students in private schools are beneficiaries of the tax credit available for contributors to the student’s tuition. If they choose to take the $7200 from the ESA program, they have to give up that tax credit. This increases revenues to the state, because the tax liability that previously was erased by the tax credit now has to be paid to the state.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
A fight for the future of some federal grant dollars for Arizonans appears to be brewing.
Last week, John Thorpe with the Goldwater Institute sent a letter to Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee, expressing the organization’s “concern about Governor Hobbs’ purported cancellation of ESA-related grants that would enable children to attend all-day kindergarten” and urging Yee’s office “to go forward with the program as a legal obligation and for the sake of the parents.”
The Goldwater Institute’s letter references Hobbs’ action in May, which determined that “a $50 million grant made to the Treasurer in the final hours of the Ducey Administration is illegal and invalid.” Hobbs said at the time, “Illegally giving $50 million to private schools while failing to properly invest in public education is just one egregious example of the previous administration’s blatant disregard for public school students.”
After receiving the governor’s notice earlier this year, Treasurer Yee released a statement, writing: “It is clear Governor Hobbs does not care about what is best for Arizona kids or respect the rights of parents to determine the best environment to educate their child. Instead, she is using these children as pawns in a desperate and transparent attempt to win back support from union bosses and her ultra-progressive base. Educational choice is the civil rights issue of our time, and unfortunately, Governor Hobbs thinks she knows better than parents. I fundamentally disagree, and so do Arizona families.”
Governor Hobbs has just denied thousands of Arizona kids access to kindergarten through this politically driven and belligerent decision.
— Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee (@AZTreasurerYee) May 25, 2023
In that statement, Yee also said that her legal team was “currently reviewing the lawfulness of the governor’s move and determining next steps.”
The Goldwater Institute’s June 14th letter to Treasurer Yee states that “on January 1, 2023, the Governor’s Office entered an Interagency Service Agreement with the Treasurer’s Office to provide up to $50,000,000 in federal grant money from the American Rescue Plan (ARPA), via the ESA program, to children in kindergarten starting with the 2023 academic year…In exchange for your office’s commitment to administer and report on the grant program, the Governor made a contractual commitment to provide the funds and to ‘work with’ your office ‘to establish a cadence whereby [the Governor] will transfer funding to [the Treasurer] to then disburse to grant program recipients.’ The Agreement was, and is, a legally binding contract.”
Thorpe’s letter also asserts that “nothing in the Agreement or in state law permits unilateral termination by the Governor,” calling Hobbs’ prior justifications “groundless,” adding that “the Governor has no right to simply cancel an agreement based on unfounded speculation that the agreement violates the law.”
The first-year Arizona governor had touted that by taking this action, her office had “adverted a violation of federal law and the State Constitution.”
The attorney for the Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation also communicated that “we find it troubling that Governor Hobbs is attempting this rollback of the ESA program after a long history of campaigning against, and promising to end, the Legislature’s recent expansion of the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship program.” He continued, “Having already failed in her bid to defund the ESA program through the budget process earlier this year, it appears Governor Hobbs is attempting to cancel the all-day kindergarten grants, not in order to comply with state or federal law (as described above, the program is entirely lawful), but as part of a transparent effort to harm and undermine the ESA program wherever possible.”
In a supplemental post, Thorpe added, “It’s simple: the governor does not have a right to lawlessly renege on promises made to Arizona families. Goldwater will never stop fighting to empower parents, expand choices in education, and to hold government officials accountable – in Arizona and throughout the country.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
