by Michael Way | Jun 5, 2025 | Opinion
By Representative Michael Way |
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has signaled again and again that she is so committed to the dogma of the most extreme elements of her party that she’s willing to ignore wide swaths of the Arizona public and veto the most commonsense bills. The most recent is her veto of my bill, HB2868, that would have ended taxpayer-funded DEI in K-12 schools and public universities. She claims (disingenuously, of course) that such a commonsense prohibition will “jeopardize the continued stability” of Arizona’s universities and community colleges. How exactly, is intentionally left unclear. This adherence to extreme ideology by a blue governor in a red state is not unique to Arizona. Kentucky’s Governor, Andy Beshear, just did the same.
DEI—or “diversity, equity, and inclusion”—is the slick marketing name for what is a dangerous, bigoted, and divisive ideology. It’s actually about ideological sameness, inequity of opportunity, and exclusion. Today, it flavors the instruction in our K-12 schools, exerts total control over places of higher learning, and is used as a corporate bludgeon (or “re-education” tool) for employees who espouse ideas the ruling Left deems “out of line.” Not very American.
I’m a Constitution-loving, free-speech believer. Anyone is free to like or discuss bad ideas. If you want to think individuals should be elevated because of immutable characteristics like race or gender, and not by merit, go right ahead. But taxpayers shouldn’t be funding the totalitarian use of DEI in public classrooms. Students shouldn’t have to bend the knee to ideas they don’t agree with or face social shunning or worse.
How does totalitarian DEI look in practice? Think publicly-funded DEI offices charged with implementing this thinking across departments, curricula, and in hiring, selecting employees based on their race, sex, color or ethnicity (is this not a blatant violation of the Civil Rights Act?), requiring the signing of what amounts to a DEI-statement of faith, mandating “re-education classes,” and more.
President Trump signaled nationally that the federal government was done funding this circus and states’ funding was in jeopardy if they didn’t take action to eliminate it. The President is smart and understands—beyond the constitutional ramifications—that Americans are tired of being controlled by a woke, DEI thought-police funded by their own hard-earned dollars. I’ve sensed the same frustration from my own constituents. So, while I’m a first-term legislator, this was one of my top priorities. And we got it done. I held out hope, perhaps naively, that the Governor would sign at the very least out of political self-interest. She presumably hopes to be re-elected. But she once again signaled that she either doesn’t know the state she governs (her ban on tamale trucks, anyone?) or doesn’t care. She has been vetoing with immunity until now with the only consequence being that she is universally disliked on both sides of the aisle.
My fellow Republican legislators and I are holding the line against all the really dangerous stuff she’d like to do. But we’d like to do more than stop the bad. We’d like to make some real, positive, America-first change for our constituents. And that will require a governor who knows (and actually likes) the state he or she represents.
As a father of four, I’d like my children to grow up in a world where they can think and believe what they choose, disagree openly in institutions of higher learning, and rise in their careers based on merit, not race or gender. The extreme Left is clearly intent on taking us back. Next year, Arizona voters will have a chance to let them know exactly how they feel about that, starting at the top.
Representative Michael Way serves Legislative District 15 in the Arizona State House. He makes his home in Queen Creek with his wife Raimee and their four children.
by Jonathan Eberle | Jun 4, 2025 | News
By Jonathan Eberle |
Governor Katie Hobbs has vetoed Senate Bill 1300, a Republican-backed measure that would have allowed residents of southeastern Arizona’s San Simon Valley sub-basin to vote on whether to establish an Irrigation Non-expansion Area (INA) — a designation intended to temporarily halt the expansion of agricultural groundwater use.
Supporters of the bill, including Representative Gail Griffin (R-LD19), argued the measure would have empowered local voters in Graham and Cochise counties to take the lead on managing their own groundwater resources in the face of ongoing depletion. The bill passed the Republican-controlled legislature earlier this session.
SB 1300 would have permitted county supervisors to place an INA designation question on the November 2026 ballot. Once that vote was scheduled, a temporary moratorium on new irrigation would have taken effect to prevent last-minute expansion and groundwater pumping ahead of the election. If voters approved the INA, the moratorium would have become permanent.
Griffin called the veto “a missed opportunity,” saying the temporary pause alone would have been a benefit to the aquifer. “Whether voted up or down, either outcome would have resulted in at least a six-month pause on new agricultural expansion,” she said in a statement.
Republican lawmakers have repeatedly pushed back on the AMA designation, arguing that it imposes regulations more appropriate for urban areas like Phoenix and Tucson and fails to account for the economic realities of rural Arizona.
Griffin and other Republicans argue these proposals disregard the will of local communities. “What the Governor wants in rural Arizona is to adopt regulations that are more stringent than urban areas,” Griffin said. “These extreme expectations are simply not achievable for rural Arizona.”
While the Governor’s office has framed her groundwater proposals as necessary responses to decades of overuse and aquifer decline, Republican legislators insist they are advancing more flexible, community-driven solutions. These include efforts to promote stormwater recharge and local decision-making to stabilize groundwater levels without heavy-handed mandates.
No immediate alternative to SB 1300 has been announced, but Republican leaders say they plan to continue engaging with stakeholders on rural water policy. “We stand by our rural communities and the principles of local control, property rights, and strong local economies,” Griffin said.
Water experts and advocacy groups are closely watching the legislative standoff as Arizona grapples with worsening drought conditions, declining aquifers, and in and intensifying debate over how best to balance agriculture, conservation, and rural livelihoods.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jun 3, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Although uncounted ballots from the highly contested 2022 election were destroyed, a former Arizona Secretary of State employee and current reporter is claiming that Congressman Abe Hamadeh is delusional for believing counties followed the law.
Last November, all ballots from the 2022 election were destroyed in accordance with Arizona law. Over 9,000 of those destroyed and allegedly valid ballots were never counted in the election — all provisional votes that may have resulted in Hamadeh winning the attorney general’s race over then-Democratic candidate and current attorney general Kris Mayes.
One of those ballots belonged to the husband of State Senator Wendy Rogers, according to the lawmaker.
These provisional ballots belonged to voters who were forced to cast provisionally due to failures by the state’s voter registration system, according to legal discoveries that would emerge over the course of Hamadeh’s challenge of the election.
The counties reportedly did not discover the thousands of uncounted provisional ballots due to a delay in response from the counties to Hamadeh’s legal team. The tardiness of the counties’ response times — along with a superior court judge’s months-long delay in signing his orders — jeopardized and ultimately resulted in the defeat of Hamadeh’s legal challenge to the 2022 election.
The statewide recount announced late December 2022 reduced Mayes’ lead over Hamadeh from just over 500 votes to less than 300 votes out of millions of ballots cast. The slashed lead resulted from major ballot-counting errors by Pinal County. The county failed to account for nearly 400 votes cast for Hamadeh and about 100 for Mayes due to “human error” — a vote difference of over 500 that grew Hamadeh’s margin.
About 70 percent of Election Day votes were for Hamadeh.
In an X post on Monday, Hamadeh accused Democrats of stealing the 2022 attorney general’s race.
“No, they stole [the election],” said Hamadeh. “Burned 9,000 uncounted ballots.”
Yet, the former Secretary of State staffer and data and elections reporter for ABC 15 Arizona, Garrett Archer, called Hamadeh “delusional” and unserious for reminding the public of the uncounted ballots that were destroyed and claiming the possibility of those ballots being valid.
“Abraham Hamadeh has a former troll run his social media. I have to think this is coming from that person. Because this take is delusional,” said Archer. “Why do people take this garbage seriously? Is it just a game or is it a complete capitulation of critical thinking in favor of an emotion driven reaction?”
Beyond the thousands of destroyed uncounted ballots, it was argued by Hamadeh’s counsel in his case contending the 2022 election that Maricopa County included hundreds of invalid early ballots for Mayes.
Around the date the ballots were set to be destroyed last November, the Arizona Supreme Court rejected Hamadeh’s challenge to the 2022 election results.
The disenfranchisement of thousands of voters wasn’t an unlikely occurrence in the 2022 election. While secretary of state that year, Governor Katie Hobbs admitted about 6,000 Arizonans were mistakenly registered as federal-only voters.
A year later in November 2023, Hobbs issued what critics called a “confession” of sorts describing potential disenfranchisement caused by the state’s voter system in her Elections Task Force final report.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Jonathan Eberle | Jun 3, 2025 | News
By Jonathan Eberle |
Governor Katie Hobbs has withdrawn her nominee to the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council (GRRC) after the appointee, Jenny Domingo, was revealed to be unavailable to fulfill her duties for several months. The decision came just hours before a scheduled Senate confirmation hearing, prompting criticism from Republican lawmakers.
According to Senate Government Committee Chairman Jake Hoffman, Domingo left the country in April and is not expected to return until September. During that time, GRRC is scheduled to hold 12 meetings to review regulatory actions proposed by various state agencies. Hoffman expressed strong concerns about the nominee’s extended absence and questioned the administration’s vetting process.
“I am completely dumbfounded why the highest elected official in the State of Arizona would nominate an individual who would rather prioritize her vacation schedule… than her important role of service to the citizens of Arizona,” Hoffman said in a press release Wednesday. “Katie Hobbs should find someone dedicated to the post – or at least willing to show up.”
Appointed in October 2024, Domingo was slated to serve on the GRRC, a body tasked with ensuring that new and existing regulations are necessary, legally sound, and do not impose undue burdens on the public. The council is a final checkpoint for many agency rules and plays a key role in shaping the state’s regulatory environment.
While Governor Hobbs’ office has not issued a public statement regarding the withdrawal, the move has sparked renewed partisan tensions over appointments and administrative oversight. Republicans argue that the situation reflects broader issues with Hobbs’ approach to governance.
As of now, it remains unclear who Hobbs will nominate to replace Domingo on the council. GRRC’s upcoming agenda includes regulatory reviews that could affect multiple sectors, from occupational licensing to construction and consumer goods.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jun 3, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
For the third year in a row, the Arizona governor made a bold statement for Pride Month.
Governor Katie Hobbs again raised the Pride flag stories above the American flags on the Executive Tower on Monday in recognition of Pride Month. Hobbs pledged her loyalty to advancing and protecting LGBTQ+ ideologies.
“I’m proud to fly the Pride banner from the Executive Tower in celebration of Pride Month,” said Hobbs. “I will always stand for the freedom of Arizonans to be who they are, love who they love, and live with dignity and without fear.”
These flags are technically an expansion of the original rainbow-based Pride flag because they include the colors light pink, light blue, and white to represent transgenderism as well as black and brown to represent people with brown or black skin tones.
Pride Month was first officially recognized by the federal government in 1999 under President Bill Clinton, initially called “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.” Then, in 2011, President Barack Obama expanded Pride Month recognition into what it consists of today.
During his first term in 2017, President Donald Trump didn’t offer federal recognition of Pride Month.
However, the first Pride Parade in Arizona took place in Phoenix in 1981 — about a decade after the first pride marches occurred in response to the 1970 Stonewall Riots in New York. The riots erupted following a police raid on a gay bar in Manhattan and lasted nearly a week.
Hobbs has continued her commitment to Pride Month despite the growing reluctance of other major cultural players to continue doing so. A frequent supporter of LGBTQ+ ideologies, Google, announced earlier this year it would no longer highlight Pride Month by default on Google Calendar. The corporation said the continued recognition of Pride Month wasn’t “scalable or sustainable,” citing the burden of recognizing the ever-increasing number of “cultural moments” globally.
Hobbs has flown the Pride flags above the American flags every summer since taking office.
During last summer’s Pride Month, Hobbs vetoed legislation guaranteeing equality of care for gender transition reversals, dubbed the “Detransitioner Bill of Rights.” This year, Hobbs vetoed bills limiting school locker room usage by gender, barring gender changes on birth certificates, preventing any funding to higher education institutes teaching students about gender identity, and precluding legal recognition of gender transitions.
During her first Pride Month as governor, Hobbs used an Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) drone to film the Pride flags. Reporting on the matter was delayed until the following year because it took the governor’s office nine months to respond to public records requests.
As reported initially, ADOT drone usage is intended for inspections and surveys of work concerning state infrastructure.
Hobbs also used state time to hold several ceremonies to watch the unfurling of the flags from the balcony and then admire the flags from the ground below, followed by an hour-long “Pride Roundtable” with those same guests.
Hobbs’ first executive order expanded discrimination protections to include prohibitions against “gender identity” discrimination in state employment and contracts.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
